[S.Brothers]

Let's pin down the details definitively if possible. What was the True Radius role in the history of Nomura? Are the same people still running it that were bitd?

I've been thinking about this lately.


This bike was at Whittier Narrows. I'm sorry, I didn't take time to speak to the owner, I'd have liked to have heard the story straight from him. If you are the owner of this bike or know who is... please let us know, or ask them and guide them to this thread.

I know there was that Mtn Bike that was discussed here in the past.
http://bmxsociety.co...__fromsearch__1 (seems like pics disappeared unfortunately)


Anyway... I've gotta go, running late. Please share whatever you know.

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[Freshour]

SB I found a tiny bit of info on it. Says TRB (true-radius-bending) made the tubes for Wade Nomura.


EDIT it looks like they have been around since 1988 building bikes

This post has been edited by Freshour: 06 July 2012 - 04:56 PM

[Freshour]

I guess this cat worked or works for them. I'm not a member there so I can't contact him, but someone here can I'm sure.

http://bmxmuseum.com...s_bending/44515

[Roc]

Freshour, on 06 July 2012 - 10:00 AM, said:

I guess this cat worked or works for them. I'm not a member there so I can't contact him, but someone here can I'm sure.

http://bmxmuseum.com...s_bending/44515

Here's a quote from him that explains TRB's interaction with Nomura...


"We were more than just the metal supplier for Wade. We did all of the machining, bending, mitres, copes and fitup in the jigs. True, Dave Gilkeson welded the majority of the frames, but he was an employee of TRB and starting his own welding company at the time, Precision Welding (at which I now work.) Seth Hammond definitely welded a few, ( I will ask him the quantity when I see him next), but Scott Loepky wasn't that great of an aluminum welder and was cut off from that task asap. Monte Rook at M&J engineering did all of the stamping of the dropouts. And to set the record straight, we bought all of the tubing and dropouts and sold Wade welded, raw, un-heat-treated frames. The unfortunate reality with the jigs is that my dad made them, owned them and then cut them up with a torch after Wade got out of the BMX thing. He did this because he never wanted to be accused of copying Wade's design.
We did start doing some of our own frames and have gone through a series of revisions. We never made a 20", but did make 24" and 26". I used a 24" Schwinn as a template for geometry that Shawms March gave me when he was on their world cup mountain bike team. As for the 26" that you think was designed as a velodrome track bike is far from that. I used a 1950s Schwinn that Jim Hoppersted lent me as a baseline for my geometry. We were going for a good wheelie beach cruiser that was designed only for coaster brakes. A big mistake. I now have aluminum parts for v-brakes, but also want to incorporate the ability to use old school horseshoe BMX brakes.
If anyone has any ideas or input as to parts to design, let me know. I am open to suggestion. We still have enough oval downtube for about 400 frames, and enough dropouts for 50-60 more frames. The good news is that the dropouts are a phone call away and 12 miles from our shop. I brought the jig down off the shelf just last week and started eyeballing the front triangles that need to be finished.

Brian"

[Brian Hays]

Yup. That pretty much sums it up. I was under the impression from something I read that a couple of guys at TRB were there then and are still there. There is still a purple ano Nomura hanging on the wall at TRB in a pic I saw recently.

[Brian Hays]

BTW, Steve, that belongs to "marvingarden" (name at the museum) He lives by TRB and Nomura and has a bunch of Nomuras. The gold 20" alloy in the background is my old one I sold him.

[Just..Me..Chillin']

Yeah ask Marvin - he might get his bb eras mixed up, but homie sure knows how ta dial in his whip.....

[S.Brothers]

Roc, on 06 July 2012 - 12:53 PM, said:

Freshour, on 06 July 2012 - 10:00 AM, said:

I guess this cat worked or works for them. I'm not a member there so I can't contact him, but someone here can I'm sure.

http://bmxmuseum.com...s_bending/44515

The unfortunate reality with the jigs is that my dad made them, owned them and then cut them up with a torch after Wade got out of the BMX thing. He did this because he never wanted to be accused of copying Wade's design.

Brian's Dad seems like a man of values. I think most of us here can appreciate that.

[Cycle24-7]

SE666 WIll be a good one to chime in here, I will call him, see if he can pop in, I know hes becoming a Nomura horder lately.

[TrulyOdd]

he's not going to know.

maybe someone can hit up wade.

[route66]

What more are you guys looking to know?

I live in Santa Barbara and have talked to Brian a few times when I was getting my Nomura repaired. Brian quoted above is the son of Tim the original owner of TRB. Tim is still the owner and does nothing with bikes. Brian is the one who makes the TRB frames. TRB fabricated all the aluminum Nomura frames, I am not sure about the chromoly ones.

[S.Brothers]

route66, on 31 July 2012 - 09:00 AM, said:

What more are you guys looking to know?

Everything.


But seriously... any and all info is welcome. I was curious about when the bike in the first post photo was built for one thing. I don't know what class he entered it in, so was curious about dates.

[Brian Hays]

route66, the chromoly frames were built by CW

Steve, I will email the dude that owns that bike and see what info he has.

[route66]

The blue bike above is one of Brian's 24" TRBs. I think it has 1" headset with canti mounts. These were build a few years ago (2006?) in a very small batch. I will try and get the production numbers from Brian. All of the TRBs made (26" & 24") were raw aluminium finish. The blue one was anodized blue by Pat (SE666) and has been past through a few collectors.

[Brian Hays]

I sent the current owner a pm through the other site to get some info. Maybe if Pat sees this he can elaborate.

[mrmax]

Brian Hays, on 31 July 2012 - 03:00 PM, said:

I sent the current owner a pm through the other site to get some info. Maybe if Pat sees this he can elaborate.

what else do you want to know? haha thats funny... so thats my bike currently. its a 2001 TRB threadless headset with canti mounts. thanks for noticing.

[S.Brothers]

Hey Mr. Max... basically it's just a real interesting frame set given the manufacturing provenance and that sort of thing. Very interesting history there... so that's what I was curious about.

Roc's quote spelled a lot of it out for me. But as I mentioned a couple posts up... I was curious when your bike was made. Now I know. Was it a custom one off... or are there more out there?

[mrmax]

S.Brothers, on 31 July 2012 - 05:39 PM, said:

Hey Mr. Max... basically it's just a real interesting frame set given the manufacturing provenance and that sort of thing. Very interesting history there... so that's what I was curious about.

Roc's quote spelled a lot of it out for me. But as I mentioned a couple posts up... I was curious when your bike was made. Now I know. Was it a custom one off... or are there more out there?

not a 1 off, more out there, but very low numbers. just a wild guess but i would less then 10 TRB 24s///interesting history for sure. take care!

This post has been edited by mrmax: 31 July 2012 - 11:08 PM

[route66]

Found this on the other site. 24" TRB 2004 #02 of 14 ...

http://bmxmuseum.com...ic.php?id=67565

[mrmax]

route66, on 31 July 2012 - 08:10 PM, said:

Found this on the other site. 24" TRB 2004 #02 of 14 ...

http://bmxmuseum.com...ic.php?id=67565

cool,,,but i wonder if they were heat treated?