Tioga Rhino Restoration:
Back in 1980s, before I rode horses, I raced BMX bikes (I even won a few races!). That’s a picture of me back then. Last summer my father turned up with my bike, looking a little sorry for itself.
This was a custom built bike, that I had built up over time using all the cash from my Saturday jobs washing cars, working in a green grocers, and my least favourite, making sausages in an old fashioned butchers shop - yuk! (but it paid well)
My parents had bought me a Raleigh Burner, and I still remember going to the BMX shop to buy this Tioga Rhino frame and forks, and racing home to pull apart my Burner and build my new bike. Every few weeks I’d buy a new part to replace the old burner parts which were generally inferior and heavy. The last remaining parts of the burner were the brake callipers and the one-piece crank.
Tioga is essentially a design and marketing business. They sold several BMX parts that were made by Japanese & Asian manufacturers, everything from tyres to cranks. In the early 80s they started the Rhino project, and commissioned Tange to make frames and forks that they would market as the Tioga Rhino (three models in total). As far as I know they never sold a complete bike, just most of the parts to put one together. These frames were renowned for being strong and light using a specially blended steel alloy, and having double butted tubes.
All my friends were buying PK Rippers, Haro Freestylers, Hutch, or GT bikes. I couldn’t afford any of those, and wanted something a little different. The Tioga Rhino has a distinctly different double gusset with a love heart, and I loved it. Tange also sold the same (or very similar frame) as a “Tange Hot Heart”.
I was never really any good at freestyle, despite spending most of my spare time down the local skatepark, I remember going to the enormous Romford Skatepark on the tube (London Underground) a few times too.
Racing BMX was a whole other story, and I took to it like a duck to water, and came second in my first ever race. I remember cycling to a few of them myself, and even raced indoors a few times, at Earls Court I think.
This last December I decided to clean up the bike and restore it. After years of being stored in damp conditions the chrome had ‘blown’. I did consider re-chroming it, but decided, for now, to clean up the surface rust and have it powder coated in Green (the Tioga Colours are Green & Blue).
I’ve spent a little more on it than I intended to, but couldn’t resist buying Redline Flight Cranks to reduce weight and Skyway wheels to save the near perfect Araya racing rims from everyday wear and tear. With my racing set up this now weighs little more than a pound over the modern day race bikes that use aluminium and carbon fibre, and can be seen on the Olympic circuit.
The restoration has been a labour of love, having stripped every single part down to the bear components, cleaning, degreasing, and re-greasing.
I’m now in two minds as to whether to sell it or keep it. It deserves to be ridden, not hung on a wall. If I still have it come the Spring, I may be tempted to enter a vetrans’ race!
If nothing else it’s been fun rebuilding it, and I hope it brings someone plenty of joy. I still think it’s one of the coolest BMXs ever made.