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1982 Torker Summit

One of only four Torker Summit mountain bikes ever made in 1982. Two are known to exist. The other two belonged to original Torker owners John and Doris Johnson. John gave them away several years ago.

I know of one other Torker mountain bike frame. It belongs to a bike industry friend of mine who grew up here in OC and who said he did some testing for Torker BITD. Former Torker team member and factory employee Doug Olson confirmed Torker made a handful of these. “I remember at that time I thought they were really ugly and I guess they still are. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
TZZ in the serial number makes it from Sept. 1982—early for a production mountain bike. It has OG powder coat and stickers. One of the fork brake bosses is broken, so last owner put fake MX 1000 on it. I replaced those with some Tourneys. I hope to get the boss repaired and find another set of Mafacs. I also replaced the cheesy grips it came, the Vetta saddle with an Avocet and the beat VP pedals with KKT Lightnings.
Real Torker parts include a 6-bolt stem, sealed BB and the handlebars, which are unique as mountain bike bars go. The rear brake cable hanger off the seatclamp looks to be a custom-made piece machined from aluminum. Has Torker BMX fork dropouts and an American BB shell. Here’s the spec: Torker MTB frame and fork (BMX-size headtube, Torker BMX fork dropouts, one set of bottle braze-ons, cable braze-ons, canti-brake bosses, OG black powder coat and stickers, American BB with brazed-on cable guides, slotted rear dropouts, no derailleur hanger, one fork canti boss on is broken)
Torker 6-bolt stem
Torker sealed BB
Torker MTB handlebars
Tange headset
Suntour Indexing thumb shifters
Chang Star brake levers
Mafac rear canti brakes
Shimano Tourney front brake
Sugino AT cranks
Suntour Mountech front derailleur
Suntour ARX rear derailleur
Suntour 6-speed freewheel
Suntour quick releasr seatclamp
Steel seatpost
Avocet padded saddle
A'me grips
Ambrossio Durex rims with Galli hubs

haro, indiana · 2008-10-21 7:52pm

Very rare indeed --thanks for sharing

King of Pipeline · 2008-10-22 3:32pm

yeah,, It's Torker.. no wonder they were not produced.. They are ugly.. LOL..

PlanetX · 2008-10-22 5:31pm

Yep. But not much worse than the other mountain bikes made at that time.

It's a sweet bike for running errands.

momo_torker · 2008-10-25 2:29am

For the most part I do not like seeing MTN bikes in here, but this is special

PlanetX · 2008-10-25 12:02pm

Thanks. I agree. After it was initially rejected, I had to plead my case to get it in.

Very few made. Even fewer exist. And it was super early as far as production MTBs go. I'm not sure they were ever really more than prototypes. Torker may have been the first BMX company to dabble in production MTBs. I know GT was in there early, too, but 1982? Plus, it came with BMX parts like the stem, BB, fork drop outs and BB shell.

It's ugly, but very cool, I think. A nice 'round the neighborhood cruiser and errand bike.