Skull Cruiser Culture

Nelly is a professional photographer based in Glasgow, Scotland. Apart from snapping, his twin passions are skateboarding and messing about with old bikes. His Skull Skates cruiser is the first bike he has built up from scratch.

The Takagi Tourney cranks, GT Mohawk hubs, Profile stem, Odyssey Triple Trap pedals and Odyssey Dynatron headset are all NOS. The 2010 Skull Skates frameset was completed with DMR Wonder Cups to convert the BB, modern MT19 rims, Fly Mike Day Cruiser bars, Brooks B67 saddle and a Diacompe V brake & Diatech lever.

additional photo 1

Toby is a master frame builder, fabricator and founder of The Cycle Works in East Vancouver. Toby built all the handmade Skull Skates 20” and 24” BMX framesets and also the original hand built 26” Skull Skates cruisers. His bike is a Skull frame set (no stickers, Toby hates logos), which he built with an Ideal leather saddle, custom laid back post, Formula sealed hubs, Rhino Lite rims, Maxxis Hookworm tires and ACS freewheel. “I can’t get the logos off those Maxxis tires … grumble, grumble”

additional photo 1

Jenn is a professional photographer and mother of two, who works and lives in East Vancouver. Jenn’s Skull cruiser is a hand built, one of a kind candy apple metallic red frame with black forks. Her bike is built for comfort and style with a Tuf Neck style stem, GT double seat clamp, DX style pedals, Tange headset, Skull Skates cruiser handlebars, front canti brakes, rear V brakes and a Sefaras seat found lying around the Cycle Works shop.

additional photo 1

Bob is a mechanic at Ride-On bike shop in Vancouver and downplays the fact that his is a ripping BMX rider with several previous sponsors. Bob took the Norco built Ltd. Edition Chromoly frameset and stripped it of its paint for the raw look. Bob then dialed in his ride from scratch using GT Rhythm hubs, Rhino Lite rims, GT 3 piece tubular cranks, Redline cruiser bars, TNT stem, Brooks B17 saddle, Avid brakes, Kooka levers, Mavic headset and Nokia all weather slick tires, which his BMX buddies teased him about due to the fancy engraved tread design.

additional photo 1

Don is founder as well as chief cook and bottle washer of the Ride-On bike shops in Vancouver. Like most self-employed people, Don is too busy for his own good and as a result his bike, shown here, is incomplete without a crankset. Starting with a hand built Skull cruiser frame, Don added a white Tuf Neck stem, Skull cruiser bars, Suzue sealed bearing hubs, Araya 7X rims and a Pit Bull Roller Cam brake. Don is currently having some custom white powder coating done on the Araya 7 X rims and the Skull Skates Cruiser bars, preparing for dialed upgrades – coming soon.

additional photo 1

Lisafer works in graphic production, design and administration at the Skull Skates mega corp. Lisa’s Skull cruiser is set-up from a hand built white frame, of which only 4 exist worldwide. The component group on Lisa’s bike consists of gold anodized Avocet sealed bearing BMX hubs, DT stainless steel spokes, Araya 7X rims, Schwaldbe Returner tires, DIA Compe canti brakes, Skull cruiser bars, Oury Pyramid grips, Brooks B73 Honey saddle and a compass ding bell. “I love my bike”.

additional photo 1

Ryan is a skateboarder, skimboarder and computer guru who lives on the Westside of Vancouver. Ryan’s bike is built from a white hand built Skull Cruiser frame with Rhino Lite rims, Bullseye hubs, Panaracer tires, Chris King headset, Profile inverted cruiser stem, Skull cruiser bars, Primo grips, Paul brake lever, Paul Moto Lite linear pull brake, Profile 3 piece crank, White Industries freewheel, Macneil chainwheel and Brooks B66 saddle. A stickler for detail and quality, Ryan spared no expense on this custom build. “The N.O.S. Bullseye hubs, I always wanted a set of those on my 20” BMX when I was a kid”.

additional photo 123

Brenda works with computer software as a trainer, is a mother of two and lives on the Westside of Vancouver. Brenda’s Skull cruiser is a hand built frame in powder coated black assembled using a Tuf Neck stem, Wald Steer Horn bars with added MX crossbar, Primo hubs, Rhino Lite rims, Chen Shing balloon tires, Macneil chainwheel and a Brooks leather saddle. Including Brenda’s husband, Ryan’s bike, there are two skull cruisers in the Lee family … his and hers, awww – love is great.

additional photo 1

Trevor is a sponsored skateboarder and head mechanic at Super Champion bike ship in Vancouver. Trevor’s Skull cruiser is built from a Norco made prototype frameset and is likely the most unique build we’ve seen. This bike is assembled using 700c hand polished Velocity DV rims, Suntour Superb Pro High Flange track hubs (crow foot laced front wheel & radial / 2 cross laced rear wheel), Schwalbe Cyclocross tires, early 60’s Campangolo Strata cranks and Trevor’s personal favorite component – a Wipperman 1G8 Connex chain. This bike has no brakes, a fixed cog and custom cut down Skull cruiser bars.

additional photo 1

Vince is a graphic designer and director of Sandinista Limited, based in Vancouver. Vince’s custom build starts with a hand built Skull cruiser frameset serial #10, he then added GT Mohawk hubs, Rhino Lite rims, Takagi 1 piece chromo cranks, Tange sealed cartridge bottom bracket and KKT lightening pedals. Vince is especially stoked on the smooth and solid feel of the drive train, which is functional in its simplicity. “This is the best all around bike ever, anyone can ride it and it’s so smooth”.

additional photo 1

P.D. is the flounder of the Skull Skates mega corp. as well as an avid skateboarder, skimboarder and cycle rider. PD’s bike is built from the ground up starting with a one of a kind chrome plated hand built Skull Skates cruiser frame. The component list includes Weinmann concave rims, D.T. stainless spokes, Maillard front hub, Suntour sealed bearing rear hub, front canti lever adaptor, DIA Compe cantilever brakes, Tuf Neck pro model stem and Tuf Neck seat clamp. Special thanks to Toby’s Cycle Works who presented Skull Skates with this unique frameset in recognition of the Skull Skates 25th anniversary.

additional photo 1

Pat Dolan is a resident of Gilroy, which is located in Northern California. He started with a Norco built Skull Skates frame, fork and handle bar set #30 of 100 and custom built it using the following components: Helix no logo Tuf Neck, NOS Tuf seat clamp, NOS 26 x 1.5 Arayas, TNT Derranger sealed hubs, DT Stainless Spokes, Double Pinch Redline Flights, Syncros pedals

Tektro brakes, Peregrine lay back post, Tioga City Slickers 1.5", White Industries 17T free wheel, 44T Redline Flight front sprocket, Skull Bars and Tioga MX 2 headset.

"This bike rips and I have been riding it pretty hard. I call it my work commuter bike. It really carves up the pavement."

additional photo 1