diamond back experts needed

[motomagII]

whats this guys .seat tube angle looks really acute ?or is it a viper

[kusam]

links missing Greg

[motomagII]

doh .just got home from work heads in bits
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Diamond-Back-Frame-Forks-old-school-bmx_W0QQitemZ7230781060QQcategoryZ22677QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[danny silverstreak]

a guy ive bought a few things off in the states has a viper , he,s a nice fella, trying to deal with this Viper , hope this picture helps

[scary_leary]

Just ask him for the serial#....hard too tell without.
top seat tube welds look shitty.... i guess viper

[sam hudson]

Yeah if its got the baseball symbol its a Streak,if it starts with F and has no symbol its a viper.(i'm sure there are exceptions with the letter but the symbol is a defo).

[Nicko]

I asked the question about ther serial number and was given this 3J0368..??
so what is it, would love to get it and start my first old skool build, local to me too as im in bristol..
Nick

[sam hudson]

Did you specifically ask them if it had a baseball symbol? They might have ignored it as it wasnt a number or letter.I only really know about Streaks so if it aint got that symbol,then it aint a streak.I'm sure Vipers usually start with an F or a letter at the very least.
Scary leary is the man to ask,or try OS bmx,unfortunatly Sandy has gone now (he was King of DB's),but those guys seem to know about DBs(they were Padawans,to Sandy's Obi Wan)
Anyway,i need to stop talking crap. 

Let us know what you find out from the septics.

HL turbos serial numbers are structured as follows:3(letter)5numbers(see museum pics).

[jT Racing]

october '83. as for model? streak i reckon and it is japanese. Deffo not cro-mo rear triangle with that welding.

Ok, Not that i approve of beef  curtains site, but, http://www.vintagebmx.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=003971#000000
http://www.vintagebmx.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=019736;p=2

Might help you on your way.

[sam hudson]

The serial sounds like a streak.

streak i reckon and it is japanese. Deffo not cro-mo rear triangle with that welding.

You reckon its got a non chro mo rear triangle? That would make it a viper,streaks were ALL chromo,Vipers had the steel rear triangle.

Did they make a japanese Viper? That would explain the serial no without the baseball.i thought the Vipers were made in tiawan and therefore had F as a prefix.
The welding on my streak is excellent.If that has dodgy welds,its a Viper (or its been rewelded at some point)

[scary_leary]

The serial sounds like a streak.

streak i reckon and it is japanese. Deffo not cro-mo rear triangle with that welding.

You reckon its got a non chro mo rear triangle? That would make it a viper,streaks were ALL chromo,Vipers had the steel rear triangle.

Did they make a japanese Viper? That would explain the serial no without the baseball.i thought the Vipers were made in tiawan and therefore had F as a prefix.
The welding on my streak is excellent.If that has dodgy welds,its a Viper (or its been rewelded at some point)

No steaks are main tube cro mo, even though they have steel rears the weldings spot on.
Vipers are all hi ten steel and the welds are frightening...vipers are taiwan only.

[jT Racing]

that's just a bad photo, The welding is fine lookmat the brake bridge and bottom of triangle. Super streak, full cro-mo, streak rear high ten(if i remember right). don't vipers have chaingaurd tabs? i thought they did. it is from october '83 no matter what. that seatube angle screans streak to me.

[sam hudson]

 :o Since when have Silver Streaks  NOT been Chro mo(if that makes any sense) ? I always remember them being full chro mo and the vipers being half?
 Leary you know your stuff but im positive that the Silver streaks were all chro mo.

[greentoad]

Hi all

The US Vipers had chain guard mounts but NOT the UK version.

The easiest way to tell is by looking inside the gusset, the SS was fine but the Viper always rusted. I always thought the welds to be the same on all builds, but looking at the pic, I reckon the seat post has been welded (they always cracked) there is also not much rust, so for the monies it's well worth a gamble, seller may even have a set of pads too?

J.

[scary_leary]

No john, not all vipers have tabs…also just looking at a shite pic, u cant  tell streaks and vipers apart.
They run the same geometry.

Sam streaks are deffo only main frame cro mo..rear end steel.

When db produced the viper, streak and turbo..only turbo was all cro mo.

[danny silverstreak]

looks like scary is right , top of the class lee

[sam hudson]

We wuz lied to as kids!!!
I dont understand why DB would release two bikes of a similar spec(quality difference i suppose)?
The Viper and the Streak were out at the same time.
Ah well

[scary_leary]

to be honest..i never new about streak forks..thought they were steel..

[sam hudson]

I had a mate in 1983/4 who had a Viper.I had the Streak and i was positive about the whole chro mo thing.Now BMX Action bike is saying that the Streak is all Chr mo.
Bit of a turn up for the books that,i genuinly wanted to have a look at the review as i bought one recently and all this sillyness about 'rear ends' made me wonder if the Us spec was different from the UK spec,after all the Us crank is a three piece alloy,whereas the uk version is a one piece chro mo.
Maybe if Wolfy will be so kind as to scan the review we could cobble together a DB id page starting with the streak.That way Leary would stop being asked to id bikes all the time

[Nicko]

From what your all saying, its a streak, just had e-mail from the seller saying that it has a baseball symbol after the numbers
Nick

[sam hudson]

It means it was made in Japan NOT taiwan.Super Streaks(now im really out of my depth) were also (apparently) made in Japan and had baseballs).
Amendment: Super Streaks didnt have looptails so i'm talking out of my pooper...i did warn you

Just buy it,its nice.I'm getting a headache 
My Silver Streak bible has been re-written(possibly)

[FuNMoNsTeR]

This is most disturbing... Indeed ABMX stated in the thrash test that the DB Silver Streak is 100% 4130 Chro-mo frame and forks and 23Lbs in weight for the complete bike. That means it is 3/4 of a pound lighter on one piece cranks than the BMX action one with the 3 piece cranks. Hmmmm
 Anyway The Viper definately haschromo front tri and blob welded Hi ten steel rear tri. The weld quality change from front to rear Tri is very aparent on the Vipers...ask for a shot of the headtube welds and the seatube welds.
 

[sam hudson]

I agree about the welds,but the Streak welds look the same front and back.

[jT Racing]

the first streaks were re-stickered medium pro's according to the late Sandy. R.I.P and that is oficialy the horses mouth and therfore full cro-mo but from 83 on they were their own bike. silver streak, pacer, viper, super streak. who cares all good quality bikes. Buy it, love it, restore it. 

[sam hudson]

Thanks to Wolfybmx for these photocopies. 

I guess abmx just got it wrong  :o

i know it doesnt really matter,its just bikes but it all adds to our knowledge of bmx history i suppose.







Thanks again wolfy