Since 1976 — 50 Years of Torker Racing
Since 1976
Fifty years of Torker BMX. World championships. Freestyle firsts. American racing heritage built on American soil.
Founded in Fullerton, California
Steve Johnson and John Johnson launch Torker in Fullerton, CA. The first Torker MX frame is built for the American BMX racing circuit — a sport that is still finding its rules and its identity. The Johnson brothers are building bikes before there is a rulebook.
Source: BMXmuseum.com — Torker brand historyThe LP — Low Profile Frame
Torker introduces the LP (Low Profile) — a purpose-built race frame with a lower bottom bracket height and refined geometry for the competitive circuit. The LP becomes the platform that carries Torker to the top of the sport. Riders win on it across the country.
Source: BMXmuseum.com — Torker LP model recordsABA National Number One Team
The Torker factory team claims the ABA National Number One Team title — the top ranking in American BMX racing. This is the proving ground. Every frame is tested at the national level before it is offered to the public.
Source: BMXmuseum.com — 1979 ABA season recordsClint Miller — First IBMXF World Pro Champion
Torker rider Clint Miller wins the inaugural IBMXF World Pro Championship — the first BMX world title ever contested. He wins it on a Torker LP. No other frame can say it was on the bike when BMX crowned its first world champion. That race happened once. Torker was there.
Source: BMXmuseum.com — 1980 IBMXF World Championships, Clint Miller pro class resultsThe World’s First Freestyle BMX Frame — Built by Torker
Bob Haro approaches Torker with a new idea: a frame built specifically for freestyle riding. Torker manufactures the Haro Freestyler — the world’s first purpose-built freestyle BMX frame. Freestyle BMX as a discipline is born on a frame that came out of the Torker factory. That is not marketing copy. That is the historical record.
Source: BMXmuseum.com — Haro Freestyler 1982 model documentation; Bob Haro freestyle BMX historyThe Freestylist — First Production Freestyle Frame with Gyro Tabs
Designer Martin Aparijo creates the Torker Freestylist — the first production freestyle frame built with gyro tab provisions for cable routing. Only 25 frames are built, serial range TF1001–TF1025. Eddie Fiola and other top freestyle pros ride it. In November 1984, Torker files for bankruptcy. The Fullerton era ends — but the design legacy it leaves is permanent.
Source: BMXmuseum.com — 1984 Torker Freestylist model recordsThe Tioga Era
The brand continues under Tioga ownership. Torker bikes are sold through the distribution network while the sport grows through the late 1980s boom.
The SBS Era
Torker transitions to SBS ownership and continues as a distributed brand through the 1990s and into the early 2000s. The name carries on. The original Fullerton DNA stays in the steel.
Hiatus
The Torker name goes quiet for two decades. The trademark eventually lapses. The bikes live on in garages, storage units, and BMXmuseum.com listings — collected, restored, documented by people who never forgot what the brand meant.
Bill Ryan Brings Torker Home
Bill Ryan — founder of Supercross BMX, 45 years in the sport — acquires the Torker trademark and relaunches the brand from Apple Valley, CA. Not a corporation. Not a private equity roll-up. A rider who knows the history, respects what the Johnson brothers built, and intends to carry it forward at the same family scale it started at.
50th Anniversary — The Story Continues
Fifty years after Steve and John Johnson built the first MX frame in Fullerton, Torker is back with the MX26, MX29, and the 50-Year Anniversary Big Bike. On May 1, 2026 — the best Torker sales day in three years — the drop sells out in hours. The 1979 ABA #1 Team colors are back in production. Clint Miller’s LP race geometry lives on in every big-wheel frame that ships from Apple Valley. The heritage is not a marketing theme. It is the product.
50 Years of Racing. Shop the Heritage Line.
MX26. MX29. Diesel. Freestylist. LP. Every frame is a direct line back to the Fullerton factory floor.
What does “Since 1976” mean for Torker?
Torker was founded in 1976 by Steve and John Johnson in Fullerton, California — the same year as the American Bicentennial and three years before the ABA began keeping national team standings. The brand competed at the highest levels of American BMX racing from its first year of existence.
When did Torker win its first world championship?
1980. Torker rider Clint Miller won the inaugural IBMXF World Pro Championship — the first BMX world title ever awarded. He rode a Torker LP. No other BMX brand can claim the bike that was on the track when the sport crowned its first world champion.
Who founded Torker BMX?
Steve Johnson and John Johnson founded Torker in Fullerton, California in 1976. The current owner is Bill Ryan — founder of Supercross BMX, 45 years in the sport — who acquired the Torker trademark in 2023 and relaunched the brand from Apple Valley, CA.
Did Torker really build the first freestyle BMX frame?
Yes. In 1982, Torker manufactured the Haro Freestyler for Bob Haro — the world’s first purpose-built freestyle BMX frame, documented on BMXmuseum.com. In 1984, Torker followed with the Freestylist — the first production freestyle frame with gyro tab provisions, designed by Martin Aparijo. Only 25 were built.
Is Torker still making bikes today?
Yes. Torker was relaunched in 2023 and currently produces the MX26, MX29, Diesel, Freestylist, LP, LP-F, PRO-X, Barbarian-2, EK 20 GEN II, and the 2026 50th Anniversary Big Bike. All available at torkerracing.com.
How does Torker compare to Race Inc., SE Bikes, or Mongoose on heritage?
Torker dates to 1976 — the same year as Race Inc. — and can document Clint Miller winning the first IBMXF World Pro Championship in 1980 on a Torker LP, plus manufacturing the world’s first freestyle BMX frame in 1982. It is the only brand that can trace an unbroken line from the world’s first BMX world championship to the world’s first freestyle frame to a current production line.