mtb-timeline

Cycle Pro Bicycles

Another West Coast Cycles of Los Angeles project by Howie Cohen partnered with Kuwamara. Cycle Pro was a strong BMX brand from 1966-2013 under West Coast Cycles, which also distributed Nishiki and Norco mountain bikes, all initially made by Japanese partner Kawamura. ¹⁾

Each year's model seems to be made from a different manufacturer. There's no consistency in seat clusters or forks. However, drop outs and braze-ons are consistent, probably because they're part of the spec & design. Yet Nishiki frames remained somewhat consistent over time - so perhaps Kawamura was not the principle supplier for Cycle Pro? And many Cycle Pro ATBs had a “Handcrafted By Kawamura” sticker on their chain stays.

Cycle Pro apparently stopped importing bikes by 1988 and resumed in the late 1990's.

This pic actually comes from a Nishiki… bikeforums

Howie Cohen with Yukio Kawamura, 1964
classicjapanesebicycles

1978 Snake Belly

Cycle Pro's biggest contribution to mountain biking was the first purpose built, lightweight off road tire, the Snake Belly. The following is copied from the section on tires:

Everything changed when the Snakebelly tire, the first lightweight fat tire, and the first wide aluminum rim made by Ukai became available. Now it was possible to build an awesome mountain bike! I started building CCPROTO in 1978, designing every part from the ground up for minimum weight and maximum performance²⁾. Charlie Cunningham, from Jacqui Phelan's blog

BMX Action, Nov 1979, bmxsociety

1982 Custom 5 26

15 gears. Few, if any, Cycle Pro Custom 5's came with a front derailleur. And many didn't come with a rear derailleur. They were advertised as mountain bikes in 1982 issues of the Fat Tire Flyer. Presumably the “5” means 5 speeds. 15 would make more sense…

Fat Tire Flyer, Vol 3 No 2, March/April 1983, page 16 FTF

1982 Custom 5 bmxmuseum

1983 Ram

The bike to the right has a “Handcrafted by Kawamura” in Japan sticker. SunTour MounTech 4900 (1982-83).

The 1983 Skyline, as reviewed in Nov 1983 Bicycling mag cost $375, weighed 32 1/2 pounds, and had SunTour AG Tech front and rear.

1983 Ram gino.shop-pro.jp

1984 Skyline

1984 Skyline thecabe

1985 Oswego

Drive side detailed pics available in link. Unicrown fork and non bullmoose stem. “Oswego” is an Iroquoian appropriation used by six small towns across the US, none of which are mountainous.

1985 Oswego completecleanouts