Were they the same company? What's the story on these seemingly indenticle looking stems?

tuff neck made by superbyke, pro neck different co. tuff neck made a pro model.

issue 4 of bmx action cover in 1977:
"Product analysis : the Superbyke Tuf Neck."

Tuf Necks go back to 1977! D amn! I had no idea. I thought 1978.

first public appearance in 1977?

Heres the text of the sidebar in the December '80 BMXA which asks the same question...

"PRO-NECK AND TUF-NECK: AN IDENTITY CONFLICT

Two identical stems: the Pro-Neck and the Tuf-Neck Pro-Model. They both even use animals with studded collars in their logos. But they are manufactured by totally different companies.
Pretty confusing, hey?
This sidebar is a careful, hopefully objective, short history of how this came to be. Oversimplified, of course.
First there was Bakton Enterprises, the original designer and manufacturer of the original Tuf-Neck stem.
Then came a company called Superbyke which, in addition to its own products, purchased Tuf-Neck stems from Bakton Enterprises and marketed and distributed them.
But SUperbyke's management was not exactly clickin', and the company went down the tubes.
Whereupon one of the investors in Superbyke formed a new company and made arrangements with Bakton to purchase, market, and distribute Tuf-Neck stems. This new company was called Tuf-Neck, Inc.
Are you with us so far? This is where the plot thickens.
All this was cool until the defunct Superbyke company was purchased.
At this point the new owner began marketing and distributing an identical Tuf-Neck stem - not manufactured by Bakton - along with their other products.
This, of course, created a multitude of identity problems what with two companies advertising and distributing identical stems with identical names but manufactured by different companies.
So Tuf-Neck, Inc and Bakton Enterprises changed the design of their stem by radiusing the corners, and changed the name of the stem to Pro-Neck.
At this point the situation was thus: The Pro-Neck was distributed by Tuf-Neck, Inc., and the Tuf-Neck was distributed by Superbyke. Which wouldn't do at all. So Tuf-Neck, Inc. changed its name to Pro-Neck, Inc. and the identity conflict eased somewhat.
Until Superbyke came out with a newer version of the Tuf-Neck - with radiused corners, called the Pro-model Tuf-Neck.
Ah...what terrible tangled webs we weave. - Bob Osborn"

pro necks - are about 2mm smaller then the tuf neck --- if you try and swap caps, you'll quickly realize it --- narrower body and the stem cap hole distances are as well (maybe early on the were closer in specs, but most you will happen upon are smaller in size)

by smaller i meant narrower --- the lengths 'are' the same

that's wild. thanks for sharing!

Geez... that gave me a headache!

However - I am a big fan of all their stuff from BITD... both companies!

Holy crap! Man, that was a history lesson indeed. Thanks for all the info.

Mike

Finally an answer to a question I've always had. Thanks!!

about 1994 or 1995 I called up superbyke after seeing a bunch of beach cruisers in a bike shop new with tuf necks on them. gold if I remember correctly. {or maybe they told me they phazed out gold, can't remember} and they were still making them for beach cruisers. I think you could still get new tuf necks from superbyke up until about 1996 or so. I spoke with them on the phone. I think they are long gone now.

we were still selling tuf-necks in the late-ish '90s. they did other cycling accessories, too...racks and waterbottle cages, etc, under the Superbyke name. they also were doing contract work for other companies. a lot of the nicer USA-made GT parts were done by Superbyke.

indeed they are gone, now.

[ March 15, 2007, 12:13 AM: Message edited by: mr coasterbrake ]

hm...very interesting, Kurt. Thanks for typing that in.

I had accepted the other explanation that has gotten a fair bit of mileage, about some kind of family split that resulted in the two companies.

i can't believe i never knew all that. thanks for the lesson.

that was almost painful...

so, I was seeing brand new skyway T/A frames around 1994-96 as well, that's when they found that big stash at the skyway warehouse. So, you could go to a bike shop and get a NOS skyway frame and a tuf neck in 1994 or so. And bullseye stuff was still around. And araya 7X's. In 1996, you could pretty much round up parts for an old school build fairly easily. Just ten short years ago.

hmmm... very interesting read.

So, by sometime in 1980 all pro- and tuf-necks had round corners (??). OR, was Tuf-neck (Superbyke) making both the rounded "pro-models" along side the standard square models at the same time. If so, when did they cease with square corners all together?

What is the difference between the "PRO NECK" and the "PRO NECK II"

What's the story behind the "Tuf-Neck 2000"

Were both companies making "Mini/Jr" stems?

bump for a good history lesson.

so is the National Pro frame a product of "Pro-Neck Inc? Didnt they brach into frames from the stems??

yes, the National Pro was a Pro Neck product. made for them by VDC.

This post jarred my memory.. I still have a blue upside down model (cruiser) in one of my parts bine.. If you really want it for a project contact me..

so if i have a square stem stamped the words pro neck its a ...what ?
what year did they round the edges i also have a round corner stem stamped the words pro neck.
sorry man im lost
dion

YEAH , I just found this thread and am wondering myself. I have a Square corner PRO NECK. When were those made ?

Not sure if this was covered yet but I believe the pro neck used a different wedge bolt design that the tuf neck.Tuf neck was squared off, the pro neck wasn't.

I was told the owner of pro neck was the son of the owner of tuf neck... I have a picture of a stem I owned in the bag.

it said T-N Neck


Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

YES !! thats the stem I have !! when did that model come out ?

Then my next questions is , I always thought the square corners were the 1st style. So when did they make the stamp with the Bull Dog ? I only have seen those with rounded corners. was it stamped PRO NECK with square corners then go to rounded corners and changed to the Dog Face logo and back to no dog logo ???

It runs in my mind (and in lore) that there was a family tie in the above story as well. Which of course, Oz may have chosen to omit the family nature of it, and stick to company names when he wrote it.

That article doesn't give the why's and who's of the companies. And omitting that so and so's son in law was a jerk wad, and started another company (or whatever) would have been PC, and wouldn't have been included there. I think Oz's blanket disclaimer that says "This version is the Over-simplified version" gives credence to "there being more to the story" views.

But it sure does show why it is so difficult to understand the whole mess with the conflicting names and products.

It hurts my brain every time I read that...

Scot "OM" told me they were Father/Son and the one I had was made in the "TRANSITION" period...

Pro neck was owned by a Mr. Scurto, I don't remember his 1st name He had 2 sons that raced, Will Scurto and Mike Scurto.

Mike Scurto Senior was the owner.
His sons were Will and Mike.
Will was born around 66'. Mike around 71'.
Heard Will ran it when his father became ill and
still ran it for years after Mike Senior passed