I have this Rhino Axeblade...very little info out there on them. I know they were Tange made for Rhino...but that's about it
Can anyone shed some light on this frame? Decal design, history, factory riders who rode them?
Any help would be fantastic.

Cheers, Mick

Here's some pics...

Hi Mick where have i seen this before

LOL Noel....I knew u would say that!

Post some pics of your Axeblade!

So....anyone in the USA know any info on these frames?

Surely u guys in the USA know something about this frame?

Hi Mick,

I had me one of those Rhino III's back in '83. Never knew it was called an axeblade, but I see why you call it that. I bought a dark blue frame & fork set from a local shop. The forks were standard TRX and had decals were like this:



I believe that these frames are the same as the other Rhino III's you see except for the gusset. There were ads for the Rhino's around '83 in BMX Action with Tommy Christopher as a Tioga pro as I recall.

Thanks heaps for that info mate!
I wasnt sure if they ran those Rhino III decals or something different.
Do u have a pic or scan of that Tioga Ad with Tommy Christopher?
Would love to see it.

I swapped a torker long for a bent one of those BITD, dumbest thing I ever did. it was dark blue, looked awesome and rode around corners great

Here's a pic of the Flying Rhino...I've never seen decals like this before?
(from a Kashimax Advert in BMXA)

Well mine definitely had the decal set.

Here's the ad:



Let me know if you want a hi-res copy of it.

Cant imagine the axeblade having the same decals though..??

are there any ads of those..

I've been looking for a frame with those "Flying Rhino" decals since I started collecting almost 10 years ago. I've never seen one. It's become my unicorn.

PM sent JohnnyRingo

I also have this Tange made "National". Similar gusset but no fluting on the down tube & top tube.
Also the rear dropouts arent the Kuwahara style.






Here it is in the original set up...(thanks to Waz for the pic)

Hey Matt,

I've never seen an ad for an axeblade, in fact it's rare to even find a picture of one in any of the mags. When I bought mine from the local bike shop, they also had a chrome one with the Kuwahara style gussets which a friend of mine bought. And from memory the frames were identical except for the color and the gussets. They had the same decal set.

Simon.

Found this at BMXmuseum.com. This has a different decal set again and I'm not sure what kind of forks they are. The Rhino's I've seen all had TRX forks.



Also found the following info:

'' Flying Rhino'' 20' Race bike New Design concept BMX Bike For Kuwahara, Tange ,Tioga.

1979/1980 Tange Aero dynamics & Tioga joinded forces with Kuwahara as sister co's. To Re design the on going problems with the KE/KE-1 Modle. ''KUWAHARA'' was having a lot of problems with the 4 hole single Gusset cracking on the KE/KE-1 Modle.Tange Aero dynamics & Tioga made a lighter stronger frame with a Double 4 hole Gusset with the KE/KE-1 design in mind. And they put a twist on ever thing using Chromium MolyBoenum Steel for strength.They fluted the top/Down tub's and they made the tubes leading to the drop out's & center down tub ''oval'' some what calling this ''co-mo Butted tubing. They kept the ''Kuwahara'' Drop out's with the 3 hole design.Calling the new bike a ''Rhino 3 ''the name Rhino for strength. The 3 in the name signifed Kuwahara,Tange,tioga.All 3 technology's applied. All in all the bike came out great. But after time Kuwahara went with a new modle in turn this brought kuwahara in to the KZ/KZ-1 modles. The Flying Rhino is a True Museum Piece. This bike layed the ground work for KUWAHARA and gave them inspiration to go forward with Tange to the KZ/KZ-1 modles & many other co's in the BMX world.Took a good hard look at the Technology kuwahara & Tange were using at the time..... It's Truly one of a kind...... BMX Bike....

great info Simon
they truly are a rare bike and a beautiful one at that..
I will post up a pic of Noels bikes from the Melbourne gathering late last year..
Matt

Awesome Simon!! Thanks for that info mate.
Where did u find that info?
Cheers for the email too.

http://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/kuwaharatangetioga/437/1

I have one hanging on my wall that I bought from bike world back in 1983 . Raced a chrome one then a black one bitd . This was my favorite 20in frame from the old school bikes . If someone ever wants to part with a rhino II or III let me know .

Any chance u could post some pics up of the frame mate?

Simon - thanks for your email...will be great to see that article in BMX Plus