A friend of mine needs this DB I.D.'ed.

It is a DB loop-tail..He thinks the forks might not be correct. The serial# is 2X0657.

He also needs to know the year, model, and what stickers belong on it...

Thanks!

Stephen
RL-20II Guy

Does it have a baseball symbol at the end of the serial number? If it does, it may well be a Silver Streak or a Medium-Pro. The forks are definately not DB.

ditto to beaner!good call on the frame.
The forks look to be the schwinn predator fork.

Yes, the baseball symble is with the serial number.

CW has a fork like that too....

Stephen

My guess is an 82 Silver Streak.

I was thinking Tange, or Akisu copies on the forks.. but what do I know?

I say a Silver Streak because there are a ton out there, (more than the Medium-Pro) and the baseball symbol marks it as a frame made in Japan (like the Silver Streak and Medium-Pro) if it was a Taiwan Viper there'd be no baseball.

Is there any info in the serial #'s I'd like to find out more about mine also.


*HK*

As far as the serial numbers go, I think Sandy Finkleman explained that the first number is the last digit of the year it was made, I think the letter is the batch and then the number(s) that follow denote the frame number built so for example, my DB Turbo is 4E0095baseball, so the 4 makes it a 1984 model, the E is the batch and it was the 95th Turbo frame made that year, the "baseball" mark is some kind of Japanese industry stamp, so if your frame/fork doesn't have this, its probably a Taiwan model.

also I believe the viper had a chaingaurd tab

The early Vipers didn't have a chainguard tabs, those came a little later, but you are correct most of the Vipers we see have those unsightly chainguard tabs, as do the later DB freestyle bikes.

Here's your decals:
ebay auction

Bad news is that the head tube decal is wrong and it only comes with one fork decal (why, I do not know), but since your forks aren't DB, you don't need it anyway.

How long is the top tube?

Here is his Chris's reply...

The front of the head-tube to the point where the top-tube meets the seat-stay is 19 1/2 inches.

I think this bike is medium pro (hopefully) it shares almost the same geometry as my Boss Team-Series.

Hey thanks for the info.

My silver streak is an 83'


*HK*

You guy's just cornfused the hell outa me...I bought what I was told a db viper......but the decals you show for the silver streak are the same ones on this bike.......

What Frazer helped me with was the stickers that were available to me ..The stickers that he picked would be close enough for my rider, if this was a full on resto I would have to find a set that might be impossible to find. I'm not speaking for him, this is just my general understanding. There should be a section to ID the harder to identify brands/models as I'm sure there is tons of info on here, in here. I can only help with the 1984 models..Turbo- identified by the color, Formula one-has rear triangle(no loop-tail), Pacer 500- loop-tail without chain-guard tab, Viper- loop-tail with chain-guard tab..my other D/Back has a serial #f4044828, with triangle rear, so I'm guessing formula one for me..Hope this helps, Chris

The Super Streak was a non-looptail frame too, the Pacer 500 can be identified by the 500 stamped on the dropout and sometimes the bottom bracket? Some of the Pacers came with chainguard tabs.

Chris, does your non-looptail DB have a baseball looking symbol at the end of the serial number?

No baseball symbol on that one..The serial number was on the bottom of the bottom bracket. There is no other markings(500). And it is the small gusset version. Thanks for asking Ramon, Chris

i picked up a db viper today and need to know the year. the # is F3091253 on the bottom bracket w/no baseball. has the chain guard tabs and a 18" top tube. some info would be great. thanks, tommy

Chris, if there's no baseball that means those frames were made in Taiwan, so you may have a non-looptail Super Viper. Tommy, I have to check with a person directly involved with DB back in the 80's to decipher the Taiwan frame serial numbers, I know how to I.D. years on the Japanese made one's (baseball symbol) but not the Taiwan versions.

Tommy, yours is a loop-tail? If yes could someone step up and put me in my place. The serial #'s that start with a #(2 for me on my other bike), that number would be the year. So I have one 1982, the other starts with a letter then #'s(F4044828) my guess would be 1984 for that one. If that theory holds yours would be 1983. Anyone help us?? Chris

beaner- it is a taiwan make and have a sticker to prove it(its at the b/b)
cat- it is a loop-tail and black if that means anything. swwet bike , looks like its been stored inside-has 0 rust. tommy

Tommy, would be great to see that puppy, not too many DB's Turbo, Silver Streak, Viper, 500 or otherwise that survived intact. Is it all original? I would love to see a picture of that! A black looptail Viper, that is great, does it have a snake on the head tube with DIAMOND BACK, or does it say VIPER over the snake?

Ramon, Super Viper that would be cool...Tommy can you get a pic? Chris

hey guys, just got home. my camera is in disney world. i can try to post a pic thursday or friday. i dont think its a super viper but that would be sweet! it had the chain guard and kickstand, but i took those off (hard to be cool with those parts). the head tube decal has silver prisim, gray snake and says viper. tommy

Tommy, you have a Viper, was the kickstand bolted on to the rear axle or at the back of the bottom bracket?

the kickstand is behind the b/b.

Anyone feel like doing another? Chrome plated DB looptail, 18"toptube, no tabs, w/wh 'Diamondback' Blu background on prism stickers, TT clean, seat tube sticker same colors w/'Chromoly' horizontal, DB vertical, headstock DB w/snake on Blu prism. Ser#1G0783 w/baseball. Blu stem, DB w/Sugino, stamped,seatpost(ribbed alum),seat clamp,Diacomp rear brake,DBcaged pedals(riveted blu cages),Sugino chainring, and chrome spider. Blu bite side Arayas 20X 1.75 and Suzue hubs. All alum stuff is blu, kinda washed out. Crank looks generic. Rest original? Model? Date, I assume from above is '81. Al

Al, you have a DB pro-kit from 1981, pretty nice bike and the parts are probably all original. They offered them in several versions between 80-81, one chrome with the parts you mentioned, and a blue or red f/f with gold parts.

Ramon, thx for reply. Unfortuneately, forks dont match. Junk! I' got another set on an unk frame, w/prism.blk decal one side only. Dropouts have enlargement for safety washers. Anyway to date them?

Tommy, I wish I'd have known you wanted a pic last night, I could have hooked you up. Bring it back over on Thursday evening and I can get a pic or three of it.

(I would do it tonight, but I won't be around until late, if you want to come by around 9pm, that would be cool, just call first to make sure I'm home.. don't want you to waste a trip)

Later bud

What I find completely weird, is that I've had three 84 DB's recently, and all began with F4, none had chainguard tabs. (one was a Viper, one a Pacer 500, and one a Silver Streak, or super streak, whatever they are called.. had diamond cut outs in the rear drop outs)

It doesn't make sense to me that '83 versions had chainguard tabs welded on, but '84's don't.
Maybe since that is when they first went to Taiwan ('83) they put those on there, but then after getting feedback from the states, they were instructed to knock-it-off with the chainguard tabs.. ??

83: chain guard tabs (bad) + Large gusset(good)
84: no chain guard tabs (good) + small gusset(bad)

I just don't get that part. they should have kept the larger gusset, but I guess they were trying to compete with the mongoose cali's.

From what Sandy told me, the smaller gusset was to reduce weight, soon they just did away with it all together. Seems that the Taiwan model serials all started with F4...

Except Tommy's starts with F3, and has the number on the BB.

OK maybe they all started with "F"

Ramon, recently JamalSpelling had an auction for a formula one frame..The rear brake bridge was flat, mine on the "Super-Viper" (hopefully) is the round style. Do you know what kind of brake bridge is on the super Viper? That would help me, and I guess we are back to square one on year I.D.?? Thanks for your responses Ramon, Chris

So, what's a '500'? I've got one, Ser# starts 'F4..',has chainguard tab, chainstays weld to BB, red/blk Diamondback/DB decals w/wh DB cromo decal on seat post. Small gusset. '500' stamped on rear dropout. Unmarked steel 'araya'lookalike' rims w/'kk'steel hubs. Mid level box streetbike? Al

Al the Pacer 500 was basically a Taiwan Silver Streak with a different name, according to Sandy Finkelman it was a marketing disaster and was soon scrapped in favor of the "Super Streak".

You have a picture for me?

Thanks,

Ramon

[ March 31, 2005, 10:11 PM: Message edited by: Ramon a.k.a Beaner ]

Looks like a nice little 'nostalgia' street cruiser. My kids for some reason are hung up on looptails. Can spot one at a hundred yards and they're only 10. Shine it up and 'let em ride'. Sent you an email. Wifes computer is whako, and mine's too slow to send pics. Goin to Austin to race for the weekend, try Monday, but keep an eye out for emails, gonna try and con her into workin on it tomorrow. Got time, call me. Be sittin here til midnight! Al

i got a db that my uncle just gave me and id like to know what model, year it is, here is the serial # T2E1819 there is no other #'s on the bike. on the forks there is a rh on the inside of it but i think its just for identification of which side it is, is that original forks. has the kmc chain, has two stickers, one one the seat post tube on the frame. triangle with a red outline and a coiled up snake with a rattler and says diamond back, and the other is on the head part that the fork goes in. its all faded other than the red outline around the circle sticker. has a one piace crank and a two piece sugino chainwheel. and golden caged pedals with hearts on the ends. the and the weld in support deals that are welded between the top tube and the bottem tube has a cirlce instead of a diamond. and there one on each side. thanx everybody

well i just started to strip the bike down and the forks are red line. dont know much more than that but ill keep up the updates.

So I'm new to this dating thing, maybe someone can verify a frame for me. I have a loop tail, large gussets, no chainguard tabs, and has a faded headtube sticker with a coiled snake- the word DB in red and a red outline. The serial # is on the rear dropout and is 1G0475 and has the baseball after that. So do I have an '81 Japanese Silverstreak, the 475th built?

You have an 81 and 475th built but, depending on the seat and head tube angles, you may have a Senior Pro or a Medium Pro as the Silver Streak had Black/Silver decals.

The frame had neither when I got it. I found a NOS, never mounted fork that has the blue diamonds on prism backround. I know thats no help for the frame, but what would be the final indicator of which frame it is? Top tube length....? something else? I believe the head and seat tube are the same angle.....any help?

[ April 25, 2005, 04:57 PM: Message edited by: itbracer54 ]

According to Sandy, the best indicator is the Serial Number. itbracer54, you probably have a Senior pro, a picture would help...

I'll do what I can to post one tomorrow, thanks for the help so far. How popular was this Senior pro? Its been since these bikes came out that I had been into them and just now getting back into it. I'd don't remember the name Senoir Pro. Was it just the predecessor to the Silver Streak?

The Senior Pro was the predecessor to the Harry Leary Turbo. It was used by the larger/older DB team riders.

Hmmm. So did it come down to the stickers or am I mistaken that the Silverstreak either didn't have the diamond gusett or had the smaller ones? Mine has the large.

The Silver Streak had the Large Gusset.

Well I have pics as promissed, but don't know how to get them on here. The only thing I can find needs a url. My pics are on my computer not a server.