Andrew C. from Australia’s skatebike restoration is done. Here are Andrew’s comments on the restoration.

Well the re-build is complete and I have been out on the street riding my Skate Bike and reliving memories from many years ago. Of course I am much older and bigger now plus I rarely ride even a normal push bike but was still able to do a couple of laps of the street.

I will visit the local skate shop at some stage to replace the bushes as the ones that came with the truck are too soft (I think you previously mentioned this) as I remember the old ones were quite stiff which would give more stability.

Overall pretty happy with the build and looking forward to my son being able to ride it. I am looking to organise a new sticker for the little plate at the back “Life’s pretty straight without a Twistie” to finish it off.

After Pictures

Beautiful Job!!!

Footnote on bushings. The bushings that come with modern trucks are too soft. They are made for someone standing on a board flexing their feet to steer. On a skatebike you are moving side to side with the skatebike acting as a lever. You need much firmer bushings.

MuirSkate Longboard Shop has an excellent intro guide on bushings. The Downhill Weight Guide at the bottom matches skatebiking.

I am in their last group (175-220+ pounds) and use a 92a bushing in my skatebike truck.

Before – Jan 22, 2020

Andrew from Australia emailed me the other day to ask for advice on restoring his Minson Twisties Skate Bike.

My name is Andrew C. from Australia and I am really enjoying reading your website material. As with one of your other contributors, I too won a Twisties Skate Bike back in the 1980’s in a competition. I remember having a lot of fun on it for many years before it was relegated to the back of the garden shed where it has unfortunately deteriorated (35+ years).

I had pulled it out of storage a couple of months back thinking that I would like to restore it so that I could pass it onto my son who is now 7 years old and would probably enjoy having such a unique bike to ride with his friends.

I stripped everything off of it and have had the frame professionally stripped and painted ready to reassemble. Here’s where I hit a snag which led me to your website and reading about some other Skate Bike Restorations. I was thinking that I could walk into our local bike store, which is pretty well equipped, with all of the components and ask them to order new replacements. I am not hung up on it being exact replicas as it is more for actual use that putting on a wall as a thing to look at.

It is even rustier than mine was. I will post updates as Andrew sends them.