The history of the Pacer 500 (Silver Streak replacement)

This story is a mixture of documentation which Sandy Finkelmann (Diamond Back Team Manager 1980 - 1983) reported on his own site, sites I frequented and communication between the two of us. I have split it into what he mentioned but also what I also found out from conversations with other parties, some of which were directly involved at either WSI or Diamond Back

Sandy's commentary on the model (all I've done is added some formatting). I will add more to this because I originally posted this on OS-DB.net in 2009

'I had just started the next Project of Designing a Silver Streak replacement via Taiwan under $225.00, got real lucky when my knowledge of Taiwan manufacturing really paid off on this job.'

'The plan was to do a F1 design frame in Taiwan that would replace the Streak from Japan. The F/F was to be 100% chromo with straight blade stays (non looptail) it had the Japanese Parts that was on the Silver Streak and what WSI's designer "Cozy" Yamakoshi didn't know was the F/F Finish or the Colour Component Selection.'

'The Taiwanese (Silver Streak) bike was real simple for me. Send Taiwan a F1 to copy in a Full chromo F/F, add parts of entry level BMX race bikes, name it the Pacer 500 and introduce it at the 1984 Indy 500. I knew the Pacer 500 must look unique so in mind the F/F (in short) was a special new colour finish and the parts in special colour combinations inter-acting with F/F Colour.'

This is what Diamond Back decided to do.

DB only knew the Pacer 500 would be a Full chromo F/F with Japanese Parts like on the Streak and I would have the Basic Proto Bike ready for shooting the ads at the 1984 Indy 500 which allowed 1st delivery September perfect for the 1984 Holiday Sales.

'Diamond Back copied the Silver Streak geometry but with the main tubes being Chromoly and gave it the name Pacer 500 (though it survived only a few months of 1984). Dealer's saw it was a Taiwanese Silver Streak, didn't order them so DB stripped off the name, replaced it with Super Streak and upgraded to Full Chromo F/F.'

The major error was DB used the old Silver Streak Geometry instead of the new F1 F/F design. I didn't really design the Silver Streak Frame we sorta quickly made it, I Designed the F1 to replace the Streak which fit the Ages between the Turbo and Turbo Lite.

The F1 Bike was the Full Race BMX Bike and the Pacer 500 the new entry level BMX Bike.

'The Pacer 500 came out in March 1984 and DB changed its name 4-5 months later to the Super Streak and they had the LoopTail for some of them.'

Sandy mentioned on one or two occasions that his recollection wasn't always certain so when I mentioned some of my own thoughts and ideas he would either confirm, or in some cases correct some of his errors or memories. My overview and conclusion is based on our communication and conversations with others following his sudden passing.

Last updated 18th March 2023

There is no 'official' evidence (literature) of a looptail Super Streak (though dealers may have referred to the botched attempt as this) or 2nd generation Silver Streak that I've come across (as yet). I suspect the lesser known framesets with prismatic decals "Diamond Back II", stamped CRMO (usually serial starting F3) on the rear dropouts are in indeed the botched attempt at a Silver Streak replacement, the first Pacer 500.

So summing all this up and adding further detail from my discussions; Sandy was working with Taiwan (Fairly Bike Co) to develop a replacement Silver Streak in 1983 (the Pacer 500) when he parted company from them late on in that year, with Diamond Back's Cozy Yamakoshi (Product Development manager at WSI) having to co-ordinate with Fairly finish it with only the information Sandy provided before his departure...some of this info was not relayed and came about later on.

It's worth mentioning that Fairly also worked very closely with Akisu who fabricated and manufactured the forks (another story)

The marketing material had already been generated for all models to be released for 1984 and details distributed to dealers from the importer/s

Towards the end of 1983 with the rush to complete finalised, production started in December of that year but not to the look and feel that sandy had envisaged.  Distribution started and stock delivered from very late 1983 as a Silver Streak replacement but on arrival at the dealers/retailers it did not match what they were expecting (a Pacer 500 branded model). From someone I spoke to at WSI, who was in marketing, some saw it as a cheap Taiwanese Silver Streak lookalike since they used similar parts (a mixture of previous grade Japanese and lower grade alternative taiwanese items), same colour scheme, and decals (Silver Streak but with a prismatic chain-stay decals with added DB logo). These early frames were stamped CRMO on the rear dropouts and serials starting F312 and F401, referring to Fairly, 1983, December and Fairly, 1984, January

Some dealers reportedly removed the Silver Streak reference (in this case the chain-stay decals but many left them as they were). Apparently some retailers referred to it as the Super Streak (only between dealers) because there were already rumours or other models in the pipeline.

The resulting melee accelerated at a rapid pace during the first few months of 1984 and although production of the frame and model continued, behind the scenes Diamond Back were already planning the overhaul of the Pacer 500 (this probably why there are only a few of these models in survivor condition today). They'd also stumbled across the original colour scheme that Sandy had envisaged (how I don't know), but it was along the lines of the Formula One.....

By the time the 1984 brochure is available, DB had face-lifted the model, created marketing literature showing some new parts, colour options and decals, the same frame and forks but this time it was stamped 500 on the rear dropouts.

Unfortunately, it didn't do the trick and sales of the Pacer 500 declined rapidly and within months of the re-release, Diamond Back decided to drop the model from it's range due to poor sales and the name never to be used again (to date)

There are plenty of these CRMO and 500 stamped frame-sets dated 1983 and 1984 in survivor condition (some complete with their original decals), decalled up as a variety of model names such as the 1984 Pacer 500, Super Viper and small gusset 4th generation Viper, even Lee World, another BMX brand used the frame-set but instead of a diamond gusset, it was cutout P. Some have the chain-guard tab (reserved for the Viper) but don't be surprised if you come across an survivor model what doesn't look quite right

I can only speculate that Diamond Back seem to lose their way after Sandy departed, and probably even more when Cozy moved on. Whether this was down to their working partnership (which obviously came to an end when Sandy left), understanding one another, imagination or hunger to develop such inspiring BMX's and people, we may never know (I'd often tried to engage with Cozy but he was a very private person, it was his past and I respected that). One thing is for sure, their design and vision was removed from something very successful, how quickly things can go down hill, maybe because they no longer had their experience and understanding of the early BMX era.

I always found it so interesting reading Sandy's overview of this era and area but such a shame he was snatched from us so untimely