www.auburncycles.com, 2014: Auburn Cycles was founded in 1988 by Todd Huffman and Bob Morales. The project was originally going to be a Honda-branded product that Huffman had pitched to Honda Motor Corp., but, at the last minute, Honda decided not to license out their name to a BMX bike company. With the product already developed and ready to go into production, Huffman and Morales decided to continue the project and use a different name. Huffman came up with the name Auburn from a 1930's classic sports touring car. Morales designed the original logo, and Auburn Cycles was born. Auburn's first product was a two-piece "modular" BMX racing frame made of Chromoly steel. The frames were further developed using an aluminum rear end called a "Works Link."
BMX Action, october 1987: A month or so ago, Mor Distributing president, Todd Huffman, hinted around that he and Bob Morales had been playing with an idea of starting a new company Auburn Bicycles. (Why Auburn? Don't ask,..) So... when one of our semi-reliable sources phoned in to report that BMX'er at large, Rod Beckering, was seen at Mor riding a very unusual bike, we were in the Bat-Van and on our way before we even had a chance to hang up the phone. We live for dangerous missions such as this. Slyness is a job requirement. Running back and forth between trees, feeling like those guys in Road and Track who snoop behind the bushes at the Ford, G.M., and Chevy testing grounds, adorned in trench coats and Groucho Marx shades, we snuck up to the rear garage door of the Mor Distributing building. Slowly creeping up behind the dumpster plastered with Scootster stickers, we positioned ourselves between two empty bike boxes and yanked out the binoc's A quick scope of the place told us something was up. The smell of a new bike was in the air... After a very strenuous two hour wait, Mor Distributing's seven-foot-tall shipping giant stuck his head out of their garage and looked both ways for spies like us. All was clear, he thought. The aborigine wheeled the unpainted beauty outside and leaned it against a chain link fence while he strolled towards the Mor van with keys dangling in hand... This was it. The brand new, revolutionary proto-type 20 inch race bike from Mor Distributing- the Auburn. With our faithful Nikon and a super long 750 mm telescopic zoom lens, we quickly snapped a couple of shots before the Larry Bird look-alike loaded it into the van to head for the top-secret test grounds and conduct further structural analysis. You'll be hearing more about this two-piece bike as soon as Mor tells us. All we know now is what you see in these here photos. From the looks of it, we think an aluminum rear-end, like a motorcycle swingarm, would be D-HOT!
AUBURN.
Auburn was created in 1987-1988 and was named not after the famous Nor. Cal BMX track but after the Auburn classic automobile. The first prototype was actually made in Taiwan before GT figured out how to make them in their HB facility for us.
First Auburn Advertisement created by Bob Morales and appeared in BMX Action Magazine in 1988.
CR-20R.
Auburn CR-20R bike test in BMX Action march 1988 and Super BMX june 1988.
Bob Morales, www.moralesbikes.com: GT Bicycles bought Mor Distributing in order to acquire the Auburn BMX brand.
www.auburncycles.com, 2014: In 1989 the company was acquired by GT Bicycles and Huffman was hired by GT to manage the brand in addition to his Marketing Director title.
1994 Auburn CR-20RX test in BMX Plus! may 1994 and september 1994.
In the September issue of BMX Plus! the test the 1994 Auburn CR RX. Cool test pits it against the Haro Monocoque.
Models:
CR20 RX (Pro XL frame with 20.5 Top Tube, came with Aluminum Works Link and 1 1/8 headset with threadless fork)
CR 20 R (Pro frame with 19.5 Top Tube, came with Aluminum Works Link, 1 inch headset)
CR 20 S (Pro frame with 19.5 Top Tube, came with 4130 Tri Link, 1 inch headset)
CR 24 and JR20 RX were both 1 piece Auburns)
Models: *Note all the 1996 models now feature 1 1/8 headsets, threadless forks. Chrome front ends are now available.
CR20 RX (Pro XL frame with 20.5 Top Tube, came with Aluminum Works Link)
CR 20 R (Pro frame with 19.25 Top Tube, came with Aluminum Works Link)
CR 20 S (Pro frame with 19.25 Top Tube, came with 4130 Tri Link)
CR 24 and JR20 RX were both 1 piece Auburns)
CR 20 I (Pro frame , 4130 1 piece frame, a first for Auburn)
www.auburncycles.com, 2014: GT produced Auburn frames and bicycles until 1997.
www.auburncycles.com, 2014: The Auburn modular BMX racing frame has been resurrected into a modern-day, lightweight mini-, junior- and expert-size race frame. Original Auburn frame designer Bob Morales infused this innovative new design with Auburn DNA and the latest in bicycle frame technology. The new Auburn frame is hand-crafted in California by world-renowned custom mountain bike frame builder Sherwood Gibson and his Ventana Mountain Bikes crew. That's right, a mini BMX racing frame built with the same materials and craftsmanship as a $3,000 custom mountain bike frame! Each frame starts out with seamless, drawn, thin wall, 6061 aluminum tubing that is TIG welded to billet CNC-machined integrated head tube, CNC European bottom bracket, CNC chain stay yoke and CNC-machined rear drop-outs in precision jigs. After welding, each frame is solution heat treated and artificially aged in a state-of-the-art, custom-built in-house heat-treating oven and solution-quenching system to ensure the frames stay true and straight. Each frame is re-checked for precision alignment after heat treatment, then shot peened and anodized to create a hard, durable and lightweight surface protection. Custom-made Titanium fasteners join the rear Works Link and front triangle as well as custom-machined Titanium brake bosses. No other BMX frame in the world is made to these standards. Each frame includes a Works Stand that mounts into a designated hole in the chain stay yoke. This stand raises the rear wheel off the ground for tuning the brakes, truing the rear wheel or lubing the chain while in your pit at the races.
Price: $1001.00 (All sizes, frame only)
Sizes: Mini, Mini Large, Mini XL, Junior, Junior Large, Junior XL, Expert, Expert Large, Expert XL
Weight: 2.1 Lbs. (Mini) - 2.4 Lbs. (Expert XL)
Colors: Front Tri-Angle: black, red or blue (or your custom choice) matte finish anodize.
Works Link: black matte finish anodize or polished clear anodize.
The Auburn CR 2.0 Frame is only available factory direct from Auburn.
