Hello. This is my first post in this forum. Let me give you a brief history....

It was May of 1986, I got my first Freestyle bike at a department store called Lechmere. It was a blue GT Performer, I paid $229 for it. I rode this bike stock for quite some time, eventually upgrading most of the parts. Over the years it received a Gyro, Frame and Forkstanders, Dyno Handlebars, Dia-Compe 883's, GT Mallet stem, Tech 7 levers, and Araya 48's. I mostly rode Flatland. I adored that bike, I always kept up on it. It was the bike that got me into a sport I've now been into for 22 years.....Freestyle.

Then came 1989, Frankford BMX was having a blowout sale on leftover 88 Haro Masters. I really wanted to get one. It mostly had to do with seeing the Team Haro show in my town in the summer of 88. I just sorta switched teams from that day.

I got my Master and I absolutely loved it. I ended up selling my Performer to a skater friend of mine that I wanted to help get into Freestyle. I sold it in 100% mint condition, with all the upgraded parts minus the 48's, he got the GT mags. Looking back on this, I cringe. I guess most of you can relate, I'm sure there's plenty of bikes/parts you've all sold or given away BITD that you wish were still in your hands.......well here's where my story gets good.

I tracked him down and just for craps and giggles asked him what ever happened to my old GT. He informed me that he still had it in storage. I asked him if he wanted to sell it back to me. He said, "sure, you can just have it". I was floored!

Last night I met him at his storage unit and was reunited with my long lost first bike. It was a mess, but I didn't care. It was mine again! I was so excited I insisted he take at least $50.

So to make a VERY long story short, I present to you my old GT in its present state...... The GT mags are MIA, but he says he thinks he still has them and is currently looking for them. It has been spray bombed what appears to be about 75 times. Most of my upgrades are still on it but are either painted (with what appears to be a broom) or just in general disorder. The GT Mallet stem has been replaced with a Haro Group 1, and the SR cranks and GT sprocket replaced with Haro units. He does have the GT sprocket on another bike of his and will be pulling for me at a later date........





Note the severe rake on the fork. I remember it to have some but not this much. Is this unordinary?



Serial number F6041509. What can you guys tell me about that?





The what used to be show chrome Dyno Bars



Cable guides on both sides of the fork....

No 4130 on the top tube cap......????







I have no idea where the Day-Glo pink seatpost came from



Where's my GT BMX seat????



Lovely job on the seat clamp



Just bit of silver paint to ruin the Nippon





No more Epoch



It still has my old grips!!



The plan it to do a full resto in GT blue, find the mags, clean and powder all parts white, and put it on display in the playroom of my house. I know it will never be as perfect as the day I bought it back in 1986, but I am very determined to make it beautiful once again.

I'm hoping you guys can tell me a bit about the frame from the serial number, lack of 4130 stamp, etc. and especially what is going on with the fork rake. I'm sure I'll have many questions for you guys as this is my first resto project, so please bear with me.

I start the teardown tomorrow.................STAY TUNED!

awww just like on oprah

very cool that he still had it.
great first post!
welcome

that's cool you tracked down your old scoot!

the serial would indicate it was manufactured in 1986 (the "6" after the F), in Japan (as were most 1986 model GT complete bikes).

that's just about the coolest story ever. Now if I could just find my friend
that I traded my Redline Squareback and campy graphites to....

Try a little paint thinner on the nippon, it might take off the spray w/o
harming the powder. Just maybe.

I don't even remember a winged GT clamp drilled like that.

You are gonna have SO much fun!

Cool story, and welcome to Vintage.

In the one up close pic of the top tube cap, it looks like something is under the THICK paint under the 'GT' stamp.

If it's an '86, which is what I think the serial number is (F6041509 = April 86), it should be 100%chromoly. I believe it was '87 when the trimoly frames came out.

If your pockets are deep enough, you can make it look better than it did when new. Make sure you take some pics of the various stages of the restore. We love pics here.

Welcome Dude, Looks like you have a great foundation for your resto. Everything you have is salvagable after some stripping, powder and polishing. Like Rad Lad mentioned the 4130 is somewhere under the paint. It wasnt stamped as deep as the GT to begin with.
Your story is similar to mine, after I found my 85 Trick Star that I sold in 88 hanging in a garage in 2004 complete as a survivor. Now its my resto rider. Then came VBMX, 13 more bikes and parts......Sickness sets in ...Then wife sleeps on couch cuz my bike is in the bedroom True story!!
Have FUN and enjoy.....Rick

Nice start...most of the "hard goods" on that bike are restorable. Heavy duty aircraft stripper will get it down to where you need to be...

Lots of resources here on Vintage...Chip @ C4 for one does show-caliber powder, Lou does wicked good paint jobs...AJK Bikes (see list of site sponsors at the side of the screen) has decal sets...so if you're looking to do it up all the way, someone here can help you do it.

Welcome to this addiction!

Yeah, that's an import frameset but definitely worth fixing up. I have one myself that's with a friend for powder right now.

Thanks for the comments guys. It really is comforting to have this bike back in possession. I can't wait to get my hands dirty.

Any thoughts on the forks? Do they look bent or are they all just like that? If they are bent I'll try to track down another before powder.

I do remember them to have rake though. When I got my Haro I was amazed at how much easier boomerang/whiplash type tricks were on it.

What are the determining factors in knowing its Japanese built? Are you getting this from the serial or are there cosmetic differences as well?

I don't think your forks are bent. I still have my 85 GT Performer F&F and the forks on them gained a bit of extra rake BITD. Yours don't look as raked out as mine.
Here's a pic of mine from '89. You can kinda see how much the forks are raked out. This is NOT factory rake. Yours look ok to me.
-Bill

Far as I know, USA GTs have the serial on the rear dropout with all numbers. Imports have letters and are on the bottom bracket.

Good job tracking down your old bike. Time travel can be expensive and time consuming but oh so fun and rewarding.

Welcome to the site. I'm kind of new here too and I think I got bit by this bug also. Great score getting your Performer back. Wish I could get mine back from whoever my Dad sold it to for $20 while I was in college. He did give me the $20 though, so it's totally worth it.

Found this on GT serial numbers:

http://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/info/122/

Looks like yours is oversea made March 1986..........

Congrats on getting your bike back.

As for the forks...84 and 85 were raked something wicked. 86 was less so and 87-89 were completely different altogether. Yours don't appear to be bent but it's tough to say from the photos- if they are it's only slightly. Sitting on rims will make it easier to tell

As for the serial #...Yes, yours is a Japanese made 86. From what we can gather the "F" is NO indication of the month of manufacture. I think every 86 I've ever seen starts with F. Most Japanese 85's are stamped "G" and I can't imagine that they were all made in July. Japan made are on the BB shell starting with a letter OR on the drop with a baseball symbol but I've never seen one of those on an 86- only on the 85 Smokin Endo has.

Read this: http://oldschoolbmx.com/community/index.ph...GT+yearofthecat

Check the Favorite color GT thread for inspiration: http://oldschoolbmx.com/community/index.ph...wtopic=27005275

Jamison

I tore down the bike tonight. I pulled out the BB cups (which never have been removed) and saw the beautiful GT blue paint underneath. Now I really can't wait to get it re-done. I also scraped the layers of paint off of the top tube cap and saw the 4130 stamp....phew.

I was looking at the forks again and the rake is massive. I'll post pics tomorrow. I've been looking at tons of pics of others and none seem to be as bad as mine. Maybe I'm just paranoid.

So is the prefered method to stripping the frame/parts, aircraft stripper or a sand blaster? Also, where can one purchase aircraft stripper?

Don't strip it until you know how you are going to redo it.

If you are planning on powder I know for a fact that Chip at C4 prefers that you leave it alone and let him strip it before he coats it.

That may be the way C4 does bikes. Most any other local powdercoater would PREFER you to prep it before you bring it. Plus all the FUN in a resto is doing as much as you can yourself. Plus you will save yourself some money.
I usually use strypeeze paint remover,gel type. let soak and use a scotch brite pad and go from there. Then in the weld areas use a tootbrush-or a SOFT little brass brush.
Now you can see what you have. You might see little dings scuffs marks that might need some attention. If you have access to a blast cabinet you can also strip with FINE glass beads.
Nothing beats stripping your baby down to bear metal after 20 yrs
Heres mine out the door $80 for my first RESTO. Standard colors, custom and metallics more.
Before

After

Ride on.....Rick

Yeah, C4 prefers to do it (chemically I believe) because he says doing it in glass bead, etc can possibly create scratches, etc.

Your TS looks nice though.

I have used aircraft stripper on levers, calipers, etc. and it works like butta! Just make sure you do it outside and wear thick chmical resistant gloves.

J

Very cool story!

I especially like it since my first 'real' bike was an '86 GT Pro Performer that went through similar uprades over time. Unfortunately, mine ended up stolen.

Congrats on getting your old scoot back!

Questionable fork pic has been posted.

http://oldschoolbmx.com/community/index.ph...wtopic=27006120

I went to 2 local bike shops today that were around in the 80's and unfortunately they had nothing for me

I did see some 2 sets of NOS GT alloy tube ride pegs, however. I think they wanted $6/pair.

I tackled the brakes today. I'm very happy with the way they came out. They look exactly how I remember them. I never knew 21 year old components could look so good with just some time and elbow grease. I used 3M Adhesive Remover and the side of a flathead screwdriver to get off all silver paint and the other crap. Up next on the list is the seatpost clamp.

Dude!.. those brakes look amazing!

Top work there and better than you'll get off the bay in most cases.

Well done

Well, part are starting to show up!

NOS Dia-Compe brake pads from Tailand.....



Some decent Pro Performer handlebars ready to be stripped and powdered white....





A pair of SR Cosmo-Lites which unfortunately have 28tpi thread I will most likely sell these off and keep searching.....



A non-bent fork which I got from radlad1 on here. radlad1, thanks again! As you can see from the pics my original is badly bent.







And last but not least, my most prized possession.....a NOS GT Mallet stem. I paid through the butt for it, but it was worth every dime. It did not come with the 4 bolts so I threw some temp ones on it for the pics.





Also, a future side project I grabbed while at my parents house searching for old parts.....

Its a 95 2-Hip Stout Boy, which was my flatland bike from then until about 2002. I contacted 2-Hip and they still have frame sticker packs sitting on the shelf!



Anyways, I'm still looking for a few things.....

A pair of generation 1 GT tires in white

GT mags (still hoping the guy I got my bike back from still has and can find them)

Ideally some Tech 7 levers (but I'm sure I'll have to settle for Tech 77's)

Some 24tpi SR cranks

I'm hoping for a nice 85-86 GT BMX seat (but I'll probably have to settle for an 87)

Some SR Pedals

I haven't stripped anything yet. It's been too cold outside and I really don't want to do it in my basement.....so I'm just kinda waiting and gathering.

Congrats on getting your Actual bike back.

I think it's funny / ironic that you sold it to get an 88 Haro Master... only to get your old GT back ... equipped with a bunch of 88 Haro Master parts (Stem, Brakes, Levers, Seat, Chainwheel, Spider, Cranks, Pedals.. etc) .... and homegrown 2-tone Haro paint job.

It's like the old Ex, who's in denial about the break-up.
Striving to be what they think you want, even after you stop paying attention to them.

Poor GT was trying hard to be a Haro Master for you - even after you left it behind. LOL.

chromey,

Good point, LOL!

The guy I got the bike back from actually does have the original 86 sprocket and the 87 seat I had on it when I sold it to him. They are on his mint survivor 88 Haro Master (which I'm gonna approach him on buying at the same time). Somehow over the years parts got mixed around between the 2 bikes. He still owes me those parts as well as the original Performer mags if he can find them. I've been trying to coordinate a time to swap the parts over for a few days now with him, but he's very hard to pin down.

Hopefully I'll atleast have my seat and sprocket back soon

Sweet Job on those brakes. If they're any indication of the attention to detail the whole bike will have, it's gonna be cool. Glad those forks went to a good home.

Now hurry up and finish it..... with pics along the way, of course.

Saturday was a GREAT day!

I finally got ahold of the guy I got my Performer back from. We arranged to meet up so I could grab his 88 Haro Master my GT sprocket and 87 seat were mounted to and swap them with the Dominator and the Group 1 sprocket/cranks that were on the GT when I picked it up.

Just for the heck of it I told him if he ever wants to sell the Master, let me know. He said he'd sell it if I wanted to buy it. So I jumped on it. Yup, I go there to pick up a GT sprocket and a seat and come home with a 95% complete 88 Master.

I'm really excited because my second bike was an 88 Master and I had plans on doing one after the GT was done. This just worked out perfectly. Since this build thread is about the GT, I'll post a few pics of the Master now and start a new build thread when the time comes. I'm going to pull the seat and sprocket for the GT and tear the rest of the Haro down and box it up. I'm 100% focused on the GT and I can't get sidetracked with this purchase. I'll just keep it on the back burner for the time being. If you've been following my thread you know that I have the correct seat, cranks, and stem for the Master because they came on the GT when I picked it up.

So anyways onto the pics.......

Here's the original GT sprocket and 87 seat I was running when I sold it to him in 89.

The sprocket is what it is and is pretty much 100% flawless, just a bit dirty



The seat is a little bit rougher than I'd hoped but it will do fine until I find a suitable 85-86 seat for a replacement.



And now for the BIG SCORE.........







So that's it for the Haro (for now). Tomorrow the wife has to work and I have the day off, so I've got the whole day to get some work done. I'm hoping to have some results pics for you guys posted soon.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot..............I got it for $75

HOLY WOW>... $75...

You are a lucky lucky man.




(oh how I need that blue seatpost..... )
((slightly jealous))

Awesome score! If your friend ever looks on ebay I don't think he'll be a friend any longer... lol.

I got alot done today!

The sprocket is all cleaned up, nothing more that some Castrol Super Clean......



The seat has been scrubbed with Soft Scrub w/Bleach and came out decent. I am going to the store tonight to get some bleach to give it a bath in. It looks whiter in the picture than it actually is....



The handlebars and seatpost have been stripped and are ready for powder coating. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong but it took all day to strip these. I was using the spray on Aircraft Stripper and it really didn't do much. I had some plain old paint stripper laying around in the basement that I used and it seemed to work better.....



And last but not least, the seatpost clamp and gyro. The seatpost clamp stripped VERY easily with the Aircraft stripper but the gyro pieces wouldn;t budge. I ended up stripping those on the wire wheel.....



So anyways, I'm going to try to get up to the powdercoaters tomorrow after work and drop that stuff off. Depending on how these parts come out will determine if they will do the frame and fork as well. I also have my GT Blue sample that I want to see how close they can match.

Dude, you're totally rockin'. Righteous!

SR Cosmolites are the bomb! Keep 'em and get a new bottom bracket!

Just for the "fun" factor, I like the cosmo lites, but as with everything good, mine snapped on my GT.. went to the LBS and they said that there had been a recall and they gave me a new set or Takagis free.. put them on the bike too.. Was really cool to get service like that as a kid..

Still shop there.

The frame and fork are ready to go to powder coating. I must say that the welds are DISGUSTING. I'm hopefully going to be picking up my parts this week, so I'll drop the F&F off then......







Here is a sample of my color selection provided by the powder coaters. The absolute closest I could come to the original GT Blue. The floresent light & flash makes it appear to be a bit lighter than it actually is. But from the pics what do you guys think of the match?







Halfway there!!!

Looking good. I had to find a good match for my GT WT and I had a NOS seat post that I bought to match it with.
Here's a pic of the post with a sample of the powder on paper that a local company has. I s\went with it and if you needed some i think I can get you a couple pounds to do your frame if you're not satisfied with the one you got there. Of course you could have it custom blended, but that's a bit spendier
Maybe Chip at C4 already has it formulated?

Anyway, here's the pic


And here's how it turned out.

Joker808, are you politely telling me that my color selection appears too light?

PM sent.....

BEAUTIFUL World Tour, BTW.

lou has that color in stock. He borrowed a set of NOS framestanders from me last year and matched it.

Yes, but I'm looking for powder not paint.

I can't speak for Joker, but actually, I thought your paint sample looked a little dark. It's hard to tell from photos though. My monitor might be calibrated differently, or maybe the lighting in your photo wasn't good, etc. It's a tough one.

I think the color powder you are looking for is called ageian blue. it is a standard color in the powder chart. Take a look at it. The powder coat shop should have the chart.

I am not 100% positive on this before someone jumps on me for posting this info.

Hey guys, sorry for no updates for so long.....

The parts took forever at the powder coaters. They told me 2 weeks for the handlebars, Gyro, seatpost, and clamp and it ended up taking a month. I dropped the frame and fork off after those parts looked good and they got that done in 3 weeks. I'm VERY happy with how everything looks, minus one thing......the GT Blue color. It "feels" too light to me and I am unfortunately going to get it redone. It looks Ok, but it doesn't scream GT Blue like I had hoped it would.

Joker808 is helping me get a color that is a more accurate match than the color I chose. You can see it on his 85 in his post a few above this one. This really does suck because I'm so close, but I'm grateful for members like him that offer their services when they can.

The parts have pretty much all arrived. Lots of ebaying and time on the museum have paid off.....

SR MP-470's NOS in chrome. These got immediately sent to powder coating.....





A'ME Tri's and a NOS Izumi chrome chain from ebay.....



Dia-Compe TECH 77 levers in white, NOS from coffeemilk on ebay......



86 GT Pro Performer sticker pack from AJK Bikes.......



and pretty much everything together minus the GT Performer mags, which I haven't had time to redo yet.....









I can't wait to start the assembly!!!

WOW.. everything looks incredible.
I can't believe you're going to get this Frame and fork redone.

I have an original survivor in the 85-86 GT Blue (has a little bit of wear and soem lines where the cable straps were)... but if you're seriously going to scrutinize the color like that... I'd trade you for your lighter one.

But I understand that's your old bike - and you should probably hold on to it.. Just figured I'd throw it out there.

this project has been great to watch. From find - to build.

I think that blue looks spot on, but somethimes you can't tell from pictures. Good luck with everything.

Thank you, sir!

If this frame wasn't from my first bike, I'd definitely take you up on that offer. However, I'm too attached to this one so unfortunately for me.....I'm stuck with it.




It does look more acurate in these pics, but trust me.........it's light.

After alot of thought and sleepless nights I decided against having the color redone. I've begun the assembly process and I must say I'm extremely happy with the results thus far. Once the decals were applied and some white parts installed, the color seemed to get darker. Here's a couple pics of it partially assembled. Keep in mind that these pictures are a bit over exposed, but in real life the color is darker than it looks here.

I still have to clean up my mags and I also need some of those Suzue dust caps for the axles. If anyone has any please PM me.

It's getting there!

Dude, don't worry about the color -- that bike looks great. If I were to build a Pro Performer, that's exactly the way it would look.

That's looking awesome!!! Great job with everything so far. I always liked the blue GT's like that. My friend Chris rode one for a long time bitd and I always thought it was cool. Keep the updated pix coming!

Now, where is that lady that bought my "not cool" Roger Decoster with Tuff II's?

I sold it for $45 to pay for a lime green Kent freestyle bike...ugh.

Sorry for the long delay on the final product. I was waiting for a photoshoot that never transpired. Anyway, without further ado....here she is. Back to how it was in her glory days. Just for the heck of it, look at the pics on the first page to see it's condition when I first got it back. I'll get a full photoshoot eventually, stay tuned




Also the next project is starting to come together.......

mate that gt is hot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thats a treasure, I love the blue