I know alot of you are past pros, or are now in contact with alot of past pros lately, but these guys (Woody, Wilkerson, Blyther, Haro, Meyer....) they are all still like super stars to me, and get star struck when I see them in current photos etc.. I do not have access to meeting these guys or being around them like alot of you. In other words, I still feel like I am 17 again when I see youtube videos of Wilkerson riding at that skatepark in California just a few weeks ago. Kind of cool to still have that feeling.
I had my brush with greatness when I was in grade 11 when Ron Wilkerson came to my hometown for a TV show. My favourite rider of all time was coming to my town...I was amazed at just being in his presence, knowing what he had done for our sport. watching him ride a vert ramp 2 feet in front of me was totally amazing, one of the top 5 days in my entire life. I could write about this day for hours, so I will stop here on this one, and get to my intended story.
When I was in grade 12, (1990) my girlfriends (now my wife) family was planning a trip to California and invited me to go along....well...all I could think of is that I will be close to the GT factory, venice beach etc...all of the spots I would see in the magazines. I was so excited to just be in California, as to me this was THE spot for Freestyle. I was taking pictuires of the "welcome to Califronia" sign and everything to just prove to myself that I was there. needless to say, Iwas excited.
We were driving through the state, staying at differnt hotels, experiencing the Clai lifestyle, and getting closer to our destination- Huntington Beach. I knew it was the home of GT bikes, and my entire plan was to get to the factory, I didn't know what to expect when I got there, but I was going to show up anyways.
The day arrives. I look up the address, and we head out in search of the GT factory. Then it happens...we round a corner, looking at addresses on buildings...and there it is..the holy grail of buildings - The GT factory. WOW ! (I was a GT guy for sure back then)
We park in the front and walk into the reception area. The lady behind the glass says "can I help you?" I say to her "well, I am just visiting from eastern Canada and was wondering if I could get some sort of tour or something as I am a HUGE GT BMX fan..." She says to have a seat and she will see what she can do. A guy walk out a few minutes later (some public relations guy-can't remember his name now..but I could look it up as I kept a journal of the trip) and he asks what exactly what we were looking to do. I explain to him my situation, and butter him up a bit, and he says, sure- come on in !
I nearly fainted. I was about to walk into the factory whre bikes were made for Eddie Fiola, Martin Aparijo, Josh White..this is too much... We walk through a few office hall ways, and I get introduced to the GT champion trials rider Hans, but was looking past him to the door that leads to the factory, I was too excited to talk to him.
The door opens, and I walk through...WOW, GT banners everywhere, GIANT bins fullof GT/AME grips, Hundreds of frames hanging up, decal stations...Awesome. as we are walking through, I am amazed at the sights I am seeing, this is where it all happens. cool stuff. This tour guide sees my eyes are opened up 20 times their size and offers me one of the banners hanging up over the frames...holy cr*p...thanks! (I still have it) it is huge, like 10 ft long x 3 ft high. We get to one part of the factory where he rushes us past, and says that it is the R&D section where they are working on some new ideas, so he doesn't want us to look ...of course I stop and stare until he nudges ne along...I didn't see anything besides some welding sparks, and some decals being applied to frames.
We get to the back of the factory where there is a large garage door that is open and alot of workers moving around...it was very busy in there. The tour guide guy says to me, "you should probably meet this guy.." he intoruduces me to Gary Turner...I think I may have blacked out for a few seconds, but I came to quicky. I shake his hand and he asks me about my riding etc.. geez this is too good to be true, what a day!
Gary says "did you see what we have out back yet?" I say no and he says "come on out" We follow him out to the back of the GT parking lot, and there it is---the portable folding half pipe they use for doing shows around the world. Gary sees my jaw drop to the pavement, and says "go ahead, climb up on it and I will take your picture" ....what?? ...ummm...OK !!
Here is the picture that Gary Turner took of me on the ramp (below) Also is a painting that was in the reception area that I thought was cool.
This may not be anything special to alot of you, but it is life changing for a small town Freestyler from the Vintage days like myself.
Enjoy!

That is a great story, these are the things you will always remember... and I know exactly what you mean (Being from South America where was nearly impossible to have access to "anything")...

That is other of the coolest things about the sport, If you ever have the chance of meeting with any of these guys today, you will find they are really humble and down to earth people and they will treat you as if you were one of them... To me, they are still "the stars", the huge role model from back in the day (Hell I spent more time reading about them that I did with my school books) and I can only feel proud when I receive a call from them... In any case, before this get cornier... Thanks for sharing that experience.

That's a great story!

I think Axlepeg visited that factory once...
I kinda forget what happened though, but it was something interesting if I remember correctly.
Care to refresh my memory Josh?

That is awesome man !


Tony
Bicycle Junkie

Great story! I too visited the GT factory. My mom lived in Oceanside Ca when I was a freshman in HS. We had some friends that moved from CO to CA a few years earlier and they lived in HB. We went for a visit and I took my bike (87 Pro Compe). After a while I said I was going for a ride and took off for the factory. Took a while but I found it. I unfortunately didn't have the balls to go in...... I was by myself and fairly shy back then so I just rode around it and checked out the ramps in the back...I was still way stoked to be that close to the magic.

that was an INCREDIBLY cool story.

thanks for sharing that!

That is so cool!!!!! It's awesome that they were so cool to you, gave you a banner, and Gary Turner actually took your picture!

Man, thanks for sharing the story!!!

That's why we're all here, to listen to stories like that. Thanks for sharing.

Haha that's awesome! Glad to hear things worked out so well for you, they could have just turned you away but instead it was an experience you'd never forget. Great story.

Great story!!! I would've loved to have taken that tour back then, it must've been something else.

Very cool.

nice story!

That's a fantastic story, Thank you so much. I remember going through the stores and seeing all those beautiful colors on the GT's.

I was a senior in HS in 90 as well. I couldn't afford to buy the freestyler mags back in 86/87 but I used to sit for hours looking through them in the stores. I really wanted a Trickstar back then, where as I had a Windstyler at the time.

I remember after I bought my bike my buddy started saving his money for a GT Dyno Compe. After several months of mowing lawns he had saved $275. We went searching all the bike stores in Houston but if they had a dyno, they were priced too high or put together with misc. parts. Were talking $400.
Well I told him about the store where I bought my bike and had told him I was sure they had a Compe II for $250. The store was closed that day but we went by there and saw it in the window. White on white. First thing in the morning we were there and he bought it.

My point to the story, I just bought an 86 Dyno compe II, love it, and wanted to share.