I would like to start by extending my out most sincere gratitude to Mike Carruth and the Vintage BMX staff for such an amazing event, for his (Their) organizational skills, for the constant support Mike brings to all of us and most of all for being so cool at doing all this just for us.

I don't know if it was because of the cocktails, or maybe because I had most of my close friends there, but this year was a bit emotional for me, and to be able to claim back to back wins just made this weekend something to remember for a long time... This not only tickles me, but sincerely humbles me to be surrounded by all of you guys as a part of the Vintage-BMX community.

I also have to express a million thanks to Chip (C4 Labs) for his amazing job... "You keep raising the bar"; To James Jennison, Bud, your restoration-polishing skills are the most awesome ever!!! (Thank you for traveling down south just to teach me... Some day I'll make you proud ); To my good friend Jeff Haney for his support in this particular build... And last but not least to my BMX Addicts crew (The people that hanged out with me during the weekend, the ones that had to see me through my building tantrums, My constant bickering about what I liked and disliked; the ones that made the brutal 22 hour road trip so my bike would not be risked in transit... The ones that go the extra mile just to help me accomplish my goals)... My wife Carolina, My sister Diana, My friends Nestor And Ricardo... YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!!!.

To every one that won in any category, and to all that brought their inspiration to the park... You are what makes the event the best in the nation... Many, many awesome bikes... If I could turn my trophies into little pieces I would share it gladly with every single one of you... You all deserve the recognition...

Craig, Rob, Tom, Greg, Claude, Ed... You guys are the fiercest of the competition and count with my out most respect and unconditional support...

Thank you to all of you for making this such an spectacular event.

Will add better photos soon....

Juan, congratulations on an exceptional build and another win. When I saw your bike, I could hardly believe my eyes...truly I'm at a loss for words. Great work!

Congrats. If i could have one thing off that bike, it would be the paint. It's simply killer. Good stuff from a good person. Thanks for all the extras this weekend Juan.

Juan, much thanks! You deserved Best of Show, your bike was perfect! (especially the paint) Thank you for continuing to raise the bar, your bikes are a true work of art.

Claude

Congrats to you my friend. The bike was simply the nicest bike in the park. The finish was what I expected comming from Chip and the C4 crew. I owe you a bike thank you for the front brake on my Trickstar 24. I was going nuts when the plater lost the one I sent them. A very well deserved win. You are simply a class act Juan.


Rob-

Was that finish available from the factory?

Fantastic Bike
Could not believe the finish, everything about the bike is top notch. LOVE IT.
Don

Candy Color Over Chrome was never offered by GJS "ever"... Nor was this Prototype frame... Or the Freestyle Aero Speed Prototype Cranks (Only set ever made in 181mm and one of the Main reasons for Bill to leave Hutch back in the day)... None of us used to put 300 man hours of polishing our stuff to make it look nice for a day... Nor we used to spend hundreds of dollars in order to make every single part of our bike to be perfect in every way either...

RULE BOOK ALLOWS AN EXEMPTION IN EVERY BUILD = Non Factory Color in this case... And It Wouldn't Be The First Time A Bike Takes The Trophy With A Non Factory Color... This bike is 100% era correct otherwise.

If you are looking for Original finish, please look for the "Survivor Thread" In the forum....
Hope this answers your question

Very cool.....since some us aren't familiar with the frame and the story behind it and the parts on it (like the story behind the cranks...etc)...Juan, care to give us a run down on it? I'd appreciate the history lesson if you have the time.

Yes, CSquare43... That is the main purpose of this thread, I'm just waiting to be able to seat in my office to pull a complete restoration progress and photos for this build...

This frame was acquired by BMX Addicts (Me, ) from James Tobin back in 2007; it was completely stripped (Of all 5 coats of paint and chrome from previous attempts.. including the original finish buried underneath) and restored to perfection of dings, dents, scratches and washer marks; then sent to best chromer I could find in the nation (Whom I believe does mostly aeronautical work, since they are so picky about the welds not being touched in their products), then sent to C4 Labs for powder coating (Who performed this job several times in order to make it look as perfect as possible... And he did).

Frame: GJS Freestyle Prototype
Only frame manufactured with triple tubing that runs from the head tube and extends to the rear of the seat mast, and Rounded frame standers; the only record of this frame set is shown in the 1984 Fall Magazine of BMX Action and is advertised as the 1st effort of GJS to come out to the market with a Freestyle Frame (Launched later in December 1984 with half top tube tubing in a test by Super BMX Magazine by the tittle " A Place To Stand).

Components As Follows:

Forks: GJS Freestyle.
Grips: NOS Oakley B1-B
Handlebars: Powerlite Freestyle bars (Same treatment as F/F Set)
Brakes: Dia Compe MX 900 (Front And Rear) with Tech 3 levers (Hand Polished) and 1984 Dated Cables.
Stem: Hutch Pro Stem With Pots Mod Bolt (Show Chromed)
Headset: Tange 125 with Flex Fighter, SST Dirt Skirt (Hand Polished Set)
Wheels: Show Chromed Araya 7X
Hubs: 2nd Generation SST Freestyle Hubs With All Original Hardware (Hand Polished and Clear Coated)
Tires: Stadium (Yellow Logo)
Cranks: Hutch Aero Speed Freestyle Prototype Cranks; One of only two sets ever welded by Bill (One set in 181mm and a second in 165mm) on his effort to fix the spindle problem being experienced by most BITD; this set is a 2 piece wedge-less crank set and has a dual pinch in the non drive side. The Bottom Bracket Bearings and cups are the Standard issue for Aero Speed Cranks.
Chain Ring: Show Chromed Sugino 42T
Pedals: Hutch Pro Pedal Bodies Powdered over original finish with Hutch Freestyle cages (Hand Polished)
Seat: NOS Cycle Pro Shot Gun II (With Show Chromed Hardware)
Seat Post: SST Command Post (Original Finish and Original Decals)
Seat Post Clamp: Hutch Round (Hand Polished)
Chain: Izumi
Freewheel: Shimano DX 16T
Other: EXP Foot Guard.

Will begin to add photos tomorrow; thanks for your interest.

Congrats Juan! Your bike is amazing. Thank you so much for bringing such a rare jewel to share with us. You are one guy that understands that the sweetness is in the details. Also I would like to thank you for your advice and kindness to me and my family. Cant wait to do it all over again in 2010. I have a plan. ~Craig

You sir, are my hero.

It had a wink at the end...and I do know a few things about GJS freestylers. I just wish either myself or Mike had the pictures OR the frames that George Utterback himself handed to us in '84...

That would be a different thread boys... This notes are just to express my gratitude with the people that made the event and to the ones that were there to choose this bike as a winner...

If you wish to talk purist... I'm game (I assume I have a few great examples in my collection)... You don't need to disturb this topic... Nor is necessary to bring your greatest experiences from back in the day (Or compare them with a show bike).

I'm just a PM away

DID YOU MEAN JEFF UTTERBACK???

G (George) J (Jeff) S (Scotty or Scott)

Nice...

Juan your bike was and is off the hook such a good build !!! That bike needed to be built like that

BEFORE
Here is the frame set after attempting to do a Black Chrome that came out awful...


MANY, MANY HOURS OF STRIPPING AND CLEANING


AND MORE STRIPPING AND CLEANING


BACK TO RAW CONDITION AND MARKED FOR RESTORATION


ALL SHOW CHROMED AND READY FOR POWDER COATING (MORE TO COME)

ALL I CAN SAY IS I WANTED TO TAKE IT FOR A RIDE GREAT BUILD SHOW ME A BETTER FREESTYLE BUILD FOR 2009 CHIMBA CHIMBA CHIMBA

Juan, you are an inspiration. That's not even considering the rest of your collection which amounts to the BMX version of the Shi huag Di terracotta army.


Way to go man.

Nice bike Juan! Sounds like an acceptance speech for an oscar or something. Rear cable looks to short and the finish on the pedals would be the other exception?

Great build! Thanks for sharing those before pics, really helps to prove you saw a diamond in the rough. Top notch! ®

Nice job Juan it was good to see you and talk shop thats funny thought the one you said about your first PK getting as it was cracked 5 times already.

Juan-
That was a GREAT bike, and you deserved the "Best Of Show" award for that beauty!
Thanks so much for the compliments on my Retro. It meant alot to me, and I'm glad we got to talk a little bit. Athough we're both in Florida, I never have the opportunity to see you unless we're at least 1200 miles away from home! LOL!
Congrats again!
-Ed

Very beautiful bike... seems like I have seen that paint before..

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Juan, it was nice to see you again, and that bike is simply amazing.

Pete

that IS a masterpiece !

your best yet ! WOW !!!

Juan, thanks for the info.....very nice bike...

Juan and the whole BMXADDICTS crew. Nice bike, great people and a great time. Thanks!

The in process photos take the cake. The stipping of the black chrome is wild. I like the direction you took. The chrome plater hit a home run as did Chip at C4. I know how much planing and polishing it takes to make one of these bikes. Hats off to you my friend for building and sharing with us this masters build. And for anyone that sweats us for non factory finishes I will just say that your build is better than ANY factory finish or color scheme that OG GJS ever offered. Great vision. Much respect. ~MX-III

Sorry for the extended thanks, but every one I mentioned deserved to hear how grateful I am for this recognition... After all, it might be my last one as a participant.

The cable looks short, but is not... I usually measure it to be long enough to turn 180 degrees and it does... Not to mention it beats the hell out of having a long cable
Non Factory color applies as an exception for the whole bike and all its components, So in reality is only one exception...

Thanks for the comments Bud, to finish this bike was really something... But I do respect the pure collectors opinion as well, and what I'm about to type might get me crucified if said out loud...
In my personal opinion, at the rate we are going, there might not be enough parts left to build bikes using NOS parts in a few years; most of the exotic stuff, all the rare stuff has been already found or accounted for as well; is very hard to name a bike that hasn't been entered into competition and that is precisely why it would take this kind of job to attract some attention at any show... As it happens these days in the Automotive Shows... The true collectors have accepted to complete their projects with aftermarket or fully restored parts, they have learned to re-chrome and re-finish in top quality most of their projects even using stuff unknown back in the day and are mostly these cars the ones taking all the recognition at the shows... So the way I see it, And as it happens with cars... You can keep building bikes with all OG condition parts, but would be really hard to be the "show stopper"... NOT IMPOSSIBLE but "really" hard.

Is kind of sad to know we might be headed in that direction (And I can appreciate the OG Build); but at the same time, it opens the door to many new options and it blows my mind just to figure out what might be coming out at the next show... Don't you agree???

Your attention to detail in this bike is unequaled. Beautiful bike and congrats on the win!

I agree 100%. To be a show stopper anymore it has to be all world or you just wont get the attention. The next big thing in my opinion is historical bikes. The actual bike that won the first Nora Cup as an example. Who knows what will show up next but you are right we have seen it all by now. I am trying to go the historical way now. Its risky because people love eye candy. We will see how many people enjoy the history end of things. Hope it pans out. ~MX-III

Great looking build!!!

I gotta ask why you used the whale tails, was the bike dropouts drilled for them or are you using them as washers to cover/accent the dropouts?

Either way they are a cool item, just wish you didn't have to drill your frame to use them correctly.

Hit it right in the head... I wouldnt drill a prototype frame, so I basically thought they might look nice to be used as washers (That was the other exception)..

The bike is awesome, and Juan himself is one of the most genuine folks I have ever met. Juan, thanks for being you.

Juan, you are one classy guy (and thanks for the shirt).

I sincerely appreciate your kind words guys...