So I was driving home on Saturday, and was thinking about the extra parts that I had accumulated over the years. I'm planning to restore my Kuwahara Magician EX back to new spec, and have a few other odds and ends sitting around. For the most part, it's pretty mundane stuff, and it's all pretty well used. GT pegs and forkstanders, a GT seatpost clamp, Peregrine Q bars, a Redline Forklifter stem, bla-bla-bla. I had been considering selling off the excess, but then was struck with an idea.

For the most part, most of us didn't have rich parents and trust funds back in the day, so we weren't all riding tricked-out Trick Stars. Most of the guys that I knew who rode had something mid-level, and then would swap this part for that when they had the money. So, I was thinking about doing a "Joe Average 80's" build, which would incorporate some of the parts that I have accumulated as well as some of the common mods that we did back in the day. Frames that I have considered are Haro Sport, GT Performer (or Pro), Skyway Street Beat, and the Dyno Compe.

So, I'm posing the question; what frame/fork strikes you as being the "regular joe" frame of 80's freestyle?

I think you pretty much nailed it in your post. I would have to say these frames:

• Dyno Compe
• GT Performer
• Pro Performer
• Haro Sport

well im almost done my pro freestyle tour (non-team model) with mags. which to me was what the normal rider could afford, or their parents here anyway.

to answer your question:

87 pro performers were all over and i have to say they have to be the most common bike in the 80s. the bike musta been just the right price (like just over 200). also the closest shop in my area mainly sold gt's.

dyno compe/vfr's were out of control common in the 90s.

unless you're going by the real poor people like me, where all i was able to get was a huffy expert from toys'rus. department store bikes in other words were the only ones more common that pro performers

[ September 18, 2006, 01:26 PM: Message edited by: carldrexler ]

the most common bikes in my area bitd were probably any of the Haros or GTs, they were everywere growing up, so I'd say a FST or a Performer.

GT Performer was the most common in my neighborhood. Maybe Pro Performers too. Once in while I'd see someone with a World Tour. So, I'd say GT was the Joe Average bike in my hood.

Me too ! GT all the way but I personally like the 86 and older models just my .02 ! Sounds like a real cool build and it made me think of a cool contest that we could have LOL

GT's and Mongeese in my area.

I remember ONE kid with a Hutch race bike and I rocked a Redline 102B.

Freestyle bikes my firends had- GT PP, RL20II, etc.

LOTTA Schwinn Free Form Pros around, had a big Schwinn shop in town. The pearl white and light blue ones were most common.
Strangely we had more Haros than GTs in town.
Some of us actually ended up with nice bikes, but they were built gradually. My friend Eric got a green '85 Master in 8th grade, I got my Trick Star as a sophomore. Or MAYBE freshman, don't remember! We both just got the frameset and built from what we had/could afford, and eventually we had some great rides. Never had 3 piece cranks though! Tioga Task Force on my TS, Eric had Sugino or something like that.

We had mostly GT's and Dyno's with few rare exceptions, cause those two were the only ones imported/distributed here.
No Haro's, no Hutch's, no Kuwahar's no fricking -nothing- else. Any other than GT/Dyno and you'd have to get it overseas by yourself.

Late 80s/early 90s Perfomers, Pro FS Tours, Slammers, Detours and the usual ..and pretty boring. Most bought complete and them customized to liking but I always built mine from parts. I have never bought a complete bike from shop, just slowly upgraded into better parts whenever i could afford them. The parts we used ended up in circulation among friends. You could tell "oh that's Mikko's old stem" and so forth. Just about everything, untill one of us broke something.

..and i just noticed i'm lacking terribly in my english vocabulary, cause i really couldn't write the things exactly the way i meant to say them in this post. Shucks.

Hey there's nothing average about GT guys !!!

The guys I ran with had Performers, Pro Performers, World Tours, Detours and Compes. We weren't rich and weren't poor. Don't really remember any Haros or Trick Stars in my neighborhood.

Seriously... that's what you need to worry about, What YOU remember ! What means something to YOU ! and most importantly ! YOU like it when your finished

if you ask me anyway

It seemed like EVERYBODY in my neighborhood had at GT Performer. (86 & 87) It was easily the most common bicycle. I guess thats why I never really liked them. There were few Hutches, Haro's or Dynos. Nobody had Skyways, and very few of us rode Schwinn Predators. The kids who didn't have good bikes..they ALL Rode Huffy Sigmas. The White Huffy's with white wheel covers, and generic brand Rotors. But I have to agree with Endo (I thought your were NoN-smoking Endo these days...what happened?) Build the bike How YOU want it. It's YOUR bike. Most importantly, Have fun with it.

GT Pro Performers = the Ford Mustang of the freestyle world, the everyman's affordable yet high performance bike, simple design but gets the job done, stylish
Haro Sports = Camaros, comparable to the GTs, very popular though less ppl had them than the GTs, better functional design
Hutch Trickstars = Corvettes, questionable whether they were/are worth the extra money, exclusivity yet slightly tacky, a nice well driven Camaro or Mustang could show it up, but very high performance nonetheless, had genuine design excellence that is often overlooked
Redline RL20s = Ferraris, few could afford them, exotic, super high tech, and even fewer people could ride them well, tended to get a lot of posers, but an expert rider on one was unbelievable

What about Ross's Pirhana ? My 87 has the front triangle geometry of a Pro performer and the rear triangle of a "loop tail" Hutch. Mine came off ebay w/ Peregrins lime green for $50 plus ship. Freestyle bars ACS components. Awesome tig welds and full 4130 Cr-Mo frame/ forks.
Made initially right in Allentown PA !!!!!!!!
I wouldn't trade it for a Hutch Trickstar.
I don't follow trends I set the standards.

I very nearly bought a Ross Pirhana bitd.

The 1st thing I could get my hands on was an 85 GT PPF. I think thats why I have such a passion for them. There were lots of Redlines by me , more so than anything else

Who me? I rode a used repainted looptail Quad for my freestyler, then got an RL20II.

I did that with this bike last year. I built it up all out of old used parts I had laying around and gave it to my cousin after we got ot talking one day and he was saying he was looking for an old one to mess around on. We each had Haro's back in the 80's, I had a Sport and he had a Master. I think you'll be surprised with what you come up with. All of this was just used scratched up parts sitting in my basement. Put somthing together and lets see it!!

This is why i'm going to do up my 88 Haro FST..
If i did get a freestyle bike bitd due to $$ this probably would have been the bike that i would of got.... sorry to go a little bit off topic.....
But what was the $$ difference between a Sport and a FST????
Come to think of it........ My old's would have bought me a Huffy 4 sure