1986 GT Pro Series

The story of this bike: So when I was younger I started off on a junkyard bike with a banana seat, then moved into a Huffy, a Team Murry (I was stoked it had Velcro pads), and then to my first real bike a Diamond Back Super Viper. Well the Super Viper was stolen with in a month, so I was demoted back to piecing together scrapper bikes from my friends garage.

For the next year pulled every weed and did every chore I could make money at to be able to go a build my dream bike. Then in September for my birthday, my Dad and I went down to Garland Cycle in Spokane to start to pick out parts. I desperately wanted to ride a GT Pro since the fastest kid in my area rode one, so luckily they had one left hanging on the wall. From there each and every part was hand picked, and I was forced to make big decisions on where to spend my money. As I didn't have quite enough to get 401's with Hutch pedals and a nice wheel set. So in the end the shop convinced me that Hutch pedals would destroy my shins, and that I probably wouldn't notice the difference between a one piece crank and the 401's, so Araya 7x's with GT hubs it was. (And yes, the crazy chain and Tioga disc really don't match the look of the rest of the bike, but remember, I was 12 when I was picking out the parts and this was the 80's)

This bike was my pride and joy. It lived its first month displayed in the living room at night when I wasn't riding it. And everyone I knew wanted to take it for a spin since it was a major step up from the Blue Max's, Decoster's, Silver Streaks etc that all my friends were riding. Then on fateful day in late October about 8 of us rode up to the local grocery store a few blocks from my house. I didn't want to leave my bike since none of us brought a lock. But one of my friends convinced me that if we hid it behind everyone else's bikes that it would be fine for the 3 minutes we would be in the store...it wasn't, when we came back out all the bikes were tipped over and mine was gone....

So it was this bike that brought me back into this hobby. Over the years, I managed to find each and every part to rebuild my dream bike. I still need to clean up the pedals, but everything on this bike is original, and not restored or repopped. And since this one now lives on display over my kitchen, there is no chance some punk will steal my dream bike from me again.

FRAME/FORK: 1986 GT PRO
WHEELS: Chrome Araya 7x laced to early GT Hubs
TIRES: GT
SEATPOST: GT
BARS: Powerlite Pro
STEM: Hutch Western H with a Hutch Stiffener
SEAT: Shotgun II
POST: GT Stamped
BRAKES: Dia Comp MX 1000's w/Vans Shoe Pads
CRANKS: Takagi One Piece with Tioga Disc
CHAIN: Tioga Crazy Chain
PEDALS: Shimano DX