Old School BMX 1980 - 1988 > Old School Freestyle (frame stands and kickturns galore!)
1984 GHP Trix Resto......
McQUEEN:
Yoah,
this is my build thread for the Resto of a 84 GHP Trix. I'm going to drop in as much knowledge as I've found out about this frame set during the past year of research - if I'm teaching anyone to suck eggs I apologise, it's not my intention, and if anyone has more info, please educate me....
Seeing this frameset for the first time hit me right between the eyes as a kid - I'd just finally spent 9 months of savings from a load of odd jobs and paper rounds to buy a GT Pro Performer frame and fork set from RAD CITY in Benfleet. I'd bought the Performer in chrome but had really wanted yellow (I had all the parts for a Fiola Banana) - the guy who owned the shop only had one chrome and one yellow, and the yellow had been made up to display, and he didn't want to take it apart and so he talked me into the chrome one, so I bought it - in the back of my mind I was never really happy with it, so when I saw the GHP Trix in Freestylin' magazine, and with Dave Vanderspek riding one on the same page, both images turned my head big style, and I really wanted it instead of the chrome Performer, driving the buyer's remorse deeper. I remember calling around places like OT cycles, Faze 7, RAD CITY again etc and no one had a Trix to see if I could get one as a trade for the nearly new GT. I don't think this frame set was ever sold in the UK - I've trawled through the adverts in BMX Action Bike and the english Freestyle magazines from the time and can't find a single listing for one.
The GHP Trix first came out in late '84, just as freestyle BMX was working towards its peak - all the major manufacturers had Freestyle frames, complete bikes and factory riders. KOS and the Southern California freestyle scene were the competitions and areas getting more coverage than the BMX racing and the AFA had been formed. The new stars of BMX where Fiola, Dominguez, Osborn, Wilkerson, replacing Leary, Hill, Miller as the faces kids looked to. Despite the rise of Freestyle, it was a pretty short lived concept for GHP. The Trix was only around for a year - there's only a handful on the museum, albeit I do know of 4 or five more over in America and one in Australia. There's also a NOS frameset in Canada that occasionally pops up on Ebay (normally around $5,000). I think the reasons are that GHP didn't have a big marketing budget like GT or Haro did at the time (who were BIG competition), Greg Hill himself wasn't really a freestyle fan (pure racer) and they didn't have a factory freestyle rider, although there were rumours that Martin Aparijo had ridden for them and had had a hand in its design and Dave Vanderspek was rumoured to be joining GHP, apparently helping develop a ramp version. From what I've found, he never actually rode for GHP and the ramp version never came out.
(If you look closely at the picture of DV in the full page picture he's actually riding a GHP Pro II but with the Trix forks - also has a RAD CITY decal on the front of his helmet!)
When the bike first came out it was pretty much set out on a GHP Pro II jig but with beefier tubing and dropouts, cool little RL20 type gussets under the downtube and what I always considered to be the coolest/simplest rear standing platforms on any freestyle bike. GHP changed the fork design late '84 - the early ones didn't have the front fork pegs - the frame set came with GHP Pro I front forks. The later models came with front forks that I understand VDC made (with GHP Dropouts) as they are identical to the VDC Freestyler forks - I've seen some confirmation between an American collector and Greg Hill / Voris Dixon to confirm that's the case as indeed, Voris Dixon was recently commissioned, under license agreement from Greg Hill, to knock up a few sets of the front forks from the old design details for the collector to replace a set lost from a frame he'd acquired.
Colours of the original early framesets - from what I've researched (through loads of editions of Freestylin') the early Trix's were offered in Chrome, White, or Candy Red (same as the race bikes). There were rumours of 'Day-Glo Orange' in 85, but I think this was more of a reflection of the GHP Pro II that GH rode to come second in the NBL Grands that year (GHP painted a few 'Day-Glo Orange'). There were one or two shop adverts advertising yellow, but GHP only confirmed '85 models were available in Chrome, White, or Red (which was now painted rather than Candy red). On the Trix the red was a red paint over a white base - some collectors in America have been using candy red over white and these look more like race bikes from '84. I also found a single yellow frame and fork set that was most possibly factory painted (there was yellow found inside the bottom bracket and under the decals) - I've contacted Greg Hill and Chip at C4 labs re the 'Day-Glo Orange' and Freestyle Red and nobody is really clear.
Midwest BMX Advert from 85
Greg Hill at the NBL Grands
GHP Advert from 85
Juan Matteos / BMX Addicts build, Red over White finish
Original Yellow
White (repowered not original)
Chrome
So, after looking for a Trix frameset for about two years, and having lost out to a ridiculous bidding battle via an renowned American BMX Ebayer and the frames owner on BMXmuseum (The frameset I was trying to get ended up sitting on Ebay after that for about 6 months at $2999 - its the white one in the pictures above) I bought this frame and fork set from a friend who bought it via ebay from Wundawend a year before. It is stamped on the lhs rear dropout as an '84 July model and came with the GHP Pro I front forks - and they weren't original to the frame. It was also in pretty bad condition with chewed up drop outs, loads of dents / dings and deep scratches and a crushed rear brake bridge. Structurally it was good - all the welds were good, the frame was straight and there were no bends. Anyway, here's how it looked when I first got my eyes on it.
More to follow....
Picklez:
Quality. Great info right there :4_17_5:. Can confirm I have also come across an identical info/history trail to the one you detail.
Been waiting for this thread, staying tuned and can't wait for your updates... :popcorn:
Picklez:
Also, yours being a July 84 would have originally had the decals you have on the Pro 1 forks in the 'as received' photos (It would have also come with Pro 1 forks originally). The decals in all other images were the 85 Trix decals.
Yours:
And why I'm so sure? I thought your SN looked familiar, the SN on the one with the red decals:
:daumenhoch:
dancetothedrummersbeat:
This is going to be good. These are super rare! Great info and and a fantastic start to the build thread. I do love a good build story/journey as you know. This is one of the only framesets left that i'd really like. Can't wait to see how it progresses. Thanks for sharing with us :4_17_5:
McQUEEN:
--- Quote from: Picklez on October 04, 2016, 10:46 PM ---
And why I'm so sure? I thought your SN looked familiar, the SN on the one with the red decals:
:daumenhoch:
--- End quote ---
Nice one - how often do you see that!! fistblump
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