Okay bear with me...
In 1986, I was big-time into freestyle biking. Dropping off of picnic tables, riding on my seat with no hands... all with no helmet or pads. And I've got the scars to prove it.
The bike of my dreams was the 1986 Hutch Trick Star. Here she is in all her glory...
(Yes, it's pink. But remember, this is when thick fluorescent shoestrings were in style the first time.)
It was made famous by trick rider Woody Itson who rode the pink version and didn't apologize for it.
Of course, today's riders make Woody look like a pansy. And this Irish rider will make you wet your pants.
But I can't leave well enough alone. In 1986, I couldn't afford the bike. And sad for me, they stopped making the bike a long time ago. But I'm in that stage of living vicariously through my boys, and they go along with it because they're not old enough to know better. I'm pretty much their whole world at this point.
So I tracked down a Trick Star carcass. In Canada. In someone's frigid storage shed. And snatched it up.
Looking forward to a winter-time rebuild with my kids. It'll be like building a model car... with "West End Girls" and "You Give Love a Bad Name" playing in the background.
Let the rebuild begin.
rad.
i rode a mongoose from 1980 to 1984.
Posted by: tony sheng | November 30, 2010 at 10:47 AM
Nice...in 1986 I was all about being a baby and michael Jordan...at least that is what my dad told me, I was only a couple months old.
Posted by: Kyle Reed | November 30, 2010 at 12:45 PM
Ben, you are seriously the man. You had to have seen the movie Rad right? All time best BMX movie. My brothers and I had bikes that we would jump off the curbs and steps at the AA building down the road from our house. And since we lived on a 5 acre hobby farm we had enough room for my dad to bring in a couple loads of dirt and build us some table tops, hills and berms to ride on. Great memories!
Posted by: Brentonbalvin | November 30, 2010 at 05:09 PM
i knew i liked you guys =)
Posted by: Ben Arment | December 01, 2010 at 08:30 AM
i had dennis mccoy posters all over my room back then. saved up my money and bought a dyno compe like this:
http://bmxmuseum.com/bikes/dyno/14298
built sweet ramps with my friends.
ahh, that was fun.
Posted by: Adam Spriggs | December 01, 2010 at 08:54 AM
Thanks for the flash back. I raced a black and red Kuwahara and remember the kid with the all chrome Hutch. Maybe I'll build my son a P.K. Ripper with Redline cranks and Bullseye hubs (that was my dream bike)
Posted by: Rodneyeason | December 01, 2010 at 09:15 AM
Ben: Danny MacAskill is Scottish - I hope he doesn't beat you up for calling him Irish. ;-)
Posted by: Brannon Hancock | December 01, 2010 at 05:13 PM
when I was a teenager I raced BMX bikes all over the east coast!
and I did a little bit of street riding at the skatepark and dirt jumps!
Posted by: Boydbettis | December 01, 2010 at 08:20 PM
My respect level for you just increased. I've heard it said that real men wear pink but you've raised the bar. Real men ride pink bikes.
I never got into tricks but did race BMX on a dirt track for a few years but then moved on to racing go-carts.
Posted by: Daniel Decker | December 06, 2010 at 10:38 PM