Author Topic: My GT Patch story (Read 1059 times)

SaMAlex · « **on:** September 26, 2007, 03:20 PM »

In 1991 BMX was pretty dead. I mean, as far as I was concerned it was still going strong, but you didn’t really see kids riding BMX’s on the street. Whilst on a trip to California I went into A1-BMX, a shop that continued to keep a good stock on BMX parts. I forget what I was going in there to get, but they had loads of cool stuff.

Slight aside here: For some of my time in California I stayed in Keith Treanors drive. Every time we went to A1 Bikes he had to hide in the van cos he owed them money for some 401 flights he got. Keith had NO money at all, and I doubt he ever paid them for the cranks.

So this one time I went into A1 bikes and the owner of the shop was at the counter talking to some guy with a beard. They were talking about the state of the BMX industry. They went on to talk about “local BMX companies” who sold their products straight to the kids. They said about how bad that was, and how when a kid came into a bike shop to buy a frame, they got to see the other bike products, and maybe bought some other parts while they were there. I went up to the counter and asked a few questions about the parts I wanted. The bearded guy heard I was from England and we exchanged a few hellos. Then, the guy who owned A1 reached under the counter and handed me a GT patch. He said, “Here, have this”. Then he nodded to beard man and kinda whispered to me “that’s Gary Turner”. I thanked him for the patch, said a polite goodbye to both of them and left the shop. Of course, when I got back to S&M HQ (Moeller’s garage) I told them all the story, and about how GT CEO was in the local bike shop havin a little bitch about S&M (there were no other “local BMX companies”!)

I guess they did have a point about selling stuff straight to the kids, and S&M stopped doing that reckless kind of business, but its still a funny story, and I’ve still got the patch.

darkersomeday · « **Reply #1 on:** September 26, 2007, 03:37 PM »

thats a cool story, nice that you kept the patch too dude,

how did you "stay in treanors drive" though?

harris · « **Reply #2 on:** September 26, 2007, 03:39 PM »

same great little look into the past of mr alex

SaMAlex · « **Reply #3 on:** September 26, 2007, 03:42 PM »

Quote from: darkersomeday on September 26, 2007, 03:37 PM

how did you "stay in treanors drive" though?

Me and my mate Rob slept in our van in the drive. Keith shared a small, 2 bedroom flat with his Mom, his brother, his sister and her husband. He even shared a bedroom with his Mom (and his bike!).

darkersomeday · « **Reply #4 on:** September 26, 2007, 03:47 PM »

aaah i see! man i'm slow today,

teamsano · « **Reply #5 on:** September 27, 2007, 02:45 PM »

when i was in A-1 they had tons of cool old stuff hanging up. i remember a kuwahara e.t. at least.

TwoBobRob · « **Reply #6 on:** September 28, 2007, 09:43 PM »

Cool Alex, I love old stories like this

Stodgy · « **Reply #7 on:** September 30, 2007, 11:45 AM »

Nice Alex, good you kept so much from those days. Great story about Gary Turner - it was a good job Pete wasn't there he may have bummed him dry. Oh, and you'll probably loose that patch the second he is back from Florida. You've been warned...lock it up.