Where to start....well, most of this info is race bike related.
BITD, my group of friends was 6 guys. 3 of us had GJS's. Red, blue and chrome. I still have mine, and my buddy still has his chrome one. I pester him once or twice a year trying to acquire it. So far, no luck. But, he did send me a picture of his purchase receipt, so, I'm making progress! So, they were pretty popular in Colorado. Possibly because the best older rider, Steve Shepherd rolled one out and he was dang fast. And, they of course do look so cool.
Debut:
GJS debuted at the 1978 Mongoose Grand Nationals. October 30th, with Clint Miller making the debut. This is where there is a bit of confusion on 1978 being a valid GJS year. We don't know if any GJS's made the retail chain in 1978 or not. There was a mere 60 day window here for them to make it. Up through at least July of 1979, there were no serial numbers, so there's no help there. I've generally elected to sort of roll with the car release convention due to the late start, and call all the Gen1 GJS's 1979s, as they are all identical up through at least July.
Model ID:
Simply put, you ID a GJS by the head tube gussets.
The Gen1 GJS had 2 matching size gusset bars. 1979, maybe into early 1980.
The Gen2 GJS, the upper gusset bar was reduced in size. Early 1980 through probably a large segment of 1981.
The Gen3 GJS, the upper gusset bar was removed, and there was just a single lower gusset. Generally, the 1982 model.
The Gen4 GJS is the plate/gusset model. The 1983 model.
The Gen 5 GJS is the 1984 model, known as the A-84. Basically a throwback to the 1979 GJS with two of the larger size gussets.
Colors:
The ads for the Gen 1 models listed colors as Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue and Black. By the end of 1979, chrome was showing up, as were serial numbers. We also see yellow and orange were dropped, and replaced by chrome, up through 1982. In 1983, only chrome was available. I've only seen pics of yellow and orange Gen 1 bikes. And they were JU's race bikes. I don't know if Lionels is OG color or finish, so, I don't know if there are any survivors that aren't red, blue, black or chrome. Probably over 50% of the Gen2 and Gen3 frames I've documented are chrome.
Stickering:
Early Gen1 frames came with blue stickers. Later, chrome stickers showed up. My buddy's 12/79 GJS came with 2 sets of stickers, one of each color in the box, my 7/79 GJS came with blue attached.
Gen 2 frames had the same chrome stickers as the Gen1 chromes.
The Gen 3 and Gen4(Gusset models) came with chrome, but, an extra line of blue above and below the long orange line was added.
I don't know I've seen enough OG Gen 5 (A-84's) to know what was used.
Freestylers used different frame design stickers than the race bikes.
Oddities and other info:
The Gen 4 and Gen 5 models, due to seat post breakage got a mild redesign. The seat stays came up the side of the seat post, vs. directly on the back. Although I'm not sure of the true nature of breakage, I know a 7/8th's post is a very loose fit, and my bike still sports the 1979 Pepsi can shim used to keep the seat tight. So it appears the tubing was a bit thinner than other bikes. Was the breakage due to the thinner tubing, or, due to the need to overtighten so much that it put extra stress? Or a little of both?
Late Gen1 models got the brake bridge reinforcement. This ran through 1983, and was gone again on the A-84.
Gen 2 models have a run where the head tube is flared a tad on the top and bottom. This just appears to have been a tubing issue where it got a stretch at the factory. It's not a custom model or anything, just a minor tubing accommodation.
I've seen pics of the chain stay/BB junction with different spacing of the 2 tubes, but, I don't attach any significant model/generational difference to it. Just the natural progression of design and manufacture.
Frame info:
Gen1-Gen3 Serials run up almost to 3100. The Gen 4 Serials used a "G". The Serials picked back up again on the A84 with SN 3100 documented, and run up a bit from there. The Freestyles and Big Tubes used "F" and "B". Based on documented SNs, it appears less than 500 of each were made. Maybe less than 200 Big Tubes.
So, total GJS manufacturing looks to have right around 4000 or less. (Compare this to SE, which in 1981 has records of about 11,000 PKs and Mini Rippers being produced).
Design influence:
From the reading I've done, the GJS was loosely based on the Mongoose. In early 1978, the SE team was racing on Mongooses, with the 18.5" TT and the guys liked the feel. The GJS is a 19" TT, so, a bit longer and I think the BB a tad higher. Also, Team Mongoose/DeCoster forks and GJS forks are both straight leg forks. Coincidence? The early prototype frame had very obvious Mongoose similarities on the rear triangle.
The Freestyle and Big Tube frames are other examples of the out of the box design thinking GJS had. The freestyler had some with regular chain stays, some with square chain stays. The Big Tube seems to have been years ahead of the industry in using larger tubes. I'm not even sure non-department store race bikes can be found with 1" tubing anymore. GJS was using large tubing in 84/85. A decade or more ahead of the times.
Other GJS products:
In 1980, GJS introduced other things like forks and bars and seat post clamps.
The seat post clamp was a crazy design, but, never really could get enough torque to hold a seat super tight I've been told. They're funky, and show up from time to time.
Forks are a rare bird. Maybe 1 set a year turns up that isn't attached to a frame. The earlier model the base of the fork is semi-circular. The later model, it's just flat.
More rare than rare are GJS bars. I've seen 1 set on eBay in 4 years, and pictures of only 1 other set.
GJS closed up shop summer of 1985.
I'll try to add some pictures later. If I've made factual errors/omissions, please PM me, I'll EDIT my post and get it addressed.
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Nicely done and an interesting composition, Hitman's 1980 GJS:
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