Brian Hays Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 Im not a freestyle guy. I truly enjoy looking at freestyle stuff and seeing pics and videos of guys riding but I have always been a race bike guy since 1976 when I got my first 16" bike at the age of 5. Having said that, a set of circumstances aligned and I couldnt resist this build. Here's the back story: I grew up in the same neighborhood as my long time friend Rick Tovrea. For his 8th grade graduation present his parents took him to Little Ades Bicycles in Pekin IL (started in 1980 and STILL going STRONG!!) and bought him this 1986 Hutch Windstyler. Adolf was very good about taking complete bikes and switching out parts to personalize for each customer. Rick has had this bike hanging in his garage since he stopped riding it in the 90s. Every time he moved, the bike went with him. Fast forward to fall of 2016. Rick's been married for years and now has three teenage kids. He had always thought in the back of his mind that at some point one of his kids may want the bike. Never happened though his son did ride it some when he was younger. Rick called me at work and said that he was tired of walking around it and wanted to know what it was worth. I told him to bring it up to me and i would look at it and sell it for him online to help him out. Over time, the tires and grips and a couple other parts had been robbed for other bikes his kids rode and the bike showed up to me in a plastic tote, mostly disassembled and pretty rusty but ALL the og decals were there and most all of the hard parts were still present. I told him to let me clean it all up with an OA bath and we could make a decision what he wanted for it. I took all the stuff home and that weekend soaked all the steel rusty parts for about 16 hours and I scrubbed and repacked the hubs on the Skyway Tuff II's. To my surprise, the frame and fork came out looking like new. I washed them in a soap and water bath and then dried and polished them and could NOT believe how nice they turned out. I got everything cleaned up and just fell in love with all this stuff and decided since I had known of the bike for so many years, I should do it justice and put it back together the way Rick had it and remembered it. I sent him pics of all the parts and he was amazed. I gave him the option to just come pick it all back up if he wanted it but he said he just wanted to see it back in its glory. I told him I felt the same and I wanted to just buy it all from him. We settled on a price and I had him text me a list of how he had/wanted the parts. I had to find the correct padset, tires, grips, stem, brakes, chain, and BB set. The stuff that was still present was the Dyna seat, Hutch layback post, Hutch donut clamp, Anlun bars (switched at shop), Skyway Tuff II's, freewheel, Takagi 175's, KKT pedals, Hutch disc and sprocket, frame and fork and headset. I bought the correct (from another Windstyler) Chang Star complete brakeset, Hutch stem, Used Ame bubble font Tri's, OG Hutch padset and new Cheng Shin tires and tubes and an Odyssey Dynatron BB set, Izumi 1/2" chain. Bike went together very nice and when Rick saw it the other day, his reaction was PRICELESS. I only wish I had video'd it. He was speechless and visibly moved. I had a happy lump in my throat. Good stuff. The Little Ades Bicycles decal is still fully intact too on the seat tube. (Hard to see because its gold writing on a clear decal on a chrome frame.) This one goes in the "never for sale" file with my blue RA7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin S.Brothers Posted January 17, 2017 Admin Share Posted January 17, 2017 it came out great, Brian and the story is real cool. Honestly never would have expected that at some point in 2017, I'd be thinking to myself , "that came out sweet", about a Windstyler... but here we are. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hays Posted January 17, 2017 Author Share Posted January 17, 2017 I thought the same thing to myself too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RL Paulie Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 (edited) Very nice. We figured some of you guys would start coming out of the closet sooner or later. Great story. I saved one of my old riding buddy's CW California Freestyler not too long ago. Very nostalgic to have those bikes you remember from your youth. I have my target set on my other friend's GT that's been hanging in his garage since forever. Let's see more of the TA project in the background! Edited January 17, 2017 by RL Paulie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin TrulyOdd Posted January 17, 2017 Admin Share Posted January 17, 2017 yes. nice looking windstyler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OLDSKOOLPK Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Whoa....Hell is going to freeze over in 2017!! I guess being married now is bringing out the feminine Freestyle side of you! Hehe! Looks great, awesome story and welcome to the freestyle CLUB!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hays Posted January 23, 2017 Author Share Posted January 23, 2017 Whoa....Hell is going to freeze over in 2017!! I guess being married now is bringing out the feminine Freestyle side of you! Hehe! Looks great, awesome story and welcome to the freestyle CLUB!!! :ROTFLMAO: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FilleriMay Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 haha that's a sweet little ride my dude. awesome story Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RL Paulie Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 Were you cranking the Whitesnake while building this bike? Sorry, couldn't resist. Seeing the TA up on blocks reminded me of this scene. LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hays Posted March 1, 2017 Author Share Posted March 1, 2017 Hellllzzzz yessss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
