Technical & Reference Section > Tech and Restoration

you be the judge

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brummie:
fan fookin tastic nuf said  :smitten:

diesel:
Beautiful Glen - wondered when it would be finished

Great job  :daumenhoch:

HUTCHMAN:
bit of history relating to Hutchins.....

The company was sold to a man named Bill Bellis.

THE REBIRTH
Bellis took over and brought production back to America. He was no stranger to BMX. He owned several bicycle distributors in the 80's including Louisville Cycle and Columbus Cycle and not only was he the money man behind Hutch he was the co-owner of CW / Revcore with Roger Worsham. Revcore of course was the racing company that manufactured extreme high quality American made frames. The quality of a Revcore is astounding and they went out of their way to make sure they were strong as well as light. Around the time Hutch was turned over to Bellis, Roger Worsham wanted out of the bike business and sold his half of CW / Revcore to Bellis under the condition that he stay on in some capacity, like a manager. So he was now the owner of CW / Revcore and Hutch. He moved Hutch from Maryland to Kentucky. The plan was to sell off the remaining Hutch inventory while building new stuff and getting team members to ride and promote the company.

THE NAME CHANGE
Hutch had been fighting a lawsuit brought against them by Hutch Sports USA (makers of stuff like football helmets). According to new information this lawsuit was actually settled for about $250. Apparently part of the agreement must have been that Hutch Bikes change their name. This name change to "Hutchins" appeared to have taken place sometime between 88 - 89. I have seen Hutch ads for 89 model freestyle bikes with the company name as Hutchins Bicycle Designs and the company address in Kentucky instead of Maryland. The bikes themselves were still called "Hutch" at this time. Soon the bikes themselves said Hutchins instead.

THE HUTCHINS BIKES
The new Hutchins frames were the Judge 2, Pro Racer, Pro Cruiser and a new freestyle bike. Some XL versions were made as well. The Judge 2 of course was a new version of the popular Tim Judge Hutch frame from back in the early 80's. I don't know what the freestyle frame was called. I don't think it was a Trick Star but I'm not certain. I saw an ad for a company called Derby Towne Cycles who sold only Revcore and Hutch stuff (the ad is in the picture gallery). It said they had new American made Hutchins frames. One was listed only as "USA made freestyle frame". I don't know what it was called or what it looked like. I contacted Hutch around 90 and asked if there would be a new Trick Star. The reply was that there would be a new Trick Star in 91 and it would be American made. I saw some mail order companies advertising that they were going to have Trick Stars again. When I contacted one about the price they said that Hutchins had changed their mind and were going to focus on racing frames instead. Whether or not this is true I don't know. Like I said, Hutch definitely told me that they were building a new Trick Star.

What kind of sticker kits did these bikes have? At first they had the same Hutch stickers as the old racing bikes had but that was quickly changed. Some of the different styles were ones that looked just like the old Hutch downtube sticker except that it said Hutchins instead of Hutch. Another style was an elongated H with stars trailing behind it. One head tube decal was just a large western H with a star behind it and another design was a large western H with the words Hutchins Performance Products written all around it in the same font as the late eighties logo.

What differences exist between the Hutch and the Hutchins bikes? One example would be the dropouts. Hutchins dropouts are all thick. The dropouts on the Judge 2 look like they are even thicker than the others possibly. Hutchins bikes likely will not have any logo pressed into the brake bridge. Some don't appear to have serial numbers either. Some of the last batch of Hutchins frames had a different looking dropout on the fork. Most were done like the original Hutch dropouts but some were shaped a little different and had no hole.

Sorry it's a bit long winded,but i thought some might be interested.

bobbysam:
Bloody lovely mate  :4_17_5:  I want a Hutch before I die  :'(

bobafett:

Looks nice that  :)

What's the TT length - looks fairly long  ???

Full parts breakdown ?  ;)

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