Wow - Hutch resurrected? Does that mean I get my sponsorship back?

Sounds like you have laid down some serious effort to get this going, (which is what it takes of course)
Seriously, are you planning on sponsoring riders and all that? (sorry if I missed that...long thread!)
BITD, Richard was very involved when it came to pounding the pavement and being right there at the starting gate, encouraging us to kick some butt on the track. He didn't like losing!
Not that you need to run Hutch like he did, but I think that was a big part of it...the riders and the all-around pursuit of success with the bikes AND on the track.
Of course this is just my perspective...but I DO have a bit of bias...

Good luck and when you get the jerseys and leathers ready I'll send you my sizes...

I reallty think there has been a big oversght in your business dealings John. Did you get permission from David Soul? Sure he didn't drive the cool Torino, but he was Hutch afterall. I sure would hate to see him and Starsky drag you down to the station for some serious questioning. Talk to Huggy Bear he could probably help you.

^ that's awesome ^

LOL...I know...even at 13, I thought the bare-foot-and-leathers-thing was seXee.

regarding the chrome...i have a thruster-era Hutch that is worn thru to the nickel and the copper in spots. so, at least at some point they were "triple plated".

I'll trade you for an original Go Pro Factory Team jersey. It's one of the few things I don't have in my collection that I would like.

To me the pic is not very clear, looks more like Dizz Hicks!

holy cow is that really what used ones are going for now? hmm...

hmmmm....I bet that's not the only thing you don't have.....mmuuuhahahahahaaa!

(couldn't resist)

Just in case you doubt me. To prove a point, I listed these this morning and they lasted a whopping 10 minutes before someone grabbed them with the BIN. Less than 20 page views before they were gone.

Proof Positive

oh i didn't doubt you ken. it just is making me rethink whether i want to hold on to jeff's old pedals or not...

Hey John Good work on getting things going on the Hutch brand!!!! where in Wisconsin are you? Did you work for Waterford where the first Standards where built??? Or Trek? PS BIG PROPS!!!!!!!!!!!

Another Wisconsinite!
John & I are both from Appleton

Great news , this should be very interesting. !

John,
By purchasing the Hutch rights, does that include the option to recreate the team member bikes (Judge & Hollywood)? If so, let me be the first to offer up the cash for a sweet "judge spec" reissue F&F. I will be waiting on SN#0002 in candy apple red! Please....

Yes, and I would like to do a Judge re-issue. Funny thing is that, IMO, the Judge II with the 20.5" TT is a much nicer-riding frame than an early Judge. But I have one of each, so maybe it will be a hybrid of both. And yes, I love the red and blue too, whether it's candy or solid.

This is the first vintage bike I built in 2004, which is a close replica to my original Pro Racer from BITD. I ordered my chrome Pro Racer August of 1983, but by 1984 was tired of seeing nothing but chrome/black, so I had the chrome removed and painted blue. I still have the paint codes, so this is exactly how it would have looked. I also raced it a few times 2 years ago, so the numbers are real too.

Pro Racer:



20.5" TT Judge II

Don't know if this is true of all Hutch's. But one of my friends had one about 1983, and boy was it a wheelie monster. How did guys like Townsend put the power down and not loop out. Actually how did Charlie even fit on one.

Changstar

Here is a 1982 double stamped brake bridge Hutch 24XL that I'm going to restore.
It needs a few mods, but looks like a good project. I know, the seat has to go, I'm going to dye it black.
It's the only one I had lying around. (I'm dying the kashi not the bar stool, I'm ebaying that RAD seat!)
It has Ukai rims with Suntour hubs, Suntour stem, Kashimax seat, redline fluted seatpost, a (graphite?) seat clamp, Takagi crank, Dia Compe brakes, and KKT pedals. Don't know what type of bars they are.
can anyone Identify it? All I know is that everything minus the seat is the way it was purchased at the Bike Path in Uniontown, Pa in 1982. All origional like the day it was purchased 25+ years ago right down to the tires and the dia compe brake pads. Cool huh.
The bad thing is the chrome is flaking. I gave it an O/A bath and shined it up a bit. I'll polish it soon.

Sweet XL! Didn't know there were double stamped brake bridge 24s getting around! How did you get hold of it?

I should say 82-83 cause I don't know. I only assumed 82 because of the brake bridge. I thought they only double stamped them in 82. I was told the stickers say it's an 83. Whatever.
It's a pre serial Hutch that is in sweet shape. The O/A bath cleaned it up so well, you can hardly tell the chrome is flaking from 5 feet away.
It's a shame it flaked. The kid who had it barely rode it. He was a BIG boy. (see the seat in first pic) They said they paid over 500. BITD for it. It hasn't been rode for a long time.
Brake pads have very little wear on it.

Anyway I got it at a yard sale... no kidding.....

It is definitely cool. Iam not a cruisre guy, but a Hutch cruiser would be nice to own.

double stamped brakebridge and a MCS made fork I think.
I guess late 82 early 83 made by MCS.

John, Thank you thank you - for stepping up to revive a great manufacturer of BMX bikes!
I have a first gen Tim Judge back when I raced back in the 80s.
So much memory of my racing and reading those old mags of BMX Plus and BMX Action and seeing all the Hutch team in their glory days. When I went off to college, I dropped out of BMX racing and got into road racing my Bianchi...but I have always kept my Judge with me all these years.
I hope you get to retool some all stuff (bars, hubs, etc). It would be so great to rebuild my bike back to what I had in the past.
Thanks again and all the luck from past and present racers in raising this great Phoenix from the ashes!

Is there a new Hutch web site available yet? Which name will the company be going by, Hutch or Hutchenson? Best of luck. I wish I still had my old Pro Racer.

I'm trying to gather a few products to launch simultaneously before making the web site go online. It will be soon, and announced.

The name will be Hutch.

Great John, look forward to seeing the 'product range'
Making stem locks at all??

I spotted this one, it doesn't even look like a Hutch stem lock to me, is it???

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...A:IT&ih=007

Hard to tell with the camera angles and settings. Probably legit.

I'm going after bigger fish. Stem locks will come later, if the other stuff works.

Well done John. Hopefully this can be a profitable prospect for you as well as resulting in a product line of BMX components that meet the old and young guys alike, racing and freestyle. However, that is a big market to cover. Do you have a staged product release plan by targeting the old school guys first, to gain slow momentum? Or are you going to try and cover new and old at once?

If you need an agent in Australia, place me first on your interview list please.

Good luck!

John

A Judge II with a 20.5" TT is a perfect bike. Classic and still rideable. Lovin' it!

so.... can I send you some money yet..... I know it'll be headed your way soon! LOL...

Not yet lol. But I hope to release another big chunk 'o news in a month or so. Plus I am working on new-school designs concurrently with the old. I hope to release a half-dozen things or so all at one time.

I'm still excited about this! I'm currently riding an 88 Master because my Trick Star had a seat post that rusted into the frame and broke off leaving a portion of it stuck inside the seat tube. After around 10 years of abuse the Trick Star never cracked anywhere, even after a long stint with a bolt on GT bashguard. I love 88 Haro Masters and the reason I ride one now is only because the Trick Star is no longer able to be ridden and buying another Trick Star off Ebay is not possible. I'd be better off buying a scooter or a car for that matter. Plus, as awesome as the Trick Star was, I really want a modern version of one. Not a replica, just one that is very close but with 990 mounts and other modern ideas. For instance I'd scrap the coaster brake catch, chainstay standers and fork pegs since none really serve any useful purpose on a modern bike (and in my opinion were never totally necessary anyway) and it would be an obvious way to differentiate from an original. Regardless of what you do I'm certain you obviously want to make a new Trick Star and I hope it's a slightly modernized one because I'd love to retire the Master before it ends up getting trashed or cracking like they all do around the seat tube. You know, I used to write to Hutch all the time back in the day and send them bike frame ideas I'd draw up. Obviously they never used any but they would typically reply with a letter or a sticker or something. Ha! I must have been either amusing or annoying with the constant bombardment of frame ideas I kept sending them. I always assumed they went to Richard but I have no idea. Once again, good luck with this. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with. I also look forward to finally getting a new Hutch frame. In the meantime I can't wait to simply buy an official tshirt!

that would be my thinking on that 24" also.
I have one just like it - double-stamped brake bridge, MCS fork.

John, just a thought, and I relise your probably flat out with things but have you thought of a creating a mailing list for your products???

What's a guy gotta do to get a free t-shirt around this place?!

J-K Mike. Look forward to meeting you next week.

Hutch trivia of interest!

Just D/L BMXPlus Sept '81 via Johnny Ringo (thanks!) it has a Hutch 'X-long project' test, the article states the brake bridge drilled frame (not stamped) has a 2 1/2" wide b/b as opposed to a 'standard' 2 5/8" to accommodate the 'Hutch' 3 piece crank set, the b/b shell is also machined 'deeper' for fitment of this crank set, anyone have an early drilled frame set available for checking these measurements?
Also note head tube decal - cool!!
It also looks to have a TRX (?) fork in the action shots and a non drilled "Hutch" fork in another pic.

Check it out!

I have that article also.

I no longer have a drilled frame, so I can't measure the BB width. Trivial, but I doubt it matters much, as I was able to easily mount a set of 1st-gen cranks with original spindle into a pre-serial # XL24 (with 2-5/8" BB) without trouble. From this picture you can see that I still had to use washers to shim. I'm not sure how/why the article says it would "accommodate" those cranks, since even more shims were probably needed with a narrower BB.



I agree with you that the "stars" head tube decal is very cool. I personally like it better than the traditional head tube decal. It came in 2 versions: "HIGH" and "HI" -Performance. All the rarest decals from the drilled frame series are below. If you turn to page 84 in the same issue and look at the Hutch ad you can see the placement of those other decals.

Mr. DeBruin congrats on your venture! I am looking very foreward to new bikes and parts bearin the Hutch name. As Im pretty new to the hobby of collecting I just cant afford to buy the "real deal" OS stuff. So new stuff with the looks and the soul of the old, well that sits great with me.

Yeah 1/8" is squat all when talking b/b easily to accommodate with washers etc.

Have you looked into doing a decal run on that head tube decal??!! (*hint*)

John - can we see more pics of that black 24"?

I also use a few washers and shims with my 401s on the XL24.
As it is a rider it has a new school Redline BB set with old 401 arms.
Works great.

WOW!

Congrats John...I/We all hope the best for you....Good luck and I cant wait to see the Hutch name Up in BIKE STORES again all over the country!!!!! that would totally RULE!!!!!!

Your repops were rubbish mate!!!

Tell us more...

John,

Do you have any pictures you can share of the prototype pedals that you took to Rockford? Thanks in advance!

Best regards,

Brian

I'd kinda prefer not to. The pedals are 1st-article tooling samples meant to show how the die-cast tool and die-stamp tools were running. The pedals were assembled just to make it more user-friendly to look at. I will actually be getting the first "prototype" batch in soon, as soon as my vendor tweaks the 21 enhancement requests that I submitted. Donating these samples to the raffle was just my way of sharing some of the new history with the Rockford attendees and whomever was the lucky winners. Showing them to the public en mass would be a bit premature I think, because these are definitely not what the final product will look like.

Good thing you posted this John, as I was literally, just about to go out and shoot a pic of mine (before I sealed them away in the archives).

<wiping sweat from brow>



M

No problem either way. I just think it would be neat to show pics of the process after the project has gone through all the steps.

Bump, any new news?

hmmm...

pedals are almost ready. Production "prototypes" arrived 2 weeks ago and they look nice. Just a couple more tweaks to the cages and I'll place the order. All the most difficult stuff is finished.

*finally* got my chrome vinyl material for pads in. I ordered 25 yards and only received 12. This material is expensive and very hard to get, but it is dead-nuts perfect to the original chrome material that ZAP Pads used BITD. I'll place the order for those to be made next week. Will do a run of Hutch, CW, and possibly ZAP lightning bolt pads all in one shot. Based on what I already see about material supply issues, these may be a difficult item to stock or re-supply if they sell out.

Nylon pads will be done at the same time, and I might make one variation from the originals by using a 600 denier fabric rather than 400. Hutch and CW used 400, but I've got some original National Pro pads that used 600 and the slight difference in texture makes them look much higher quality IMHO.

Working on the web site too, and once it's finished I will get ad banners up so you know where to go. I am trying to avoid ebay as much as possible, even for my decals. Everything will be fixed pricing typical to retail, and does not fit in an auction environment.

I still have decal sets and t-shirts in XL right now, so send a message if interested. In regards to full decal sets, I have every USA-made style of Hutch, and also the Pro Raider and Wind Styler. Also have the CW Phaze 1 and Z frame sets.