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the conversation was casual and I'm fairy sure that more recollections could come back to Mr Hutch in time.
1. Profile never made any Hutch frames according to the entire family.....that one took some effort not to argue but i did question it a little and mentioned Corey Alley "drilling brake bridges after school". Mr Hutch said "who?" Look forward to discussing that a bit further I also pointed out early drilled brake bridge rear drop outs. There is the little taper/notch at the end of the bottom one. Mr Hutch said along the lines "oh yeah we got the drops from Profile for a while". Did they get the drilled plates also? Hutch said that the reason to change had nothing to do with cracking at all, it was the cost to do it based on the time taken.
2. Hutch was never "sued" at all. He stated be was grateful never to have had a lawsuit taken out for any reason related to the bikes or injuries at all. So the "lawsuit" model rumour is just that it seems? A kid getting his leg shredded by pedals was another rumour Keith Hutchins had heard led to a lawsuit but according to Mr and Mrs no, didn't happen. However, Hutch sports products (NFL helmets/pads/uniforms etc did launch a claim about trademark in the later 80's (I didn't press for the exact year). Despite running as Hutch BmX for al those years before, eventually he had to change to Hutchins according to Rich Snr.
3. The Hutchins never wanted to go off shore but Bill Bellis had become involved in a business partner role (not sure if that involved partial purchase or not). Bellis insisted it had to happen for costs reasons. Rich Snr said everyone else did it so reluctantly he agreed. Mrs Hutchins hated Bellis from day 1 when he walked in the door, always did.
4. The Sears bikes in Canada is one of, if not the greatest "mistake" and "regrets" that Mr Hutch has...... He had worked at Sears in the 70's and had relationships and thought he could spin some profit without it impacting on USA market reputation/ sales etc. He was pretty downhearted on this reality that he did it..…
5. Red white decals were a very short time, by early 81 they were black and chrome, presumably beginning of 81 given TJ was given his bike in beginning 81 and Heidi received her bike in earlyish 81, both with black and chrome decals but still first gen forks. Best guess from Mr and Mrs as to first production frames was around Sept/October 1980.
6. Hutch didn't physically make the first gen box cranks. Probably not new news to most. But I didn't press at the time on who designed the shape or spindle etc. But his thoughts were a company other than Profile manufactured them...... The name KenLee Precision kept getting mentioned in every discussion of anything early Hutch products. From frame assembly to crank assembly. No one else really had anything other to say. Keith Hutchins said to me today he is tempted to contact KenLee who still operate out of Baltimore to see what he can discover. There's an interesting early brochure that talks about new Hutch cranks coming soon, made from chromoloy tubing, lighter than Takagi cranks, available in 1/2 only. Very interesting to me this one.
7. Hutch only made the single item in the 24k gold woody bike and maybe 2 sets of the Woody style Suntour roller cam setups. None of the Huthins kids or anyone else got another gold 24k bike because of cost.
8. Pedal crush protectors and pedal boxes I had a Hutch beartrap boxed set of pedals with me that Keith made me take to show his dad. Not one of the family recognised the crush protectors. At all...... Rich Jnr commented what a great idea they were though. The only packaged versions of the protectors I've seen for sale are in the Hutch packets stating the Kentucky address, which was the time that Hutch was solely owned by Bill Bellis. So they're not to do with the Hutchins family and are effectively an early 90's product. Everyone said the box should be logo'd, does that make the blank cardboard boxes much later versions after Hutch was sold? Interestingly I scanned another dealer catalogue with prices, and it refers to USA made pedals and overseas made versions and the price is fairly similar. Could that explain the blank box?
9. Red white crank decals Probably belongs above but there was recollection from Rich Jnr that he had to place those decals on cranks in the early days, he thought for factory riders maybe only. Discussion about whether they were to fit the profile 2nd gen indentation didn't lead to anything certain or confident.
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