Today you'd never believe that once upon a time Rich Hutchins was a salesman at Sears. Rich, founder and owner of Hutch Hi-Performance Products, has come a long way since he started a family owned bicycle store back in 1979. Of cource BMX has changed a great deal since '79.
It seems the sport has envolved about the same way Hutch has envolved.
FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
All Hutchins had on his mind back when he started the bike shop was to outfit his two sons in the relatively new and unknown sport of BMX. Bicycle Motocross had grown in the west, but was still an infant on the east coast--especially around Hutchins' home in Baltimore, Maryland.
« I would call California and order specialized equipment for them. The other kids would bug us, so we would order extra and started selling it out of the shops. »
The demand for the equipment soon led Rich into the mail-order business. That venture flourished and in less than six months Hutch was out of the bike shop and doing mail-order full time.
HIS OWN BRAND
The natural procession led Rich Hutchins into manufacturing realm. More precisely, to a subcontractor who put the Hutch label on the BMX frames and forks. Hutchins wanted to produce a top-of-the-line frameset. So, with a hefty price tag of $128, the Hutch frame and fork were born. « They started selling pretty well here in Maryland, » said Rich, « So we knew we had something hot. »
It wasn't by accident, however, that Hutch was succesfull, seemingly, from the word go.

Rich Hutchins: Turned a little bike shop in Maryland into a multi-million dollar enterprise.

Rich used a marketing strategy he learned when his son was a factory-sponsored rider for Yamaha motorcycles. He scouted out top riders to outfit with Hutch equipment. There was nothing new about this practice within BMX, but Hutch found a way of attracting some of the sport's best racers. In those days his roster included Tim Judge, Rich Farside and Toby Henderson.
Today you'll find starts like Charles Townsend, Eric Carter and Mike Miranda wearing the Hutch jersey.
ENTER THE COMPUTER AGE
During the first year, Hutch sold a couple thousand frames. In 1981 the Hutch facility moved into an industrial park and a welding crew was hired to produce the frames and forks in-house. Two years ago another move was made, this time to a freestanding 42,000 squares foot facility. These days four computer controlled machines produce much of the precision parts manufactured by Hutch.
Like almost all the BMX manufacturers, Hutch has gone overseas to find their supply on goods. You can find Hutch bicycles that sell for under $200, but they still make the top-of-the-line models, made in Hutch's Baltimore factory, that sell for around $800. It's that segment of the market, those that wouldn't settle for anything but the vety best, that made Hutch BMX bicycles so popular and they haven't forgotten about there roots.
It's true that Hutch has grown over 3,100 percent since 1979. Today, Hutch markets a line of Santa Cruz skateboards along with a line of clothing (TRC) that can be found in clothing shops as well as bike stores. But the orginal Hutch frame and fork and a bunof talented BMXers is where it all started many years ago for the former Sears salesman, Rich Hutchins.

1) Hutch Trick Star.
2) While a great deal of present-day Hutch frames are made overseas, the top-of-the-line models are still made in the U.S. Here a Hutch welder assembles one of their frames.
3) The final step before packaging is putting stickers on. Wild Hutch graphics set much of

their products apart.
4) Want a frame? Racks and racks of frames are ready for the plater or painter. Soon these goodies will be distributed to bike shops throughout the nation.
5) Four computer controlled machines are always busy at the Hutch factory.
6) Plenty of equipment can be found in their Baltimore, Maryland facility. Here a drill press is

being operated.
7) An employee assembles Hutch pedals. With all of the equipment, there's still a great deal manual jobs to be performed.
8) The warehouse is always filled with lots of product ready to be shipped.
9) Skateboards are the latest product Hutch has delved into. These boards are made by Santa Cruz especiallly for Hutch and are assembled at the Hutch plant.