IT'S GOT THE MIDAS TOUCH
The Midas touch? No, we don't mean we had the shocks or muffler repaired at a garage. We're talking about King Midas who turned everything he touched to gold. What does that have to do with a freestyle bike? Not much. Not until now,that is. Hutch has never been a company to play follow the leader. (Remember when they introduced pink, lavender, candy apple red and blue frames?) And this year's Trick Styler is no different. You see, besides sportin' a pearfescent paint job, it also has gold-plated parts. We're not so sure how functional gold is on a bike, but it sure does get your attention!
AT A GLANCE
The Trick Styler is totally different from the Trick Star, all the way from the dual top tubes to the dual screw-in fork peg positioning and the all-new tail section. The frame is Porsche white. The Hi-Caliber 48's and hubs are black, as are the Peregrine cranks, Hi-Caliber seat and imitation Mushroom grips. Gold-plated parts include the pedal cages of the Hutch pro pedals, the C.D. sprocket, the Hutch seatpost clamp, all 96 spokes and the Hutch stem. The bike Iooks like a bike for the elite. And at $600, it is! It looks hot but would be way hotter if the frame, fork, bars and post were black!
ON A RIDE
"It feels like a limo!" That's for sure! The front triangle is plenty long without the laidback seafpost. With it, it's just too long for most folks. Chopping a few inches off that pearlescent-painted post will solve that. At first, the handling feels slow and sluggish, but after a few minutes in the saddle you get used to the handling and it feels good. The lower fork peg positioning feels best, and the Hutch pegs that come with it are a good size and should keep your feet complaint-free. One bummer as far as foot placement goes, is the

Ex-racer turned freestyler (doesn't it seem though all freestylers used to race?) Chris Potts has made a name for himself on the ramp ragers' list.Bikes like the Trick Styler don't make the climb any harder.

rear platforms; there aren't any. The old Trick Star's chain stay platforms are regarded by many freestylers as the best rear platforms ever made. They were small, in the right spot, and they worked. A set of axle pegs is the route now. The dual top tubes and platforms worked great. A cool feature about them is that the platform is level with the ground, and at the front it starts to angle up. It gives your foot a better surface to work with. The under-the-chain-stay-mounted DiaCompe AD990 brakes worked great (as expected). So did the front Odyssey calipers, even though both were directly connected to Lee Chi levers. (Hi-Caliber front brakes will be standard by the time you read this.) In the good and bad department, the padded Hi-Caliber seat is good; the fake Mushroom grips are the worst! Why in the worst does a $600 bike come with junk grips?! The Peregrine cranks and Hutch pedals held tough even after guest tester Marty Schlesinger and Hutch's main ramp rager Chris Potts' aerial assaults. In fact, everything did! Some great wheel building kept the wheels intact. They didn't tweak, even after some rough re-entries from around eight feet out (of a ten-foot ramp). We were impressed. The Hutch "BAD" (no relation to Michael J.) bars have a good bend

« Unique » is a good word to describe the Trick Styler's raer triangle.The dropouts are stiff,but the seat-stays didn't prove to be very useful.

Chris goes for style,and Todd goes for just the right angle.Chris obiously found it.But what about Todd?