EXTREMELY LONG 
EXTREMELY LOW
EXTREMELY GOOD
Hutch Hi-performance Racing Products is an outfit that has recently begun making waves a lot closer to the Atlantic than the Pacific Gnarliness knows no geographical bounds. Radicalness is omni-directional.
Hutch has been semi-quietly building an arsenal of equipment and riders to challenge the nation's best.

Their most recent addition is Indy hero Timmy Judge, privateer winner of the World Championship Trophy Dash last winter. Timmy signed with Hutch in April. The addition of the Florida Flash gave Hutch their fifth factory team member and their third world champion. Not too shabby.
Hutch littlest pedal pusher is Andrew Soule (8X), NBL No. 1 in his age class. Dandy Andy has won Indy the last two

years. In fact, he doubled in '79 and tripled last year.
''Special K'' 'Collins   (10X) is Hutch's third world champion. He also carries the ABA No. 2 plate in Michigan.
Heldi Mirisola gives Hutch the NBL No. 1 Senior 'Powder P'uff.
Rounding out the team, Rich Farside (15X) carries the NBL No. 3   plate for his age class.
Hutch's team is totally eastern flavored: Timmy and Heidi from Florida, Andrew and "Special K'' from Michigan, and Rich from New Jersey.
Hutch offers four racing frames, two racing forks, and hi-performance three-piece cranks. Chrome is a Hutch speciality. Their team bikes peek of the shiny stuff   and the company sells massive quantities of chromed components.
Rich and Thelma Hutchins got into BMX about four years ago. Be- fore that they had been active in mini- cycle motocross. Their son, Keith,   10X in BMX, had a factory ride with   Yamaha when he won the 6-8, 50cc national championship in '79. He now specializes in BMX only, along with his older

Buff: Sano stylin' on a dailed in bike.

brother, Richie, 14X.
The Hutchins started with a shop. Then a part-time mail order business. They've gone on to become one of the largest mail order outfits around. They're also the number two JMC seller in the nation. Hutch went   racing about two years ago with local riders and started hitting some nationals last year. This year they're into a full team assault that may include the signing of a Pro rider.
HUTCH FRAMES AND FORKS 
Hutch frames and forks are avail- able through shops, however, complete chromed bikes may be ordered directly

from Hutch.
The frame lineup includes:
-The X-Long Pro Racer-three pounds, eleven ounces.
-The Standard model-three pounds, eight ounces.
- The Junior ("Special K'' replica) model-three pounds, four ounces.
-The Mini Li'l Holeshot) model- three pounds.   Fork choices include the Pro and Mini models.
THE X-LONG PRO RACER
That's the one we tested. Our guys climbed on Rich Farside's race bike so Timmy could keep crank

ing on his scooter for pictures. Rich Far- side sparked the chrome craziness a while back by plating the bejeebers out of his bike. Rich Hutchins liked the results, and got totally chromed.
With a name like Farside, Rich is ripe for getting tagged with a nick- name or two. How about crashing? Farside highsides. Turning? Farside carves the near side. Race reporting? Farside's inside scoops. 
WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Hutch calls it the X-Long and they're not kidding. The wheelbase is just over 37 inches, and that's with the rear axle jammed all the way for- ward.
Hutch designed the frame to be the longest and lightest on the market. It's a definite study of extremes. While the wheelbase is the longest, the rear triangle is the shortest going.   The measurement from crank center to the rear axle is under fourteen inches. Compare that to the following bikes: Panda 15 3/4, Red Line Pro Line 15 1/4, Supergoose 15 1/4, P.K. Ripper 14 3/4, Kuwahara 15 3/8, Diamond Back 14 3/4.
The bottom bracket location is also extremely low, just over 10 1/2 inches from crank center to the ground. Comparable figures: Super- goose 10 3/4, Red Line Pro Line 12, Kuwahara 11 3/4,   P.K. Ripper 11 1/2, Panda 12 1/4, Torker  11 3/4.
LOWDOWN  ON LONG GEOMETRY
Hutch had two primary goals. In mind when they started developing the frame last summer. They wanted a bike that was bullet quick out of the gate and a bike that was as stable as a slot car on the straights. So long and low was the way to go.
Rich Hutchins explains: "I knew I wanted a long frame with a short back end because of the trend in

The X-Long will slide, but its geometry lends itself best to haulin' and carvin'.

tracks the past couple of years. I felt today's bikes don't need long back ends because the tracks don't have   horseshoe turns anymore. There's no need to slide and square and come out. Today's tracks have high speed berms where you have to keep the front end down. Everything is geared to holeshots and high speed   berms, so I wanted to build a hole- shot-to-the-first-turn bike.''

With the axle all the way forward the wheelbase still measure over 37 inches. Bars and stem are Red Line Pro Line. Check the Stem Shim (invented by our own Steve Gilberson) on Tim's bike. Timmy says it works. Hutch chromed Dia-Compe MX 1000 caliper with Koolstop finned brake pads. Spiff leading axle 4130 chrome-moly fork. Dia-Compe Pre-Bent brake lever and Oakley 3 grips.

To get that bike Hutch had to do a lot of chopping and testing with local Pros. The frame hit the market last  fall. 
GEOMETRY  QUESTIONS
Let's run this up the old flagpole once on paper before heading for the track. Hutch wanted a holeshot/ first straight

bike. The long wheel- base gives straight line stability.
Moving the bottom bracket back should make the front end light off the line unless other factors compensate. Also, the rear wheel should bite better because of the extra weight. But you can't keep the power on if the front end lifts too easily.
Jumping? That long front end might feel loopy.
What about getting through the first turn? Normally, the longer the wheelbase the slower the steering response. Panda uses an extremely   steep 73 degree steering head angle to compensate for their 37 inch wheelbase and it workS. The X-long head angle is not as steep as the Panda's.
The low bottom bracket location should increase cornering stability and response, provided

Built to boogie to the first turn, the Hutch is no slouch at spittin' dirt in a hurry.

there's no pedal scraping. So, all this unique geometry definitely raises some interesting questions. A bike with the longest wheel- base, shortest rear section, and lowest bottom bracket around bears investigating. And the seat post angle, 75 degrees, is the most vert of any popular race bike.
TEST FEEDBACK
''Whatever they did with the geometry, they did it right. It's one of the best bikes I've ever ridden.''
"There's nothing I'd change on it. I'd leave it the way it is."
''The front end feels a little light, but it feels good that way. I got used to it right away.''
"It felt a little light pumping off the line, but good."
"It handles good   in the corners. It was hard to slide, but that's good for a race bike."
Our testers disagreed   slightly on two points-coming off the line and bar ositioning. For Buff, the front end came up a hair more than his optimum start program. It was right on for R.L. Both guys felt the bike really grabbed ground driving away from he gate. oth liked the power positioning, but the bars seemed back a hair for Buff. That's kinda weird since he's shorter than R.L. who felt they were spot on. 
Summing up, the guys concluded, "Among the absolute top racing bikes, this is in there ''

R.L. havin' fun clearin' Mike, Andrw Soule and Tim Judge. The camara angle makes it look like he jumped behind them, but he went over there bods… which T.J. doesn't look real happy about.

HUTCH-SUCH A BIKE
So, Hutch headed upstream with their geometry and pulled it off Be- ginning with definite parameters-a holeshot/first turn bike-they came up with a moto-vehicle that fulfills those goals. Some of their angles and lengths seem suspect when first examined on paper, but at the track the payoff is positive.
Here's our analysts of why the XLong Pro Racer works as well as it does. They've absolutely found perfect balance between forward/rear- ward weighting Shoving the bottom bracket back weights the rear tire for acceleration off the.
The steering   head is steep enough to counter the long wheelbase in the corners and the lower bottom bracket positioning makes any leaning operation very precise.

But what keeps the front end from wheelying too easily? The rearward bottom bracket location evidently makes the rider lean a bit more for- ward, creating down pressure into the bars while the legs on the pedals are weighting the rear for traction.

Specifications.

The steep seat post angle is needed to offset the shoved back bottom bracket location and main- tain a proper seat-to-bars relation- ship.
What this all proves is that there's more than one way to skin a cat (sorry,   Cosmo) or build a super handling BMX racer.
After being exposed to the geometry and design philosophy of these mote maniacs, it's really easy to say sincerely: Hutch, such a bike! 

Entradero entourage. (from left to right) Rich Hutchins, Andrew Soule, « Special K » Collins, Thelma Hutchins, Timmy Judge, Rich farside, R.L. and Mike. Rich Hutchins is, as you have probably already guessed, the main man behind the Hutch line of products.