BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Chitech Industries of Chester is to be UK and Europe distributor of the Tony Hawk Huckjam branded bikes. Huckjam is the name of Tony Hawk’s skateboard demo tours and it also appears on the hugely successful series of Tony Hawk video games.
The bike range will be distributed mainly via multiples, capitalising on the mass market appeal of Hawk.
Say so on the design of the bikes was given to Mike ‘Rooftop’ Escamilla, a professional BMX rider for over ten years.
Escamilla said: “When Tony called me and told me about this deal he said he would only do it if I would consult on the bikes and have my hands in the process of making sure the bikes represented BMX in a positive way. This has been Tony’s biggest concern. He knew jumping into the bike market being a skateboarder was something that he would not allow to happen unless someone affiliated with the bike industry oversaw the bike portion of this project."
The bikes are "affordable," said Escamilla.
They are "not the level of bikes that are ridden by avid BMXers. The intention was never to take away from the hardcore BMX business, but to offer a better starting point for kids that are interested.
"I know a lot of kids are saying we don’t need mass market; we need to keep BMX hardcore. But the fact of the matter is the bikes bought in mass-market stores are often a kid’s first step into BMX. The next step is they learn about the sport, get a better bike, and start supporting the companies they like. This is really a big opportunity for us to avoid the ridiculous companies benefiting from BMX. I bet thousands of kids see BMX in the X Games and buy a bike at mass and have a miserable experience because the bike is junk."

Bikes included in the Huckjam range go from the 16inch BMX with stabilisers through to full suspension mountain bikes.
