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Scorpion BMX
Paul Hinkston started manufacturing Scorpion BMX bikes in the early 1970's from Chatsworth, CA until the late 1980's. He later joined West Coast Cycle under Howie Cohen in charge of R&D for brands such as Shogun, Cycle Pro, Nishiki, Kuwahara and others. After WCC, Paul joined Shimano as General Manager of Sales and later spent his last decades living in Taiwan developing bicycle products. The Scorpion brand was used almost exclusively for BMX, but a very few mountain bikes were given the Scorpion badge. After 1982, all Scorpion BMX bikes and rims were made in Chatsworth, using stamped metal lugs with machine brazing. The MTBs below have Toyo Japan serial numbers with Chatsworth made Scorpion rims.
The town of Chatsworth was also (coincedentally?) home to Mongoose, Redline, and was the Porn Capital of the US in the 80's.
Resources:
Scorpion Ad ebay
Paul Hinkston of West Coast Cycles (soon to be employed by Shimano) and Yoshi Shimano of Shimano America.
Photo by Howie Cohen.
1984 Scorpion MTB
Scorpion BMX head badge & rims, ACS Stocker pedals (1983), unknown hubs & cranks, bullmoose bars, actual MAFAC cantis (<1984), RD-AL11 derailleurs (1984-6), faux bi-plane fork, slingshot stem, 3×5 gearing.
Although nearly identical to the 1985 model, this has some older components (bullmoose bars, mafacs.)
1984 Scorpion MTB
bmxmuseum
1985 Scorpion MTB
Scorpion BMX head badge, rims, ACS Stocker pedals (1983), ACS hubs (mid-80's), Sakae Super Custom cranks (mid-80's), SR Sakae Ringyo MTS-100 slingshot stem (82-85), MAFAC clone cantis, RD-AL11 derailleurs (1984-6), faux bi-plane fork, mafac clone brakes, slingshot stem, 3×5 gearing. Toyo frame with 1983 serial number. Single top tube, spring at the top.
