A BMXRacingHistory.com chapter · hosted on Legend Bike Co

Voris Dixon Bikes

The Story of VDC — the Voris Dixon Company — 1979 to 1985

We're telling this story the same way as the JMC Racing and SE Racing chapters: neutrally. Where the record is contested or thin, we say so.

The name, first

VDC stands for Voris Dixon Company. You will also see it written as Voris Dixon Bikes or Voris Dixon Cycles — all three refer to the same Southern California operation, run by Voris Dixon out of Anaheim and later Santa Ana from roughly 1979 through 1985.

Where it started

Before VDC, Voris was part owner of Bike Land, a shop in Anaheim that sponsored a small race team at a nearby track — the same neighborhood that produced Steve Rink's Pedal Power (later Powerlite) and Gary Turner's early frame work.

The first VDC product was not a frame. It was a 17 tooth sprocket for the Bendix coaster brake hub. Bendix did not make one, so Voris had a friend at Executive Tool Inc. punch a Sturmey Archer sprocket to fit Bendix internals. He drove the first batch to the inaugural ABA Winter Nationals in Phoenix and sold 300 in about half an hour.

B & D Sales, 1979 to 1981

Voris closed Bike Land and went into business with Von Bandoyan of Executive Tool, forming B & D Sales (Bandoyan and Dixon). They did $17,000 in year one and $80,000 by year three on seat posts and sprockets, then split.

The Changa, the Gorila, the Chimp — 1981 onward

The first frame to wear the VDC name was the Changa, a 20-inch built around 1981. The Changa Long followed, then the Gorila, then the Chimp. There was also a 24-inch Gorila cruiser, a 16-inch pit bike, and a VDC Freestyler for Woody Itson.

The visual signature across the line was the dual pierced down tube — two parallel tubes that pierced through the head tube rather than terminating at it. To make that geometry work, Voris ran a 5-inch head tube, used 3/4-inch seat stays where most competitors used 5/8, and ran road-bike cable guides for the rear brake. The fork was a straight-drop design copied from Chuck Robinson's Robinson Racing forks.

Voris estimated he built about 500 Changas and roughly 1,000 frames total across every VDC model.

The job shop — what got built under other names

This is the part of the story that explains why VDC matters more than its own production numbers suggest. Voris's main income was contract work:

• Hutch — handlebars and other parts.
• Powerlite — the 24-inch and some 20-inch forks, plus the "power bend" CW Pro-style bars for Steve Rink.
• Pro Neck — the entire frame line for Mike Scurto. The center brace later added on the National Pro was Scurto's addition, not VDC's.
• Robinson (later S&M Bikes) — handlebars for Chuck Robinson.
• Star BMX — Greg Hill's father's brand, built with True Temper tubing in 500-frame lots.
• CW — the oval-tube forks, after Roger Worsham spotted them on the shop floor.
• Wisconsin Cycle — the Traker frames.
• Tuf-Neck, West Coast Cycles, Vector, and Huffy — aluminum handlebars and seat posts in volume.

SpinFree, Woody Itson, and Free Agent

The SpinFree hub was Voris's freewheel-style rear hub built around an interchangeable Bendix sprocket, using a one-way clutch bearing — on the market before Shimano's later Freehub. Woody Itson was VDC's one notable freestyle rider. Free Agent is the loose end: by Voris's own account he funded the original operation with $1,000 to Yvonne Shoup, has said he still holds paperwork showing half ownership and has never been paid out. We are reporting that as his account, not asserting it as settled fact.

How big VDC got, and how it ended

At its peak in 1985, VDC had 19 employees and was doing roughly $750,000 in annual revenue — most of it contract work, not VDC-branded frames. 1985 was also the last year under Voris's ownership. He sold the company to a buyer who ran it down quickly, and eventually held a liquidation auction in Gary Turner's parking lot in Huntington Beach. After VDC, Voris moved to Puyallup, Washington and went to work for Jim Martinson building racing wheelchairs.

The Hi-Tech BMX connection — a related but separate brand

In 1982, Randy Rizzo introduced Voris Dixon to a 13-year-old Bill Ryan, and the two launched Hi-Tech BMX together — a separate company, run out of Bill's bedroom in Cypress, California. Hi-Tech built 25 frames before a naming-conflict legal threat forced Bill to shut it down at age 15. The design later morphed into the National Pro when Mike Scurto added the center brace between the top and down tubes. The Hi-Tech frame ran as a new-products feature in BMX Plus! January 1984. Hi-Tech and VDC were not the same brand.

Where VDC stands today

Originals trade on bmxmuseum.com. A clean Changa, a Changa Long, or one of the few surviving Chimps or pit bikes is a collected piece. The dual-pierce design is the visual fingerprint, and it shows up again later in S&M Bikes's 1994 Menstrual Cycle.

VDC was not the biggest BMX brand of its era. What it was, instead, was one of the more important contract shops in BMX during the boom years.

Sources

BMX Icons // Voris Dixon Interview, conducted by Jay Stark, hosted at snakebitebmx.com — the primary source for this chapter. BMXmuseum.com brand pages and reference entry for Voris Dixon. Vintage BMX museum entry, vintagebmx.com/museum/vdc4.htm. 23mag.com VDC brand profile. UtahBMX.com forum thread "Voris Dixon interview."