Kevin Jones (BMX rider)
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- This article is about the bmx freestyle rider. For other uses, see Kevin Jones (disambiguation).
Kevin Jones is a freestyle BMX rider. He was born May 12, 1967 and was raised in York, Pennsylvania.
[edit] From breakdancing to bike riding
By age 11, Jones had started riding BMX. He started BMX racing in 1982. Though he enjoyed great success, he abruptly quit, as he enjoyed dirt jumping more than racing.
In 1983, Jones' interest in breakdancing peaked. Jones formed a troupe with fellow BMXers Mark Eaton, Mike Daily, Jamie McKulik and Dale Mitzel, calling themselves the Cardboard Lords. By April 1985, the Cardboard Lords had won numerous local competitions, including a York cable show called The Great York Talent Hunt. However, breakdancing's popularity was waning, and Jones drifted back to BMX. Around this time, Daily introduced Jones to his freestyle team, the Plywood Hoods. Daily also showed Jones the modern freestyle BMX bike; Jones almost immediately ordered a similar bike for himself, realizing that the additions of components such as pegs and rotors allowed for more daring tricks.
[edit] Flatland career
In Austin, Texas, 1987, Jones entered his first AFA contest. In the contest, Jones debuted three of his own tricks: the Trolley, the Locomotive, and the Steamroller. Months later at the velodrome in Carson, California, Jones had another impressive run, debuting another new trick called the Dump Truck: a trick where Jones turned the bike upside down while riding a wheelie from the rear pegs.
Around this time, the now-film maker Eaton would release the first of a series of freestyle BMX videos named Dorkin' In York. The Dorkin' videos, as they would become known as, captured equal parts of flatland, ramps, and street riding. The series would continue on for years to come, showcasing the latest tricks from Jones and the rest of the Plywood Hoods, as well as coverage from major contests and some more private jams and practice sessions. Eaton recently released the entire series in a DVD boxset titled Dorkin' in York - The Complete DVD Collection.
In 1990, the Kudos granola bar company hired Jones to endorse its product on national television. That same year, Jones toured with the Wilkerson Airlines bike company. However, after these thrusts into the national spotlight, Jones became more reclusive. Aside from the installments of Dorkin' in York, Jones had virtually disappeared from the BMX scene.
As of 2005, Jones still rides, but has never re-entered the contest scene, nor has he toured for a major bike manufacturer.
Early in 2006 Kevin Jones was seen (via animated .gifs online) performing some familiar flatland tricks, on a modified frontwheel drive bicycle. Jones then further modified the hub and made it a "freewheel unibike." There is a video of him riding the 2nd generation freewheel version of it on his MySpace page. [1]
In August 2006, it was announced that Jones was making a new version of the legendary "Big Daddy" frame, for Hoffman bikes, and had rejoined the freestyle team.
