Freestyle BMX

Freestyle BMX is bicycle motocross stunt riding on BMX bikes. It is an extreme sport descended from BMX racing that consists of five disciplines: street, park, vert, trails, and flatland.

History

Early years

Freestyling can be traced back to 1975 when kids started riding bikes in concrete Escondido reservoir channels in San Diego, California. And, bike riders were seen in 1976 riding at Carlsbad Skatepark in Carlsbad, California.[1] Skateboarder Magazine published photos of kids on bikes riding in empty swimming pools in 1975.[2]

Bob Haro and John Swanguen rode BMX bikes at Skateboard Heaven, a concrete skatepark in San Diego, California in late 1976. Later they transformed freestyle beyond skateparks by creating new bike tricks on flat streets.[3] In the fall of 1977 Bob Haro was hired as a staff artist at BMX Action Magazine where he befriended R.L. Osborn, son of the magazine publisher Bob Osborn. Haro and R.L. often practiced freestyle moves in their free time.[4]

In the summer of 1978, Paramount, Lakewood, and other Southern California skateparks began reserving sessions or whole days exclusively for BMX bikes. BMX racer Tinker Juarez was innovating freestyle moves in vert bowls.[5]

BMX Action Magazine published the first freestyle how-to article in their January/February 1979 issue which showed Bob Haro doing a "rock walk." [6]

BMX bike riders also performed a demonstration show in 1979 during a skate competition at Rocky Mountain Surf Skatepark in Salt Lake City, Utah.[7]

Towards the end of 1979, Bob Haro and R.L. Osborn formed the BMX Action Trick Team and later began performing freestyle shows at BMX races and other events.[8] After the BMXA Trick Team became known, other organized trick teams were founded and quickly gained prominence. The freestyling movement at this point was very much underground. Although several BMX manufacture-sponsored freestyle teams were touring the US, they were promoting the sport of BMX in general, not specifically freestyle.

The American Freestyle Association (AFA) was the first governing body for BMX freestyle, founded by Bob Morales in 1982.

Bob Osborn founded a slick quarterly magazine devoted solely to freestyle. In the summer of 1984, Freestylin' Magazine made its debut. The BMX world suddenly noticed the sport's massive potential. Manufacturers hurried to the drawing boards to develop new freestyle bikes, components, and accessories, and began searching for talented riders to sponsor. Bike shops began stocking freestyle products. The AFA began to put on organized flatland and quarter-pipe competitions.

Peak and decline in popularity

From 1980 until 1987, the sport of freestyling was at its zenith, with 1987 reaching its highest peak in popularity. During this time period, the sport progressed with new bike models being released all the time, as well as new components and accessories designed strictly for freestyle. For example, Haro released the Haro FST, Sport and Master each year consistently with blazing graphical colors, new look and new frame designs.

In the early 1990s, BMX freestyle suffered a decline in its commercial popularity; subsequently a number of large companies reduced or terminated their investment in the sport. In this economic climate, communities of new rider-owned companies and initiatives began to redefine the sport according to their own needs and interests, paving the way for what is now a largely rider-led industry. This decline and subsequent new phase of the sport's development into an independently driven industry was notably referenced in the introduction to the BMX video Ride On (directed by Eddie Roman).

Disciplines

Freestyle BMX riders participate in several well-established disciplines. As in the other forms of freestyle riding, there are no specific rules; style/aesthetics, skills, and creativity are emphasised.

Street

Street riders make use of urban and public spaces to perform tricks. These tricks can be performed on curbs, handrails, stairs, ledges, banks, and other obstacles. Styles among street riders vary, as riders often depend upon their own differing urban surroundings. BMX street rose to prominence as an increasingly defined discipline in the late 1980s.

Park

Park denotes the BMX discipline of exclusively riding skateparks, often with an emphasis on riding transitions or ramps.

Skateparks are used by BMX riders as well as skateboarders, inline skaters and freestyle scooter-riders. Skateparks themselves can be made of wood, concrete or metal. Styles of riding will depend on the style of the parks. Wood is more suited to a flowing style, with riders searching for gaps and aiming to higher air from the coping. Concrete parks usually tend to contain bowls and pools. However, it is not unusual for riders to merge the two styles in either type of park.

Concrete parks are commonly built outdoors due to their ability to withstand years of exposure to the elements. Concrete parks are also often publicly funded due to their permanent and costly nature. Parks made from wood are popular with commercial skateparks due to ease of construction, availability of materials, cost, and the relative safety associated with falling on wood instead of concrete. Parks designed with BMX use in mind will typically have steel coping that is less prone to damage than concrete or pool coping.

Vert

Vert ramp

Vert is a freestyle BMX discipline performed in a half pipe consisting of two quarter pipes set facing each other (much like a mini ramp), but at around 10–15 feet tall (around 2.5 to 3.5 meters) high. The biggest ramp ever used in competition is the X-Games big air ramp at 27 feet (8.2 m) tall. Both ‘faces’ of the ramp have an extension to the transition that is vertical, hence the name. Coping is a round metal tube at the lip of the vert that helps freestyle BMXers do grinds, and stalls on the lip of the vert.

Riders go up each jump, performing tricks in the air before landing into the transition having turned 180 degrees (assumptively. variations include 540, 900). A typical run involves going from one side to the other, airing above the coping each side. Also possible are 'lip tricks' - tricks on the platform at the top of the ramps before dropping into the ramp. Many tricks consist of the rider grabbing a part of the bike or removing body parts off the bike.

Trails

A freshly built double at the overlook trails in New Jersey.

Trails are lines of jumps built from dirt (heavily compacted). It can also be named as a pack such as a 4 pack, 6 pack and 8 pack. The jumps consist of a steep take off, called a lip, with an often slightly less steep landing. The lip and landing are usually built as separate mounds, divided by a gap. The gap is measured from the topmost part of the lip, horizontally to the topmost part of the far side of the landing. Gaps typically range from only a couple of feet to over twenty feet. A moderate gap is around twelve feet.

Trails riding is sometimes also referred to as “dirt jumping”. Most trails riders maintain that a subtle difference exists in the style and flow of “dirt jumps” and “trails”; trails riders focus more on of a flowing smooth style from one jump to the next while performing more stylish tricks, while dirt jumpers try to perform the craziest tricks they can over larger, less flow-oriented jumps.

Although many regard trails and street as being completely opposite, the attraction is similar — trails riders build their own jumps so their riding is limited only by their creativity and resourcefulness.

Trails riders usually run a rear brake only as they have no use for a front brake, and usually a rotor (gyro) to make it easier to do barspins, so they do not have to spin the bars back the other way to untangle them, which is hard to do on trails. In general, trail/dirt jumping bikes have longer wheelbases (chainstays) than other BMXs to aid with stability, the added stability is important in trails riding.

Flatland

Main article: Flatland BMX
BMX Flatland rider Caleb Rider at Santa Monica beach.

Flatland BMX occupies a position somewhat removed from the rest of freestyle BMX. People who ride in the above disciplines will generally take part in at least one of the others, but flatlanders tend to only ride flatland. They are often very dedicated and will spend several hours a day perfecting their technique.

Flatland also differs from the others in that the terrain used is nothing but a smooth, flat surface (e.g. an asphalt parking lot, basketball courts, etc.). Tricks are performed by spinning and balancing in a variety of body and bicycle positions. Riders almost always use knurled aluminum pegs to stand on to manipulate the bike into even stranger positions.

Flatland bikes typically have a shorter wheelbase than other freestyle bikes. Flatland bikes differ from dirt jumping bikes and freestyle bikes in one way. The frames are often more heavily reinforced because the people riding flatland often stand on the frames. This shorter wheelbase requires less effort to make the bike spin or to position the bike on one wheel. One of the primary reasons flatlanders often ride only flatland is the decreased stability of a shorter bike on ramps, dirt and street.

A variety of options are commonly found on flatland bikes. The most unifying feature of flatland bikes is the use of four pegs, one on the end of each wheel axle. Flatland riders will choose to run either a front brake, a rear brake, both brakes, or no brakes at all, depending on stylistic preference.

Tricks

Air tricks

These tricks take place in the air. Freestyle dirt BMX involves many air tricks.

[10] Variations and combinations of these tricks also exist, for example a 360° tailwhip would be where the rider spins 360° in one direction and the frame of the bike spins 360° around the steer tube, both bike and rider will then meet again, with the rider catching the pedals, facing the same direction as before the trick.

Flatland tricks

BMX flatland tricks usually involve much balance, more often than not with only one wheel in contact with the ground.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Skateboarder Magazine, February 1980
  2. ↑ Skateboarder Magazine, 1975 Vol 2, #2
  3. ↑ Toshach, Don (1987). Freestyling. New York, NY: Perigee Books. p. 9. ISBN 9780399513336.
  4. ↑ Toshach, Don (1987). Freestyling. New York, NY: Perigee Books. p. 10. ISBN 9780399513336.
  5. ↑ Skateboarder Magazine, February 1980
  6. ↑ BMX Action Magazine, January/February 1979, pg.34
  7. ↑ Skateboarder Magazine, February 1980
  8. ↑ Toshach, Don (1987). Freestyling. New York, NY: Perigee Books. p. 11. ISBN 9780399513336.
  9. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcoIkOSC0ko
  10. ↑ http://bmx.transworld.net/1000146723/videos/how-to-suicide-no-hander-with-shane-weston/

External links

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