All You Want To Know About BMX Bikes ...
BMX (an abbreviation for bicycle motocross) is a form of cycling on specially designed bicycles which usually have 20-inch wheels (smaller than the 26-inch wheels found on mountain bikes and the 700C or 27-inch wheels found on more conventional road racing bicycles). The sport includes races on sandy and hilly tracks BMX racing as well as the performances of tricks on flat ground, wooden ramps or obstacles found on the streets BMX freestyle.
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A BMX Race. First round of the 2005 European BMX Championships held in Sainte Maxime, France on 23th April 2005 |
BMX originated in the state of California, United States in the late 1960s, when teenagers imitated their motocross heroes (most notably Steve McQueen) on their bicycles. Scot Breithaupt is credited as the founder of BMX. The 1971 motorcycle racing documentary "On Any Sunday" is generally credited with inspiring the movement nationally. In the opening scene, kids are shown riding their Schwinns off-road. It wasn't until the middle of that decade that the sport achieved critical mass, and manufacturers began creating bicycles designed specially for the sport. BMX wouldn't be what it is today without Bob Haro's contribution. He merged skateboarding tricks with freestyle BMX which led to the current-day style of this extreme sport.
Bicycle design
In the beginning of the BMX movement, kids would strip down their Schwinn Sting Ray bicycles and add knobby tires and perhaps motorcycle handlebars, and in time modify the frames for performance, strength or personal preference. Early BMX bicycle manufacturers, such as R&R Racing Products, Mongoose, Webco and RedLine, eventually created bicycles expressly for the sport. Mongoose can be credited with building the quintessential early BMX bike, featuring a straight-tubed, gusseted frame; reinforced handlebars; Motomag wheels and long crankarms. The initial construction emphasis was on durability, but weight became a consideration as racing gained popularity. R&R Racing Products, noted for introducing the first 3 pound frame, forged the path for light weight, yet strong BMX bikes designed specifically for racing. Other manufacturers soon followed using lighter materials like aluminum and chromium molybdenum (chromoly) for frames; steel rims, mag wheels and coaster brakes were replaced by aluminum rims with freewheels and caliper brakes. Once BMX racing became a professional activity, racing bikes became as specialized as in all other forms of cycling competition.
The next wave of innovation came with the advent of freestyle BMX. Freestyle bikes look much like BMX racing bikes, but they have extra places to position the feet while performing tricks and are much stronger. Many freestyle bike also feature a 'Gyro', a device located by the headtube that allows the handlebars to be spun 360 or more degrees without tangling the brake cables. The design of the Gyro was based on the rotor of a helicopter, which requires blade adjustments while maintaining a steady speed of rotation.
The explosion of BMX created many startup companies, and lured many known manufacturers into the market. Notable companies include R&R, Mongoose, GT, Webco, Haro,Red Line, FMF, Schwinn, Torker, Diamondback, Cook Brothers, Skyway, Kuwahara, Federal, FBM bike co., Fit Bike Co, Hutch, SE Racing, and JMC Bicycles.
Many manufacturers also produce 24" wheel versions of their BMX bikes called Cruisers, that ran in their own classes.
BMX Racing
BMX racing is where BMX started. The courses emulate motocross tracks, but are generally smoother, and are about 900 to 1,100 feet in length. Races last about 25 to 40 seconds hitting speeds of 15 to 35mph depending on track conditions, the skill level and age bracket of the class. The participants race for points in which the rider with the most points under district (local), state/provicial, regional, national and international rules and regulations is declared the number one (#1) or Champion Racer. These rules and qualifications are determined by governing organizations who promote and sanction these events called Sanctioning bodies. BMX racing in the US consists of 2 leagues, NBL (National Bicycle League) and ABA (American Bicycle Association). Both are similar, but still have differences.
 BMX Freestyle
'Freestyle BMX is a creative way of using bicycles originally designed for bicycle motocross racing.
In most countries, the popularity of Freestyle BMX has outgrown that of racing. Many of the top-selling magazine have no, or very limited, coverage of racing, while extensively covering every aspect of Freestyle with perhaps the notable exception of Flatland.
BMX Bikes In the media
The early days of BMX - both racing and freestyle - was chronicled in the movie Rad. The movie, filmed in Calgary, Canada featured many talented and famous BMX riders of the 1980s as stunt riders, including Eddie Fiola, Travis Chipres, Mike Dominguez, Hollywood Mike Miranda, Martin Aparillo, and Fred Blood.
Other films featuring BMX include BMX Bandits, Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and more recently Joe Kid on a Stingray which documents the early days of the sport from an American perspective.
BMX also has its own dedicated magazines to promote and popularize the sport. The more notable and historic American publications included Bicycle Motocross News, a tabloid form newspaper published by Elaine Holt which debuted in June 1973, It was the first BMX publication, now defunct; "Bicycle Motocross Action", later shortened to "BMX Action" now defunct*; "Freestylin'", "BMX Action"'s twin publication focusing on freestyle riding, also defunct*; "BMX Plus!", formerly "BMX Action"'s biggest competitor (still publishing); "Super BMX & Freestyle" which evolved from Minicycle/BMX Action (not to be confused with the other BMX Action) which in turn derived from Minicycle Action (defunct).
Other notable magazines are Dig BMXand Ride BMX(both UK-based) and Transworld BMX.
As a youth culture sport the BMX industry has seen itself both fully embraced by the mainstream media during the late 70's and early 80's as well as abandoned during the late 80's and early 90's. In part due to this, as well as the inspiration of an often very underground and local network of individuals, the BMX scene produced many 'zines'. Zines were a non-commercial, privately published magazine. These were often freely distributed and/or non-profit and formed a creative outlet and means of communication between BMX riders the world over. In the beginning as personal computers were few and far between, the majority of these zines were handwritten or typed black & white photocopied pages produced as a smaller (often DinA5 due to the practicality of being able to fold a standard DinA4 page in two) magazine. They had become a more in-depth version of the very earliest forms of single-page newsletter that had previously been used to communicate the very first BMX events, echoing the advancement in the BMX scene as a lifestyle. As the mainstream media, general public interest and with it large companies' interest and money left the BMX scene, zines helped maintain communication and inspiration between BMX riders.
Many BMX companies (particularly the rider owned ones) also produce videos to showcase the skills of their team riders and to promote their products.
*"BMX Action" and "Freestylin" would recombine in October of 1989 as Freestylin'/BMX Action. This publication would in turn become "Go" beginning with the November 1989 issue (although the cover still carried the "Freestylin'/BMX Action" Title on it until the February 1990. "Go", the direct heir to "BMX Action", ceased publication with the March, 1992 issue. However, a second descendant of "BMX Action" magazine called "Snap", started publishing in September 1994. This second BMXA incarnation ended in 2001.
Women in BMX
Back in the mid 1980's near the peak of the first wave in the sports popularity, female BMX racers were about %4 of the racers in the United States. In freestyle today it is estimated that 1% of Freestyle riders are female. This number continues to grow with advocacy from female riders and support for female competitive events from contest organizers. See (http://www.wofbmx.com) for the only female rider support group in BMX, Women of FreeStyle BMX.
There was one female BMX rider that truly received great fame during the 1980's, Cheri Elliott. For most of her short BMX career she raced on the Skyway Recreation factory team in the girl's division which used to be known as "Powder Puff", but was so dominant she often raced against the boys in her age groups (9-15 over the years) when there weren't enough girls to make a separate division during an event. She often won. Cheri paved the way for other females as well, such as Melanie Cline, who dominated the sport for much of the 80' and 90's, ultimately winning 7 national and 4 world titles.
Today's top women riders include Nina Buitrago, Stacey Mulligan, Corey Coffey, and Jessica Ausec.
BMX Industry
The BMX Industry is a niche group of both mass market and "core" companies that supply nearly every country around the world with BMX bicycles, parts, accessories, and lifestyle products. The industry is generally broken into factory owned companies and rider owned companies, where most hardgoods products are manufactured in Taiwan and China. Textiles and other lifestyle products are generally manufactured in China and the United States. Many bicycle shops stock BMX products, and mailorder catalogs that focus on BMX bikes, clothing, parts, etc. are also popular across the world.
External links
BMX Racing Sanctioning Bodies.
BMX Racing Links
Freestyle BMX Links
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