I_Suck_At_BMX

This is mainly intended for the old timers. I am doing a research paper on how extreme sports are becoming more mainstream sports. Now I just want your stories and opinions from the start of BMX, and How much BMX has changed, and how much its popularity has grown. It is going from past to present, so even more modern info will be very useful.

Also feel free to enter any good pics of main events or of yourself if you dont mind them going in my report. (pleas, only good pictures, not no three inch high bunny hops - no offence)

If you leave any stories or anything please leave your name so I can quote you if i decide to put it into my work.

Thanks for the help,
I greatly apreciate it.

ettsn

Pick up a copy of Joe Kid on a Stingray. It's got all the info you need on one DVD.

From a personal perspective, I'm stoked to see BMX in a revival over the last few years. It was my life back then, and I still think it's cool. As far as popularity having grown, I'm not sure that's totally true. Maybe the events are bigger now (and televised more), but when I was a kid, EVERY kid in the neighborhood had a BMX bike and the vast majority of us either raced or rode freestyle or both. We had several monthly magazines (BMX Action, BMX Plus!, Freestylin', American Freestyler, seems like there was one more) and 2-3 of them were available in every grocery or convenience store. Now I have to go to Borders or Barnes & Noble to pick them up. Back then, there were 7-8 really good local bike shops around, and ALL of them had lots of top-shelf BMX parts and bikes. Now, there's only one decent BMX shop around here (that I've found, at least) and all the other bike shops have 3-4 low to mid end BMX bikes from one of the majors (Haro, Specialized, K2, etc) no topline bikes, and nothing from indy manufacturers.

It is nice to see BMX racing in the Olympics next time, and ramp/street guys getting so much camera time (I wish people gave as much credit to the flatlanders too). BITD, we planned our whole Summer around when the trick teams (BMX Action, Haro, CW, GT, etc) would come into town -- just so we could see our heros and see what a lot of these tricks from magazines looked like in the flesh! Now, there's probably 10-12 hours of BMX on the TV schedule every week in one form or another. That's a blessing you probably don't even recognize!

If I get inspired, I'll write a little more, but that's probably enough rambling for now! lol

-Paul England
Atlanta, GA

CMcMahon

Negative BMX points for using the phrase "extreme sports".

ettsn

See also:
https://www.vintagebmx.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

-Paul

mude

personally i dont consider bmx a sport or extreme.

its not any more extreme then football or hockey

pick up mat hoffmans book too

"ride of my life"

alot of stuff in there about old days of bmx

dirty bmxer

you guys are ********. BMX IS AN EXTREME SPORT WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT

CMcMahon

No. ESPN coined that term; it's good publicity, I suppose, but the new publicity phrase is "action sports".

An "extreme sport" is mountain climbing, or base jumping, or something like that. Riding a 20" children's bicycle, or a skateboard, or roller blades, however, is not.

It's OK, though. You're, what, 14? And you've been riding a year or two at the most, more likely than not. Assuming you stick with it (you probably won't, once you get your driver's license or a girlfriend, or both), you'll understand when you get older.

dirty bmxer

Okay, explain to me how bmx is not Extreme. well yah, it's not really a sport but it is extreme. action sports is a dumb name. It takes guts to do bmx. That's why mostly young adults and kids do it because after that age you're just not crazy enought to do it. You have to be extreme to do stuff like bmx and skating. So don't give me that action sports crap. And you make it sound like bmx is a little kid sport. Most riders I see are like 18 to 30 years old.

CMcMahon

It takes guts to do a marathon or the Iditarod, too, but I don't see anyone calling long-distance running or Arctic dogsled racing "extreme sports". Face the fact: it's a contrived name created for marketing purposes.

And I never said that it's a children's sport; I said that we are riding "children's bicycles", which is a different animal entirely.

dirty bmxer

It does not take guts to do a marathon. Sure it takes muscles and a good heart and lungs, but you don't have to be extreme to do it. I bet if you gave a marathon dude or a dogsled dude a bmx bike, and a jump, they would be to wussy to do it. You got to be a crazy extreme person to do it. And bmx bikes are'nt little kids bikes. I went to this bike day thing where they had races for little kids. They asked me to set up some wooden ramps and just ramp all day. What I noticed, was that 99% of the kids were riding like crappy road bikes and crappy mountain bikes and weird bikes. Hardly any of them were riding bmx bikes. Bmx bikes are'nt little kid's bikes. THey are teen and young adult bikes. So don't get it mixed up again. Beerman, can you ever be positive about something? You are always negative negative negative. Beerman what do you think about this thousand dollar frame. It sucks! Beerman, what do you think about my 10,000 dollar bike. It sucks! Beerman, what do you think about that new bmx movie that got five stars. It sucks!

CMcMahon

And I bet that if you put a BMXer on a dogsled at the starting line for the Iditarod, and told him to race 1150 miles through rough terrain in the freezing cold, he would be to wussy to do it, too. But, then, what do I know? I'm sure that you would do it; after all, you're a crazy extreme person, and you know as much about doing dogsled racing as the average dogsled racer knows about riding BMX.

I'd love to see you defend that argument with something aside from what you saw at a "bike day" event. And that last sentence: classy. Was that supposed to be a threat or something?

dirty bmxer

Dogsled racing over a gadjillion miles is hardcore but not extreme. You have to be hardcore to do dogled racing, you have to be extreme to do bmx. I have never tried dogsled racing,of course, but it doesn't seem to scary. It's like driving a car. There is a possiblility that you may get in a car crash, but nobody tells you that you are extreme for driving a car. Dogsled racing, to me is like that. Not that much danger in it.
Just because bmx bikes are small doesn't mean that they are little kid's bikes. Sports cars are small, but old adults ride them because they are the only ones that can afford them. Just because something is small doesn't mean it's for kids. You still have'nt answered my question. Why are you always so negative about everything?

ettsn

If BMX isn't a sport, why is it in the Olympics? Oh, you mean freestyle only? I defy you to tell Mirra he's not an athlete. Yes, it takes guts, but it also takes a hell of a lot of physical strength and endurance to perform at any serious level. The top pros work out and treat riding like a fulltime job. Sounds a lot like the training road racers do, no? You gonna tell me that Lance Armstrong isn't an athlete next? BMX is a sport first. Extreme is just a label made up by ESPN for the first X Games and it stuck. We had BMX for a loooong time before anyone ever used the word Extreme. Radical, B!tchin', Sano... yes, but not Extreme.

While I agree that Beerman sometimes comes across as cynical, he's earned a whole lot of respect on here because he's usually right on the money. Picking fights with him won't win you much, bud.

Back on topic, how's the paper coming ISABMX?

-Paul

CMcMahon

And you completely missed my point.

FuzzyRyder

Tard

Brian

I swear this came up not too long ago, and you gave a similar response. I concur.

Um, I'm the only one here with a 10,000 dollar bike, and he's never said a word about it.

dirty bmxer

Probably cuz he doesn't want to get kicked out.
So maybe they made the name extreme sports just for publicity. But what sounds better to you? Extreme sports or action sports. I think extreme sports sounds way, way better, but of course that's my opinion.

CMcMahon

Neither one sounds good; they're both equally stupid.

And Expat posted the pictures of his super-expensive titanium tandem long before they made him a moderator.

dirty bmxer

Well, what do you think we should call it master beerman?
You're still negative about everything else>

CMcMahon

I say that we call it "BMX", like we've been doing for the past thirty years.

dirty bmxer

Of course it should be called bmx. I didn't mean that. I meant what should all sports like mx, snowboarding, bmx, and skating be called. What should that whole group of sports be called. I prefer extreme sports but what do you think?

Brian

Indeed. And since it just got a new fork and has new brakes on the way, it's only getting more expensive. I also don't care what other people think about it.

CMcMahon

Here's a question: why do they need to be called anything? They're nothing alike at all (aside from the fact that you do "tricks", but one could easily argue that gymnastics, figure skating, and diving all involve "tricks" as well), unlike, for example, equestrian sports, motorsports, or team sports.

dirty bmxer

We should have a separate name. All those other sports are gay.

dirty bmxer

We should have a separate name. All those other sports are gay.