Freestyle BMX

Freestyle BMX is a creative way of using bicycles originally designed for bicycle motocross racing. It can be split into several disciplines, although riders will generally participate in more than one discipline. These are Street, (skate)Park, Vert, Trails and Flatland. Rather confusingly, in competitions, park riding is often referred to as 'Street'.

A freestyle rider practicing in the halfpipe.

Street

Street riding occurs on public streets or private property, typically within cities and towns, but can be also referred to when riding in parks. the bikes are usually the same set-up wise. Without purpose-made ramps, riders have to improvise with banks, walls, rails, gaps, etc. In fact, almost anything can be used as an obstacle, and it is precisely this that draws people to street riding. Riders enjoy street riding because they are not constrained to what a skatepark designer has planned for them to ride, so it allows a good deal of creativity. Street riding progresses relentlessly. Obstacles and tricks that were considered too big or technical to attempt become commonplace.

Many professional BMXers are street riders who are employed for the exposure they get through video parts and magazines, rather than for their competition results. These riders generally don't get paid the huge sums that the big competition riders get, as most of the big money comes from placing in events such as the X Games. However, riders like Van Homan, who is a progressive street rider, often enter the X Games and manage to place quite high.

Street bikes are different from those used on park or dirt. Typically they will have two or four stunt (axle) pegs for grinding. They are usually the heaviest and strongest type of BMX bike. A considerable number of street riders set up their bikes without hand brakes.

Most street riders ride street because of a lack of parks or trails, or dirt jumps in the area.

Park

A youth performs on his BMX bike

Skateparks are used by BMXers as well as skateboarders, and both draw inspiration from the other. Skateparks themselves can be made of wood or concrete, or in the case of local council-supplied parks, metal.

Styles of riding will differ between wood and concrete parks - wood lends itself to technical tricks, while concrete is more suited to a fast, flowing style, with riders searching for gaps, and aiming to air higher 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.

Common obstacles include:

• quarter pipes - literally, quarter of a pipe - riders air from it and perform tricks on a platform above the ramp
• spines - two quarter pipes back to back
• flat banks - a flat bank set at an angle of roughly 40 degrees from horizontal
• wall rides - a vertical wall above either quarter pipes or flat banks
• miniramps - two small quarter pipes facing one another, like a halfpipe, but with a short flat area between.
• hips - essentially two quarter pipes or flat banks, each with one edge at a right angle or a more aggressive angle to the other.
• box jumps - a steep quarter pipe like lip with a deck extending to a landing often less steep than the lip.
• pyramids - a four way wedge or transition box.

Vert

Vert Ramp

Perhaps the most extreme of the BMX disciplines, a Vert ramp consists 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 metres) high. The biggest ramp ever used in competition is the X-Games big air ramp at 27 feet tall. Both 'faces' of the ramp have an extension to the transition that is vertical, hence the name.

Riders go up each face, performing tricks in the air before landing into the same face. 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.

Mat Hoffman popularized the sport in the early 90s, and holds the record for the highest jump of 27' out of a 25' ramps (a total of over 15.5 metres from the ground). He achieved this by being dragged along a field by a friend with a motorbike and hitting one face of the ramp. On one attempt, he lost control at the peak of his jump, and the resulting crash caused life-threatening injuries such as losing his spleen. Remarkably, despite his age and injuries in the past, he still competes to this day.

The danger of the discipline (and scarcity of full-size vert ramps) puts most riders off, and as such, there are a small number of top professionals who remain at the top of the sport for many years. Most notable are Dave Mirra (US) and Jamie Bestwick (UK) who have won almost all the major international competitions in the past 5 years. Other up-and-coming vert riders include 18 year old Zack Warden, who landed the first tailwhip to tailwhip back, commonly referred to as a "windshield wiper", in a vert contest at the Panasonic Open stop of the Dew Tour in Baltimore, Maryland.

Trails

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

Trails are, as the name suggests, lines of jumps built from dirt (heavily compacted mud). 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 riders that ride trails 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 whilst performing more stylish tricks, while dirt jumpers try to perform the craziest tricks they can without much thought to their style or smoothness. This flowing trails style is popularized by riders such as Van Homan, Mike Aitken, Chase Hawk and Chris Doyle.

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.

Dirt jumping bikes are heavier than bmx racing bikes but lighter than freestyle bikes. Often a bmx jump bike will have only a rear brake and they might also sport a gyro. The gyro will allow them to do airborne tricks such as barspins. But most trails riders don't ride gryos, they run a single straight cable from the lever to the brakes.

With trails you do not need to pedal in between jumps. By pumping (compressing your body as you come to the middle of a turn or the lowest part of the area between the jumps) you gain speed to clear the jumps.

Flatland

BMX Flatland 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 gnurled 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 due to the fact that 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 a result of the decreased stability of using 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

While there innumerable tricks that can be performed, and many new tricks are being created every day, there are a few basic tricks that form the staples of BMX riding in trails, street and park riding, and are often combined to create new tricks.

Base tricks

A footjam endo, using the foot to stop the front wheel instead of the front brake.

• bunnyhop - Jumping the bike off the ground without using a jump. Performed by pulling back on the handlebars, and then leveling out the bike by pushing back on the pedals/pushing forward on the handlebars
• Air - Simply, getting both wheels off of a ramp and landing on the same ramp you came off.
• Grind - Sliding the bike along an object, usually coping (the metal edge of a ramp), a handrail or ledge, using anything other than both wheels.
• Fakie - Riding backwards. Made more difficult due to the fact that most rear bicycle hubs will force the cranks to rotate backwards while the back wheel is rolling backwards. However, a special hub called a freecoaster enables a rider to ride backwards without having to pedal backwards.
• Manual - Riding with the front wheel held in the air, without pedaling. A coasting wheelie.
• Nose Manual Basically the same as a manual except you balance on your front wheel instead of your back wheel, usually a bit harder. Corey Martinez currently holds the record for the longest nose manual. This occurred when he managed to nose manual a 52 foot long ledge. A nose manual with brakes is called a nose wheelie.
• Sponge Manual - The rider leans back behind the seat to touches or "skims" the rear tire with his bottom, lifting up the front wheel is optional. Sponge tricks originated in New Zealand and other names are Kiwi manuals and Maori manuals.
• Sponge Nose Manual - Same as a sponge manual but doing a nose manual and touching the rear tire with your bottom.
• Wallride - Riding with both tires on a vertical or near vertical wall.
• Endo - Stopping the bike with the front wheel, and raising the rear wheel into the air.
• Sponge Endo - "Sponging" (skimming the rear tire with your bottom) while doing an endo.
• Rollout - While riding fakie spin the bike 180degrees on the back wheel so you ride normally.
• Cat Walk - While doing a manual you pedal.

Grind Tricks

• Feeble Grind - A grind when the rear peg is grinding and the front wheel is rolling along the top of the ledge or rail.
• Smith Grind - The opposite of the feeble grind. The front peg is grinding along the edge while the back wheel is rolling on the top of the ledge or rail.
• Double Peg Grind/50-50 - Grinding along with both pegs on the ledge or rail.
• Icepick Grind - Grinding balanced only on the rear peg, with the front of the bike held in the air.
• Toothpick Grind - Grinding along only on the front peg, with the rear of the bike in the air. Regular Toothpick Grinds are most commonly performed on quarterpipes.
• Crooked Grind - Grinding along a rail with the front peg on one side, the bike crossing over the rail, and the opposite rear peg on the other side. For example, the front right peg on the rail, and the rear left peg on the rail.
• Pedal-Feeble Grind - Grinding on the pedal with the front tire on the rail or ledge, much like a feeble grind. Generally done by pegless riders.
• Luc-E Grind - Grinding with the forward pedal and rear peg, with the front peg hanging below the grind obstacle.
• Levitator - Grinding on just the pedal, with the crankarm vertical, thus making the bike appear to levitate a few inches above the ledge.
• Magic Carpet Slide - Front peg and pedal, with the rear wheel suspended.
• Sprocket Grind - Grinding along using the sprocket.
• Derek Duster - A grind along the bottom bracket of the frame and the rear peg.
• Snaggle Tooth Grind - A rare grind accomplished by grinding on the front peg and the opposite-side forward pedal. It is essentially a front-foot forward pedal crooked grind. This trick usually looks similar to a Hang Over Toothpick Grind.

Air Tricks

• X-Up - Turning the bars 180˚ or beyond while holding onto them.
• One hander/no hander - Letting go of the handlebars with one hand/both hands.
• One footer/no footer - Removing one foot/both feet from the pedals.
• Seatgrab - Grabbing the seat with one or both hands.
• Tiregrab - Grabbing the front tire with one or both hands.
• 180/360/540/720/900/1080 - Spinning the bike the number of degrees indicated, left or right. The first 900 on a BMX bike was done by Mat Hoffman in 1989. The first ever 1080 was done by Mike Spinner in 2007.
• Backflip/Frontflip - Rotating the bike 360 degrees on the horizontal axis, backwards/forwards.
• Tabletop - Tilting the bike flat on its side while in the air.variations : 'old school tabletop' with bars facing up, 'euro table' or 'pancake' with bars facing down.
• Turndown - pulling the bike up vertically whilst turning the bars down over the leg until they are rotated 180˚ from the frame.
• Lookback - Similar to the turndown, except the bike is horizontal and the rider is facing backwards. For example, if you do an air out of a quarterpipe to the left and turndown to the right, this is a lookback.
• Barspin - Spinning the bars 360 degrees while letting go of them.
• Tailwhip/Double Tailwhip/Triple Tailwhip - Spinning the bike frame 360/720/1080 degrees, respectively, underneath you whilst holding the handlebars. Only a handful of people have pulled a triple tailwhip, including Mike Spinner (who is also the only person to pull a 360 triple tailwhip), Dennis Enarson, James Foster, Cameron White, and Chad Kagy.
• Can-Can - Lifting one foot off the pedal and thrusting it to the opposite side of the bike.
• Candybar - Lifting one foot off the pedal and thrusting it over the handlebars.
• Superman - Lifting both feet off the pedals and thrusting them backwards.
• Nothing - Releasing the bike entirely.
• Busdriver - Rotating the handlebars 360 degrees while still holding on to one end of the handlebars through their rotation. Like a bus driver turning a corner. Most people just refer to these as barspins.
• Sponge - Skimming the back tire with your bottom while getting air.
• Truckdriver -Performing a barspin while spinning 360 degrees.
• Toboggan - Turning the handlebars 90 degrees while letting go of the furthest grip to grab the seat instead.
• Nac Nac - Removing one foot off either pedal (depending on which foot is ridden forward) and thrusting it behind the seat and above the rear wheel.

Lip Tricks

• Fufanu - Leaving the ramp, then placing the rear tire on the coping, while holding the nose of the bike in the air, and returning nose first into the ramp.
• Abubaca - Similar to a fufanu, but returning into the ramp backwards, or fakie.
• Stall - Stalling at the top of the ramp; common variations include double peg stall, smith/feeble stall.
• Sprocket Stall - Stalling straight out of the ramp, sprocket on the coping, front tire on the deck and back tire below the coping.
• Disaster - Leaving the ramp, spinning 180 degrees, and landing with one wheel in and one wheel out of the ramp.
• Icepick - Stalling at the top of the ramp with only the rear peg, while holding the nose in the air.
• Nosepick/Footjam - Stalling at the top of the ramp with only the front tire on the deck using front brakes, while holding the rear of the bike in the air. A footjam is the same except the rider uses his foot between the forks and front tire. Variations include the can-can footjam, canadian nosepick/footjam, footjam tailwhip or "whiplash," and the vader-jam. Another variation is "sponging".
• Double Donkey Kong - A move, usually performed by accident, where the rider hits his/her front wheel on the lip of an obstacle, such as a rail, followed by the striking of his/her rear wheel on the obstacle.
• Toothpick - Stalling at the top of the ramp with only the front peg, while holding the rear of the bike in the air.
• Tailtap/Tiretap Stalling up on the deck of the ramp with the rear tire and hopping back in.
• Footjams - Jumping onto the deck of a quarter pipe and jamming one foot into the front tire, causing the back end to rise up in the air. Many variations on this trick can be performed.

Bikes

A typical stock Freestyle BMX, a 2006 wethepeople Darkness. 36 spoke front wheel, 48 spoke back wheel and detangler equipped, front brake removed.

A typical freestyle BMX bike, front brake removed, straight pull cable to rear as well as fully kitted-out parts.

Freestyle bikes tend to use 20 inch wheels, although anything from 16-21 inches is acceptable. Frame sizes and geometry vary, but the top tubes are usually 20-21 inches long. Some riders customize store bought bikes, although most riders build custom bikes from the ground up to suit their preferences and style of riding. Generally, street riders use smoother tires for more grip on concrete, and usually have two or four axle pegs for grinding, many ride brakeless setups. Park riders use a similar setup, but some prefer four pegs and twin brakes for a wider array of possible tricks. Dirt riders usually don't have pegs, and use more knobby tires for better grip in the loose dirt. Dirt bikes also tend to run only a rear brake, Dirt bikes also usually have 36 spokes for less weight. Vert bikes usually use the smoothest tires of all. Flatland riders bikes usually run four pegs, and a smaller, lighter frame often with prebent tubes making it easier to do flatland tricks. Brakes depend on preference, riders often have brakeless bicycles. In fact most aspects of a freestyle BMX bike's setup are based on personal preference, so a park rider could ride street, dirt or whatever else he would want without any changes to the setup. Many bmx bikes use small front sprockets, bolt on sprocket guards, or guard sprockets to avoid breaking the sprocket while doing lip tricks. Above all a freestyle BMX bike should be simple and strong while remaining light and nimble.

Before there was a "true" freestyle bicycle, riders used BMX racing frames for jumping and for performing flatland maneuvers. Bob Haro was the founder of the first freestyle bicycles company, Haro Bikes.[1] Most of the early Haro Freestyler bicycles are collectible items that sell for several thousand dollars. [2] The first freestyle bicycles were not as riding style-specific as modern ones; what made them suitable for flatland usually was the addition of bolt-on components, like standing pegs, platforms for the frame, the forks or the chainstays near the rear dropouts, and front and rear brake cable detangler systems like the ACS Rotor for the rear brake and the Potts Mod, a hollow stem wedge bolt for the front brake. By mid-90s, riding style differentiation in frames and components became the norm.

Coming into the 2000s BMX bikes have taken a turn for technology. Past trends of strength over weight have flipped once again and now new technologies have lead to stronger parts at lighter weights. Many innovations are coming from MTB, Road, and other forms of cycling. New innovations in the BMX world include:

Integrated / Internal Headsets - Common place in MTB for many years, they are now the norm for BMX replacing the tried and true press fit cups seen in the past.

Mid / Spanish / European Bottom Brackets (BB) - All smaller than the traditional American bottom brackets seen on many older BMX bikes, these save weight, clean up appearances and add ease of use with threads and straight push fit bearings. Mid and Spanish bottom brackets were created by the BMX industry, and both use bearings that press directly into the frames. No cups are used. Mid BB's use larger bearings than Spanish.

Integrated Seatclamps - Old technology making its way to BMX once again.

Other products have emerged from companies that have pushed the envelope of what technology can do in BMX, from one-bolt stems, to antique ideas making a come back with modifications, BMX is in a new era, parts are more reliable and bikes are lighter, the BMX world is getting in key with other cycling sports.

BMX Specific Bicycle Parts

• Detangler / Gyro / Rotor - A device that prevents the rear brake cable from becoming tangled during barspins, tailwhips, or any tricks that require the handlebars to spin 360 degrees or more. A 'gyro' is a two piece device that floats under the stem and rotates on ball bearings. The top cable from the rear brake lever connects to one half of the device while the bottom cable from the rear brake connects to the other half. When the brake lever is pulled the 'gyro' raises and in turn pulles the lower cable attached to the brake. This allows the bars to be spun around infinitely.
• Potts Mod Bolt - A Hollow stem bolt that allows the front brake cable to be run through the stem and fork. This allows the bars to be spun 360 degrees or more without tangling the front brake cable.
• Axle Pegs - Short 4 to 5 inch long tubes. Street pegs used for grinding tend to be made of chromoly. Some street pegs designed for lightness will have a thinner chromoly sleeve over an aluminum body. Flatland pegs tend to be made of aluminium, have a larger diameter than street pegs, and have grippy surfaces for the feet.
• Cassettes- Instead of having a large "freewheel" on the rear hub, a cassette is an internal device that uses pawls to propel the bike. Also they can be used with much smaller cogs, some with 10, 9, or even 8 teeth.
• Freecoasters- Freecoasters allow rolling backwards without pedaling backwards as one would need to do with a cassette or freewheel hub. The design of the freecoaster is based off of coaster brake hubs with the brake pads removed allowing for backpedaling.