BMX

BMX is an acrobatic form of cycling which originated in California in the 1970s. Since the 2008 Beijing Olympics, BMX is an Olympic sport.

BMX originated when young people tried to imitate motocross champions with their bikes. In 1980, the version generally became known as a race, or dirt track race, very similar to those made with motorcycles. Later, in the mid 80s, the first exclusive freestyle bikers would start to do tricks in skate parks and even on the streets, strengthening what is now known as BMX.

More specifically, in 1977, the American Bicycle Association (ABA) was organized as a national body for the sport’s growth, and BMX was introduced in Europe in 1978. In April 1981, the International BMX Federation was founded, and the first world championship was held in 1982. Since January 1993, BMX has been integrated into the Union Cycliste Internationale, which is now known as UCI.

Characteristics of BMX bikes

The bikes are small to gain manageability over them. The wheels may have a diameter as small as twenty inches. The frames are often made, depending on the context, in 6061 or 7005 carbon fiber, and 4130 chromoly (chromium alloy and molybdenum) with some addition of OX Platinum. Aluminum frames, as well as carbon, are usually for “races”, but these really are used for cycling modes, and frames of OX platinum and chromoly are used for BMX modes.

They usually have different measures depending on the type of BMX racing, which aids in the comfort of the rider; the longest for ramp and dirt jumping (20.8 – 21.5 inches) and shortest (20.5 – 20.75 inches) for the mode of street racing.

The gear size changes depending on type. In ramp, flatland and street normally take small, with relations ranging from 23 to 48 teeth on the hub, mainly lightness comfort and thus can free up some weight on the bike and the comfort of the bike is much better at maneuvering tricks, and larger plates (35, 40 teeth) were used in dirt and race to develop faster given the greater size of the plate, but they are leaving because there are developments with smaller plates that provide the same result.

The rotor is common in the use of flatland and ramp modes, in order to release the restriction in the turning of the handlebars by the brake cable. The cable is used in street mode because less spins are performed. The brake cable length allows at least a lap or two, up to three in a system using Kevlar in the sheath of the cable, eliminating the torque and friction in the cable.

The brake may be entirely eliminated, known as going brakeless. This has become very popular among the new wave of riders emerging in the last three years.

Another important piece widely used in street racing, but not in dirt jumping, is pegs. They are made of metal tubes (chromoly, magnesium, aluminum CNC, and titanium) and used for a variety of tricks called “grinds”. The lead in most forms is used to stall on ramps, with the peg sticking on the edge of the ramp. The cyclist performs tricks such as staying on a peg, and uses cement streets, rails and banks to grind on.

Race categories

Dirt track racing:
This is performed on a track similar to a motocross track. There are two types of bikes, defined by rim diameter: 20-inch and 24-inch. The competitions are in the same format as on an athletics track: eight riders each participate on the street after being assigned to a position at the starting gate. The circuit has a length of approximately 400 meters. Passing to the next round, the four front runners form a sleeve end.

Currently the system with which the gate falls is called “Random Gate”; this means there is a random time interval between the voice command and the beeping for the gate to fall. This type of BMX was considered an Olympic sport in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

FreeStyle:
FreeStyle racing differs within five modes: dirt, flatland, park, vert, and street.

Dirt Jumping: This method consists of performing acrobatic, freestyle jumps using earthen ramps.

Flatland: In this mode the stunts (tricks) are performed on a concrete floor or pavement, doing turns up on pegs, tables, handlebars, and so forth. Balance and concentration are required, making this discipline perhaps one of the most difficult to master.

Flatland bikes are often designed in special ways to improve balance, to be more comfortable, and to avoid crashing. Also the wheels require a pressure of 8k for the wheel to turn without sticking to the ground.

Park: This consists in performing stunts using a set of ramps and other obstacles of concrete or wood (in a configuration called a “park”). The rider tries to form “lines” in the park and go from one trick to another, from one obstacle to another, with fluidity.

The most common tricks are usually the barspin (back to the handlebars), tailwhip (back to the table), x-up (180 degrees with the handlebars, leaving the arms in position “X”), and crankflip (back to the cranks). More extreme tricks are the backflip or frontflip, and superman (with the optional “seatgrab”).

They even go to the edges of ramps or perform grab grind tricks (most common in street). Also common are tricks performed by raising the edge of the ramp, such as tailtap (doing the manual on the horizontal surface of the ramp and falling back).

Vert: For this type of sport, it is necessary to have a wooden ramp with at least one completely vertical section at the top. This section allows the biker to jump vertically to perform acrobatic tricks and revert to the same ramp.

In general, the ramps are built in a configuration called half-pipe. The tricks are similar to those in park style of racing, except that the ramp is not changed, and the “air” (flights by jumping from the ramp) are often much higher.

Street: For this form of BMX, natural obstacles are sought in the street, i.e., items that are part of the urban landscape. Such barriers can be a park bench, wall, etc. In this modality the biker often does grind tricks, that is, sliding on the pegs alone or in combination with other parts of the bike: Double (with two pegs, left or right), Feeble, Smith (combine one tube back to the front wheel, or vice versa) or crooked (e.g., front left peg to back right peg, or failing that, peg rear plate).

Street bikes are usually more resistant than the bikes used for vert and park. They do not normally carry rotors, but instead carry a linear cable that allows a maximum of two laps for tricks like barspins or x-ups.

Experienced riders will even do tricks like tailwhip flat with no ramp. It is also very common to manual (balance and lift the front wheel without pedals) and nose manual (as opposed to the manual), and perform tricks like footjump or tailtap (nailed to the front or rear wheel of something large).