A Short History of a Short Bike

A Short History of a Short Bike

It has now become one of the most popular extreme sports in the world, but the BMX phenomenon was the result of the same thing that spawns many of man’s better, more ingenious ideas: boredom. Back in the 70s, kids in America were looking for new ways to fill long, dull days with adventure and cheap thrills. They began modifying existing bicycles, trying as best as they could to imitate the more exhilarating motorcycles they would have rather been riding, desperate to emulate the Motocross riders they idolised. They created jumps and took their bikes to the limit.

In 1971, filmmaker Bruce Brown released the massively popular documentary On Any Sunday, a film which followed the lives of many of the top motorcycle riders of the time. In the opening sequence, a number of these young wannabes were filmed on their modified bicycles and a new craze was born overnight. Children all over American rushed out to adapt their own bikes. The resulting sport, a sport for kids created by the kids themselves, was dubbed Bicycle Motocross, which quickly became BMX.

Originally it was all about imitation but through the 70s and 80s the idea of simple racing BMX bikes was not enough. It evolved and adapted, and the bikes changed along with the sport. The 80s gave birth to Freestyle BMX, a much more extreme version that revolved around tricks such as grinds and innovative jumps such as back flips and 360s.

There was a brief lull from mainstream attention as it went ‘underground.’ During this time, the hardcore disciples of the sport only pushed the boundaries further and soon, it was not just a sport, but it was labelled an extreme sport.

Today, it is more popular than ever since its inclusion in high profile sporting events such as the hugely popular X Games and, more recently, the Olympics. And it doesn’t look like it will be getting tired any time soon.