Bicycle Stunt History

Bicycle Stunt History

Publication Date: April 1999

In the early '80s, Freestyle, or Bicycle Stunt riding, became an offspring of BMX racing which had been around since the '70s. The first official BMX frames replaced the traditional modified Stingrays in 1973. Racing had grown in popularity and become an established sport with codified races and growing sponsorship. However, by 1980, some racers had started doing tricks on their bikes and experimenting with the air they got off jumps in races. Dirt courses with numerous jumps were a natural inspiration to more stylish flying.

At the same time, some of these racers were discovering and breaking into abandoned skate parks that littered the country after skateboarding's demise in the '70s. These boarded up parks saw the first half-pipe and street tricks developed by BMX racers.

Many people in the BMX world didn't like where they saw their sport going. In the July 1980 edition of BMX Action, Cook Bros. Racing condemned the sport and compared it to a 'circus act'.

By 1982, still almost exclusively racing, BMX had hit the big time, and 1983 was a big year for racing but also big for stunt riding. 1983 saw the first freestyle frames being manufactured by Mongoose and the first exclusively freestyle bikes. By 1984, some of the first freestyle competitions were being held in skateparks mostly in California.

According to veteran rider Dennis McCoy: "1985 was freestyle's first legitimate year with the first series of comps and the first titles to be earned. But it was still mostly in California. However, in 1986, the sport spread out over the country, and '86 and '87 were the glory years." In those years sponsorship finally began pouring into freestyle and comp purses climbed to new heights.

Following these days, things in the bicycle stunt world leveled off, and the number of competitors grew smaller. But, dating to the X Games in 1995, bicycle stunt has been breaking out again. The X Games saw the largest audience bicycle stunt riding had ever seen.

At the close of the 1995 Bicycle Stunt Contest Finals held in South Daytona Beach, Florida, where the year-end titles in the sport were bestowed, Matt "The Condor" Hoffman declared, "Our sport is going to be huge next year." He knew what he was talking about because plans were already in the works for the 1996 season when he and ESPN teamed up to create the biggest competition tour bicycle stunt had ever seen. The 1996 X Games were one stop on that tour, and the event helped propel bike stunt onto the national radar screen.

At the 1996 X Games, bicycle stunt probably saw more injuries than any other sport. Some of the big favorites, such as 1995 Dirt winner Jay Miron, veteran rider Dennis McCoy, and Matt Hoffman came up missing as they all ended up injured before the week was over.

In 1997, the flatland discipline was added to the X Games Bike Stunt competition. A previously unheard turnout of 5,000 spectators gave a warm welcome for the flatland event.

1998 X Games introduced the first time ever Doubles Vert competitive event. Riders had riden doubles regularly in demos and shows, but never before in doubles vert competition. For riders to ride double on a vert ramp, they must ride in opposite directions. They both hit the same wall at the same time, one crossing over the top of the other or airing side-by-side. Team members must naturally ride in opposite directions, or one of the members must be able to ride switch with proficiency. This necessarily limits the team combination possibilities.

Bicycle Stunt is on a major upswing. Industry people are saying that "BMX is back." BMX is the term used when one is talking about 20-inch bikes as an entire sport (BMX, vert, street, dirt jumping, flatland, and park riding). Although Bicycle Stunt, or freestyle, represents only about 5 percent of the total BMX scene, it too is growing in popularity.