I'm pretty sure these tricks are not physically possible.  So did you have a fun trip down the rabbit hole?   Steve Emig: The White Bear blog ..read more

Yesterday ( 3/25/2022) Mat Hoffman put a post on Facebook saying that his first 900 happened 33 years ago today.  On that day in 1989, I happened to be a cameraman for Unreel Productions, shooting video of the 2-Hip King of Vert in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.  That's where Mat landed that first 900, so I got it on video (14:43).  Joe Johnson, riding for GT at that time (after riding for Haro), also pulled his first double tailwhip air that day (11:31).  Some days being a cameraman was epic.  That was one of those days.  Here's part of my footage from that day, wi ..read more

 Just sayin'.  People actually check out this blog every day, even though I haven't added posts in a long time.  Due to some kind of internet shennanigans and the censorship rampant online these days, my blog counters don't show the number of page views like they're supposed to.  I don't know why.  44,746 page views, the #1 Old School BMX blog anywhere.   ..read more

  Days ago, as I write this, Mike Varga landed the first 1260 air (that's 3 1/2 spins folks) on a BMX bike, on a halfpipe.  It was so crazy, even Mike's tire had its mind blown.  As fate would have it, I happened to be there when Mat Hoffman landed the first 900 on vert in a contest, 32 years ago, in the Spring of 1989, in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.  As an Old School BMX blogger guy, I decided this would be a good time to go back and look at the history of aerial spins (not flips, just spins) in BMX history.  Here goes.  Blogger's note (11/24/2021):  I ..read more

  You've probably seen videos or her, dressed in much more attractive clothes, doing tricks on You Tube, Instagram, or maybe on TV.  But here's Viola Brand in an actual artistic cycling competition, in a long, and flat out amazing, routine.  One of the biggest, and longest, adventures in my life was the 20 years my world revolved around doing tricks on a BMX bike.  I got into BMX in a trailer park, outside of Boise, Idaho, in the summer of 1982, and entered my first race that fall.  BMX changed my life, pure and simple.  I learned my first trick from a magazine h ..read more

  OK, this is not exactly how BMX began.  Last winter, I was working on an ebook about my early years in BMX and freestyle.  Looking for a cool way to open the book, I listened to a few Indian "creation stories" from different tribes, and wondered how a creation story for BMX would go.  Scot Breithaupt himself told me a short version of the story of Charlie Gnarly, one weekend when I worked for him as a cameraman in 1989.  So I decided to write a mythical creation story for BMX.  this is it.   The Legend of Charlie Gnarly The Godfather of BMX, Scot ..read more

Bill Nitschke was one of the eternally underrated Midwest rippers in the 1980's, and he invented the Whopper (bunnyhop tailwhip) and a bunch of other tricks.  Dave Voelker was a legendary GT vert, street, and dirt rider always asking Can I go bigger?  This is a really cool conversation about the early days versus today in BMX freestyle.  ..read more

Never forget... It's my opinion that bicycle trick riding began about ten minutes after the first guy learned to ride the first bike, when a cute girl walked by.  Just an educated guess.  This is a circus rider from about 1890, or so.  The more things change, the more they stay the same. This was about 100 to 110 years ago.  Look at the size and shape of this loop.  Then think about the fact that the guy was riding a mild steel bike, possibly a fixed gear (but probably not).  There are a few photos of this loop, some are of the guy practicing (note the crash pa ..read more

When I first learned to ride a bike, which was at age 6, in 1972, this was my dream bike.  My dad built my first rat bike out of a pile of parts in our garage.  I had five different bikes I wanted him to build up back then, but the super long chopper was the ultimate ride I could imagine.  Easy Rider had just come out, and harcore bikers riding choppers were a prety frequent sight back then.  I didn't even hear of BMX for five more years, as a kid in small town Ohio.  First, be glad you don't have to wear a marching band uniform to jump a 20-25 foot gap.  Second ..read more

This kind of bike is something I've seen being used on TV/movie studio lots a lot.  Tech guys will throw a small light, props, tools, or other equipment, in the big, sturdy basket, and deliver it to one of the sound stages.  Obviously, there are other uses for the big baskets, as well.   I actually did this a few times while working on the set of American Gladiators in the early 1990's.  I had my BMX bike (an S&M Dirtbike at the time), that I rode to work a couple of years, and a beach cruiser one other year.  Once in a while, one of the women on set would as ..read more