The History of BMX

[familytruxster]

I hope this is where I am supposed to post this. I was sitting around my garage last night. I don't know about where any of you live but here in Texas our garage is basically another room that just doesn't have carpet. This is where all of our workout stuff is and I also work on my bikes out there. We have a couple of chairs and a television with cable, playstation out there as well. So I was hanging out in the garage watching TV last night and the channel I usually leave it on while I just hanging out in there is Fuel TV. There was a show on last night and after some research I found that it is actually a couple of years old called, "Joe Kid on a Stingray - The history of BMX". I was having flashbacks of the 80's. Man, there were so many guys that I used to read about and see in magazines it' was just crazy. I know many of you have seen this but here is a link to a youtube video that's just a taste of what is on it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2BKE0a-TLE
I am going to have to buy this it is too cool. For those that have seen it, can Ron Wilkerson form a whole sentence?

 

[Rat Rod]

Re: Yhe History of BMX

Joe Kid on a Sting-Ray is a great documentary. I only wish they would have spent more time on the BMX part and less on the freestyle era.

I've got the DVD and have watched it a few times...great stuff!

 

[schwinnmesa]

Re: Yhe History of BMX

I have that DVD too. It's excellent. But as Steve said, more racing scenes would have been cooler. Overall, great DVD.

 

[snfargle]

Re: Yhe History of BMX

i actually like the freestyle bit
call me weird but those day glo colours and over the top, slightly cheezy tricks are well good

id recommend getting the docufilm to anyone here
dogtown and Z-boys is also real good along with riding giants
about skateboarding and surfing

all good docufilms,

 

[schwinnmesa]

Re: Yhe History of BMX

Yeah, those old school BMX bikes are eye candy. Pretty colors and all... :mrgreen: I wasn't even alive back then. I was born in 1992 when BMX was considered dead. :lol:

 

[familytruxster]

I you haven't seen the new Haro BMX bikes, they came back out with neon colors like Hot Pink and Lime Green. I like to watch BMX racing but I myself like to watch the evolution of the tricks they do in pools and on vert. I was never crazy enough to do it myself but I like to watch it. I really like to see what all of those guys like Harry Leary and Stu Thompson and a lot of the others look like now. As far as Dogtown and the Z-Boys, I like it much better than the movie they came out with about them.

 

[HutchXL24]

You can always check in on vintagebmx.com . Many old BMX pros and regular Joes from that era hang out there.

 

[herr_rudolf]

But...
How accurate IS the current history of BMX. I'm not into BMX and it's history, but as a kid it was something natural amongst friends to do on a bike. I too started on a schwinn-style chopper (musclebike?) in the 70's, closely followed in the 80's by a very heavy BMX (MX 400 - if I remember correctly). Since then I always thought of it as something 'American'.
Untill yesterday that is...

Yesterday I came across this video: BMX in Holland. 1957

CLICK HERE TO PLAY VIDEO ON YOUTUBE >

:shock: 8) :shock:

(just don't listen to that horrible soundtrack...)

 

[theVULTURE]

i was at the premier of Joe Kid on a Stingray in San Francisco during an all bike indy film festival.
that had to be about 6 or so years ago. we bought the dvd as soon as it came out (so we could see AND HEAR the whole film) :wink:

if you like that movie...... go find Stompin' Stu (the story of Stu Thomson)
a really cool video, that looks only at BMX and even how most of our favorite parts were made (like profile)
i found my copy @ DansComp

you guys will love this video 8)

 

[scrumblero]

HAHAHA HR!! thats fun to watch the rod brake bikes try and get air :lol:

you can sure see why 20" still rules BMX, in that last starting scene the little bikes just kill!!

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Real men (and boys) riding real bikes....not a helmet or pad of any kind to be found. :mrgreen:

Cheers!
Dr. T

 

[Chainsaw]

Real men (and boys) riding real bikes....not a helmet or pad of any kind to be found. :mrgreen:

Cheers!
Dr. T

You took the words right out of my fingers!

 

[Chainsaw]

Something alot of you guys may not know is that the European motorcycle clubs started as racing clubs unlike many of the U.S. motocycle clubs. Motocross, enduros, speedway, scrambles and trials were all normal for many of the kids back in the day. It could be compared to how the American kids idolized their baseball heros back in the 50s,60s and 70s.

European governments sponsored teams to race in such events. Most militaries fielded motocross or enduro teams. Local villages put on various races throughout the season. So it would have been only natural for the kids to emulate their heros and even more natural for the clubs to sponsor such bicycle events for the kids and adults of their clubs.

Back in the late 60s and early 70s, the town I grew up in (Holly, Michigan) had a local club that was very much like the old European clubs in the it was mostly dirt racers that also had road bikes. Every year they sponsored a scrambles race or two and several poker runs (both on and off road). To keep the kids and those who didn't have motorcycles happy they offered what they called pedal-cross or pedocross. it was very similar to this video. Some of the bikes were newer and somwere around the same age as the bikes in the video. I'm not by any means claiming that our little town started the BMX revolution because I know for a fact that this was going on all over the U.S. and Canada and the rest of the world. Give a bike to ANY kid brought up in a rural area and this type of riding is bound to happen. The same is true of the Klunker history.

Us country boys were doing these types of riding long before someone with a movie camera started rolling the film. No matter how new and cool something is, it has usually been done before, but only by someone who didn't have a means to publicize what they were doing.

With all that said, I love the video! This is truely a great moment in history. Seeing those old bikes taking a beating (as well as the kids) is truely an awesome site!
Thanks very much for posting the link!

 

[herr_rudolf]

HAHAHA HR!! thats fun to watch the rod brake bikes try and get air :lol:

you can sure see why 20" still rules BMX, in that last starting scene the little bikes just kill!!

Cool huh...
Although I didn't notice any rod-brake bikes. Are you referring to the crossbars? (handlebars)
And 20 inchers. I can understand that. Funny how mountainbikers go for the 29" wheels nowadays...

Real men (and boys) riding real bikes....not a helmet or pad of any kind to be found. :mrgreen: T

Helmets and pads were for competion purpose only. I remember it was regarded kinda silly riding the streets and local tracks wearing a helmet or padding... Still do. Though it would be a smart thing to do I guess...

@ Chainsaw
Never thought of that, but what you say is true. Motorcycleclubs in Holland/Europe were more or less all-round racingteams. AND often such a racingteam was also one family.

How beautiful or how much fun the Joe Stingray documentary probably is, it is kinda silly to claim the start of bmx is something American, or even Callifornian. (Or Dutch for that matter.) It happened EVERYWHERE. And way before the late 60's/early 70's unlike what is said in the Joe Kid trailer... Didn't Schwinn put out a dirtbike-style bicycle in the early/mid 60's? That must be because Schwinn-marketeers were noticing kids riding off-road with their bikes years before... The human kind is very compettitve so my guess is that 'bmx' started soon after the first two bicycles were available. Just like hotrodding started just as soon as cars were available, and not in 1948 when Hotrod Magazine hit the newsstands. (Or when the Hotrod-article in Life-magazine appeared.)

It's like saying 'Elvis invented rock'n'roll in 1956 on the Ed Sullivan show.'
We all know better...

But darn... I'd LOVE to see the entire Joe kid documentary. That footage is awesome.

 

[El Duderino]

i actually ride vert professionally and ive never seen this film. i need to get ahold of a copy
i do have a history of bmx in my garage though
mongoose m-1. my dads restoring this badboy

western flyer of some kind

70's schwinn scrambler

graco. its a tank

columbia

gt performer. i think this ones an 87

gt performer that looks to be an 85

and i just sold my hutch trickstar. its being restored for jamie bestwick

 

[LIVE TO RIDE]

Yeah Holland is where it all started.Its wierd that so many people dont know that.But soon as it got here it exploded!We were riding bmx way before there were cameras filming the action.California was definetly a mecca though for bmx.That Graco you have is killer!!!!Wish I still had my 1975 with the 21'' or 22'' front tire.I need those bars soooo bad too !haha