Suggestions for an Old School BMX video night

This is Ride On, the 1992 video by former Skyway factory rider, street legend, and all around good dude, Eddie Roman.  In 1989, the major bicycle companies decided freestyle was over, and mountain bikes were the new thing.  So they pulled money from BMX racing and freestyle, and the more mainstream, non-bike businesses, did the same.  The major bike companies sunk their money into mountain bikes, and only GT and Haro kept some BMX and freestyle guys sponsored.  The money left, we had no reason to wear MX type leathers to ride anymore, and flatland, street, vert, and dirt jumping were all progressing at stratospheric levels.

Rider-made videos were growing in  number, rider-owned companies were springing up, mini ramps were still a new thing, as were spine ramps.  The 1990 recession was officially over, but the economy didn't really come back until late 1996.  Like that guy in the Monty Python movie, freestyle kept saying, "I'm not dead yet."  Ron Wilkerson was putting on vert and street contests.  Mat Hoffman stepped up and started putting on contests as well.  It was a tough time to get a good job, but a great time to ride BMX bikes, because only the hardcore riders were left.  That's the world this video was made in, and if you're going to invite some of today's young riders to check out an old school video, this would be my first choice.

A few posts back, I wrote asking if Old School riders thought it was a good idea to show our world of the 80's and 90's to today's riders who may be interested.  People went apeshit on Facebook.  The post got something like 400 views, 175 likes, and maybe 60 comments, most of them negative.  I was baffled by the response.  Obviously, a lot of those who commented didn't read the post.  I learned why blogging legend Seth Godin disabled the comments on his blog more than 15 years ago.

My idea was a simple one, I thought it would be cool suggest that some Old School riders might want to have a little event to introduce today's BMX riders to a little of our shared history.  It wasn't a mandatory thing.  I know most Old School riders don't want to bother doing this.  I just wanted to suggest it, for the handful who might like the idea.  Have an "Old School BMX video night" at your shop or skatepark.  Or your house if you're not too creepy.  Hold a "Old School vs. New School game of BIKE" at a favorite riding spot.  Maybe even have a demo or small contest, 80's or 90's style, if you're really motivated.  That was it.  "Hey, here's an idea, give it shot it if sounds cool."  That's all.

For the handful of people who actually thought it was a good idea, here are my top video suggestions to pick from :

Joe Kid on a Stingray - (2005) This is the best, and only, documentary looking at the whole history of BMX racing and freestyle, from 1970 to 2005.  Produced by Mark Eaton.  You'll have to find the DVD, it's not online.  From Scot Breithaupt and the early races at the B.U.M.S. track in 1970, through the rise of racing in the 1970's and beyond.  The movie also documents Bob Haro and the birth of BMX freestyle, and it's rise during the 1980's and beyond.

The Bob Haro "Master Class" - (2012-France)- This is Bob Haro, the guy who invented BMX freestyle itself, giving a one hour slide show and talk about how it all happened. French Old School riders Seb Ronjon and Franck Belliot put this event together in 2012, and just shared the video with me a couple of weeks ago.  It's on Vimeo, so this link just goes to the blog post I did about it, which has the video on it.  I spent a while in the industry, and was around old school riders for the better part of 20 years, and I learned things I never knew in this talk. 

Freestyle's Raddest Tricks by BMX Plus! magazine- (1985) This was the first freestyle video I ever bought.  When this was made, BMX freestyle had only been a sport for two years.  The first skatepark contests were in 1983, and flatland and ramps contests were in 1984.  To make a video like this you had to hire a professional video production company, using $50,000 cameras and a $500,000 editing system.  Consumer video cameras were still a new thing, and decent editing was pretty much impossible.  This video probably cost $30,000 to $50,000 to produce, so only top factory riders with uniforms and helmets were allowed in it.

The Curb Dogs video - (1986)- This is the anti-BMX Plus-style video.  Led by San Francisco's visionary BMXer/skater Dave Vanderspek, the Curb Dogs was a bike/skate demo team an unruly posse from San Francisco.  In addition to Vander, brothers Maurice and  Ray Meyer, and Tommy and Tony Guerrero were members, among several others.  Vander and the other Curb Dogs saw the future, avoided uniforms when possible, pioneered street riding and skating, encouraged and helped up-and-coming riders, and set the course for the future.  Dave, unfortunately, died in 1988.  But his legacy lives on, partly in this video. 

Dorkin' 4- Mark Eaton- Not sure where you can find the whole video, but the Dorkin' series, starting with Dorkin' in York (1988), has to be on this list.  With one trick in Austin in 1987, Kevin Jones changed flatland forever.  Here he is from Dorkin' 4, about 1992 (?) 

Headfirst-(1991)- Eddie Roman- This video, almost entirely of one rider, Mat Hoffman, is, WITHOUT A DOUBT, the single most influential BMX freestyle video, ever.  Almost everything in this video was brand new tricks, and basically Mat and Eddie said, "OK guys, here's the next 20 years of vert riding.  Oh, and we'll up the ante with street riding you've never seen, and Chase Gouin on flat, just to round it out." Oh yeah, Eddie is the Veg-O-Matic at the start.

The Ultimate Weekend- 1990- Steve Emig (that's me)- Am I an ego maniac for putting my own video on this list?  Probably.  But this self-produced video did have the first handrail slide down steps, the first icepick grind, the first mini ramp in a BMX video, the first spine ramp in a BMX video, the first 360 over a spine in a video, and the first person to try one handed and no handed backflips (into water) in a video.  There are more firsts as well.  Oh, and did you ever hear of S&M Bikes?  Chris Moeller, the S&M Bikes crew, and the P.O.W. House riders (Pros Of Westminster), this is the first video they were ever in, as well.  Keith Treanor is the star of this video, and, as a hungry rider straight outta Jersey, he stepped up and put himself on the map in it.

44 Something - (1993)- S&M Bikes- This is another video I edited.  It's the second S&M Bikes video, but this one sold thousands of copies in the hands of S&M owner Chris Moeller, and heavily influenced the emerging Mid School BMX world of the 1990's.  It may have been the top selling BMX video of the 1990's.  No flatland, more dirt jumping, more street, and Chris Moeller, Dave Clymer, Keith Treanor, Mike Griffin, Jimmy Levan, and a little Brian Foster make for a tight, "get psyched to go ride" video.  Ryan "Biz" Jordan once told me he watched this video every day for like a year, until he wore the video out, in his early days.

Rippin' - The BMX Action Trick Team video- (1985)- R.L. Osborn is one of the original pioneers of BMX freestyle, starting just after Bob Haro himself.  Coming out the same year at the BMX Plus video, Rippin' found really disappointing sales.  That's a bummer, because R.L. and Ron Wilton introduced thousands of people to BMX freestyle, and inspired a lot of them to start riding.  R.L., as top pro rider and entrepreneur, was the guy I most wanted to model when I got going in freestyle.  That was an epic fail on my part, but I did make it into the industry, which was cool.  Unfortunately, this is another video made by a professional video production company, and this one bores even me.