XVII

This is Andrew, Block Bikes shop rider, Lancaster local, and a young guy who likes to have fun on wheels, and sometimes off wheels.  I met him when Rich Bartlett, the Block Bikes owner, took me along up to Woodward West about a month ago.  Andrew came with us, to session all the good stuff at Woodward for a long evening.  Rich and I didn't know it, but Andrew was on a mission that night, he wanted to land a solid backflip into the foam pit.  It was buggin' him, it was stressin' him out.  His first one got kinda stuck upside down and didn't go well.  But he got it together, took a deep breath, and hucked one all the way around.  Progression.  In the last minutes of the session that night, Andrew got his flips pretty solid into the pit, and the stoke was evident.  Mission accomplished.

In this edit, which he shot himself,with a couple added camera people (I shot the flip), and thought out and edited, Andrew tries out a bunch of fun things.  He sessions the trampoline, a scooter, his BMX bike, a quad ATV, a motorcycle, and a side by side.  More than anything, I realized Andrew's having a lot of fun (between the inevitable bails) when he's not here in the shop.

Hey, tomorrow is Friday, the weekend is near.  I hope you have as much fun this weekend as Andrew had in this video.  It may give you an idea of what to spend some time doing the next few days.  I need to keep an eye on this kid, I have a feeling there's more cool videos on the way.

Block Bikes Online BMX Store

Odyssey Tourism Bureau: Australian BMX street, park, and kangaroos

Here's some guys from Odyssey tearing it up in Australia. Zen minimalist blog post today, that's it.

Oh, and this blog, barely 10 weeks old, just hit 5,000 page views last night, thanks to Slash and Fergie, you know, long time BMX icons.  Cool beans.

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The Fit Bikes crew at Street Fighter 6

Over the weekend I felt the need for speed, and showed some haulin' butt bicycling in three different flavors.  It's Monday morning (here on the West Coast), time to get the blood flowing with some New School street riding.  A few months ago the Fit Bikes posses loaded up the van for a long ride east to Phoenix.  They joined the roving BMX bandit brigade for the Street Fighter 6 Jam, on a tour of AZ street spots to see who could step up and throw down.  Big drops to flat, and big hops off a little ramp.  Good stuff.

You guys all know where to find your Fit Bikes and components, right?  Yep, that link below will get it done for ya, and have cool stuff showing up at your door...

Block Bikes Online BMX Store

It's up to us Old School riders to teach younger riders BMX history

Here's the trailer for Joe Kid on a Stingray, Mark Eaton's 2005 documentary that's our BMX version of skateboarding's Dogtown and Z-Boys documentary.  This is the best overall history of BMX and BMX freestyle there is, but there are tons more old school videos showing different riders, scenes, and time periods.

Yesterday, I had lunch with Rich, the owner here at Block Bikes, and Dakota Bratt, who I didn't really know anything about.  Halfway through his football sized wet burrito (OK, not quite that big), he showed me this clip.   What?  Manual across a skatepark, to backflip, back to an extended manual?  Freakin' amazing.  It would take me a month to learn how to do that trick in a video game.  So, Dakota's got mad skills.

Over the course of lunch, Rich and I, both in our 50's now, were talking about riding back in our early days, the 1980's, and how things have changed so much.  We talked about the absurd amounts of money in the BMX world, compared to the days of $200 pro purses.  We talked about the X-Games, and competition riding compared to video segment based riding, and just riding for fun.  We talked about how old many of the basic tricks are, yet the young guys today combine them, and take them to huge levels, and to different street obstacles.  We talked the idea I threw out a couple of blog posts ago, of having contest where a rider/video person team would have a 6 hour video shoot, a single day of editing, and what kind of rider and video person would do well in that scenario.  I explained the 5 categories of getting a trick dialed in (from that same post), compared to today's one-and-done video shoot tricks.  All in all, it was a really interesting conversation.

But time after time, Rich or I would start talking about something, and we'd have to ask Dakota if knew about this rider, or about that trick, or something else that happened long ago.  Many of the things were huge events in our day, but are simply not even known to Dakota's generation.  He's 25, I think he said, he's not a 13-year-old Woodward camper.  He's been riding for several years. This continual stopping to ask Dakota if he knew about this rider or that event led our conversation to the Old School Versus New School thing.  We weren't dissing him, but more exploring his view from his years and riding, and sort of wondering if today's riders even care about the history of BMX and freestyle.

In one sense, I noticed a kind of bias in Rich and myself, that a rider should want to know the history.  Personally, I think it would be cool to see younger riders exposed to a bunch of the old school history, riders, and tricks that fell by the wayside.  There are a lot of of tricks, that with a proper introduction to the younger riders, might add new ideas and fresh style to the New School lexicon, and give them some new avenues to explore as riders.  As I thought about it, I realized that Rich and I knew BMX and freestyle history because we lived through most of it.  And since we were both involved in the industry, we wound up meeting riders that came before us, and learning their stories, and later watching many of the home videos that now populate YouTube and other sites.

The whole thing reminded me of something else.  I got into BMX riding in Boise in 1982, started buying magazines in late '82, raced through 1983 into 1984, and then focused on freestyle, the new thing that became a sport that year.  So when I got a job a BMX Action and FREESTYLIN' magazines in 1986, I was only four years into the whole thing.  But the first night working at the magazine, we went into the office, working overtime, because the BMX Action 10th anniversary party was that weekend.  Gork (gOrk at US BMX these days) and I dug through a bike box full of ten years worth of color slides, looking for the best 100 photos to put in a slide show.  It was an old school BMX event... in 1986.

It turned into about the best thing that could have happened for me.  I didn't know hardly anything about the history of BMX, or even the early days of freestyle.  And I was suddenly working at two of the magazines.  I would find cool slides, having no idea who most of the people were, and I'd show Gork a slide, and he'd tell me all about it.  I got a great, and really interesting, overview of BMX history, on night one of working at Wizard Publications.  It was just a weird bit of timing that I got hired, primarily for FREESTYLIN' magazine, at that particular time.  With Gork being so cool, and taking the time to explain all these riders to me (photos of Tinker Juarez, and "Trash Can" Morgan stand out in my memory), learning the history of this sport I was so psyched about was fun, and interesting.  But today's riders don't get a cool introduction to BMX history like I had that night.  Yes, there are videos online they can find, but there are thousands of videos from their own era to watch, let alone everything else they have access to these days.

I realized that younger riders have no obligation to go look at old riding videos and learn the history.  It's a progression-based sport, they're looking forwards, not backwards.  If all of us Old School riders think there's something worthwhile about younger riders learning our collective BMX history, then it's our obligation to find a way to show it to them.  And it's our obligation to make it interesting for them, to give them a proper introduction to what they missed, simply by being born at a later date.

As I thought about this, I remember when Stacy Peralta's skateboarding documentary, Dogtown and Z-Boys, came out in 2001.  I lived near the Van's Skatepark at a mall called The Block, in Orange, California.  After winning several awards at film festivals, the movie actually played at the theater at The Block, and everyone at the skatepark was talking about it.  The moves in the documentary were largely basic by 2001 standards, but the Z-Boys had incredible style.  Within a few weeks, I started seeing kids, young kids, at the skatepark mimicing the guys in the movie.  Kids 6-8-10 years old were doing stylish carves on the banks, and even wearing a fedora in one case, like Jay Adams in the movie.  The documentary was widely watched by all ages of skateboarders,  and brought a whole new flavor and great style to a couple of new generations of skaters.  I think it's possible to do something similar in BMX from time to time.  I think Old School tricks, style, and ideas can add some fresh blood into today's, and tommorow's BMX riding.  

How could this be done? If you own a bike shop, skatepark, or just have a house with a good ramp where kids ride, you could have an Old School video night.  Get some younger riders and some older ones together, and watch "Joe Kid on a Stingray," or one or two other classic old school videos, and then answer whatever the questions the kids may have.  You know, important questions, like "why did guys where really short shorts in the 80's?"  (Yeah, I'm guilty). 

Another idea at a local skatepark or riding spot would be to have an Old School vs. New School Game of BIKE contest.  If you or some friends can still ride fairly well, put your trick bag on the line against some young riders, and make sure somebody's shooting video.  A recent Scotty Cranmer video where Trey Jones and Big Boy tried to do tricks from an 80's "101 BMX Freestyle Tricks" book was hilarious.  They actually gave some props to us old farts, after trying 5 tricks each. 

If you like this general idea, I'm sure there are plenty of other ways to show younger riders some of our collective history in a fun and interesting way.  Oh, and if you go up against Dakota Bratt in a game of BIKE, and he says he's got a "manual trick" for you, just take the dang letter. 

How to buy your kid the best BMX bike

This is a standard sized, 20 inch BMX bike, the Fit Bikes Corriere model, here in the Block Bikes shop (in Lancaster, CA).  Behind it are two of the balance bikes for the really little tykes, the pink one has 12" wheels, and the blue one 14" wheels.

Your kid wants a BMX bike.  You'd like to him or her set the controller and phone down and get outside and ride.  It's be great for them to get some exercise and some sun.  Now what?

BMX stands for "bicycle motocross," a sport that started in 1970 in Southern California.  Kids back then took their banana seat equipped Schwinn Stingrays and started racing on dirt tracks, mimicking the motocross riders of the time period.  Back then, BMX bikes all had 20 inch wheels, the standard size for children's bikes.  As BMX racing grew, BMX "cruisers," bikes with 24 inch and 26 inch wheels joined the party.  These days, BMX bikes come in a wide variety of sizes, styles, makes, and price ranges.  How do you pick the right bike?  That's what this article will help you figure out.

To get started, let's find the answer to these basic questions:

1. How old is your child?
2. How big is your child?
3. How much are you looking to spend.  BMX bikes range from low quality, $50 balance bikes for toddlers, to over $1,100 for high end, pro rider, signature model bikes.  Well made, solidly built bikes, start from 4130 chromoly (higher grade steel), start at about the $325 to $400 range.
4. How much will your child actually ride the bike?
5. How hard will your child ride the bike?
6. Does your child have a favorite rider or favorite bike company?

Let's go down that list, beginning with age and size:

Toddlers, age 2-4, who can't pedal yet- Balance bikes are today's tiny version of the original "hobby horse" bikes, that go back to at least 1818.  Here's what they looked like.  Actual pedal powered bikes were invented around 1875.

Balance bikes are tiny bikes with handlebars, a seat, usually with 12 inch wheels, but no pedals.  They're for toddlers ages 2 to 4, maybe slightly older for really small children or kids who may still be learning to balance.  On these bikes, kids sit down, hang on to the bars, and "walk" to push themselves along.  According to Dan, manager here at the Block Bikes shop (in Lancaster, CA), balance bikes really help today's toddlers learn the basic balancing necessary on a bike, and most kids are pedaling by ages 3 or 4, never using training wheels at all.  There are a lot to choose from,the seats can be adjusted to the child's height on most bikes.  Prices range from $50 to $225.  We carry the high quality Kink BMX balance bikes here at Block BikesOnline BMX Store.

Toddlers age 2 to 4 who can pedal- For the smaller kids, a 12 inch bike will get them going.  For kids a bit larger and taller, a 14 inch bike will be a better fit.  Click the links to see the Kink BMX bikes we carry here a Block Bikes.

Small children ages 5 to 9- The next size up, for the small children to pedal around, is the 16 inch bike.  If your child wants a BMX bike, it's likely they know who BMX Caiden is.  He's 8 (maybe 9 now), has 129,000 followers on YouTube, and routinely jumps huge jumps.  the kid's amazing.  Caiden rides a custom made 16 inch bike by Fit Bikes.  Here at Block Bikes, the Kink BMX Carve is our most popular 16 inch bike.  It's durable, and should handle all types of riding for the average child.  If your kid starts jumping like Caiden, 1) Start a YouTube channel for them, and 2)get a custom made, 4130 chromoly bike.  That's pretty unlikely, because Caiden's off the charts of the 8-year-old riding spectrum, but are great young riders popping out of the woodwork.

Larger kids ages 7-9 and smaller kids 10 to 12- Back in the olden days, when I was a kid, a few 5-year-olds got 16 inch bikes.  I actually learned to ride without training wheels on one (remember training wheels?).  But we actually started riding on 20 inch bikes when we were 5 or 6, and the bikes were huge for us.  Today's balance bikes and wide range of bike sizes have largely removed the need for training wheels, and kids have 4 bike sizes to choose from before they hit the standard 20 inch wheel BMX bike.

For the kids who really like riding, be it around the neighborhood, maybe competitive BMX racing, riding skateparks, pump tracks, or even dirt jumps, but just aren't quite big enough to really handle a 20 inch, there's the 18 inch bike.  Kink BMX has a great model in this category, the 18 inch Kink Kicker.  Again, 18 inches is the size of the wheels, and each of these bikes is proportioned around the wheel sizes.  This size is the interim bike for a serious rider who needs to grow a bit before they can really throw around and manhandle (or womanhandle) a full size 20 inch bike.

Teen riders- From age 10 or 12, most kids can ride a standard, 20 inch bike.  So the question of "which bike is best?" becomes one of riding habits, quality, and price, more than anything else.

Why bike shops, and all serious riders, hate bargain store bikes.  Yes, you can save a few bucks by buying your child a bike at one of the big discount stores.  As serious riders and a worker at a bike business, we hate those bikes, because they're the lowest common denominator bikes.  They're made as cheap as possible, they're heavier, they're not as strong and prone to breaking with any kind of jumping or skatepark riding, and the components (wheels, cranks, brakes, etc) are of poor quality.  I once had my handlebars snap mid air, not realizing they were not chromoly.  It did not feel good.  I only rode full chromoly bikes after that.  Trust me, that's not a surprise anyone wants.

In addition to that, bargain bikes are pretty close to worthless if you try to resell them later. Higher quality bikes hold a big chunk of their value for many years.  There's a saying among riders, "Friends don't let friends buy bargain store bikes."  Yes, some people are on a super tight budget, and their kid needs a bike to ride down the block now and then, and that's who bargain store bikes are for.  If you're reading this post, you're probably not in that category.

 Is your child going to just use the bike for ride around the neighborhood, or maybe to a nearby school?  If they don't plan on any kind of jumping, skatepark, or ramp riding, a bike from a good quality company, in the $275 to $350 range is your best bet.  These bikes will handle "normal" riding, and jumping off the curb now and then.  The Kink BMX Curb model (around $289), and the Kink BMX Launch model (around $319) are two good bikes in this range.  These bikes have hi-tensile steel frames, chromoly forks, and hi-tensile steel handlebars.  Hi-tensile steel is used widely for many purposes in many industries.  In the bike industry, 4130 chromoly steel, a lighter, stronger (and more expensive) alloy has long been favored for BMX and other bikes that are jumped or ridden really hard.  It simply holds up much better under extreme riding.  For normal riding that most young people do, hi-tensile steel if fine, and saves you $50 or $100 or more.  But once you start jumping, riding ramps, or the local skatepark, chromoly is a much better choice. 

Does your kid want to ride the local skatepark, pump track, dirt jumps, ramps, do street riding, or maybe start racing at a BMX track?  Then you want to step up to a complete 4130 chromoly frame, forks, and handlebars.  These bikes start in at around $380 these days, and you can get a great bike for $400 to $500.  The Kink BMX Whip model is right smack in this sweet spot.  It has 4130 chromoly frame, fork and bars, good quality components (wheels, cranks, pedals, brakes, etc), and runs around $429 at the time of this writing.  If I had a kid who planned to ride quite a bit, this would be my pick.  Yes, there are models that go up in price, but this is a very good quality bike for the money.

Higher priced bikes are usually based around the same quality of bike frame, forks, and handlebars, but the components, the other parts on the bike go up in quality.  Yes, I work for a bike retailer, we'd love to have you put a $750 Kink BMX Williams model on your credit card today.  That's the signature bike for their top pro rider Nathan Williams.  But I'm going to be straight with you, a bike like the Kink Whip would be just fine for nearly any serious rider.  Rather than spending the extra $330 up front, buy the Whip, or a similar bike in the $425 to $475 price range, and see what parts of it, if any, your child damages.  If your kid tacos the back wheel, put the money you saved into stronger wheels.  If your kid bends or snaps the pedals, buy higher quality pedals.  That's a much more sensible approach for the majority of parents buying bikes for your kids who plan to ride often and ride hard. 

Is your kid a serious rider, AND over about 5' 9"?  Most of the bike models, like the Whip I mentioned, have an XL, or slightly longer version.  Here's the Kink BMX Whip XL.  It's got a frame that's a half inch longer up front.  That doesn't sound like much, but it makes a world of difference when you're riding.  That helps the taller kids not bang their knees, while pedaling or in other maneuvers.  In some cases, short kids just prefer a longer bike, as well.

So there's  an in depth look at how to find the perfect BMX bike for your child, whether they're 2 or 17.  There are larger bikes, with wheel sizes of 22," 24," and 26" wheels.  Most of those are aimed at adult riders, like BMX dads who rode in their youth, though there are kids who are into the large bikes.  But that's outside the scope of this blog post.  In the urban Bike Life Movement , (NSFW- language, narrated by my old friend Todd Lyons) for example, doing wheelies on 26 inch BMX cruisers is the thing, but that's a subject for another time.

Here at the Block Bikes Online BMX Store, we carry Kink BMX, Subrosa, S&M Bikes, and Fit Bikes, in the BMX world, and in our physical shop, here in Lancaster, CA (North of L.A.), we carry a full line of mountain bikes and everything else you need, as well.  I focused on linking to the Kink BMX bikes in this post because the 2020 models just came out right before I wrote this.  Have fun, and go ride your bike.

-Steve the Blogger

Matt Ray scorching the hot streets of Arizona

As an old, mediocre street rider, from way back in the Dark Ages of BMX, I have the urge to just fill this blog with one amazing street, park, and trails BMX clip after another.  But the whole point of the Block Bikes Blog is to show a wide variety of bike riding adventures.  Yeah, I know, I'm lagging on road bike videos here, but that's because of my old school BMX, anti-spandex prejudice.  I'll work on that. 

In any case, I looked through the last several posts, and decided it's a good time for a solid BMX street video.  As luck would have it, this Shadow Conspiracy edit of Matt Ray popped right up when I went looking for one.  This clip is only 4 days old, it still has that new video smell.  This is a smokin' good street part, too, so enjoy it.  And you know we can hook you up with all your Shadow Conspiracy goods online, right?   I thought so...

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The Five Levels of Doing a Bike Trick

Above we have pro rider Mykell Larrin, blasting a big downside whip, in a vert contest, in San Diego, last weekend.  Yes, he landed it clean and smooth.  That's Level 5, landing a trick clean in a contest.  The guy watching in the red and white striped shirt is Koji Kraft, who I'll mention in the post below.  (Emig photo- thanks to the guy who told me Mykell Larrin's name on Facebook, I didn't catch it at the comp.)

I've always had a tendency to overthink things.  My dad was an draftsman/engineer, and I grew up watching him think to solve mechanical problems.  I learned to think my way through things.  My dad wasn't an athlete, and I wound up sucking at every sport (except dodgeball) as a kid, and into my teen years.  When I got into BMX, I finally found something I liked doing enough, and was driven enough, to get halfway good at.  But I still would overthink every trick I tried to learn.  A big part of my personal learning process and progression in riding was learning to stop thinking intellectually, and learn to let my body awareness and subconscious take over.

One place where my overthinking did come in handy was writing about riding.  It was during my short stint as a magazine guy at Wizard Publications, riding at The Spot in Redondo Beach every night, that I classified the various levels of learning a trick.  Today's BMX is largely a world of video-based riding, where landing a crazy trick, or combo once, and getting that make on video, is much different than competition based riding.  Yes, there are also competition based riders, but the pros there are a tiny minority or total riders these days.  I thought it would be interesting to write my 5 classifications down, and put them back out into the BMX/bike world, and see what people thought.  So here we go.

Category 1- You land trick or move for the first time.  After a period of trying, maybe a couple of hours, maybe ten years, you land a trick, new to you, for the first time.  This does one major thing, you now know it's possible for you to do it.  You may not land it again for several days, or even months.  You may not land it again, ever.  But you did it, and if there's video or reliable witnesses, you can prove you did it.

Here's the controversial part about Category 1.  If a rider lands a huge, scary, gnarly trick or line for a video part, they're still only at Category 1, if they only do it that one time.  No matter how hard or gnarly the situation is, it's still Category 1.

Category 1 Plus- Originality- When you land a completely new trick for the first time.  By landing it, you prove to yourself, and to everyone (if caught on video or seen live) that it CAN be done.  That's the creative side of progression, the originality part.  In today's world, this almost never happens anymore.  Yes, I know, us first generation freestylers had that era.  Most basic tricks have been invented, and as good as today's riders are, the focus is on taking "standard" tricks, and doing them bigger, or on different terrain.  That's another form of progression, but even if you a tailwhip across a 13 story roof gap, it's still a tailwhip.  The gnarliness has progressed, but it's not a new trick.  I think there are still entirely new things to be invented.  Bike flips in the air and the end over end bike flip things are an example of entirely new things in the last decade or so.
 
Category 2- You learn to do a trick most of the time.  If you try a trick 10 times in a row, and pull it at least six, you can do the trick.  You can't do it every time, you may miss it in a contest, a demo, or the first three times while shooting video.  But you can do it most of the time.

Category 3- You can do a trick nearly every time.  You've got it "dialed" as we said in the 1980's.  If you tried the trick, move, or line 100 times in  a row, one right after another, you'd land the trick, without touching down, at least 95 times.  You may miss it once in a great while.  But you've got it, it's solidly in your trick bag now.  You'd pull it out in a game of BIKE (we played "FREESTYLE" BITD), to give someone a letter.

Category 4- You OWN a trick.  You can land it 100 times out of 100.  You STOMP it almost every time you do it.  It's just a matter of how much style you put into it at this point. It's like walking, you don't even have to think about it, it's just there when you need it.

Category 5- You can land the trick solid in a contest or high pressure situation.  You've got one shot, all or nothing, and you land it solid.  You've got the trick dialed, maybe you own it.  But even in a high pressure situation, you STILL land it.  that's Category 5.

The double backflip on a BMX bike is a really crazy trick, even today.  But that trick is over 20 years old.  It's the trick that incredible rider Stephen Murray was doing when he crashed and got paralyzed from the neck down.  It's a high conseqence trick.  And he did that trick on a regular basis before that.

Jay Miron first landed a double backflip on Canadian TV in 1997.  Dave Mirra landed one at a CFB contest in early 2000, I believe, and then at the 2000 X-Games.  That's where most people thought the double back was invented, because that was where it first got worldwide media coverage.  But no one had that trick consistently.  No one wanted to do it on a regular basis for years after that.  Yet, before Mirra, Miron, Cory Nastazio (trying it here in early 2000), or anyone tried it and landed it consistently, there was a guy who quietly took that trick to Category 3, maybe even 4.

No hype, no fanfare, no widespread video parts.  Koji Kraft, the guy in the red and white shirt in the photo above, was that guy.  This clip, from about 2009, is the best I could find on YouTube.  This is from 6-8 years after I saw him land two or three doubles in person.  (Yes, I got video of one or two of them, that was in the video footage I lost in 2008.)

The first time I saw anyone land a double backflip, in person, was Koji in Huntington Beach, in (I think) 2001.  There was a big box jump with an extended kicker, the perfect set-up.  I saw Koji do 2 or 3 of them that day, all in between the main demos and competitions.  He was practicing a trick that scared the crap out of the very best jumpers in the world at the time.  My point here is that no matter how crazy a trick is or how burly street line seems, it will, most of the time, be makeable on a regular basis at some point.  Not always.  900's on vert are 30 years old, and no one has them on lock, as far as I know.  But most tricks, no matter how burly, someone will have dialed later one.

With this idea in mind, do you know what I think would be a really interesting idea?  Have a BMX (or MTB) video contest, kinda like X-Games Real BMX or Real Street, but give the team six hours to shoot the footage, and one day to edit  a clip, say 90 seconds, or maybe even 3 minutes, if you want to make it real interesting.  You know what that would do?  I'm pretty sure a whole new group of riders (and video people) would rise to the top.  As much as I think Dakota Roche's latest edit is just pain insane, I wouldn't pick him if I was the video guy in this type of competition.  I'd pick Koji, or Bill Nitschke, or Rick Moliterno.  Anyhow, this is just and idea I'm tossing out there...

Back in our competition-based days in the early years of "BMX freestyle," as we called it then, this was where we wanted to be.  Getting sponsored, doing a photo shoot (when actual film was involved), or putting on demos, people wanted to see what we could actually do consistently.  Most people now don't realize, BMX freestyle didn't begin as a sport.  It began as demos, and then trick shows.  Riding skateparks was recreation before that.  There were no competitions for several years, and there were no videos for years.

People outside your immediate group only knew you could do a trick if you could land it the one time they saw you ride in a contest. When you went to a magazine photo shoot back then, the photographer would have you do the trick 3 or 4 times, before they bothered to snap the first photo.  Film cost money, and there was no need to waste money if you sucked.  Then, once they did start taking photos, they'd shoot a whole roll of film of that one trick.  A roll of film had 36 photos, and you could usually squeeze one or two more on it.  It was, "That was great... now do 36 more."

Imagine any top video rider today, and saying, "OK, let me see you pull this crazy move 4 times before I turn the video camera on.  When you do that, then I will shoot video of you doing it 37 MORE times.  That was STANDARD back in the 1980's.  Yes, tricks are bigger and burlier now, there's more danger of life threatening injury much of the time, but most of today's riders can't to 90% of the tricks done back then, let alone to that level.  Most freestyle tricks are long forgotten.

So that's it, that was my 5 categories of tricks I developed, and wrote about (in the AFA Newsletter, American Freestyle, I believe), back in 1986, and 1987.  If any of you have thoughts or comments, let them fly my way on Facebook or wherever.

-Steve Emig: The White Bear

You know where to order your BMX bikes and components, right?  Yeah, I thought so...

Block Bikes Online BMX Store

Bob Haro Master Class: The beginning of BMX freestyle

Masterclass Bob Haro - Paris 2012 from Seb Satoorne on Vimeo.
 If you're an old school BMX freestyler, have you ever wished you could sit down and have Bob Haro, himself, tell you how freestyle began?  I know I have. 

I was working in the BMX and skateboard industries in Southern California from 1986 to 1990, and then Chris Moeller's roommate/video guy from 1991-1995.  I was in the mix quite a while, and I only met Bob Haro once.  So for all of us who got into freestyle in the 80's, and wondered just what the early history was, here's Bob Haro telling it, in his own words... for an hour.  This video is EPIC.

From Seb Ronjon and Franck Belliot in France, who I really got Facebook chatting with a couple days ago, comes another epic video.  They put together the truly first class BMX/skateboard/scooter culture exhibition Beton Hurlant, in 2011-2012 in France.  They invited Bob Haro over to check out the exhibit and narrate it on video.  But they also had an old school event they called the "Bob Haro Master Class."  Bob gives a slide presentation to a group of old school BMX freestylers from Europe, and spends an hour telling his side of the story, which is where it all began.  I found this absolutely fascinating.  I'm pretty sure many of you will, too.  It's an hour, so watch it when you have some time.  This video hasn't had any exposure outside of France, until now.  So I want to give a huge thank you to Seb and Franck for sharing it with me and all of you.  

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X-Games Real BMX 2019- Full results show

One great thing about doing this blog and looking up bike related stuff all day, I get fresh stuff on YouTube all the time.  This is the results show for the X-Games Real BMX 2019 video contest, and it just dropped this morning.  "Hot off the presses!" as they used to say when people still read newspapers, and there were presses.  I haven't even watched this yet.  Brad Simms was my personal pick for the best video.  Let's see if anyone else agreed.  Who'd you pick? 

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The Career Path of The Butcher

THE CREATION OF BLOCK BIKES (part 1) By Rich Bartlett

In 2003 Block Alternatives was my sole source of income by means of the sportswear industry. We made a living manufacturing BMX jerseys and clothing as the minority and inline hockey pants and jerseys as the primary. I was playing a lot of roller hockey and it was a natural progression to get into the sport on the business side. We did well at a time that BMX was kinda flat-line, which seems to cycle frequently. One day my landlord called me in for a meeting and let me know that our next door neighbor was moving out. He offered me the unit before he put it up for rent. It wasn't even on my radar but I told him that we would give it a shot whether it be expansion or something uniquely different. The rent was affordable so it was worth taking a chance. We had a solid local BMX team and both  Dani George and Bubba Harris lived just a few miles away. Our town has always been heavily populated with BMX legends since the beginning of the sport starting wit Bob Hannah. So we pulled the trigger and made a clubhouse for the Block BMX Racing Team. We had a couch. X-Box, ramps, a small work station and a ton of tee shirts. We immediately grew the race team to nearly 50 members consisting of riders in Palmdale/Lancaster, Santa Clarita and Simi Valley. The team was solid and a 2 year old kid named E-Dog (Ethan Wolthers) put us in the lime-lite by making national mains as a 2 year old in the 5 and under class. He went on to an number of national titles and ironically is now on the national title Jr ice hockey team.

THE BLOCK SHOP - 2500 square foot of BMX bad-assery.

We began training in the evenings and built a 4 man gate in the parking lot with a full sure-start setup. On any given night you could find Bubba Harris, Mike Day, Brian Schmith, Dingo, Dani George, Sam and Ken Cools training here. We did clinics and our team progressed and started becoming threats as expert NAG (national age group) riders. When you are surrounded by

winners you find yourself having higher expectations.

BUBBA HARRIS 3x ABA National #1 Pro & World Champion

We stared with nothing and had no intention of becoming a local bicycle retailer but things moved fast. The team demanded products and before long we went from a clubhouse that did some minor bicycle repairs to a retail bike shop that carried Schwinn, Mongoose and GT. At the time Hyundai was the title sponsor for the Mongoose and GT teams and they were solid with Fuzzy Hall, Jamie Bestwick, Coco Zurita, Cam White, Simon Tabron, Steve McCann on the freestyle side and Eric Rupe, Randy Stumphauser, Mike Day and John Purse on the race squad. This was all pre Wal Mart days and the image was solid, the brands were desired and brought instant credibility to the shop. Schwinn was legit with TJ Lavin and his little buddy Cesar Flores. Most all of these characters had been to the shop for different events like Block Jam, which was a huge music and action sports festival we put on.

MIKE DAY - Olympic Silver Medalist - Block Jam

Block Bikes organically grew and changes with the growth. We have never forgotten our roots but we were able to grow with brands like Marin, Kona, Felt, Jamis, Raleigh and currently Specialized. This gave us the ability to be a full fledged family bicycle center with heavy competitive roots in every cycling discipline. Our brick and mortar shop was super important to the building of the cycling community in this small desert town without a real cycling presence. We were and are core BMXers with national titles in mountain biking and road racing. We have brought original events and experiences which allowed us to form friendships and networks. Currently we are experiencing the changing of the guard where money is the most important element. People have forgotten where they came from, the advice and coaching given , and the experiences they were provided with. Finding the cheapest price is how people shop these days but this will be short lived. It is a fact that people need their bikes worked on, riding advice, choosing the right products and simply how to be better everyday. We are here! We have been here and will continue to be here for you! With the birth of BlockBikes.com we now have the best of both worlds and we can service out friends locally as well as those hundreds of miles away! We hope to continue to grow and become more valuable than ever. I'll continue the history in segments periodically. I've been asked countless times how we got started so we'll lay it out chapter by chapter with interesting stories in between.

Hot Wheels Supercharger Junior Series

This video of Hot Wheels Supercharger Junior Series highlights JUST dropped, less than an hour ago.  I don't know who got Hot Wheels to start backing BMX (and skateboarding), but more power to you, that's a great match.  These kids re tearing it up on all the parks and pools and stuff they have to ride in today's world.  Here's a look at the future...

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British pop star Lily Allen rides her classic banana seat bike

Like everyone, I grew up listening to pop music... whether I liked it or not.  That's the nature of pop, it's in the background everywhere.  I don't like most of it.  But this song has a cool groove and it's sarcastic, and about bike riding, sung by a cute young woman, what's not to love? 

I actually first heard this when I bought a bunch of CD's, either at a storage unit auction (O.G., I did that before the TV shows), or at a garage sale, I can't remember.  I listened to it a few times, and then resold it for a couple bucks more somewhere.  FLIP.  Oh yeah, the song's called "LDN," which is the airport designation for London.

Along the way, I googled Lily, and came across this funny clip, where she shares a fun, and odd, fact about herself.  Enjoy.  And if you're looking for a classic banana seat bike, try Facebook Marketplace, I saw some classic Schwinn's for sale recently in this area.  Lots of cool stuff there nobody actually buys.  But if you need a BMX bike or parts...

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Scotty Cranmer gets Trey Jones and Big Boy to try 80's tricks

I don't watch Scotty Cramner's channel on a regular basis, but I know he has some great stuff on it.  This gem from a couple of months ago got shared by old school flatlander Mike Sarrail on Facebook yesterday, and I thought it was awesome.  Someone gave Scotty an old "101 craziest freestyle tricks" book from the 80's, about 1988, I'd guess by the tricks, and he decided to have Trey Jones and Big Boy try some.  They pick random numbers, then go to that page and try each trick. 

OK, I lived and rode through the 1980's, and I could only do two of those tricks in my prime, and those weren't consistent.  But this video is hilarious if you're an old school rider.  See, our tricks were hard, some of them, anyhow.  And there were lots of them, HUNDREDS of tricks that fell by the wayside over the years.  Maybe some of the youngsters will dust a few of those tricks off and revamp them.  This one is well worth the watch in my book. 

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Kids and bikes go together: Give Danny Macaskill your GoPro... but not your kid

Perfect timing.  This brand new Danny Macaskill video just dropped overnight here in the U.S., and the Kink BMX 2020 line of bikes, featuring several for little kids, just came out as well.  Get the little ones all set for a "wee day out."  You can get all these bikes for the little bitty ones at the Block Bikes Online BMX Store.

 For the 2 to 4 year olds who can balance a little but aren't ready to pedal, here's the Kink Coast 12."  The "12 inches" refers to the size of the wheels.  Standard children's bikes and BMX bikes have 20" wheels, for comparison.

 For small bodies who can balance and pedal, the Kink Roaster 12" will get them going.

 For the kids a bit bigger, the 3 to 6 year olds or so, the slightly larger Kink Pump 14" will fill the bill.

 If your little one is 5 to 9, and raring to go ride, but the standard 20" inch BMX bike stills seems to much to handle, the Kink Carve 16" will set them up right.  Your kids probably know who BMX Caiden is, he's riding a custom made 16" bike (a personal version of Fit Bike Co.'s Misfit) these days.  Caiden's 8 or 9, and... well, I wish I could jump as well as Caiden does.  Kink BMX also has the slightly larger Kicker 18" (not pictured) available as well.

Whatever size your kid (or husband or wife) is, we'll get you set for Spring riding.

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X-Games Real BMX 2019: Simone Barraco

Simone's riding is a little more tech, a little less huge.  Good use of front wheel tricks, to mix things up a bit.  A great video clip all around.  But I'm going to stay with Brad Simms as my overall favorite of these six videos.  Again, that's just me, an old blogger who doesn't ride seriously these days. 

I don't know how the X-Games crew picks which riders to include, and that's always an issue, because there are so many good riders out there.  But these six were a good mix of different types and styles of street riding. 

As a video producer from way back in the olden days, some of the editing decisions baffle me these days.  If I was making a 90 second video for a competition, like this, I would not show any trick more than once.  Get one good angle and move on.  I would use very little, if any, slo-mo.  My cutaway shots would be about 12 to 20 frames long, super quick.  I would have almost no pedaling up to tricks, unless it was a mega gap where it helped to show the speed going in.  The first thing I learned from my video mentor, Dave Alvarez, was "keep it tight."  By that he meant, don't have a single frame of garbage that you don't need to make the piece work.  There's a lot of unneeded footage in most of today's videos. 

Anyhow, there it is, the six videos submitted in this year's X-Games Real BMX 2019.  It just occurred to me that I don't know who actually won.  My pick is Brad Simms, for the best overall video.  What do you guys think?

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X-Games Real BMX 2019: Brad Simms

Wow.  OK, we have a new leader in my personal picks from this year's X-Games Real BMX.  Brad Simms just took the lead, edging out Corey Martinez and Greg Illingworth.  Fast paced clip, great use of urban landscape, and great riding.  Man, I'm going to have to go back and watch all of these again when I'm done blogging.

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X-Games Real BMX 2019: Greg Illingworth

Yes!  This is why I tune into street videos.  Fast-paced, jumping, airs, using urban spots well.  I've watched four of these videos so far, and this is my favorite.  Or maybe a tie with Corey Martinez.  Close call.  Hey, this is just one old guy's opinion, but this edit rocks. 

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Skeletons and Muscles?  Is that what S&M stands for now?  That poor dominatrix is out of work, I guess.  Anyhow, pretty cool video, the editing gets a tiny bit annoying, but not too bad.  Dude, the guy who picks up the marble sphere then collapses, that made me cringe. 

Anyhow, we're planning to shoot some original footage today, so that is something to look forward to.

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The Block Bikes Pinterest Page- more and 1,000 BMX/MTB photos

Yeah, I know, not bikes.  This video has 10 (OK, 11 actually) strange vehicles that got known from their photos on Pinterest.  But Pinterest is a site all about collecting photos for any reason, on any theme.  So a lot of weird stuff ends up on the site from all over the internet. 

Well... I've been working on building the Block Bikes Pinterest page, and there's already over 1,000 BMX and MTB photos on it.  Crashes, huge air, bikes jumping cars, tabletops, lookbacks, Evel Knievel (gotta add him), weird bikes, banana seat bikes, berm shots, and some individual rider collections like Mat Hoffman, Brian Foster and Chris Doyle.  You can get a peek at our page without signing up for Pinterest (it's free), but you have to sign up to really dig into it.  Check our page out here:  Block Bikes Pinterest page.  Have a Happy Mother's Day everyone, and a good rest of the weekend.

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ACT Jam 2019: Canberra- Australia

Fresh edit that dropped yesterday from Cult Crew at the ACT Jam, which just happened recently in Canberra, Australia.  Decade jump to manual??!!  Daaaayyummm.  Looks the the event was put on by Backbone Bike Shop in Canberra.  Here's their edit of the event: