The History of Bike Freestyle & Dirt Jumping

BMX freestyle and dirt jumping are popular forms of a sport in which participants perform aerial and flat land maneuvers. The bikes used during the sport's performance are designed strictly for this purpose thanks to a long history that began in the 1970s.

  1. The Beginning

    • BMX began in the early 1970s as children began to race their bicycles around local motocross and homemade dirt tracks. The most popular bike at the time, the Schwinn Stingray, chosen simply because it could be customized, was replaced by 1976 with purpose-built BMX bikes.

    Popularity

    • BMX's sudden popularity in the mid-1970s is often credited to the 1972 movie "On Any Sunday," which featured a scene in which children rode their Schwinn Stingrays off-road.

    The Sport's Officiality

    • In 1974, George Esser established the National Bicycle League, a fully accredited racing foundation.

    Freestyle

    • Around the late 1970s, many BMX racers turned to alternative means of pushing the stylistic boundaries of their bicycles, in the form of freestyle trick riding. Bob Haro, founder of Haro Bikes, is said to be the "father of freestyle."

    Present Day

    • In 2003, BMX racing was solidified as a mainstream sport with its entrance into the Olympic games. This achievement was much to the dismay of most freestyle BMX riders, whose self-sufficient, "underground" attitude has pushed the sport far away from its roots as a form of racing.