What inspired you to get into BMX?

Ha.... well, it wasn't even a thought, for me. My first exposure to BMX was when my friends Schwinn Stingray was stolen. When he got it back, it was "ruined" because they had taken off the banana seat and installed a "10-speed seat" and put on some strange handlebars in place of the buckhorns. So, I was there when it was first breaking. By the time I was old enough to actually ride BMX, BMX was all the rage so every kid drooled over them. It just grew from there. As all the neighborhood kids had better and better bikes, we all began jumping whatever was around & mimicking what we saw in the magazines that had started to come out. At first it was just jumping stuff.... until we started seeing endos & ramp tricks being done by the likes of RL Osborne, Mike Buff, etc...;

Damn that's a rad story dude!!

I remeber, I started with Motocross, and I would go ride Moto with my Dad, but he's not able to ride all the time like I can becasue of work, etc. So I saved up some money, I even sold the phone I had at the time and went back to my old ass crappy phone to get the rest of the money for my bike lol. I went on Craigslist and bought a used custom bike. And that was like 2 years ago. Every part on my bike has been replaced to make it "mine". The only thing that's on my bike currently from that used bike are my Odyssey Par Ends lol

HondaCRFRacer wrote:

Damn that's a rad story dude!!

I remeber, I started with Motocross, and I would go ride Moto with my Dad, but he's not able to ride all the time like I can becasue of work, etc. So I saved up some money, I even sold the phone I had at the time and went back to my old ass crappy phone to get the rest of the money for my bike lol. I went on Craigslist and bought a used custom bike. And that was like 2 years ago. Every part on my bike has been replaced to make it "mine". The only thing that's on my bike currently from that used bike are my Odyssey Par Ends lol

Gotta say, dude, you are what gives me hope for the future..... that you were dedicated enough to do what you had to do to get what you wanted, rather than pissing & moaning about it until someone bought you what you wanted to shut you up! LOL. Great story, man. Keep on doing you!

One of my friends liked bmx a lot and finally when he got a new bike he gave me his pos mirraco. and also people like scotty, austin augie, and anthony panza inspired me and still do.

HondaCRFRacer wrote:

Damn that's a rad story dude!!

I remeber, I started with Motocross, and I would go ride Moto with my Dad, but he's not able to ride all the time like I can becasue of work, etc. So I saved up some money, I even sold the phone I had at the time and went back to my old ass crappy phone to get the rest of the money for my bike lol. I went on Craigslist and bought a used custom bike. And that was like 2 years ago. Every part on my bike has been replaced to make it "mine". The only thing that's on my bike currently from that used bike are my Odyssey Par Ends lol

Mishinn_Control wrote:

Gotta say, dude, you are what gives me hope for the future..... that you were dedicated enough to do what you had to do to get what you wanted, rather than pissing & moaning about it until someone bought you what you wanted to shut you up! LOL. Great story, man. Keep on doing you!

Hey thanks man!! I didn't realize that was anything special lol. Just doing me

I couldn't afford to ride BMX until I was 22. A bunch of us bought bikes around my birthday for fun. I rode until I was 27 then quit because I moved to the mountains and got a MTB.
2 years ago my then 4 year old son got into Scotty Cranmer videos and said he wanted to jump off a roof on his bike so I bought a 24. 2 years after that and I'm waiting for my new 20 to get here(hopefully today FFS).

I went on skiing trip with my School and saw a lad I didn't know too well, reading a copy of DIG BMX Magazine. I was already into Mountain Biking, I had a single speed and was already into dirt, but this just blew me away. What I liked about it, was all the inventive spots and the style.

Thank you Dig BMX!

A guy named Greg Beekom. I never knew how rad bmx was until I met him and he showed me this huge road gap with a dirt run-up/lip. He pedaled so fast I was confused then just boosted over the two lane road while doing the flattest table ever. I had never seen anything like that. It cemented into my mind. I probably was 10 or 12 years old (1990ish))That guys table and road jump were what did it for me. It really wasn’t until years later I actually had any progression....then the next big thing for me was meeting a rider who had grinding pegs. He showed me how he used them on a painted ledge and it was another one of those “bmx amazing aha!” Moments. It was so inspiring to me. At the time I had no idea. good thread here.

I grew up in the country and it just what me and my friends did.... and we loved it. We built dirt jumps, trails, crazy ramps, and bike shop out of all the spare parts we had accumalted lol. I have always loved riding my bike. I went crazy in my teens and wound up becoming a drug addict for 13 years. I have now been clean 12 years and lately really trying to get back into riding and developing as a rider. Most of all tho... I ride because it is something I have always and will always be passionate about. Thanks.

So I started with a pretty old Tony hawk BMX bike behind my dad's shop. It was broke as hell but I tried to fix it. My next bday he got me all the parts I'd need to fix and yeah. Now I've got like 8 bike 2 full customs and a sh*t ton of summer work behind me!! And that's all folks

BillyBigRigger wrote:

A guy named Greg Beekom. I never knew how rad bmx was until I met him and he showed me this huge road gap with a dirt run-up/lip. He pedaled so fast I was confused then just boosted over the two lane road while doing the flattest table ever. I had never seen anything like that. It cemented into my mind. I probably was 10 or 12 years old (1990ish))That guys table and road jump were what did it for me. It really wasn’t until years later I actually had any progression....then the next big thing for me was meeting a rider who had grinding pegs. He showed me how he used them on a painted ledge and it was another one of those “bmx amazing aha!” Moments. It was so inspiring to me. At the time I had no idea. good thread here.

Its always those hometown heroes that stick in your mind...I remember being a kiddo and hoping i could be like those gnarly riders I watched back then.

I have lived 2 minutes away from a BMX race track all my life. It all went from there

Girls and money.

Wanting something to do on bikes when the MTB trails where wet and quickly deciding that I didn't like road biking. I had wanted to try BMX in Middle School but never had the money to buy one.

If we want to talk about how I got into serious riding, I started skateboarding with my buddies when I was like 11/12. Cruised around the neighborhoods a bunch, waxed curbs etc and built little jumps and rails. Then got a Pacific Wired "bmx" bike for Christmas in 98, rode it until I broke it, but still skateboarded more often then BMX. Then I moved to a farm in 99 (I was 13), and bought my brother's Dyno, trashed it, then bought his Specialized, and went from there. I skated still but BMX took over because of the dirt jumps I built and gravel everywhere.

I'm slower and stay lower, and also run a front brake again, but I will ride until I can't. Then I will swap into more road and MTB or CX.

If we want to see the origin of my jumping/ramp riding, I have a picture of when I was 3 (back in 1988/89), my brother and I put a piece of plywood on our sandbox and I went ripping down it on a trike. It was AWESOME. We build all kinds of jumps off and on from there.

Super-Pawl wrote:

Its always those hometown heroes that stick in your mind...I remember being a kiddo and hoping i could be like those gnarly riders I watched back then.

For sure SuperPawl. I ran into a kid a few years ago that I had no idea who he was....he says to me, “hey man!” I remember one time you jumped onto that handrail in front of the HighSchool on your bike! You were crazy on a bike! I laughed so hard, and hit it off with him these 14 or so years later. at the time of that conversation I never would have guessed I would have got back into riding ever again like I have. Its cool to be remembered. I wish I could see that Greg guy I spoke of. He was so talented on a bmx and I’m sure he had no idea how much he influenced my riding for the years to follow.

Damn, some really cool stories in here. I don't think I have "that one magical moment", just a life long interest in extreme sports. Started out with snowboarding almost 20 years ago(which I still do actively), then skateboarding came along and at some point just started gravitating towards bikes. I've done dirt jumping on a 26" but they weren't exactly my cup of tea. BMX had that same vibe I had got from skate and snowboarding but it gave me a whole new dimension since I wasn't limited to just snow or concrete. Still very much like all the sports mentioned, but lately bmx has started feeling most natural for me.

And yes, I guess I'm an adrenaline addict in a way based on my history of hobbies

I grew up in ABQ,NM so I was always exposed to BMX but was obsessed with skating ; My neighbors were my Dealers and really cool guys associated with the Juklife crew(shouts @odoylesafool). They had a bunch of Cult and S&M Stickers on everything.

I Didn't start riding until I was living in Arizona and developed a very painful wart on my right foot, Making it very hard to skate, At this point I was just diagnosed w/ Bipolar, Dropped out of school and was playing video games all night and sleeping all day.

One day my Dad finds a Pink broken Mountain bike in the neighbors bin and turns out the only thing broke in the derailer and gear changer, and the Gearing was stuck in a good ratio. After not riding a bike for YEARS I stepped on this Pink Schwinn Walmart MB and finally got back a small bit of the feeling I'd get from skating. It didn't hurt to pedal and was really fun to just go fast, Soon I tried learning little hops and stuff and would take it off junk ramps.

This lasted about a month or so and then I bent the rim. So I was decided on getting a new bike: First I wanted another MB, then a 24" BMX, then a 22" then a 20" and saved up $100 and bought a used DK complete- Seat slammed all the way, Low Bars, Long cranks and a 25t Shadow Serpent Sprocket. Soon after I got the wart surgically removed and never went back to skating I just kept Riding BMX. Buying Used completes off craigslist wherever I went until I got a Job and Built the bike I have now.

Basically a SkateRat that feels more comfortable on a bike.

Slapped a solo seat and "knobbies" onto my Sting-Ray back in the early 70's. We called them "dirt bikes." Rode over plywood jumps and through the woods. Real bummer to realize mid-air that you didn't tighten your handlebars down very well! Got a motorcycle shortly afterwards and didn't look back for 40-some years. Sold my last motorcycle a couple of years ago (300,000 street miles and lived to tell about it) but still wanted to ride. Had a few road bikes over the years but didn't want to get into that scene (super-hero outfits and grimaces). Love the simplicity of BMX and it reminds me of the joy of being a kid. I also enjoy the looks people give me being an old man (57) on a "kids" bike.

Nothing really, i had a bike, no friends, and a lot of free time. I was just bored.

AaronMellien wrote:

One of my friends liked bmx a lot and finally when he got a new bike he gave me his pos mirraco. and also people like scotty, austin augie, and anthony panza inspired me and still do.

Growing up I always liked bikes but never did more than Hop curb height. A couple years ago I seen a Walmart bike game on lz channel and was hooked. I ended up buying a bike that month and started progressing quick. Meeting people at skateparks and people like Spencer foresman are what make me love the bmx community. Been riding as long as recovery Cranmer and seeing him comeback is 1000+ inspiration. I love people that favor seeing others do as best as they can and I can't wait until I'm the reason someone starts riding.

Great topic and some really good posts here, guys! Especially yours, Billy.

I can't really remember that one moment but I've been on two wheels pretty much my whole life.

I had countless Powerlites (P19) as a kid. Most of them got stolen. My brother had a Diamondback that I would take all the time.



As I got older, I got a little more serious about it and went through a few "race" bikes. I didn't really know about freestyle and tricks. I had a Specialized Fatboy Hemi that I loved and when I discovered freestyle I got pegs and tried to grind on that Fatboy



Then I got this pretty cool Huffy but can't remember the name and can't find the exact color anywhere on the internets.

That was the last "race" bike I ever owned. My freestyling started on a Free Agent Super Fortress.



Then I got real serious about BMX and bought a Standard. The rest is history!

Miracle Boy and Nyquist. Stumbled upon the VHS in a charity shop when I was 13.

Evil knievel

There were some older kids that rode bmx, my brother was kind of one of them (he had a bike but didn't really ride). Then one of my friends got a bike, and I'd hang out while he rode. So I was probably around bmx for a couple of years before I decided I actually wanted a bike. I was really into anime up until that point. But the intro to manga movies got me interested in metal (as well as my dad and oldest brother), from that I got into music, and there was loads of good music on bmx videos. So it kind of gave me a feeling of belonging, in a town full of boring normal people.
Riding and music have always gone kind of hand in hand to me, and both have been important to me

grumpySteve wrote:

There were some older kids that rode bmx, my brother was kind of one of them (he had a bike but didn't really ride). Then one of my friends got a bike, and I'd hang out while he rode. So I was probably around bmx for a couple of years before I decided I actually wanted a bike. I was really into anime up until that point. But the intro to manga movies got me interested in metal (as well as my dad and oldest brother), from that I got into music, and there was loads of good music on bmx videos. So it kind of gave me a feeling of belonging, in a town full of boring normal people.
Riding and music have always gone kind of hand in hand to me, and both have been important to me

"and there was loads of good music on bmx videos."

Keyword there is "was".

grumpySteve wrote:

There were some older kids that rode bmx, my brother was kind of one of them (he had a bike but didn't really ride). Then one of my friends got a bike, and I'd hang out while he rode. So I was probably around bmx for a couple of years before I decided I actually wanted a bike. I was really into anime up until that point. But the intro to manga movies got me interested in metal (as well as my dad and oldest brother), from that I got into music, and there was loads of good music on bmx videos. So it kind of gave me a feeling of belonging, in a town full of boring normal people.
Riding and music have always gone kind of hand in hand to me, and both have been important to me

jbales wrote:

"and there was loads of good music on bmx videos."

Keyword there is "was".

Haha, definitely. Although I've grown out of 90's punk now.
Every now and then there'll be good music. But it's not like the old days of watching props, liking a song, then hunting down the cd

grumpySteve wrote:

Haha, definitely. Although I've grown out of 90's punk now.
Every now and then there'll be good music. But it's not like the old days of watching props, liking a song, then hunting down the cd

I'll never grow out of it. I love me some Lagwagon, Pennywise, NOFX, No Use For A Name. Even some Alkaline Trio, New Found Glory, etc. Mostly Pop Punk.

Ryan Williams. I watched his scooter edits, then discovered he was pretty good on a bike.