The History Of BMX

Like with most things, the history of BMX is up for debate and while it is arguable whether our sport was born in 1969 or the very early 70’s, the one undeniable thing is that BMX Racing all came together in Southern California. Some of the earliest documentation of kids on modified 20″ Schwinn Stingray bicycles racing around a vacant lot date back to 1972. Unbeknownst to these kids, who were only trying to imitate their motorcycle racing idols, they created a sport of their very own. Chances are, kids all around the country were doing the same thing in dirt lots of their own; converting their Schwinn Stingrays to MX machines. This same scene of youthful energy and American resourcefulness could have possibly been going on in Nebraska, Florida, Texas or New Jersey. But it was a particular California gathering of nameless pioneers who were first recorded on film by Bruce Brown`s cameras for the opening credits of his motorcycle film, ON ANY SUNDAY. In July 1971, those first 4 minutes and 7 seconds of kids catchin’ air and wheelie’ing forever down the street, would spread the BMX word like a wildfire.

There was no stopping it now. A new sport created by kids for kids was born. At first, they called it Pedal-cross, but eventually they would settle on Bicycle Motocross.BMX, for short… read more >