H1story of HardC0r3 Riding - Miscellaneous - http://maxpages.com/wickedjuggalo/H15t0rY

There were only about a dozen different freestyle bikes available. Maybe 3 or 4 companies were producing the bikes. Haro and GT were the names that meant quality. Mongoose had a couple of bikes out there but if you wanted a GOOD bike you were on a GT or Haro. Some riders went with a couple of smaller companies- Hutch or Skyway. More often though, Haro was the bike of choice. Mags were the standard. Really good riders went with ACS Z-Rims. I think that Z-Rims were made of plastic or nylon (like mags) but were laced with spokes like rims. Your brakes would never work! 990's either did not exist or were not used on freestyle bikes yet.

Contests: The American Freestyle Association (AFA) was the sanctioning body for freestyle events both at the local level and the national level. Kind of like the ABA or NBL competitors could go to local events and earn some national points. Local contests could have affiliation with the AFA and hold events and advertise their events as such. Riders followed in the footsteps of BMX and would ALL be wearing leathers when they were competing. The AFA required helmets for all classes regardless of what you were competing in. This included flatland. The Protec helmets were not the helmets of choice at the time and riders would be out doing cherry pickers and nourie stands with big Ecko helmets strapped on. National events, the AFA Masters would draw hundreds of riders out. LITERALLY! The contests only had vert and flatland only. The AFA would have beginner, intermediate, expert, and pro levels broken into 4 age groups- 13 and under, 14-15, 16-18, and 19 or older. One event had upwards of 120 entrants in the 16-18 expert flatland class. Flatland was HUGE. The best riders were expected to compete in both flatland and vert. Dennis McCoy was best known for his ability as a flatland rider.

Magazines: There were several magazines that were dedicated to the sport of Freestyle BMX. The magazines included Freestyle, Freestylin', I believe BMX Plus was producing zines. A little known photographer was taking pics for Freestylin' by the name of Spike Jonze. The number one topic to cover in the magazines: FLATLAND! That's right, flatland. An AFA Masters event (the nationals) as covered by Freestylin' magazine had 13 pictures of flatland, two pictures of vert, and some other miscellaneous pics. Grinding didn't exist on bikes yet. The two-inch pegs made it virtually impossible to do a grind. Besides, ramps usually didn't have coping. They just went up and came down and tried to pull a decent trick. Fakie airs were possibly the hardest trick at the time on vert. For flatland... bar rides were the latest thing.

Working on bikes: Working on bikes was part of an average day of riding- you didn't just get up in the morning and go out and ride. You got up and, at the very least, spent 5 minutes cleaning your mags with 409 or Simple Green so that your brakes would work for an hour. At the worst you had to deal with the crap parts- Axles, hubs, and pegs were the killers. You see, the axles for the bikes were pretty short and were not heat treated for strength. Pegs screwed directly onto the axle. So you would stand on a two-inch peg for hours at a time HOPPING on it. Needless to say, the axle would quickly start to bend. Then you would need to flip the axle over so you would bend it the other way. Due to the bending and the fact that the axle peg was the nut that held your wheel in place, the pegs would come loose. Your peg would move and your wheel would move and the hub would come loose. So you would try to tighten your pegs down as hard as possible to stop that from happening. Unfortunately, the aluminum pegs would strip out... Often taking the axle with it. So it would be off to the bike shop to spend $10.00 for an axle and $10.00 for another pair of pegs.

Brakes: If you don't know already, chrome has the best braking surface under optimal conditions. Aluminum is on all the mountain bikes because it has small pits that make the braking better under varied conditions. But for freestyle and dry weather riders, chrome plated rims are the way to go. In 1986 they did not exist. There were some riders that always were in the right climate or worked on their bike enough that they could get a set of mags to have some decent braking power. But for the rest of us, braking was an art form in itself. Learning endos REALLY was a trick.

Not much has changed in a year- My first 'real' freestyle bike- the Haro Sport. This bike had REALLY thin dropouts and flip down pegs ON the forks (cool!). It came stock with mags and a gyro. I also got quality threaded 2 inch pegs for the wheels. This was the norm. Within the year the dropouts on the fork were broken and the pegs and axles had been replaced about 6 times. The brakes never worked on the mags which nearly killed one of my friends. A new rider was making headlines on the amateur scene at the AFA Masters events: A kid riding for Skyway by the name of Matt Hoffman. There was another rider that was dominating both the air and the ground in the pro class at most of the Masters events: A brand new pro by the name of Dennis McCoy. Haro and GT were still the bikes of choice.

I went to my first freestyle show. If you haven't heard of Rockville BMX then you haven't been around for a long time. Rockville BMX was one of the most recognized names in the freestyle industry. It was a small, hole in the wall shop, that dealt exclusively with BMX and freestyle. The people that worked there would get off at the end of the day and ride. They new bikes and the owners would get three or four of the pro teams to come out every year. People came out in force to see the shows. If you have seen a show then you are probably familiar with a crowd of 100 or so people, some with their parents, standing in a circle one row deep, comfortable amount of room around each person, watching and (occasionally) cheering. A Rockville BMX show would be stacked 7 rows deep around the WHOLE riding area with KIDS wanting to catch a glimpse of Eddie Fiola or Dino DeLuca. I saw a show that year from that small Nor-Cal bike company, Skyway. I saw the expert ramp rider that has rewritten the sport- Matt Hoffman.

The newest bikes had done it- they were switching to 990's for braking. GT and Haro both were putting the better brakes on their top of the line bikes. A flurry of new companies were coming into existence. The top of the line Haro came stock with chrome plated 48 spoke rims. The Peregrine Super Pro rim was debuted. This was a turning point for brakes, yet bicycle frame quality still sucked. A year... maybe two was the most you could hope for from a bicycle frame.

I competed in my first contest. A 'local' Southern California event endorsed by the AFA and sponsored by a sport drink company called Socco. The contest was right on the beach and drew about 100 kids and a thousand spectators. The riding area was kind of bumpy and there wasn't a separate area for people to practice. For most of the beginners their contest run was the first time they had been on the competition surface. Probably more than half of the riders were wearing leathers. NOBODY did a grind on anything. Street wasn't in competitions yet... But WAS starting to make an appearance in magazines.

A company by the name of Hammer introduced shin guards that you could pull on. They did not make use of Velcro closures to begin with but used neoprene and foam rubber. This, for many flatland riders was a savior as most were sick of destroying their shins on pedals (or pegs) (or stems). This design led to the Velcro design and the design of a dozen knock off versions of the same shin guard design.

Riders were rejecting the corporate leathers look that was presented in the movie Rad and freestyle began to enter its low point. It was simply too expensive to continuously go out and buy new bikes parts once a week. Bikes still wouldn't last more than a year and pegs and axles still wouldn't stand up to regular treatment, let alone the new abuse that was being dished out by the increasingly popular street scene. The AFA became a WAS instead of an IS as it held its last national series of contests.

I had the chance to go to the last AFA Masters competition ever. The AFA had eliminated ramp riding in the competitions and Ron Wilkerson was holding the 2-Hip King of Vert (KOV) contests to give vert riders a place to compete. Ron also held some of the first STREET contests. It was a very disappointing contest, that last Masters event. Maybe 50 riders total turned out and the weather was cool... the riding was at an all time high, but the sport itself was at an all time low. If things didn't change soon freestyle wasn't going to survive. Skate and bike parks didn't exist, competitions were having low turn out and most of the magazines had gone out of business or were incredibly thin. The coverage within was limited to the national events and there were no signs of improvement coming any time soon.

If you were to pick a LOW year for freestyle this was it. The NBL tried to pick up where the AFA left off and began to hold freestyle events. Wheels for Wishes- Held in Virginia will probably be remembered as the highlight of the NBL's attempt at freestyle. Wheel's for Wishes had a (relatively) HUGE pro purse and was one of the first events to have a big half-pipe contest in conjunction with a big flatland event. Poor planning meant that the ramp wasn't done being built until about 5:00PM the day of the contest. The contest didn't end until about 1:00AM. It had decent rider turnout and a very high level of riding, but was nothing compared to what used to be the norm for freestyle. It was the best the NBL would produce. For a couple of years the NBL held flatland only events at various locations, usually on the East Coast or thereabouts. They always had a very small pro purse and never had enough of a following to build into something worthwhile.

Maybe or maybe not- '91 was as bad as '90. Contests didn't exist... riders were far and few in-between. The NBL held it's last year of freestyle flatland contests. The magazines were about 20 or 30 pages thick. This was the death of freestyle... Except... there was a guy named Bill who had an idea on how to make bikes a little better... There was also a world famous bike rider that was about to pick up where the NBL left off.

Enter the new era- Standard Industries redefines what a freestyle bike is. The lengthy and Shorty are overnite successes! They release the new standard in pegs for bikes- the deep socket bolt on. NEVER again would you have to buy a new set of pegs until you actually wore through these steel monsters, the hand grenade. To make the pegs usable riders needed axles that were longer than currently available and to make it worthwhile Standard released the first extra-long heat-treated axles for freestyle. People could now have pegs for flatland that they could stand on for hours at a time without ripping up their shoes. NO- this isn't a joke. The pegs on that 1988 Haro were so tiny that it would tear a hole straight through the sole of your Airwalks and start to rip into the skin on the sole of your foot.

NOTE: A bunch of companies now produce heat-treated axles and oversize axles. Standard was the first to make a LONG axle that would stand up to the test. I'm not a huge fan of Standard Industries, but I do run those axles in my bike. In fact, my front axle is from the first batch. I purchased it in 1993 and haven't touched it since. Literally. I put it in about 6 years ago and ride it every day with confidence. I think I got my $15.00 worth.

Matt Hoffman laid out the BS- the Bicycle Stunts series! This was the first set of competitions that acted as if bigger and crazier and less rules yet a good pro purse was better. No exclusions, flatland, vert, street- it was all going to be there. Soon-to-be (beginner)? Stuntboy (expert)? Stuntman (pro)? It was all there. The concept was as simple as it could be: If you get the magazines to come out and cover the event. If you make the contest fun. If you put out a pro purse that will bring the best in the world. If you make the contest open to everyone who loves to ride. People will come, people will compete, and people will spread the word and make the sport grow. The BS series is what led up to the Extreme (X) Games and the B3 (X-Trials) contests.

Ride magazine made it's appearance around this time and presented freestyle the way that the only other freestyle magazine (BMX Plus) never dared. They allowed (oh no!) cuss words on the pages and some crazy ads from smaller companies. The 'rider owned company' came into existence and helped sell the first few copies of Ride.

Freestyle still wasn't very popular but riders had a common thread in the BS contests. Hoffman Bikes came out in full force and riders really began to take riding to the edge. This was probably the best contest year ever. Bikes were finally getting good and the quality of riding was still being pushed to new levels. If you never went to a BS contest don't expect to go to an ESPN event and expect the same thing. The street course at BS events always had spectators standing in the MIDDLE of the riding area DURING pro's runs. These were contests for riders and the contests were broken down further still to include beginners and intermediates with the Stuntboys and Stuntmen.

If you didn't like to compete then things were better as well since the bikes were finally being built better. Flatlanders got to take advantage of aluminum bolt on pegs for the first time and the un-brake and freecoaster became words that actually meant something to riders. Riders began to realize, finally, that they could make a difference in the industry and began to. Rider owned companies began to crawl out of the woodwork and the quality of products was reaching an all time high. No longer able to get by with the crap that they had survived on for years GT and Haro introduced major changes to their bicycle designs. GT had built such a reputation that they pulled away with a huge market share. Haro didn't survive as the number one company in freestyle. Despite producing the first freestyle bike and leading the industry in the mid 80's, Haro still hadn't caught on. Haro STILL HASN'T caught on yet.

Dennis McCoy won the year-end overall title for the BS series and continued as the best in the world. There was one rider that was going to push Dennis to be better if he wanted to hold onto that title: Jay Miron.

See 1993. Things are really getting brighter. Matt Hoffman builds a 21 foot quarter-pipe that he gets dragged towards by a motorcycle and then launches over 25 feet into the air. Above the ramp... nearly 50 feet above the ground. The story says that one night a storm rolled in that had some strong winds that blew the ramp over. Rumor had it that Matt's friends were so freaked about him using the ramp that they went out that night and destroyed the ramp so Matt would not be able to ride it anymore. It's still probably the most incredible thing done on a vert ramp.

ESPN gets involved... Matt's attention was being divided between his bicycle company and his contest series so he decided to do away with the contest series and focus on making the best freestyle company ever. Hoffman Bikes continues on under Hoffman and ESPN now controls how the 'fun' BS contests will be handled. The first thing that happened was that ESPN eliminated the lower amateur classes. They have said that they would like to also get rid of flatland. Somebody wrote a letter to Ride Magazine questioning the value of doing such a thing and here is as good of a place as any to give it proper merit. McGoo gave the poor kid a thorough amount of crap on how it is the pros that sell the bikes and what a waste of time it was for the contests to allow beginners.

McGoo was usually an idiot and, unfortunately, was granted permission to speak to the public on a regular basis encouraging kids not to ride. The bottom line is that exclusivity has NEVER driven freestyle bike riding. Amateur riding with pros is what makes this sport so great. It isn't about competing to be better. It is about having a contest and having 500 kids show up to jam for three days straight. A beginner will spread the word in this sport MUCH better than ESPN or any magazine ever will. There are kids that would travel 500 miles to get last place in the beginner class and go home more stoked on riding then ever before. Now they don't have anything but small local events to go to or the big ESPN contests that they can go to but can't ride their bikes at. Regardless of this ESPN has still managed to rape the riders for all they are worth getting HUGE financial gains from the 'Extreme Games' while putting out pro purses that are great for the sport, but nothing for what ESPN is earning.

1996- Present... Not much has changed. ESPN still holds its contests on a regular basis. The amateur events have been pushed back to Thursdays and there is talk of how ESPN wants to get rid of flatland at its contests. Hoffman Bikes now appear in thousands of bike shops across the country. Mongoose bikes now appear in WalMart. Huffy is making bikes that have crept out of the department store and into some bike shops. Most of the better bike shops won't touch the Huffy products. The X-Games have become the premiere contest in freestyle and have put the gleam in many kids eyes as they think of the possibilities that they may attain by dedicating their lives to freestyle. Dave Mirra's face is plastered on the pages of magazines in an attempt to make Haro a household name instead of GT and Hoffman now goes to Taiwan to get his bikes made.

Magazines are getting thick again and coverage is all of street, vert, and dirt. If you aren't in the sky they don't want to take your picture. The days of 13 flatland pictures in one contest article are gone and replaced by the days of being lucky to see 13 flatland pictures in an entire magazine. Flatland deserves better photographers (sorry Losey) or better editors. Vert is getting center stage coverage on ESPN despite there really not being any noticeable progression on vert in the last five years. Some, small progression... and more better riders... but the 900 has been done and the Flair is old news. Not much left but to do it all again, only higher. Nothing new. Street is one of the most exciting things to see at contests since the course changes from location to location. The layout of ramps means that riders will have different lines and different possibilities at every contest.

To really deter the riders ESPN now limits the X-Game qualifiers to 30 participants in each class in the pro and amateur level. All riders must pre-register. They are throwing skaters and booters out on the same courses that riders are trying to use. As bad as this sounds it isn't the end of the world. Local contests are growing in popularity again. Elsinore (the annual contest at the bike convention in Toronto) has become a must ride for flatlanders. Ron Wilkerson has continued the tradition of fun contests with the 2-Hip series capped off by the Burning Bike Festival all in the name of fun. I don't love ESPN but the contests ARE still fun to attend since I can ride at them. I don't think they would be fun if I was a beginner. The turnout for 2-Hip events and other local contests isn't enough to really motivate a beginning rider either. If we could talk Hoffman into convincing ESPN to allow a full amateur class, or have one or two events in the year that allowed all of the classes then I believe that it would really get younger riders to stay motivated in a sport that can be grueling, painful, and more often than not- frustrating.

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Page Updated Thu Jan 27, 2000 11:33pm EST