Author: Harvey Wienersmyth

BMX Biking, which is similar to  mountain biking , is a multi-faceted sport with many different disciplines. There are four major BMX concentrations – park, vertical, trails, and flatlands.  They each have their own rules and specifics which will be outlined in this article. 

 

Vertical riding, which is commonly called by its slang variant, “vert,” is an extreme form of BMX.  The standard ramp consists of two half pipes that have been joined to form what looks like an expanded “u” shape. The record for the biggest ramp is the 27-foot tall X-Games “big air” ramp. This is the most dangerous form of BMX racing, and there are very few professionals who go into this discipline, or stay at it for a very long time.  Matt Hoffman, who is probably one of the best known BMX vertical riders, has nearly lost his life on several attempts to set new records for height and speed. 

 

Trail riding involves dealing with huge mounds of dirt – formed by compacting mud – and is sometimes known as “dirty jumping.” In order to do this kind of riding, the biker will need a heavier, more reinforced bike, and it will usually only have rear brakes, as the terrain is very rough and hard on the rider.  There are a lot of gaps in the mud and dirt that the rider has to deal with, with the gaps ranging anywhere from three feet to up to 20 feet. On average, the gaps are about 12 feet. 

 

Flatland BMX is one of the least popular BMX sports. It is done on any simple flat surface, most commonly, concrete. The tricks involve balance and spinning tricks more than high jumps found in other types of BMX riding. The bikes are usually equipped with pegs that the bikers can stand on, enabling them to do even more diverse and strange tricks with their bikes. The bikes are often short and light, which enables the jumping and spinning type tricks that the bikers will be attempting. Some of the popular tricks include the bunnyhop, air, grinding, fakies, manuals, wallrides, endos, roll-backs, and catwalks. 

 

As for grinding, the most common tricks include feeble, smith, double-peg, icepick, toothpick, crooked, and pedal grinds, though there are many other variations on the grind. 

 

Air tricks include X-up, one handed riding, no handed riding, seat grabs, tire grabs, 180/360/540/720/900/1080 spins, backflips, frontflips, flairs, tabletops, lookbacks, barspins, can-cans, and many others. 

 

As you can see, there are many different aspects to BMX biking. The most important thing, though, if you are interested in it, is to be careful, take your time, and have someone who knows what they are doing help you out when you’re getting started