What is "Freestyle?"
by Ross Lavender
September 29th, 2019
September 29th, 2019
Editor's Note:
This article was written in tandem with the BMX Breakdown Podcast #33 that you can find HERE. It dives deeper into some of the topics discussed in that episode as well as includes some of the charts and graphs referenced in that podcast.
This article was written in tandem with the BMX Breakdown Podcast #33 that you can find HERE. It dives deeper into some of the topics discussed in that episode as well as includes some of the charts and graphs referenced in that podcast.
As someone who researches Freestyle history, I wanted to write an article that explores a deeper understanding of what Freestyle is and attempt to define it in an analytical context.
When we talk about Freestyle or BMX we often refer to it through personal experience – “BMX to me is” or “I ride because.” This definition is natural as we all experience BMX in a personal level and everyone’s experience differs.
However, if we step back and look at BMX from a broader perspective and remove the personal relationships we have with BMX, there are some huge gaps in our understanding of what Freestyle and BMX are. Questions such as, “What are the types of BMX?” “What are their commonalities?” and “What makes them differ?” If BMX is a universal term for all that encompasses everything to do with BMX, what are all the individual components that make up the different types of BMX?
This article introduces an additional type of BMX to Racing and Freestyle called Mainstream BMX. I will also explore three refined categories in each BMX type.
But before we do that, let’s lay down some very basic BMX history.
Without getting too caught up in early Bicycle Motocross (BMX) history, BMX began in the early 1970s where kids mimicked Motocross racing on dirt tracks in Southern California. In 1974, a motorcycle promoter by the name of George E. Esser established the first bicycle motocross sanctioned body, the National Bicycle League. BMX Racing was now a sport within its own right and the growth of BMX Racing, including the industry of producing BMX specific bikes built for BMX Racing and commercial transportation for kids, spread across the globe into the 1980s.
At the same time, in 1974, two brothers by the name of Todd and Devin Banks became the first known riders to experiment on an eight-foot quarter pipe. Moving from late 70s and into the 80s, ‘trick riding’ spread across the United States with riders hitting local concrete bowls designed for skateboarding. Media coverage and Freestyle demonstrations introduced the sport to the masses, and by the 1980s Freestyle had boomed into a unique youth orientated sport.
Since that time Freestyle has evolved from the early days of experimentation on a 20-inch bicycle. As Freestyle retained its roots as a competitive sport from the American Freestyle Association (AFA) days of the 1980s, the lack of structure and regulation within the Freestyle community has introduced its own DIY industry, culture, and way of living. BMX Racing continues today with structure and regulated governing bodies, committees, and BMX clubs organised by parents and adults within their community. BMX Racing was integrated into the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in 1993 and Freestyle recently joined UCI in 2015.
As the term ‘Freestyle’ insists, you can essentially do it whenever you want, however you want. There are five main disciplines within Freestyle – Street, Park (or traditionally – ramp riding), Dirt, Flatland, and Vert. Due to the lack of structure, we find that BMX Racing and Freestyle are two completely separate entities that live under the one umbrella term of BMX. The easiest way to explain it would be to use a fruit-based analogy – Racing would be an orange and Freestyle would be an apple. They’re both fruits but look and taste completely different.
Overall, BMX has a rich history. Both types of BMX have come so far and evolved so much in the past forty years. However, we haven’t really explored BMX in depth and truly gained an understanding of what BMX is, or investigated why Racing and Freestyle have taken separate paths and are so unique from one another. While they utilise a similar tool, their sports and cultures offer little to compare to.
Before we ask, “what is Freestyle?” let’s dig a little deeper and ask, “what is BMX?”
Previously BMX has been used an umbrella term. BMX encapsulates everything that is done on a purpose built 20-inch bicycle (including other wheel sizes). Traditionally, the BMX community agrees there are two types of BMX – Racing and Freestyle. However, there is a third component that is often forgotten about and that is the Mainstream or Commercial use of BMX.
When we talk about Freestyle or BMX we often refer to it through personal experience – “BMX to me is” or “I ride because.” This definition is natural as we all experience BMX in a personal level and everyone’s experience differs.
However, if we step back and look at BMX from a broader perspective and remove the personal relationships we have with BMX, there are some huge gaps in our understanding of what Freestyle and BMX are. Questions such as, “What are the types of BMX?” “What are their commonalities?” and “What makes them differ?” If BMX is a universal term for all that encompasses everything to do with BMX, what are all the individual components that make up the different types of BMX?
This article introduces an additional type of BMX to Racing and Freestyle called Mainstream BMX. I will also explore three refined categories in each BMX type.
But before we do that, let’s lay down some very basic BMX history.
Without getting too caught up in early Bicycle Motocross (BMX) history, BMX began in the early 1970s where kids mimicked Motocross racing on dirt tracks in Southern California. In 1974, a motorcycle promoter by the name of George E. Esser established the first bicycle motocross sanctioned body, the National Bicycle League. BMX Racing was now a sport within its own right and the growth of BMX Racing, including the industry of producing BMX specific bikes built for BMX Racing and commercial transportation for kids, spread across the globe into the 1980s.
At the same time, in 1974, two brothers by the name of Todd and Devin Banks became the first known riders to experiment on an eight-foot quarter pipe. Moving from late 70s and into the 80s, ‘trick riding’ spread across the United States with riders hitting local concrete bowls designed for skateboarding. Media coverage and Freestyle demonstrations introduced the sport to the masses, and by the 1980s Freestyle had boomed into a unique youth orientated sport.
Since that time Freestyle has evolved from the early days of experimentation on a 20-inch bicycle. As Freestyle retained its roots as a competitive sport from the American Freestyle Association (AFA) days of the 1980s, the lack of structure and regulation within the Freestyle community has introduced its own DIY industry, culture, and way of living. BMX Racing continues today with structure and regulated governing bodies, committees, and BMX clubs organised by parents and adults within their community. BMX Racing was integrated into the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) in 1993 and Freestyle recently joined UCI in 2015.
As the term ‘Freestyle’ insists, you can essentially do it whenever you want, however you want. There are five main disciplines within Freestyle – Street, Park (or traditionally – ramp riding), Dirt, Flatland, and Vert. Due to the lack of structure, we find that BMX Racing and Freestyle are two completely separate entities that live under the one umbrella term of BMX. The easiest way to explain it would be to use a fruit-based analogy – Racing would be an orange and Freestyle would be an apple. They’re both fruits but look and taste completely different.
Overall, BMX has a rich history. Both types of BMX have come so far and evolved so much in the past forty years. However, we haven’t really explored BMX in depth and truly gained an understanding of what BMX is, or investigated why Racing and Freestyle have taken separate paths and are so unique from one another. While they utilise a similar tool, their sports and cultures offer little to compare to.
Before we ask, “what is Freestyle?” let’s dig a little deeper and ask, “what is BMX?”
Previously BMX has been used an umbrella term. BMX encapsulates everything that is done on a purpose built 20-inch bicycle (including other wheel sizes). Traditionally, the BMX community agrees there are two types of BMX – Racing and Freestyle. However, there is a third component that is often forgotten about and that is the Mainstream or Commercial use of BMX.
In the flow chart above we see the different components of BMX.
Racing and Freestyle are considered sports, and Mainstream BMX is a by-product of the two. As the sports of Racing and Freestyle evolved and BMX bikes were sold at bicycle stores and other business types it made the availability of the BMX bike accessible to the general public or mainstream audience. Kids were given BMX bikes for their birthday and Christmas. Kids rode them to school, to their friends’ house, and went exploring throughout their neighbourhood. The BMX bike was now being used outside of their sporting purpose and used as a mode of transport and leisure. This new interest assisted in the growth of the BMX Industry and the boom of BMX in the 1980s. But does that make every kid who owned a BMX a Racer or a Freestyler? Honestly, the answer is no. And this is where things get complicated.
In the early days; before racing became an official sport and kids were just riding dirt tracks; and before freestyle was referred to as ‘trick riding;’ kids were experimenting with what was possible on dragsters and BMX bikes – wheelies, skids, track stands, jumping dirt mounds, and so on.
Racing and freestyle are ultimately the ‘conscious act’ of doing. To be a racer, one must obtain a racing license, join a club, and consciously partake in the training and sport of racing. Anyone can ride a track and experiment with going as fast as you can and hit the jumps, but technically you are not partaking in the sport of racing.
The same can be said for freestyle. Basic tricks such as wheelies, endos, bunny hops and riding down stairs should be considered unconscious experimentation. It’s natural to want to see how far you can kick a football just like it is to see how far you can wheelie. But unless you make the ‘conscious act’ in learning foundation tricks (such as tail taps on a ramp, funky chickens on a flat ground, and grinding ledges on the street) the person is only experiencing BMX as a hobby or pastime through experimentation.
While this may come across at nit picking or excluding people’s beliefs that they were racers or freestylers; we need to create a ‘defining moment’ that separates Racing and Freestyle as a Sport and Culture from a Hobby or Pastime. Experimentation on a bicycle has been around since the bicycle was invented. It is natural to want to progress in anything we do in our lives.
That said let’s define the ‘types’ of BMX.
BMX (Bicycle Motocross)
A broad term that encapsulates everything that traditionally utilises a bicycle with 20-inch wheels and a double diamond frame. Designed to mimic the dirt bike motocross racing of the 1970s with kids riding modified dragsters around a dirt track. BMX created two sports – BMX Racing and BMX Freestyle. The evolution of these sports made the BMX bicycle available to the general public.
BMX Racing
BMX Racing is a sport where a rider must sprint on a BMX bike to complete a purpose-built track consisting of humps, jumps and turns. The first over the line wins. BMX Racing is regulated by its own governing bodies. With the boom of the sport more tracks were built, more clubs were created, and more regulation was put in place.
BMX Freestyle
The evolution of ‘trick riding’ became a more conscious sport and act of doing tricks. Made famous by trick teams and magazines, it became its own entity and later a sport for competition. Freestyle is a free form sporting activity that has its own sport, culture and lifestyle. A rider does not necessarily need to compete to be a freestyler, but ride within the culture and lifestyle itself and partake and advance from learning foundation tricks.
BMX Mainstream
With the boom of BMX racing came the mainstream sales of BMX bikes. Every street had a kid who owned a BMX bike. Designed for the general population as a mode of transportation, leisure and the uncommitted act of BMX as a sport. In recent years BMX collecting has become popular and while closely linked to racing and freestyle, it does not share the active sports and cultures of BMX racing or freestyle.
What defines Racing and Freestyle?
Once we start to understand the three types of BMX; we must understand what makes them different. Firstly, let’s take a look at Racing and Freestyle.
Racing and Freestyle are completely unique forms of BMX. However, if you look back to the very early 80s Racing and Freestyle had a closer relationship. I will use Australia as an example. During the early 80s BMX was still a new concept and was open to more general experimentation. While BMX Racing officially became a sport, racers were still experimenting on what was possible on a bike. I have heard stories of racers experimenting with basic trick riding between motos and outside of racing events. Again, this is natural experimentation. Research shows that BMX Clubs often had a trick team or used a quarter pipe or kick turns and performed trick riding demonstrations at school fetes and community events to promote BMX to the general public. While all this was happening, in 1981, Australia formed the Australian BMX Association.
The ABMXA became the governing body of BMX in Australia. Racing at that time was blowing up. Clubs and tracks were opening everywhere and the ABMXA were busy creating their own regulations to support their sport. Understandably, they had their hands full. But if the Racing community were using ‘trick riding’ to promote BMX to the masses, why didn’t the ABMXA take responsibility to regulate Freestyle in Australia? According to interviews I have conducted with State and National members of the ABMXA and the Queensland BMX Association (QBMXA), there was no interest to do so.
This decision inadvertently created a divide between the Racing and the Freestyle community. BMX Racing in Australia became more focused on developing their own sport, rules, and regulations and creating a family environment. Freestyle was left to the side with little structure outside of Freestyle shows and the support of local BMX bike shops and businesses. By 1984, Australia had their first Freestyle competition organised by local riders and BMX business owners. Freestyle was essentially founded on the Do It Yourself ethic due to the lack of regulation and attention put towards it. Freestyle in Australia was mimicking what the rest of the world were doing through limited knowledge from BMX magazines and video.
By the mid to late 80s, Racing and Freestyle had developed their own identities. Racing was so organised and structured and had a family focus. It was clean cut, competitive and working towards making their youth sport legitimate. Freestyle was frowned upon by the Racing community at this time. Freestylers were often blamed as being too wild, taking drugs and getting into mischief. From my personal experience of Racing in the late 80s, Freestyle was looked upon as the black sheep or the dark side of BMX. This disassociation continued well in to the 90s and it has only been in recent years that BMX Australia (the current version of the ABMXA) has wanted to become involved in Freestyle. Why? Because Freestyle is now a part of the UCI and the Olympics – something they can relate to and control.
Another interesting thing to note is within the first ten to fifteen years of racing, a percentage of racers transitioned from racing to freestyle. According to many of the riders I have interviewed, BMX Racing was still establishing their governing bodies and regulations. The sport became too serious, had too many rules, was operated by adults and did not allow enough freedom to creatively explore what was possible on a BMX. As a result, many riders quit racing and took up freestyle.
Going back to commonalities, I believe there are three categories these BMX types have in common – sport, industry and culture. Each BMX type utilises these categories and cannot exist without the other. However, what makes both types of BMX different are the percentage ratios of each category.
The ratios in below pie chart are an approximation only and have been discussed with members of the racing and freestyle communities. As you can appreciate, to accurately quantify these ratios would be an expensive and timely process, so please use the pie chart as a guide only.
Racing and Freestyle are considered sports, and Mainstream BMX is a by-product of the two. As the sports of Racing and Freestyle evolved and BMX bikes were sold at bicycle stores and other business types it made the availability of the BMX bike accessible to the general public or mainstream audience. Kids were given BMX bikes for their birthday and Christmas. Kids rode them to school, to their friends’ house, and went exploring throughout their neighbourhood. The BMX bike was now being used outside of their sporting purpose and used as a mode of transport and leisure. This new interest assisted in the growth of the BMX Industry and the boom of BMX in the 1980s. But does that make every kid who owned a BMX a Racer or a Freestyler? Honestly, the answer is no. And this is where things get complicated.
In the early days; before racing became an official sport and kids were just riding dirt tracks; and before freestyle was referred to as ‘trick riding;’ kids were experimenting with what was possible on dragsters and BMX bikes – wheelies, skids, track stands, jumping dirt mounds, and so on.
Racing and freestyle are ultimately the ‘conscious act’ of doing. To be a racer, one must obtain a racing license, join a club, and consciously partake in the training and sport of racing. Anyone can ride a track and experiment with going as fast as you can and hit the jumps, but technically you are not partaking in the sport of racing.
The same can be said for freestyle. Basic tricks such as wheelies, endos, bunny hops and riding down stairs should be considered unconscious experimentation. It’s natural to want to see how far you can kick a football just like it is to see how far you can wheelie. But unless you make the ‘conscious act’ in learning foundation tricks (such as tail taps on a ramp, funky chickens on a flat ground, and grinding ledges on the street) the person is only experiencing BMX as a hobby or pastime through experimentation.
While this may come across at nit picking or excluding people’s beliefs that they were racers or freestylers; we need to create a ‘defining moment’ that separates Racing and Freestyle as a Sport and Culture from a Hobby or Pastime. Experimentation on a bicycle has been around since the bicycle was invented. It is natural to want to progress in anything we do in our lives.
That said let’s define the ‘types’ of BMX.
BMX (Bicycle Motocross)
A broad term that encapsulates everything that traditionally utilises a bicycle with 20-inch wheels and a double diamond frame. Designed to mimic the dirt bike motocross racing of the 1970s with kids riding modified dragsters around a dirt track. BMX created two sports – BMX Racing and BMX Freestyle. The evolution of these sports made the BMX bicycle available to the general public.
BMX Racing
BMX Racing is a sport where a rider must sprint on a BMX bike to complete a purpose-built track consisting of humps, jumps and turns. The first over the line wins. BMX Racing is regulated by its own governing bodies. With the boom of the sport more tracks were built, more clubs were created, and more regulation was put in place.
BMX Freestyle
The evolution of ‘trick riding’ became a more conscious sport and act of doing tricks. Made famous by trick teams and magazines, it became its own entity and later a sport for competition. Freestyle is a free form sporting activity that has its own sport, culture and lifestyle. A rider does not necessarily need to compete to be a freestyler, but ride within the culture and lifestyle itself and partake and advance from learning foundation tricks.
BMX Mainstream
With the boom of BMX racing came the mainstream sales of BMX bikes. Every street had a kid who owned a BMX bike. Designed for the general population as a mode of transportation, leisure and the uncommitted act of BMX as a sport. In recent years BMX collecting has become popular and while closely linked to racing and freestyle, it does not share the active sports and cultures of BMX racing or freestyle.
What defines Racing and Freestyle?
Once we start to understand the three types of BMX; we must understand what makes them different. Firstly, let’s take a look at Racing and Freestyle.
Racing and Freestyle are completely unique forms of BMX. However, if you look back to the very early 80s Racing and Freestyle had a closer relationship. I will use Australia as an example. During the early 80s BMX was still a new concept and was open to more general experimentation. While BMX Racing officially became a sport, racers were still experimenting on what was possible on a bike. I have heard stories of racers experimenting with basic trick riding between motos and outside of racing events. Again, this is natural experimentation. Research shows that BMX Clubs often had a trick team or used a quarter pipe or kick turns and performed trick riding demonstrations at school fetes and community events to promote BMX to the general public. While all this was happening, in 1981, Australia formed the Australian BMX Association.
The ABMXA became the governing body of BMX in Australia. Racing at that time was blowing up. Clubs and tracks were opening everywhere and the ABMXA were busy creating their own regulations to support their sport. Understandably, they had their hands full. But if the Racing community were using ‘trick riding’ to promote BMX to the masses, why didn’t the ABMXA take responsibility to regulate Freestyle in Australia? According to interviews I have conducted with State and National members of the ABMXA and the Queensland BMX Association (QBMXA), there was no interest to do so.
This decision inadvertently created a divide between the Racing and the Freestyle community. BMX Racing in Australia became more focused on developing their own sport, rules, and regulations and creating a family environment. Freestyle was left to the side with little structure outside of Freestyle shows and the support of local BMX bike shops and businesses. By 1984, Australia had their first Freestyle competition organised by local riders and BMX business owners. Freestyle was essentially founded on the Do It Yourself ethic due to the lack of regulation and attention put towards it. Freestyle in Australia was mimicking what the rest of the world were doing through limited knowledge from BMX magazines and video.
By the mid to late 80s, Racing and Freestyle had developed their own identities. Racing was so organised and structured and had a family focus. It was clean cut, competitive and working towards making their youth sport legitimate. Freestyle was frowned upon by the Racing community at this time. Freestylers were often blamed as being too wild, taking drugs and getting into mischief. From my personal experience of Racing in the late 80s, Freestyle was looked upon as the black sheep or the dark side of BMX. This disassociation continued well in to the 90s and it has only been in recent years that BMX Australia (the current version of the ABMXA) has wanted to become involved in Freestyle. Why? Because Freestyle is now a part of the UCI and the Olympics – something they can relate to and control.
Another interesting thing to note is within the first ten to fifteen years of racing, a percentage of racers transitioned from racing to freestyle. According to many of the riders I have interviewed, BMX Racing was still establishing their governing bodies and regulations. The sport became too serious, had too many rules, was operated by adults and did not allow enough freedom to creatively explore what was possible on a BMX. As a result, many riders quit racing and took up freestyle.
Going back to commonalities, I believe there are three categories these BMX types have in common – sport, industry and culture. Each BMX type utilises these categories and cannot exist without the other. However, what makes both types of BMX different are the percentage ratios of each category.
The ratios in below pie chart are an approximation only and have been discussed with members of the racing and freestyle communities. As you can appreciate, to accurately quantify these ratios would be an expensive and timely process, so please use the pie chart as a guide only.
Let’s break down Sport, Industry, and Culture.
Sport
Sport is the conscious act of participating in BMX on a competitive level. Entering a BMX Race or Freestyle competition and competing against others for points for a podium place. There are rules to follow and guidelines to abide by. Racing is built around the concept of being a sport. While Freestyle is a sport, one does not need to compete to be a Freestyler.
Industry
Industry is where a registered company or business sells items to make profit and pays taxes. These businesses consist of manufacturing, retail, media, events organisation and promotion. The industry is a necessity to make bikes and other parts easily assessible to the BMX community.
Culture
Culture is the creative and artistic outlet, enjoyment, the lifestyle, and conscious engagement within the racing and freestyle communities. It does not seek profit like the industry does and engages BMX outside of a competitive capacity. Essentially it is the soul of BMX.
As you can see in the pie chart, racing has a larger sport ratio to freestyle. This is because the aim of BMX Racing is to compete and win. It is not really a social or cultural event. Whereas the majority of freestylers don’t actually compete. Back in the 80s and 90s the majority of freestylers competed but the introduction of street riding during the late 80s also introduced the choice to ride for creative expression. In today’s world, there are less freestylers competing in competitions than ‘cultural’ riders. In terms of industry, both Racing and Freestyle have their ratios of BMX business. It would be fair to say the Freestyle industry is larger and sell more bikes and accessories as Freestyle is unstructured and the bike can be used for sporting and non-sporting use. Whereas a racing bike is purely designed for performance use.
A breakdown of Racings and Freestyle’s Sport, Industry and Culture.
Freestyle – Sport
Definition:
Sport is the traditional competition or contest component to Freestyle. It is where a rider enters a competition consisting of rules or guidelines. Each rider is awarded points based on a number of factors (mostly based on trick difficulty and consistency) for a podium place. This competition/contest could be a small local organised event or a large event with corporate sponsorship. An example of these events includes the AFA contest series, BS contests series, the X Games, FISE, the Vans Pro Cup, etc. In 2020, Freestyle will be featured as an Olympic sport for the first time.
Freestyle – Industry
Definition:
The Freestyle Industry consists of registered business that sell to the public. Bikes are needed to keep riders rolling. In order continue the growth and progression of freestyle, the Industry is required to keep people on bikes. These businesses consist of manufacturing, retail, media, events organisation and promotion.
Freestyle – Culture
Definition:
Culture is the creative progression which allows Freestyle, as competitive or non-competitive sport or lifestyle, to evolve. Examples include:
Racing – Sport
Definition:
Sport is the largest component to Racing. Without competition, essentially there is no racing. Racing is where a rider competes against other riders on a purpose built track with jumps and a finish line. Essentially, the first one over the line, wins.
Racing – Industry
Definition:
Much like the Freestyle Industry, the Racing Industry consists of registered businesses that sell to the public. It can be argued the Racing Industry is smaller than Freestyle as Racing bikes are generally designed to be used only on a BMX track. These businesses consist of manufacturing, retail, media, events organisation and promotion.
Racing – Culture
Definition:
Racing Culture is the smallest part of the pie. Where Freestyle is heavy in culture due to the push in creativity and the freedom to explore, I believe Racing Culture is restricted by their regulations and governing bodies. Racing presents culture through magazines, riders social media accounts and club events. Essentially, Racing culture is limited because they are bound by governing bodies and regulation.
As we have discussed earlier, Mainstream BMX has never really been identified as a component to BMX. This is mostly because it isn’t a sport. That said it is a legitimate part of BMX and it continues to grow.
Mainstream – Transport / Leisure
Definition:
Transport and Leisure is the largest component to Mainstream BMX. Mainstream BMX is the use of BMX bike traditionally used for sport but utilised for transport or experimentation (a leisure activity). For example; if a Formula One car is used for F1 racing and regular car is used as a form of transport. It may have similar characteristics like a body, steering wheel, brakes and wheels but the conscious act and use is very different.
Mainstream – Industry
Definition:
Much like the Racing and Freestyle Industry, the Mainstream BMX Industry consists of registered businesses that sell to the public. BMX Transport or leisure use can be considered a crucial part to overall BMX sales. This comes back to a BMX bike being a mode of transport, experimentation and commercial youth culture.
Mainstream – Experience / Hobby
Definition:
As we have discussed before, Mainstream BMX allows anyone to experiment on a BMX. In recent times BMX Collecting, social BMX rides and new forms of BMX such as BMX LIFE or the 29inch wheel culture have become popular. It is not a sport like Racing or Freestyle and does not share the same cultural characteristics of Racing or Freestyle. BMX Collectors have their own community, events and ways to creatively build bikes from specific eras derived from Racing and Freestyle.
How Can We Apply the Terms Sport, Industry, and Culture to Freestyle?
The people who run our industry today are the kids who have lived Freestyle in the past 20 to 30 years. Freestyle has come full circle. The riders from the sporting and cultural backgrounds are now the leaders of the industry. Sport, Industry and Culture cannot exist without the other. The definitions behind Sport, Industry and Culture encapsulate everything that has occurred in freestyle history.
Previously, the Freestyle community hasn’t really needed to explore or reflect on our past. Freestyle is a living breathing entity based on the rider-owned, rider-run philosophy. Freestyle is about the moment, not the past. Historically, Freestyle has proven it has the strength to live through recessions both within the industry and in the capacity of their own riders. Unlike the past, the industry is now self-sufficient and self-regulated and can adapt to change. Enough time and experience has passed that we can learn from Freestyle’s success and mistakes. But how will we know what we are looking at if we don’t know how to define Freestyle?
By using the terms Sport, Industry and Culture, we can create a foundation of general language and understanding of how Freestyle works. We can apply this to practical day-to-day conversations, the promotion of BMX to the general public and utilise these categories for BMX award ceremonies such as Hall of Fame events. If Freestyle is considered more of a cultural form of BMX or a way of life, shouldn’t we be promoting it as such? To the broader population, Freestyle is considered an extreme sport thanks to events such as the X-Games. If we were to introduce Freestyle as a culture through media and general topics of discussions, it will help define what Freestyle truly is.
How Can We Move Forward and Adapt These Definitions?
It is easy to sit back and let the communities within BMX define BMX in the status quo. But why would we? Let’s begin the process of exploring how we should define these BMX types. If you think this article missed the mark, bring constructive discussion to the table. If you agree with what I have written, lets utilise these terms. Once we understand what it is that defines BMX, we can further explore and begin to understand what are the historical eras of BMX without using the terms Old, Mid, and New School. But I will leave that topic for the next article.
Sport
Sport is the conscious act of participating in BMX on a competitive level. Entering a BMX Race or Freestyle competition and competing against others for points for a podium place. There are rules to follow and guidelines to abide by. Racing is built around the concept of being a sport. While Freestyle is a sport, one does not need to compete to be a Freestyler.
Industry
Industry is where a registered company or business sells items to make profit and pays taxes. These businesses consist of manufacturing, retail, media, events organisation and promotion. The industry is a necessity to make bikes and other parts easily assessible to the BMX community.
Culture
Culture is the creative and artistic outlet, enjoyment, the lifestyle, and conscious engagement within the racing and freestyle communities. It does not seek profit like the industry does and engages BMX outside of a competitive capacity. Essentially it is the soul of BMX.
As you can see in the pie chart, racing has a larger sport ratio to freestyle. This is because the aim of BMX Racing is to compete and win. It is not really a social or cultural event. Whereas the majority of freestylers don’t actually compete. Back in the 80s and 90s the majority of freestylers competed but the introduction of street riding during the late 80s also introduced the choice to ride for creative expression. In today’s world, there are less freestylers competing in competitions than ‘cultural’ riders. In terms of industry, both Racing and Freestyle have their ratios of BMX business. It would be fair to say the Freestyle industry is larger and sell more bikes and accessories as Freestyle is unstructured and the bike can be used for sporting and non-sporting use. Whereas a racing bike is purely designed for performance use.
A breakdown of Racings and Freestyle’s Sport, Industry and Culture.
Freestyle – Sport
Definition:
Sport is the traditional competition or contest component to Freestyle. It is where a rider enters a competition consisting of rules or guidelines. Each rider is awarded points based on a number of factors (mostly based on trick difficulty and consistency) for a podium place. This competition/contest could be a small local organised event or a large event with corporate sponsorship. An example of these events includes the AFA contest series, BS contests series, the X Games, FISE, the Vans Pro Cup, etc. In 2020, Freestyle will be featured as an Olympic sport for the first time.
Freestyle – Industry
Definition:
The Freestyle Industry consists of registered business that sell to the public. Bikes are needed to keep riders rolling. In order continue the growth and progression of freestyle, the Industry is required to keep people on bikes. These businesses consist of manufacturing, retail, media, events organisation and promotion.
Freestyle – Culture
Definition:
Culture is the creative progression which allows Freestyle, as competitive or non-competitive sport or lifestyle, to evolve. Examples include:
- The progression of trick riding or style through non-competition riding and riders.
- Progression and evolution. Pushing freestyle to new boundaries in a non-competitive structure or environment. An example of this was the evolution of street riding in the late 80s. Riders wanted to express themselves without branding, uniforms and structure generally found at the AFA contests. This style of riding was a massive cultural shift in Freestyle which made the scene more underground.
- Jams and roots events. Events not regulated with points, rules or formats. These events are more relaxed and get everyone riding together and having a great time.
- Creative Media. Media that isn’t intended to make money or grow like a business. Intended to document riding and continue the progression of Freestyle. Video and photography are the most popular mediums.
- Lifestyle. Freestyle as a way of life and expressing yourself through riding.
- History. The study of past events of Freestyle. Although Freestyle has been documented in the past, there is an increased interest in understanding the sport, culture, and industry.
- Innovation. The innovation of bikes and parts as a functional tool.
Racing – Sport
Definition:
Sport is the largest component to Racing. Without competition, essentially there is no racing. Racing is where a rider competes against other riders on a purpose built track with jumps and a finish line. Essentially, the first one over the line, wins.
Racing – Industry
Definition:
Much like the Freestyle Industry, the Racing Industry consists of registered businesses that sell to the public. It can be argued the Racing Industry is smaller than Freestyle as Racing bikes are generally designed to be used only on a BMX track. These businesses consist of manufacturing, retail, media, events organisation and promotion.
Racing – Culture
Definition:
Racing Culture is the smallest part of the pie. Where Freestyle is heavy in culture due to the push in creativity and the freedom to explore, I believe Racing Culture is restricted by their regulations and governing bodies. Racing presents culture through magazines, riders social media accounts and club events. Essentially, Racing culture is limited because they are bound by governing bodies and regulation.
As we have discussed earlier, Mainstream BMX has never really been identified as a component to BMX. This is mostly because it isn’t a sport. That said it is a legitimate part of BMX and it continues to grow.
Mainstream – Transport / Leisure
Definition:
Transport and Leisure is the largest component to Mainstream BMX. Mainstream BMX is the use of BMX bike traditionally used for sport but utilised for transport or experimentation (a leisure activity). For example; if a Formula One car is used for F1 racing and regular car is used as a form of transport. It may have similar characteristics like a body, steering wheel, brakes and wheels but the conscious act and use is very different.
Mainstream – Industry
Definition:
Much like the Racing and Freestyle Industry, the Mainstream BMX Industry consists of registered businesses that sell to the public. BMX Transport or leisure use can be considered a crucial part to overall BMX sales. This comes back to a BMX bike being a mode of transport, experimentation and commercial youth culture.
Mainstream – Experience / Hobby
Definition:
As we have discussed before, Mainstream BMX allows anyone to experiment on a BMX. In recent times BMX Collecting, social BMX rides and new forms of BMX such as BMX LIFE or the 29inch wheel culture have become popular. It is not a sport like Racing or Freestyle and does not share the same cultural characteristics of Racing or Freestyle. BMX Collectors have their own community, events and ways to creatively build bikes from specific eras derived from Racing and Freestyle.
How Can We Apply the Terms Sport, Industry, and Culture to Freestyle?
The people who run our industry today are the kids who have lived Freestyle in the past 20 to 30 years. Freestyle has come full circle. The riders from the sporting and cultural backgrounds are now the leaders of the industry. Sport, Industry and Culture cannot exist without the other. The definitions behind Sport, Industry and Culture encapsulate everything that has occurred in freestyle history.
Previously, the Freestyle community hasn’t really needed to explore or reflect on our past. Freestyle is a living breathing entity based on the rider-owned, rider-run philosophy. Freestyle is about the moment, not the past. Historically, Freestyle has proven it has the strength to live through recessions both within the industry and in the capacity of their own riders. Unlike the past, the industry is now self-sufficient and self-regulated and can adapt to change. Enough time and experience has passed that we can learn from Freestyle’s success and mistakes. But how will we know what we are looking at if we don’t know how to define Freestyle?
By using the terms Sport, Industry and Culture, we can create a foundation of general language and understanding of how Freestyle works. We can apply this to practical day-to-day conversations, the promotion of BMX to the general public and utilise these categories for BMX award ceremonies such as Hall of Fame events. If Freestyle is considered more of a cultural form of BMX or a way of life, shouldn’t we be promoting it as such? To the broader population, Freestyle is considered an extreme sport thanks to events such as the X-Games. If we were to introduce Freestyle as a culture through media and general topics of discussions, it will help define what Freestyle truly is.
How Can We Move Forward and Adapt These Definitions?
It is easy to sit back and let the communities within BMX define BMX in the status quo. But why would we? Let’s begin the process of exploring how we should define these BMX types. If you think this article missed the mark, bring constructive discussion to the table. If you agree with what I have written, lets utilise these terms. Once we understand what it is that defines BMX, we can further explore and begin to understand what are the historical eras of BMX without using the terms Old, Mid, and New School. But I will leave that topic for the next article.
Responses
"Orange"
10/4/19
I would like to offer a slightly different angle on why freestyle and racing diverged from each other. This is not to say that I think your analysis is wrong. Far from it but maybe we can stretch it out a bit. So here goes. My feeling is that racing and freestyle diverged due differing cultural attitudes with regard to what competition is for. Racing followes the model of traditional sports whereby one specific outcome or goal is chosen and the aim is to find out who is the best at that one particular thing. Traditional sports are built on the idea that there must be one person who is objectively better at the thing than their peers. Furthermore traditional sports work on the assumption that the human desire to be "the best" will result in individuals who will continually strive to be better than their peers and in doing so will progress their sport as a whole and so futher the human endeavour to be really good at whatever the sport is. In this case riding a silly little bike around a weird shaped track as fast as possible. And it works. People can ride BMX bikes really fuckin fast now. World records still get broken in BMX and all kinds of sports. Competition leads to progression. But. Traditional sports only allow progression in one direction. Because you need a winner and if you want a winner you have to have rules and regulations, a narrowly defined objective and a simple way to objectively measure the outcome. In my opinion the culture of freestyle agrees with the idea that competition, or at least competitiveness, leads to progression but feels that winners and losers are unnecessary due to the restrictions they impose on progression. If you get rid of the necessity to win you open up the possibility of progressing in all manner of directions. This lead to a much richer multitude of outcomes that can't really be judged against one another but are all uniquely awesome. The idea that competition leads to progression works on multiple levels in freestyle depending on where particular riders sit on the spectrum of competiveness. Super competitive riders will follow more narrowly defined goals and progress their riding and freestyle as a whole in one direction while other riders, perhaps presenting themselves in opposition to being super competitive, will push in different directions. In freestyle competition isn't really used to find out who is the best but as a catalyst to make cool shit happen. Now this idea is dangerous. The idea that traditional competition with winners and losers is just a healthy part of human nature is an idea that's fundamental to the way our western capitalist society functions. Racing, by sticking to the traditional way of doing sports, is helping to maintain this part of capitist ideology while freestyle is actively subverting it and offering an alternative. It's not just that freestyle has less of a sports element but a different view on how sport and by extension society could, and probably should, be organised.
10/4/19
I would like to offer a slightly different angle on why freestyle and racing diverged from each other. This is not to say that I think your analysis is wrong. Far from it but maybe we can stretch it out a bit. So here goes. My feeling is that racing and freestyle diverged due differing cultural attitudes with regard to what competition is for. Racing followes the model of traditional sports whereby one specific outcome or goal is chosen and the aim is to find out who is the best at that one particular thing. Traditional sports are built on the idea that there must be one person who is objectively better at the thing than their peers. Furthermore traditional sports work on the assumption that the human desire to be "the best" will result in individuals who will continually strive to be better than their peers and in doing so will progress their sport as a whole and so futher the human endeavour to be really good at whatever the sport is. In this case riding a silly little bike around a weird shaped track as fast as possible. And it works. People can ride BMX bikes really fuckin fast now. World records still get broken in BMX and all kinds of sports. Competition leads to progression. But. Traditional sports only allow progression in one direction. Because you need a winner and if you want a winner you have to have rules and regulations, a narrowly defined objective and a simple way to objectively measure the outcome. In my opinion the culture of freestyle agrees with the idea that competition, or at least competitiveness, leads to progression but feels that winners and losers are unnecessary due to the restrictions they impose on progression. If you get rid of the necessity to win you open up the possibility of progressing in all manner of directions. This lead to a much richer multitude of outcomes that can't really be judged against one another but are all uniquely awesome. The idea that competition leads to progression works on multiple levels in freestyle depending on where particular riders sit on the spectrum of competiveness. Super competitive riders will follow more narrowly defined goals and progress their riding and freestyle as a whole in one direction while other riders, perhaps presenting themselves in opposition to being super competitive, will push in different directions. In freestyle competition isn't really used to find out who is the best but as a catalyst to make cool shit happen. Now this idea is dangerous. The idea that traditional competition with winners and losers is just a healthy part of human nature is an idea that's fundamental to the way our western capitalist society functions. Racing, by sticking to the traditional way of doing sports, is helping to maintain this part of capitist ideology while freestyle is actively subverting it and offering an alternative. It's not just that freestyle has less of a sports element but a different view on how sport and by extension society could, and probably should, be organised.