BMX History Time Line Is Challenged?
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What do you know about BMX History? We have sat here for a few years now wondering what is and is not with BMX. In the last few days Iv had a few youths at a middle school send me some emails asking me about the History Of BMX. Iv feed them with what the most of us know, The roots of BMX was in the mid-1960s, but that got me to thinking some the last few days, -- Is that true or not true? Back in year 2006 Fatbmx web site pushed out a PR that made me stop and think some about BMX history. The PR somewhat puts a dent in to the mid-1960s thing by showing a book about BMX in 1956. Some of you may remember seeing this PR ( a copy of it posted down below ) But this PR does bring up BIG questions about the history of BMX. -- What is the truth of BMX? We at Genesbmx.com ask, What true years did BMX start in? We are somewhat challenged with the Fatbmx web site PR. The most of the tagged bmx history listed is used by all of the BMX Sanctions and a lot of world press today,... BMX is a popular sport of millions of riders and can trace its roots directly to Schwinn, with the first BMX riders taking to the BMX tracks on modified Sting-Rays in the mid-1960s. Schwinn BMX Catalogs Time Line - Showing today dated back to 1964. * www.genesbmx.com/schwinn-bmx-catalogs.html What is BMX? - BMX stands for Bicycle Motocross. This sport originated in the 60s when kids from California wanted to mimic their motocross heros. Many kids were too young to handle motorcycles since all of the motorcycles were very large and heavy then. Some parents thought that motocross was to dangerous for their children, and those who didn`t have a problem with it couldn`t afford a motorcycle. These kids started building hills in vacant lots to jump with their regular bicycles. They soon developed courses, or tracks, with hills, turns, and other obstacles to have unorganized races on. The kids didn't know it then, but they were forming a new sport that would become one of the most popoular extreme sports ever. Since the sport was like motocross, but on a bicycle, they called it Bicycle Motocross, or BMX, with the "B" standing for bicycle, the "M" standing for moto, and the "X" standing for cross. BMX Bicycling is for people of all ages. Starting about 3 to 4 y/o all the way up to 75 y/o If one can pedal a bike, one can ride/race/freestyle. BMX is a fun family sport for anyone... ~~ BMX In Depth, THE DISCIPLINE'S ORIGIN Bicycle moto cross (BMX) started in the late 1960s in California, around the time that motocross became a popular sport in the USA. The motorised version of the sport was the inspiration for the human-powered competition. Children and teenagers with the desire but not the means to participate in motocross sated their appetite by racing bicycles on self-built tracks. BMX racing offered exciting action at a low cost, close to home. It is easy to see why the sport was an instant hit. In California the sport was more popular than anywhere else. During the early 1970s a sanctioning body for BMX was founded in the USA. This is considered as the official start of BMX racing. As that decade progressed, the sport was introduced on other continents too, among them Europe in 1978. In April 1981, the International BMX Federation was founded, and the first world championships were held in 1982. BMX rapidly developed as a unique sporting entity, and after several years clearly had more in common with cycling than motorcycling codes. Thus, since January 1993 BMX has been fully integrated into the International Cycling Union. On the 29th of June 2003, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to include BMX in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. See: www.genesbmx.com/2008-bmx-olympics.html BMX races are held on circuits of around 350 metres, including jumps, banked corners and other obstacles. Eight riders compete in each heat (qualifying rounds, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals), with the top four qualifying for the next round. Individual Men | individual Women. ~~BMX Bicycle Motocross in Holland in 1956 ~~ FAT BMX NEWS Editorial : -- 12/10/2006 History class never appealed to me. I dropped it as soon as I could. When it comes to BMX history, it's a different story. You see I've always thought that BMX originated in the USA in the late sixties until I walked passed a bookstore the other day.  On the poster in the shop window was a picture of two kids riding bikes at a "fietscross" in 1956. The photo was taken in St.-Anthonis, Holland 15 miles from the FATBMX office. I walked in the store, searching for the mag and found "Ach Lieve Tijd". The 4.95 cover prize was a steal for a piece of BMX history.  A quick search for more BMX pics was a negative but a story about Motocross I found. It mentioned that the sport of Motocross was started in the Netherlands on modified Nortons, DKW's and BSA's. Seeing that there is a truth to this, it is acceptable to believe that there were kids around pretending they had motorcycles but riding their bikes instead. Bicycle Motocross anyone? It's hard to beat the date of the organized BMX race on Queensday of 1956. The Bultaco's and Montesa's had not made it to the USA yet and Scott Breithaupt wasn't even born. Greetings from Holland, the country where BMX was born. BdJ - It ain't much if it ain't Dutch. ( CC - Fatbmx web site )  More Information Can Be Found At: http://www.universityofbmx.com * www.universityofbmx.com/index.phpview=article&id=70&Itemid=56 * http://www.navada.net/univofbmx/univofbmx/f5_2007_mx_families.htm _______________________________________________________________ The first Bicycle Motocross film (1957 oldschool BMX) Amersfoort, Netherlands  www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk9XVi0Gp1g This is a short clip of what probably is the first bicycle motocross action captured on film. With this new piece of evidence the History of BMX has now been rewritten. Bicycle motocross was born in the Netherlands. It was filmed in 1957 in Amersfoort, Netherlands. This film was shown to public for the first time at the 2009 Old School BMX Reunion at Slagharen, Netherlands on 10/22/2009. _______________________________________________________________ ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5hSsay6DHI ) 1899 - IMDB entry - Bicycle Trick Riding No. 2. * Bicycle Trick Riding, No. 2 / Thomas A. Edison, Inc. 1899 |
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