BMX

The 1960s saw the increasing popularity of motocross, and spurred the creation of a non-motorized version of the sport. This is how BMX came about, with youngsters seeking the excitement and energy of motocross, but restricted both by the cost of the equipment and age limitations on driving. The sport became immediately and enduringly popular in California and, by the early 1970s, BMX had become sufficiently mainstream for a US governing body to be founded. By 1978, BMX had spread to Europe and, in 1980, the first BMX track in the UK was opened in Redditch.
The International BMX Federation was founded in 1981, with the first World Championships held the following year. Having begun as an informal sport sitting somewhere between motocross and cycling, BMX gradually became more formalised and was fully integrated into the International Cycling Union (UCI) in 1993. By 2007, there were 75 national BMX federations with UCI recognition.
BMX freestyle, meanwhile, developed as an independent branch during the 1970's. Drawing on skateboarding, riders on 20-inch bicycles began to develop tricks and stunts in convenient empty spaces - swimming pools, empty reservoirs, storage pits and the like. Such experimentation began in the mid-70's, particularly in the southern Californian cities of San Diego and Santa Monica. The terrain was a water-free substitute for the waves encountered by surfers at sea, but the principle of carving a wave remained. The precise beginnings of each aspect of BMX are hard to pin down, with major milestones occurring in the late 1970s. The first bicycle aerial out of a 'vert bowl', in which the rider and bike become airborne above the level of the riding bowl, happened in 1977, and flatland freestyle tricks emerged at a similar time. The first freestyle show was staged in 1980 by the Bicycle Motocross Action Trick Team.