[cmc]

i like to think i know my BMX roots pretty well (having started in '80 then getting serious from '86 onward).

but talking to someone recently at the trails, i realized that even though i've been riding 26" for the last 3 years, i don't know shlt about mtb history. i do remember seeing brian lopes jumping on covers of mtb action etc, but i think i thought it was just a bmx'er crossin over for a photoshoot paycheck rather than something people actually did !

1) what was the first frame that was spec'd as being a "dirt jumper" (rather than just DH or Freeride)
2) when was the first mtb dirt jump contest ?
3) is anyone considered a pioneer of 26" park riding ?
4) when was the first 4x race ?

 

[BH1]

1st post for me! ... even though I've had the acct for 5 years! haha

1) what was the first frame that was spec'd as being a "dirt jumper"
Unsure as to which was the very first specific, but I think in 99 Kona was producing their "out of bounds" hardtails (Chute and Roast) and soon after described them as Dirt Jumping bikes. In 2002/2003 the Specialized P.1 was sold as a specific DJ/Street bike. After that it seemed like everyone was producing DJ frames.

2) when was the first mtb dirt jump contest ?
The 2001 Redbull BikeBattle in Boston? That was a kind of mix-match of trials and ramps though.

3) is anyone considered a pioneer of 26" park riding ?
Aaron Chase

4) when was the first 4x race ?
Not a clue, but I'd suspect it was around 2000/2001.

 

[TortugaTonta]

I bought a gt ruckus in 2000 or 2001, not quite sure. It was a solid dj/trail bike that served me well for many years, I even did a 24hr xc race on it.

Kyle Straight showed up to a contest on a 26 when he was 14, he got a lot of static, but TJ Lavin was like "if he can shred I don't care what size his wheels are"

I guess most people would think of Chase as the pioneer, but there were a lot of guys shredin park and flat land on 26 around the same time. I guess they just didn't promote themselves as well.

 

[kidwoo]

Shaums march showed all the white dudes how to jump.


True story.

 

[scag]

Eddie Roman's Hammertime on Vimeo

lots of mtb trails segments from the early 90's...

 

[SuspectDevice]

The first specific dirt jump mountainbike was our (Spooky's) Metalhead in 1997.

The UK has been having mtb dirt contests since at least '95.

People have been riding mtb's in parks for a long time, but it really started taking off in the US circa '96. Chase and Ebbot were the first to get much US coverage, but some of the brits were pretty nasty in the park then (difference between concrete bowl parks and Eastcoast plywood?)

OG bmx is pretty 4xish, but the first 4man races of the "mtb" era were the Plymoth Bikercross and Planit Goldrush in '96-7(Carter's Glen Helen race was in.. '99? Lopes and CG were on Cannondale...) Dual and DS were considerably more popular, rider numbers wise than 4x has ever been....

 

[BH1]

The first specific dirt jump mountainbike was our (Spooky's) Metalhead in 1997.

How in the world could I have forgotten about that bike!!? I had one for christ sake! haha.

F.T.W., Living legend.

 

[TheTruth]

jeff lenosky did some skatepark stuff

 

[sixgun_sound]

http://www.vimeo.com/3585895

lots of mtb trails segments from the early 90's...

I KNOW I saw that video as a kid, but I can't remember where, and I definitely don't remember it featuring mountain bikes! That video has some AWESOME backyard setups.

 

[buckoW]

I saw Dave Cullinan jumping on a Schwinn at Hidden Valley in Durango in like '96?

The Chapman Hill DS course in Durango was also being shredded already by like '96 if I remember correctly. Missy Giove was a coach for the college team and I remember a full carbon DS bike from BCD getting ridden very hard by Alex himself.

Wasn't that Azonic DS bike from around the same time? I also remember some Chameleons and Hecklers built up as Slalom and DJ bikes as well.

The concrete bowls in Durango also got ridden pretty hard by MTB pros and I think they were built in '96 but I am not sure the year exactly.

 

[trib]

In the Uk scene DMR were huge, they bought out their copy of the shimano dx pedal in 95 and their Trailstar and sidekick frames followed shortly.

Guys like Lenosky and Cowan were pretty instrumental in getting media coverage of street and dirt riding.

santa cruz chameleons, gt zaskars and spookys were some of the original 'hardcore hardtails' with the spooky being the first specific dirt bike. Soon after spooky, kona, azonic, curtis, dmr, 24-7, on-one and ellsowrth came out with dirt hardtails.

This is just from what i can remember from MBUK magazine back in the day. Im sure i've missed some brands and riders

 

[jasride]

I used to and still do love to watch the " SPRUNG " video series. Awesome mix of a whole lot of dj, slalom, some dh, little moto, and lots of uk spots on hardtails. Good music and videos.

I got back into riding in like 2000 and picked up a Kona Scrap, then onto a Kona Roast.
Now back on a 24" race cruiser!!! ha

 

[cmc]

http://www.vimeo.com/3585895

lots of mtb trails segments from the early 90's...

eddie roman's Hammertime. wow, never saw that. crazy.

* the backyard trails at 12:11 ! that's my kind of 'pump track'. heh heh.

* bmx'ers thinking they had to wear xc-mtb gear to ride an mtb (or being required to by sponsor?), like Fuzzy at 15:00

* chad herrington doing same tricks from Head First and Ride On.

* i love the sheep hills footage at 14:00

* taco'ing wheels. herrington: "Rims are one of the thing the mountain bike industry needs to fix up a little bit" 18:20

* "In the beginning was the BMX bike" 21:00

* Matt Hoffman's 5th time ever jumping on a mtb = a backflip 23:00

nice.


just as i was thinking wow Decline or DIRT UK needs to interview Roman about this video, I found they did: http://dirtmag.co.uk/news/category/videos/eddie-roman-hammertime-interview/d

 

[don]

I would have to agree on Mickey's post about Spooky putting out the first 26" specific DJ frame. BMW's original Park Bike was out pretty damn close to that time frame too although probably not specified as a DJ bike it was built for aggro riding.

There was lots of BMX crossover - BMX in the early 90's suffering from a big hangover from the 80's rock star phaze and dudes wanted to get paid some money. I remember seeing names on the screen at a Mt. Snow's DS race in the mid 90's and it looked like an NBL National.

I was just another crossover myself - bought a Specialized Rockhopper Comp for college in Vermont in '88. I remember it had a slightly sloped top tube which I thought was sorta BMX style. The roadies at the local shop said I needed a 19" but I wanted a smaller one bad to whip around. Rode that thing on the benches and stairs and whatever jumpable stuff I could fine around Burlington and Winooski VT until the fork bent and I traded parts until I sold it for a ski pass. Ended up riding my old Profile race cruiser for my senior year.

And, I don't have any pics but in '94 I bought a Kona Lava Dome and threw on some 3" rise BMX mini bars and jumped that thing on my old BMX practice track at my parent's backyard. Bent the bars and threw back on the flat XC ones when I had it in Boston. I DO have a pic someplace of me in '95 throwing a tabletop on a "dirtjump" in Cambridge, MA - actually a mound of baseball dirt behind a backstop.

I'd put a vote in for the Sprung series and East Coast HardCore as the first "serious" movies that had a lot of big bike DJ and park riding after Roman's Hammertime.

 

[don]

After a quick search I found this old "mtb DJ" pic of me.

Must have been in late '97 or '98 as I got that Rhygin frame for my wedding in '97. This was during the middle of XC ride at the local woods.

 

[aaronrocker]

man when i tore my acl in high school, i thought i invented mtbmx because i couldnt ride my little bike anymore so i rode a mtb like it was a bmx

 

[stino]

man when i tore my acl in high school, i thought i invented mtbmx because i couldnt ride my little bike anymore so i rode a mtb like it was a bmx

haha same here, I had a DMR sidekick and rode it with a singlespeed setup consisting of one-piece Haro race cranks and a 44T sprocket in front, and shimano cog with all chainwheels removed and replaced with spacers except one (can't believe people nowadays actually pay money for that), plus rigid forks and bmx type gips.
I came up with the idea all by myself, and nobody around here had seen it before (probably existed though, but internet back then wasn't as widespread as it is know), and more often than not we had to beg park owners for entering although after they saw me riding they mostly were like "wow I had no idea you can ride street with such wheels". Upon arriving somewhere you could see all bmx guys thinking "wtf are they doing here"; then we started riding (i was into tiretaps/abubacas/fufanus/pedalgrinds, my friend could do perfectly flat tabletops, x-ups etc) and there eyes glazed like they didn't believe what they were seeing, and most of the time they changed their minds immedeately and came over or a chat.
It kinda felt like pioneering, but I guess it's one of those things that get 'invented' by different people in different places at the same time.

 

[cmc]

haha same here, I had a DMR sidekick and rode it with a singlespeed setup consisting of one-piece Haro race cranks and a 44T sprocket in front, and shimano cog with all chainwheels removed and replaced with spacers except one (can't believe people nowadays actually pay money for that), plus rigid forks and bmx type gips.
I came up with the idea all by myself, and nobody around here had seen it before (probably existed though, but internet back then wasn't as widespread as it is know), and more often than not we had to beg park owners for entering although after they saw me riding they mostly were like "wow I had no idea you can ride street with such wheels". Upon arriving somewhere you could see all bmx guys thinking "wtf are they doing here"; then we started riding (i was into tiretaps/abubacas/fufanus/pedalgrinds, my friend could do perfectly flat tabletops, x-ups etc) and there eyes glazed like they didn't believe what they were seeing, and most of the time they changed their minds immedeately and came over or a chat.
It kinda felt like pioneering, but I guess it's one of those things that get 'invented' by different people in different places at the same time.

weird how that 'pioneering' is still going on. city by city, scene by scene. seems like people can see things on the web or hear about it, but it's not until it's in front of their face do they really get it....

 

[William42]

http://www.vimeo.com/3585895

lots of mtb trails segments from the early 90's...

the drop at 10:03 makes me ashamed to b1tch and moan about drops to flat.

 

[Leethal]

Aaron Chase gave props to Marco Vukcevich in some of the early Matchvideozines....there is very old footage of him riding very well at the old Chenga parks in Cleveland.

 

[Stubecontinued]

in more than one way, but these guys were killing it on bikes like the one I use as a commuter, that is sick!

anybody have more extreme MTB from BITD??

 

[Pip3r]

Headliners from 97 had some good jumping w/ Cully and Lopes in it. The early Sprung videos as well. I beleive Sprung 3 had some indoor dirt comp with dudes on real sketchy bikes sending it

 

[fletch_tx]

Aaron Chase and Jeff Lenosky definitely gave 26" some cred.....

My first 26" DJ was the Balfa Minuteman....pretty popular back then, but that was after the 90's....

 

[cmc]

The first specific dirt jump mountainbike was our (Spooky's) Metalhead in 1997.

The UK has been having mtb dirt contests since at least '95.

People have been riding mtb's in parks for a long time, but it really started taking off in the US circa '96. Chase and Ebbot were the first to get much US coverage, but some of the brits were pretty nasty in the park then (difference between concrete bowl parks and Eastcoast plywood?)

OG bmx is pretty 4xish, but the first 4man races of the "mtb" era were the Plymoth Bikercross and Planit Goldrush in '96-7(Carter's Glen Helen race was in.. '99? Lopes and CG were on Cannondale...) Dual and DS were considerably more popular, rider numbers wise than 4x has ever been....

Thread bump (inspired by other thread, and Plussizebmx.com post about Eddie Roman's "Hammertime.")

At that time I was driving around with two bikes. An S&M Widowmaker 24" for trails, and a 20" for street which I was constantly trading frames. (S&M Holmes, Homeless 'Pornstar', Hoffman TAJ, Standard STA etc.) .......

This kinda makes me want to find a Metalhead and ride the bike I should have started riding in '97 !! Anybody got one?

 

[TortugaTonta]

Funny to see my buddy Jim in that hammertime vid, he still has that gt lts hanging in his basement

 

[SuspectDevice]

This kinda makes me want to find a Metalhead and ride the bike I should have started riding in '97 !! Anybody got one?

So...
I've been mulling this over forever.
We still have all the tooling and cnc files for the original Metalhead frames. I need to make at least 30 to make them not wicked wicked expensive. The geo is freaking fun and they'd be more than strong enough for today's riding but you can't get the stays shorter than 16.25" without new top and bottom yokes.
Maybe it's just because I've ridden mine for 14 years now but the damn things are awesome seat-down flat-out flat pedal commuters. I made a 9" deep rut inside one dirt corner to and from work last spring...

Clearly it seems like a bad idea to make a bike that doesn't have the hippest numbers but there are tons of nuts out there, especially in the UK, that just might buy one, especially since i have the original graphics kits, catalogs, etc stashed away...

It seems like something like that would work in bmx but in the mtb world, well, who knows?

 

[mr.niles]

a long time ago in socal, 1980-1982'ish, some of the local tracks used to host a "dad's" race on normal sunday events. well, the dad's would race on beach cruisers. i remember steve boehmke had a full beard at 17 yrs old and would go out and just kill all the dads. i remember he tricked out his cruiser a bit, too. so, some of the pros started taking to this and before you know it you had om, pk and others out there riding really tricked out beach cruiser like bikes. obviously those dudes could really send it. so, maybe those could be considered ancient dj bikes. despite mtb's history of the birth of the mtb in marin, i feel those tricked out cruisers were more similar to our current hardtail mtbs more than any breezer.