Flatland BMX

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Flatland BMX rider, 'scuffing' the back wheel, at Santa Monica beach

Flatland is a freestyle BMX riding style performed on smooth flat surfaces that do not include any ramps, jumps, or grindrails. It is sometimes described as a blend of breakdancing, ballet, or figure skating on a bicycle.

Flatland occupies a position somewhat removed from the rest of freestyle BMX. People who ride in the above disciplines will generally take part in at least one of the others, but flatlanders tend to only ride flatland. They are often very dedicated, and will spend several hours a day perfecting their techniques.

Flatland also differs from the others in that the terrain used is nothing but a smooth, flat surface. Tricks are performed by spinning and balancing on the bike in a variety of unexpected positions. Riders almost always use gnurled aluminum pegs to stand on to manipulate the bike into even stranger positions.

Flatland bikes typically have a shorter wheelbase than other freestyle bikes. This shorter wheelbase requires less effort to make the bike spin or to position the bike on one wheel. One of the primary reasons flatlanders often ride only flatland is the decreased stability of using their shorter bikes on ramps, dirt and street.

A variety of options is commonly found on flatland bikes. The most unifying feature of flatland bikes is the use of four pegs, one on the end of each wheel axle. Flatland riders will choose to run either a front brake, a rear brake, both brakes, or no brakes at all, depending on stylistic preference.

1 The flatland bike
2 Style
3 Flatland tricks
4 External links

[edit] The flatland bike

Although the flatland bicycle is similar to most other BMX bicycles, flatland is often performed with specially designed frames with geometry (head tube angle, top tube length, etc)suited to the needs of a flatland rider. Front and rear bolt-on or screw-on axle pegs, a hollow compression bolt on the forks for the front brake cable, and a rear brake cable detangler or "Gyro" to allow the bars to rotate endlessly without tangling the brake cables. Also invented specifically for flatland BMX riding is the rear hub mechanism known as a "freecoaster", which allows the rear wheel to roll backwards without engaging the hub to make the pedals rotate backwards as they would on a normal freewheel or cassette style hub. Other technical bicycle setup specifics can include zero offset forks, narrow handlebars, very high pressure tires, and a very small front sprocket. But in theory, any BMX bike with axle pegs could be used for flatland riding, although a good bike makes a big difference to the rider.

[edit] Style

In competition, talent and skill are judged by the ability to maintain coordination, and balance while performing a variety of difficult and elegant moves. There are usually several categories for judging purposes which can include:

number of touches: the number of times a trick is not completed and/or the number of touches of the foot to the ground
number of tricks completed in the allotted time
difficulty of the tricks, which can be very subjective, as flatland BMX techniques have in many ways become as refined as those in figure skating or breakdancing
originality of the tricks performed, which again can be somewhat subjective
style and flow, or how smoothly and/or stylishly moves are performed during the contest run

Flatland is an involving, time-consuming discipline in which the rider learns different balance/counter-balance points and center-of-gravity in motion techniques through repetition and trial-and-error. Some tricks can be learned in hours, while others may take years to master.

Various riders emphasize different aspects of the discipline: the artistic nature of flatland and the originality of tricks, the number and difficulty of tricks, or the simple enjoyment of the activity. Only contest riders need to be concerned with the competitive side of the discipline, as there are many riders who prefer doing shows, taking parts in videos, or simply riding with their friends and enjoying themselves.

Riders usually pedal a few times for speed, and then perform various stunts often involving difficult and/or awkward stances on pegs, mounted to the axles of their front or back wheels. Pegs are hollow metal tubes, which are bolted onto both sides of the front and back axles. When flatland riding first began, most riders would do one trick and then return to the pedals. However, by combining different body and bicycle positions into "combos" and "linking" them together, riders began to do several tricks in a row without stopping between each move. Flatland riding is now usually a combination of many different kinds of moves, often linked together nonstop as the rider goes through as many as 10-12 consecutive moves, and position/direction changes, before returning to the pedals.

Notable flatland BMX riders include Bob Haro, Kevin Jones, Chase Gouin, Ross Smith, Effraim Catlow, Pete Brandt, Jesse Puente, Chad Degroot, Trevor Meyer, Simon O'Brien, Martti Kuoppa, Michael Steingraber, Chad Johnston, Matt Wilhelm, Phil Dolan, Cory Fester, Art Thomason, Morisake Hiroya, Stephan Cerra, Terry Adams, Viki Gomes, Mathias Dandois, Raphael Chiquet, Justin Miller, Adam Kun, Alex Jumelin, Kurt Von Stetten, Peter Sarlos, Sam Foakes, Nathan Penonzec, Chirs Böhm, Bram Varhallen, Wolfgang Sauter, Sven Steinbach, and Tanaka Kotaro.

[edit] Flatland tricks

G-Turn - Whipping the back frame into a spinning backwards rolling endo with feet on the pedals
Decade - Lifting the front wheel up and kicking the body over the top tube and usually catching the other side of the frame, pedals, or pegs
Rolaid - Same as a decade, but rolling and without brake tapping. The Decade and Rolaid can be done in multiples
Whiplash - Pushing the frame around the bike while stepping over the pegs for each rotation while rolling
Cliffhanger - A rolling endo with one foot on each front peg and the torso behind the seat for a balance point
Hang-5 - Placing one foot on one of the front pegs and pulling the frame up until seat meets contact and a balance point is established; a rolling endo. The foot not on the peg hangs down and is used as a counter balance.
Hang-10 - Similar to the Hang-5, but with a foot on either peg.
Hang-nothing - Similar to the Hang-5 but without either foot on the peg. Both feet are used as a counterbalance.
Elbow-Glide - Placing one foot on one of the front pegs with one side of the body and the opposite elbow tucked with the seat to control the balance point
Hitchhiker - Tilting the bike completely forward on the front wheel while rolling, standing both feet on the front pegs; holding the bike in front of you, by the underside of the backwheel or holding an axle peg.
Backpacker - Related to the Hitchhiker, but with the body positioned forward with the bike behind the body.
Cow maneouvre - Placing the frame up and tucking a rotation on the pegs backwards into the pedals; this trick has many variants and can be performed without brakes (Chase Gouin)
Surfer - Placing one foot on the seat and one foot on the handlebars while rolling; popular in some videos and commercials
Scurfer - Same as the Surfer, but with only one foot on the handlebars
Deathtruck - Rolling a back peg wheelie and pulling the body over the handlebars; one of the most feared tricks in Flatland BMX not because of its difficulty, but because of the tangled bail
Bar Ride - Placing both feet on the grips of the bars and using only the torso and hands for a balance point while rolling
Backyard - A scuffing trick performed by a foot push and control on the tires, while facing away from the frame on the back pegs
Gerator (also "lardyard") - Similar to the backyard, but holding on to one handlegrip while and scuffing more off the side and back while scuffing in a circle
Megaspin - Spinning on the back tire in a circular motion

NOTE: These tricks mentioned are a few within the art/sport of Flatland BMX. These tricks and many others have variants and depend on the style of the rider performing them. Also, these tricks can be linked or combined into sequences that could not otherwise be titled.

[edit] External links

Categories: BMX

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Flatland BMX

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] The flatland bike

[edit] Style

[edit] Flatland tricks

[edit] External links

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