BMX - Extreme Sport

While the title "extreme sport" now covers a wide selection of different sports and activities, which sports are considered 'extreme' is still being debated. But after years of following sports which many consider to be on the fringe common characteristics have now evolved to describe most extreme sports. Extreme sports tend to have a younger than average participant. Which makes sense considering the physical demands of these sports and the need to be able to recover quickly from injury. Extreme sports are typically not sanctioned by any school. In fact they are often banned on school properly due mainly to liability exposure and we all know lawyers love to troll school grounds just about as much as they like to chase ambulances! Extreme sports are often individual rather than team oriented. Also, extreme athletes tend to get started and train without the aid or direction of coaching. That said the 'Big Bucks' now flowing into the sport has many extreme athletes hiring a trainer or coach after they've had a few wins.

So, is BMX an Extreme Sport - well in 2004 Joe Tomlinson classified extreme sports into air, land, and water sports with BMX landing squarely in the land category. So, the answer is yes!

Although the sport of BMX has evolved into a Big Money Extreme Sport it's still very common to get started as an underground activity at the lowest cost possible. That means starting with a cheap BMX bike. 

Although many might argue that  BMX started with a bunch of California rich kids with nothing better to do than to modify their old Schwinn Stingrays, it is a post which is quiet available to people from all economic levels. In fact some poor neighbourhoods see great BMX riders developing their skill on bikes they built from scrap. It's probably one of the best ways to get started. Scouring a scrap yard for a bike frame that can be built up into a BMX is fun and pretty easy to do. It also means you don't need a lot of money do get started - a cheap bike will do fine. 

So, where can you find a Cheap BMX? Well, the bad news is your're not likely to find a complete BMX bike for cheap. You're going to need to build one. Start by looking for a BMX frame - either a complete bike you can tear down or just an old frame by itself. Cruise around town on garbage pick up day. Especially those days in the spring and fall when they allow junk to be put curb side for pick up. You will be amazed at how many people have a great frame that has been lying in their backyard, basement or garage and they just decide to chuck it. The ultimate is when you come across a vintage Schwinn Krate bike or frame. When you build off of that you've got yourself a classic!

Actually it's said that BMX originated when some California dudes modified their Schwinn Krate Stingrays, found an empty lot to build some BMX ramps and created the sport from scratch right there and then.

It's not a secret that you typically 'get what you pay for' but ghat's a relative and sometimes miss understood phrase. In todays 'entitled' society we tend to boil everything down to money - cash and so we think 'pay' means having big bucks to buy the best. Sure, having the cash can get you the best but there are other ways of paying a price and sometimes this form of payment is the sweetest deal of all. I'm talking about paying with your time and effort. So, as we've been discussing in the HUB finding a cheap BMX bike that is still good quality may mean building it yourself. The trick is to look around and shop around exploring all avenues, literally, for finding a good BMX bike frame. If you can find one in other peoples stuff than you may need to buy one. There are a lot of good deals online for both new and used BMX frames. Many of them are known to have substantial discounts and free shipping. Check out these sites if you are looking for cheap BMX bike frames and complete bikes too:

• Amazon.com 
• Overstock.com 
• PinkBike.com 
• BikeClubInfo.com - This one is a consolidator type site where you will find lots of info about bikes and biking but you'll also find listing from amazon, ebay and overstock.com all in one place.