Select the first letter of the word from the list above to jump to appropriate section of the glossary. If the term you are looking for starts with a digit or symbol, choose the '#' link. Go big.
ABA: American Bicycle Association, an organization that sanctions bmx racing in the United States.
Abubaca: going straight up a ramp and stalling on the back tire on the coping then coming back down the transition backwards and rolling away. The trick was named and invented by Ron Wilkerson.
Alligator Pit: a big gap between two ramp obstacles which could pose danger to a rider if he falls into it.
Alligator Wrestler: term given to 360 backflips when done by Kennan Harkin because of the way it looks like he is wrestling his bike around like a wild beast.
Animal: bike componet company based in the New Jersey area started by Ralph Sinisi.
BACO: Bad ass coping obstacle, bikers against common opinion, company created by Chris Rye, Chad Degroot, Mark Hilson, Dave Friemuth, known for making the best bike videos ever
backside boneless: this name is borrowed from a skateboard trick. It's basically a can-can footplant.
Backtrail: A truckdriver variation invented by
Ryan Nyquist involving doing a barspin one way then spinning them back the other
way during a 360.
Barrel Roll: a flair done
while carving across a ramp.
Barspin: Spinning your bars all the way around in the air or on the ground
Barturn: going off a jump and turning your bars various degrees in either direction.
BMX: Bicycle Motocross- bicycle racing. The term bmx started out as meaning bike racing, but it's meaning has grown. It represents the type of bike ridden by probably everybody who is reading this right now. It can also stand for almost any aspect of bike stunt riding, it's a free word that can represent anything you want it to.
Bonk: when you hit your peg or axle nut or jewel or fork blade or drop out or tire on something real quickly, just a little bonk type deal
Bottom Bracket: spot on your bike where the
down tube, seat tube, and chain stays meet, and where the crank bearings are
housed.
Brake bastard: A device invented by Dave
Jacobs that allows you to use 2 cables for the lower part of your back brakes
instead of regular gyro cable.
Bully Bikes: Bike company started by R.L. Osborn in the 1980's.
bunnyhop: very essential basic bike trick involving riding along and lifting both wheels of your bike off the ground, useful for getting on or over various objects.
busdriver: a barspin where one hand stays on the bars the whole time around, so it looks like you're turning the steering wheel on a bus.
butter: to land something smoothly, such as to butter a 360
buttercup: a perfectly done 360, especially through a rhythm section or over a big set of doubles, just done totally smooth and nosedived just right and landed like splashing butter.
buttertooth: a person with yellow, unclean, scary looking teeth, usually they smile more than normal people so as to show off their prized possessions.
The Cage: fenced in area at Woodward Camp that once housed tennis courts and the wooden rhythm section. It now holds the street course built for B3 events.
can can: when you jump and take a foot off the pedal and stick it over the top tube, looks best when done by Taj
candy bar: a jumping trick consisting of taking
your foot and leg and sticking them between your arms and over the handlebars,
looks pretty gay unless done 10 feet high on
vert.
Catfish: nickname of Zack Yankush,
catfishcatfish.com head honcho.
catwalk: standing up and pedaling down the street with your front tire in the air.
CFB: Crazy Freakin Bikers, a contest series
started in 2000 by Mat Hoffman and associates to give amatuers a venue to do
their manuever and give people a chance to qualify for the X-trials and other
events once ESPN stopped having amateur classes at their X
events.
Chain Stays: tubes on the bike that
run from the bottom braket to the rear dropouts.
Chain
Tensioner: a device used to keep your chain
tight. It's a washer that goes around your axle with a bolt sticking out
of it that has a washer and a nut that rests on the end of your dropout.
Chenga World: The best skatepark in the world, located in North Ridgeville, Ohio, USA.
chunk: as in sprocket chunk, it's like a stall on your sprocket and chain area, same as a disaster.
clicked: when an x-up or other trick is fully extended and cannot be pushed around any farther.
Cloud 9: building at Woodward Camp which houses the resi and foam vert ramp, the big mini-spine ramp, a street course, and a foam and resi box jump.
Coaster Brake: a type of brake built into the back hub of a bike that engages when the pedals are moved backwards. Common on cheap little kid's bikes. When the bike rolls backwards, the pedals do not move such as they do when using a freewheel.
coping: metal pipe type object located on ramps at the top of the transition for the purpose of grinding your pegs on or for other bike stunts.
dead sailor: when a jump goes wrong and the rider can't do a trick and becomes all stiff in the air and lands sorta hard.
decade: basic flatland trick involving bringing the front end of the bike up and jumping around it while holding onto the handlebars and landing back
decadence-deterioration,a falling off in moral or
aesthetic standards or
value, also a real cool clothing company out of the
forsaken town of Ludlow, MA
DGC: Downers
Grove Crew. Group of lads from the Downers Grove, Illinois area.
Including Oliver Leonard, Kevin Porter, Shaun Arrata, Eric Shue, and others.
Dialed: a bike that has been setup very good
DK: bike company from Dayton Ohio, DK stands for Dad and kids.
Dragonfly: A German bmx company
Dreads: a hairstyle that equals chick magnet.
Dropouts: parts of the bike with slots for the axle to slip in to.
Dropping the hammer: when you're rolling in, doing a tailtap, or other stunt and you bonk your back peg down hard on the coping on your way back down into the transition.
Eccentric: deviating from an established or usual pattern or style or deviating from conventional or accepted usage or conduct especially. in odd or whimsical ways.
Endo: a manuever involving the back wheel going into the air while the front wheel remains still on the ground.
E.T.: pedaling in the air while going over a jump, named for the scene in the movie when the lads are pedaling through the air.
Extreme: bike riding is eXtreme.
Fat House: infamous house in Fort Wayne inhabited by the FBM and Scum Clothing crews and their friends until it burnt down.
FBM: Fat Bald Men, fire beer mayhem, Steve Crandal's clothing and bike company out of Ithaca, NY.
Flatbottom: the flat surface of a ramp inbetween the transitions.
flatland: Doing tricks on flat ground, usually nice smooth parking lots. The jedi discipline of bmx involving countless hours of practice to enable a rider to have complete control over his or her bike. It is the hardest form of bike riding, it becomes a dance, rider and bike become one. It involves scuffing, spinning, twisting, turning, barflipping, good balance, and much patience.
Flair: a backflip 180
Feeble Grind: Street or ramp trick where the rear peg is griding on the ledge or coping and the front wheel is rolling along it.
footjam:
freestyle: bicycle stunts, bmx tricks, riding a
bike anyway that you want to ride it, doing tricks for fun, progressing to new
levels of excitement
freewheel: the device
attached to the back hub that the chain goes around and catches so that you can
pedal forward and gain speed or not pedal with the wheel still spinning.
frootbooters: usually annoying little humanoid type creatures with weird plastic coverings at the bottoms of their legs with wheels sticking out of them.
fufunu: trick performed by stalling on the back tire on the coping or edge of a ramp at about a 45 degree angle or so then pulling back in.
Girls: a gender of homosapiens known for their ability to perform evil deeds upon and control the minds of men. Popular girl slogans include " GIRLS ARE EVIL" and "GIRLS ARE ALIENS." The first slogan is well documented and evidence fully supports that claim. The second slogan may or may not actually be true but scientists are working night and day and research is pointing towards the direction that the saying is truthful.
Gipper: the fellow you're supposed to win one for.
Goofy Footed: what a rider is when he rides with the wrong foot forward for the way that he naturally carves.
Goonies: NEVER SAY DIE
Griz-air: pretty much a one footed hannah, head leaned forward over the front wheel, bike straight up and down, one foot sticking out behind you.
GT: big bike company known for it's sponsorship of riders such as Trevor Meyer, Rob Nollie, Jamie Bestwick, Dave Voelker, and Tom Haugan. GT stands for the initials of it's founder, Gary Turner.
gump: a jock or some other dumb type card playing, nice car driving, sport fan, phoney, sister's boyfriend type person.
Gusset: a plate or bracket attached to a tube on a bike for added strength.
Gyro: Part of the braking system on freestyle bikes located near the stem which enables the brakes to still work even when the handlebars have been spun around 523432 times.
Hang-five: rolling forward on the front wheel with one foot on a peg and the other foot hanging in the air to help maintain balance.
Hannah: trick manuever where the bike is pulled straight up and down and your head is leaned over the front wheel
Hardcore: keeping true to your roots, keeping it real, riding everyday for the fun of it, living to ride, riding to live, under any circumstances, not selling out.
Haro: bike company founded by Bob Haro, the inventor of freestyle.
HDT: hardcore drinking team
healclicker: putting your feet in front of you and clicking them together in the air, often seen in motocross, should never be done on a bmx bike.
Helltrack: The legendary bmx track featured in the bmx movie RAD
Hoffman Bikes: company started by vert king Matt Hoffman
Holeshot: in a bmx race, getting the lead right out of the starting gate.
humdinger: W. Casey Burk's goal in life is to collect as many of these as he can from young ladies.
Icepick: stalling on your back peg on a ramp or on street
INFANTRY: 1. corps of
footsoldiers
2. the most unorganized company in bmx freestyle
Jewel: a type of axle nut that looks like a
socket and has an opening for a socket wrench extension on one
end.
Just Ride: a skatepark located
in Anderson, Indiana that burnt down
Kickout: jumping trick involving just kicking your backend out in either direction in the air.
Lawndart: doing a dead sailor and nosediving straight into the ground.
Lip: the top part of a ramp which the rider takes off from.
Lip trick: a stunt or manuever performed on the deck of a ramp close to the coping.
Lookdown: jumping variation involving kciking the back end of the bike out while pulling the front end upwards and turning the bars into your body.
Loose Clothing: clothing company owned by Jay Gauvin from Massachusetts.
Lot 8: building at Woodward Camp where the original foam pit and resi box is located, along with a big vert ramp, bowl, and street obstacles.
L-town: group of riders from the Livonia and Farmington area of Michigan with their own L-Town style of doing things their own way.
Luc-e grind: (pronounced lucky) a stall
or grind using your pedal and back peg on the coping, your front wheel and front
peg hang down below the coping. Invented by John "Luc-e" Engelbert.
MacNeil: Bike company started by Jay Miron after he quit Schwinn. Named after his mother's maiden name.
Manual: street or ramp trick very similar to a wheelie but without pedaling. Backtire is on the ground and rolling and the front tire is held in the air.
Manuever: the first step towards doing a stunt, to make a series of changes in direction and position for a specific purpose
Miami Hopper: flatland position where your bike is in an endo position with your bars turned 90 degrees
Miniramp: ramps used for technical liptricks and
small airs, usually about 4 to 6 feet tall and may include a
spine.
Monster truckin': forcing
yourself and hucking and barreling through or over an obstacle.
Morton Building: building at Woodward Camp that houses a bowl and 2 mini ramps, the building is named after the company that build it.
Mullet: type of furry creature with short hair in the front of it's body and long hair in the back, they breed at rock concerts, country music gatherings, hockey games, and monster truck shows. They hide under seats until they find a good host and then they make their move and plant themselves firmly onto the host's head where they remain until they are driven away by ridicule.
Mulletstick: just don't get hit by one
Munchie: little kids that go to the trails and wreck all the lips with their sprockets
Musketshot: maneuver rumored to be performed by Mark Hilson which cannot be described on this page.
Mustache: "the Mustache"
Nasty-footed: goofy footed rider who rides with their right foot forward and spins clockwise, most goofy footed riders have left foot forward and spin to the left, but the very few people that have the other foot forward when they are goofy footed usually have an uncannily gross riding style.
NBL: National Bicycle League. One of the organizations that sanctions bmx racing in the United States.
Neil Armstrong: first fellow on the moon and a manuever where you put both your feet on the front pegs while jumping through the air.
nosepick: stalling on your front tire
nothing: jumping trick involving taking your hands and feet off of your bike while in the air then putting them back on before landing
OMFUG: abbreviation for Other
Music From the
UnderGround.
OTB:
Over the Bars. When you fall and flip over your handlebars, also the name
of Commercial Bike's first frame.
0n-a-mission: when a hairy looking old school rider is going crazy all over the ramps crashing all over and running into people with a demented look in their eyes trying to prove to themselves and others that they can still do all the crazy stunts they used to be able to do in their prime.
Odyssey: bmx component company, best known for the gryo probably, and these days for hi-quality wheels, handlebars, and other accessories.
oxygen: basic ingredient in water
Pegs: pipe-like extensions sticking out from the axle area of a bike, for use for stunts or for transporting people on.
Pendulum: no-footed can-cans done on both sides of the frame in the same jump.
People: "the People" the trust
worthy, the ones that love you cause they know you will love them too.
A
person you can trust to watch your bike while you run into the store.
Pinky Squeaks: flatland trick involving doing multiple tailwhips while scuffing the tire between each frame rotation.
Play Clothes: clothing company founded by Hal Brindly and now owned by some other fellow.
Poser: a kid with a good bike that doesn't use
it for anything except to ride around and go to the store with. Usually
this kid has a better bike than anybody in the neighborhood and he'll just make
it look nice and buy the best parts but never use them as they are intended to
be used.
Potts mod: a bolt that goes
through the stem and into the forks. It's hollow so a front brake cable
can run through it without getting tangled when the bars are turned around and
around.
Props: quarterly video magazine published by Chris Rye and Marco Masei which features interviews with bmx stunt superstars, coverage of bike contests throughout the world, local scene reports, and other fun stuff.
Quiz: a short test
Rad: 1. The name of the bmx movie that came out in the 1980's with Cru Jones as the good guy racing against the corporate bad guys who were trying to keep him and his people oppressed.
2. awesome, cool
Raditude: looking at somebody while you're in the middle of performing a trick, popularized by Buddha and Rob Nollie, it is believed that Flipper actually made up the word.
Ramp: Wooden structure used as an object to perform bike stunts on.
Ramp up the Jawn: A phrase that originated in Philly, 13th and Vine to be exact. The term originated when local youths were prompting their friend Willy to vault from an object constructed of particle board and cinder block.
Resi: a soft landing for a ramp made with slippery plastic type material placed over mattresses.
RIBCO: Rock Island Bike Company, a division of Standard Byke Company that Joe Rich and Luc-e were supposed to in charge of but besides pegs, nothing ever really happened with it and it just faded away.
Rocket: manuever in which the rider's feet are placed onto the backpegs.
Rock 'n Roll: like doing a feeble stall without using your pegs or pedals, just stalling on your tires then pulling out of it, also when you go up and stall on your sprocket and 180 back out of it, any trick such as that can be labeled a rock n' roll.
Rollers: small dirt lumps on a race track or at trails meant to be rolled or manueled over at high speed.
Sandbagger: somebody that enters a contest at a
lower skill level than they should have because they just want to beat kids that
they know they are better than and win
prizes.
Scuffing: rubbing or dragging your
foot on your tire to gain speed or keep your balance in flatland manuevers.
Seatstays: tubes on a bike that go from the top of the seat tube to the rear dropouts.
Sellout: doing it for the money, losing your love for what you're doing and forgetting your roots and what it really all is about and just caring about cashing in.
Smith Grind: Street or ramp trick where the
front peg is grinding on the ledge or coping and the back tire is rolling along
it.
Spindle: the bar through the bottom
bracket that the cranks bolt onto.
Spine: Type of ramp which consists of two launch r sitting back to back with each other and meeting at a point with a small deck or two pieces of coping between them.
Stall: to come to a stop on a ramp or other obstical, usually done on pegs.
Step-through: another name for a can-can
Street : "Real Street" is bike riding on natural terrain found in cities, including curbs, handrails, gaps, broken glass, bums, ledges, pretty much anything. In contests street usually refers to the entire ramp course, including jump boxes, pyramids, rails, various quarter pipes, and whatever else is there to be ridden on.
Stunt: a manuever taken to the next level, doing a single trick on your bike, an unusual or difficult feat requiring great skill or daring; especially one performed or undertaken chiefly to gain attention or publicity.
Stuntform: an official form that must be filled
out and turned into the government once a year with a list of stunts and
manuevers completed during the year so that you can claim them and get
credit.
Subbox: a box set up on the deck of
a quarter pipe, set a bit back from the edge, used to perform various stalls
upon.
Suicide: position usually associated with a nohander where the knees are pinched against the seat.
Superman: jumping variation involving taking your feet off the pedals and putting them straight behind you while you push the bike forward by extending your arms, thus you look like you're flying through the air like Superman. A superman seat grab is when you grab your seat with one hand while in the superman position.
Switch-footed: riding with your opposite foot forward
Tabletop: 1. jumping variation where the bike is
pushed into a flat position in the
air
2. a type of dirt jump with the area between the takeoff and landing filled in
with dirt.
Tailtap: A back wheel stall on the deck of a ramp, also called tiretap or tyretap by foreigners.
Tailwhip: Trick performed on the ground or in the air involving the back end of the bike rotating completely around as the front end remains straight.
Toboggan: jumping variation where you turn your bars 90 degrees and drop your front end down and grab your seat with one hand.
Tombstone: an extended part of a ramp, a part of the ramp higher than the rest of it.
Toothpick: stalling on your front peg on a ramp or on street
Transition: the part of the ramp that curves upward toward the coping.
Trails: one of the most popular types of riding today involving dirt jumps, usually in multiple sets of doubles with various hips, berms, rollers, and other dirt obsticals scattered around in such a way as to create a good flow.
Tread: Quite possible the best bmx magazine ever, created by Chris Hallman with the help of the Props fellows in the mid-1990s, it was very good but lack of advertising revenue caused it to go away.
Trick: a feat performed on your bike, usually involving manuevering into a stunt
Trickstick: a stick that kids get hit with that contains some magic that gives them the ability to learn 45343 new tricks all of a sudden with no warning.
Truckdriver: spinning your bars while doing a 360
Tweaked: something pushed to the point where it can go no farther, like a 270 x-up, or hitting your peg in the middle of your back tabletop. Also, something or somebody that is just messed up, not right in the head.
Tweaker: some kid that is just not right, like weird in a bad way.
Unlookdown: similar to a lookdown except you don't turn your bars
Vert: Type of riding involving performing amazing stunts and high airs on large ramps with transitions that curve to the 90 degree point.
Wall Tap: a back wheel stall performed on a wall.
Wheelie: basic bike trick involving sitting on the seat and pedaling while the front wheel is off the ground. Easy to do for short distances but it takes awhile to master it and learn to go far.
White Zombie: A dead sailor variation where a foot
Woodward Camp: bmx freestyle training facility located in Pennsylvania. www.woodwardcamp.com
X-Games: ESPN's yearly contest series featuring Dave Mirra winning gold medals and prize money after performing dazzling bike stunt maneuvers in front of a snowboarding hill and thousands of spectators. A fellow named Biker Sherlock is also featured prominately.'
X-up: twisting the handlebars past 180 degrees while jumping through the air
Yankee
Z-Rims: Famous old-school wheels made of plastic or some other hi-tech substance which bent like heck everytime anybody landed hard with them. The legend is that if you could straighten them if you stick them in a freezer.
2-B: once proud clothing company owned by Hal Brindley and Steve Buddendeck back in the good old days.
2-Hip: bike company founded by Ron Wilkerson, famous for a gross aluminum freestyle frame and for burning bike festivals and the first bike street contests ever way back in the good old days.
43: the number that you see everywhere that you look, a good luck number for most bike riders
63: the official number of Standard Bykes. It's Rick Moleterno's lucky number because he sees it appearing everywhere so he adopted it to help represent his company.
180: spinning yourself and your bike around til you are facing the opposite direction you started from
360: spinning completely around so you end up facing the same direction you started facing
540: one and a half rotations, usually done on vert ramps
720: two complete rotations
900: 2 and a half complete rotations done on vert, first pulled by Matt Hoffman.
4130: CrMo, Chromoly, Chromium and Molybdenum, the metal composite type substance that any good bike is made out of