While I reckon most of the folk that are 30+ and post in here were always groms… and certainly never had a Bikeguide account or checked the ‘hot scene chick’ thread on TCU.. I invite you to walk with me
Before I started riding I felt a direct alienation from the guys that played “real” sports. Most were homophonic, racist and spoke to woman like shit. It was only when I traded a quality 24” mtb for a tired BMX – through threat – I would enter a skate park for the first time.
I met three people. A nerd, a goth and someone who’d been in the popular crowd but got beat up and ostracised. It was the first time I met a group of folk who felt the same way as I did. It become a unifying energy between us. Then after reading Ricky Adams Defgrip interview in 2009 pictured and discovering DIG BMX, we found our community.
BMX IS whatever you want to make it. The idea of what being a core rider seems to have been diluted though. Skaters were the mass, we the underground. I wonder if it’s in part due to the demise of print or editorials online.
if it’s just me then.. whatever. The amount of pro riders and owners that express right wing views now though? Never a core BMX rider
Photos by Ricky Adam. and Rob Dolecki
by stokedonbeingpumped
16 Comments
We grew up lol this is a very immature mindset and most of us grew out of it simple as that.
Are there right wing people in bmx? If so I guess that’s the world we live in now.
Social Media happened. Same with everything. It’s all about doin’ it for the gram now, and not the love of the game.
Super cringey. Just ride your bike and forget the scene. You say that BMX is whatever you make it, and then immediately go on about core riders. Why does riding a bike need to be associated with anything other than riding a bike?
Considering most thoughts about this (mine included) are something like “who the fuck cares go ride your bike”. I would say the idea that no one cares who you are as long as you also ride a bike is still alive and well.
What is a core bmx rider?
Defgrip was the best bmx site
simple: it’s leaving a lot of scenes. there’s a concerted propaganda effort that heavily targets young males
we already did a “great” job at alienating women from many of our hobbies, and BMX is no different. Most of the things you and I care about have burgeoning roots in America, and America is by design a heavily right-wing nation compared to other developed countries.
Everything from movies, to podcasts tries to perpetuate a sentiment that you should be skeptical, but in a convenient way. You should stop right at the point you stop feeling uncomfortable. And for some reason, the rich elites who profit off right wing sentiments found out that it’s heavily successful with young men
We’re easier to make callous, homophobic and unempathetic. Is every man a dupe? no, of course not. But there’s a reason it’s always us that they target first for propaganda. We brush it off and pretend it’s no big deal, next thing you know, you went from not trusting pharmaceutical companies because of profiteering – to spreading misogynistic bullshit and thinking Joe Rogan is a person who should shape your perspectives. Then you make excuses for rich elite fucks because they promise you a paradise free of everyone’s opinions, that’s never going to happen for you.
BMX was never going to be immune from it. The further we get from the origin, the more people will try to shut you up and pretend that politics exist in a vacuum tight chamber in the capitol and nowhere else. They’ll whitewash anything to stop thinking about the world and that’s the legacy many men leave behind.
They’d rather be comfy and pretend things aren’t a certain way. I get it. It’s easy to pretend like socialist unions didn’t give you a weekend to enjoy BMX. It’s easy to pretend like feminism is why you felt ostracized by women. It’s easy to pretend like it’s normal and rational to see your own fellow citizens as “leftoids” and “libtards” or that BMX is just a matter of riding a bike and doing tricks.
It’s leaving BMX because it leaves everything, because too many people get swept up in the system they used to believe they were against. America is illiterate and stunted. You’re going to see that pattern everywhere, because the government spends more money on capitalist propaganda than many countries produce in GDP in multiple lifetimes. This country is a giant pyramid scheme and it’s never been more apparent to you and my generation than in 2025. They don’t even need to pay for propaganda anymore – dudes in the comments are doing the work for them.
you’re not “mature” until you “grow up” to become more of a cog in the machine. until you start getting mad about SNAP benefits. Until your failures in relationships are solely a problem from the women. Until you decide that it’s normal for a CEO to be a multi-billionaire. America started from Puritans being seen as absolute extremist freaks, getting kicked out of the UK, and now we’re seeing the consequences of boneheaded Puritan beliefs in everything we touch even almost 500 years later. They preached that the poor were sinners. Start there and you’ll see how anything that doesn’t seem to cooperate with letting the rich stay rich, is demonized to the point you’re pressured into “dropping the act” and getting back in line.
Some 20 something skaters today have cool, anarchist-punk communities, but almost everyone in their 30’s that rides BMX is working to survive. Most of our friends are married with kids or have moved and are preoccupied with work. When we dust off our bike it’s to go have some fun and get outside.
If you really want to be punk today, go volunteer at a soup kitchen or food bank. Talk to people on the margins of society and do what you can to help them. Build friendships with them and build your own punk community.
This is some r/niceguys shit right here
Guys, I’m out of the loop (no instagram, FB, or TikTok). Did something happen?
My bike I got literally from a dumpster and it’s covered in old and new stickers so, rock on dude.
It’s inevitable, it’s bombarded at everyone though social media and more. I’ve found myself disappointed at certain riders who’ve we’ve shared deck space with seemingly swing further right or maybe they always were and that conversation never came up?
As we get older it is true that our beliefs swing away from our earlier, more angry and idealist selves, but it’s kinda worse than that unfortunately.
I’ve found riding friends who seemed perfectly logical and far from being uneducated Suddenly spouting absolute nonsense, and worse have drawn a line, there’s no discussion or openness to discuss.
Bmx was the thing that we have in common and binds us, but it might as well not be.
Politics are gay, just ride bikes.
Sorry I don’t follow it as much as I used to, who’s dishing out the right wing stuff?
Sir, this is a Wendys