There are countless BMXers that go under appreciated. Shit, pretty much everyone that rides and doesn’t do a footjam tailwhip on a bank kind of falls under the radar, so I thought I’d make a (very) short list of pros and non-pros that deserve maybe a little more than what they get, appreciation-wise. Obviously there are literally hundreds of under appreciated riders so I’m going to be missing a lot of those. To state your claim, hit up the forum or something.
1. Kevin Robinson
Call me biased because the first skatepark I ever went to (Impact) was Kevin’s, but this dude rules. Obviously to Johnny cool guy BMX, some of Kevin Robinson’s choices may seem a little suspect and he is a little on the athletic side, but let’s face it, this dude rules. I’ve seen him duct tape kids feet to the pedals so they learned how to peg stall, rip jumping variations in Britania hi-top Seakers, and literally play Bro-Hymn Tribute all day at one of his infamous Impact contests. Think about that for a second. Duct tape, Britania hi-tops, and Bro Hymn. How could you not like this guy. Plus he aired 27 feet out of a 27 foot tall ramp. In case you’re too cool for school that’s 54 feet on a tiny ass bike.
2. Sean Butler
No forced trail quail style, plenty of weird contest antics, and unabashedley a dirt jumper make this SHL high on my list of riders who don’t get the credit they deserve. Now, I don’t know about him being the “Michael Jordan of BMX Dirt Jumping” (Did Michael Scott write that entry?), I’d save a title like that for someone like Mirra. Maybe a good NBA comparison could be Mugsy Bogues. Under appreciated by most but held in high regard by some. Plus his 360 can-cans are amazing.
3. Robbie Morales
Forget about Fit, CULT, and the business side of BMX for one minute. Think of Rob-O and appreciate the simplicity that was apart of his riding. Tables, manuals, fastplants. Everything was effortless and made me realize I didn’t have to get extreme in order to have fun riding BMX.
4. Ratboy
Although I think Ratboy is actually appreciated more now than when he was in his prime ( I can remember vile things being said of the hip hop soldier in his day), I still feel he should be on the list. But with the help of a few other Arizona riders, he pretty much shaped the current state of BMX, slower, all street, weird grinds, etc. His rocket variations are incredible and his seat is higher than Jody Donnelly’s. ONE HANDED TAILWHIP FOOTPLANT.
5. You.
You can call this a cop-out (you’re partly right) but hear me out on this. Chances are if you ride BMX you don’t get flow, no one pays your entry fees or plane tickets to ride exotic locales. It probably consists a little more of doing things you don’t want to do and squeezing that 2 hour skatepark session in or getting up early before work to dial in the trails. Whether you sit in your moms basement and play video games all day before you ride or juggle school and work and only have a half an hour every week to ride, you’re under appreciated in my book.
