Kurtz Is A Stand-out In Bmx Racing Circle Dominated By Men

September 6, 1990|By Karen Samsock of The Sentinel Staff

 

 

Undaunted, Kurtz visited tracks across Florida, soliciting votes by banking on her knowledge of BMX racing. She beat her male opponent by one vote and went on to become the nation's first female president of the National Bicycle League.
Now in her second year as head of the organization, Kurtz can look back and laugh.
''Females were not prevalent in this sport,'' she says ruefully, admitting that maybe she was a trailblazer, so to speak, for women racing enthusiasts.
Kurtz, 35, who grew up in Pine Hills and lives in Orlando, did it without any racing experience. In fact, she has only wheeled around a BMX track once ''just to see what it was like.''
She was impressed and scared at the same time.
''I came away with a hell of a lot of respect for the children,'' Kurtz says of her trial run, which pitted her against another woman in Miami five years ago. ''It's hard. You have to think and pedal all at the same time.''
She may not have any racing trophies, but Kurtz, a senior buyer for Walt Disney Co., knows the sport and loves to organize events, including ones that have attracted competitors from around the world.
Just as at Disney, where she worked her way up from a gift-shop cashier, Kurtz started out small, driving her brother to out-of-state competitions and volunteering to help officiate or keep score.
''One thing just lead to another,'' she says, adding that it helped that her family got heavily involved when two of her brothers raced. Her father, Art Beeler, is track director of the BMX track at the Central Florida Fairgrounds, and like Kurtz, helped found the 7-year-old state organization. Husband Ron manages a BMX track in Ocoee that reopened in February.
As president, Kurtz oversees a $5 million budget and a program that has 15,000 members nationwide. Before leaving office next year, she hopes to launch a national marketing campaign, featuring television and radio spots in several cities, to boost membership.
The league's membership tapered off after a popularity high in 1984 to 1987, when it the latest fad, Kurtz said. ''Now, it's leveled off to a very solid program and we're building from here,'' she said.
Beeler has nothing but praise for his daughter and her contributions to the sport.
''She's just one of those people. You meet her, you've known her all your life,'' he says. ''She helps everyone do everything. She got into this sport because she saw what it did for the people who participated.''

Shadow’s Universal Drive Side Hub Guard

By Andrew Brady

This is sure to make a lot of drive side peg grinders happy–another protection option that by the looks of it, should perform pretty well. Here’s what Shadow has to say about their new Universal Drive Side Hub Guard:
“Here it is, our our new Universal Drive Side hub guard. This hub guard includes a custom cone nut adapter that will replace the drive side cone nut on your current hub. After installing this cone nut, the hub guard body slides over the nut keeping you’re rear driver, chain, & spokes safe from shred. This guard will work with our 14mm threaded axle Raptor cassette hub and most other 14mm threaded axle hubs on the market. Also included will be a set of small washers to help accommodate certain deep drivers. The Shadow Universal Drive Side hub guard will be available mid-summer 2012.”
More images of the guard courtesy of Shadow:

 

 

Build or Buy your BMX?

Hello, in this BMX article I will be talking about how you should acquire your new BMX. Building a BMX and buying a full BMX are both ways to get the same end result – a BMX, but with different ways of getting there.

Buying a BMX is obviously the easiest way to get a BMX, and it will most likely to be cheaper as well. Buying the BMX new and buying the same parts new will always leave the full bike cheaper.

But are you really that bothered about the money? Would you rather have a bike because it was cheaper, even though you may not like it, or a bike you know you will definitely like, that is exactly how you want it?
One thing you should always do before you attempt to build a BMX is to make sure you have everything planned out. You should have all of the money for all of the parts at the before you buy them. A working project may end up in a loss of motivation, and so half a BMX sitting in your house for months before you decide what you want to do with it. Make a check list of every part you need, and then next to it, the part you are planning on buying, along with the price. This way, you will be organized, and not left without parts when you come to build it all up.

Building a BMX is not something you will want to do if you have never done anything technical with a bike before. One thing that I would highly recommend doing, if you want to build a bike, and not be that bothered about riding it a lot, or maybe even sell it, is to buy a full bike, for say £200, something that you will like, and then when you get bored of something, or something gets scratched or slightly dented, take it off and replace it with a new part. This will give you the skills to build the BMX, and most importantly, the parts. If you buy a frame only, then use this as the base to a new bike. When the part is replaced, put the old part on this frame, thus building a BMX and having one to ride at the same time, you will never be bike less, and will even have a spare one at the end of it. You could even sell the spare one, maybe even making a small profit if you got the replacements for cheap.

Buying a BMX is not something you want to do too often, so make sure you do it properly. Ride the bike before you buy it, ask about it, find reviews of it, photo’s of it in use, all of this will help you make your decision. Make sure, you are not pressured into buying it, because all of your friends have a better bike than yours, it should be something you buy because you like it.

Thanks for reading this BMX article and please check back for the next one!

BMX Park

Parks for BMX riders - places to try out skills

In most concrete parks, you are sure to come across several bowls and pools. However, if you prefer you can even merge the two riding styles inside one particular park form. Most concrete parks for BMX riders are built outdoors for their capacity to endure years of several climactic withering and torturing. Building a concrete park is quite an expensive venture for which contributions from different sources are put together to give form to such a concrete open space.

Most commercial BMX squares are made of wood. Some of the reasons for this have been successfully listed below.

1. Wooden parks are more easy to construct

2. Materials required for the construction are easily available

3. The cost of construction is comparatively less

4. It is safer to fall on wood then on concrete. You will not be severely injured

5. If the park is particularly meant for BMX riders, it should have steel coping, which cannot be easily damaged

Quarter pipes, spines, flat banks, wall rides, mini ramps and hips are some of the common obstacles included in the wooden parks meant for BMX riders. Irrespective of the fact that whether you are an inexperienced beginner or an experienced old hand, the parks present opportunities for riders of every level.

There are some parks specifically meant for novice and children while the others allow challenging jumps for more talented and in-art riders. These specific riding domains have provisions for more than forty jumps along with several banked turns.

Throughout the year, BMX riders are allowed to practice their skills on the park during the early hours of the day. Riders when practicing within the park should wear helmets and when juniors practice, they should be kept under the strict supervision of the seniors.

A park for the BMX riders can be both privately or public owned. If you enter a private BMX or state park, you have to pay admission fees. On the other hand, parks with no private ownership will charge you nothing. You will get to see private BMX or state parks within buildings with tall ceilings, roller rinks or warehouses.

BMX Basics

Heading Towards The Three-Foot Hop

A three-foot hop is a powerful weapon that most riders will never, ever possess. With a three-foot hop, you can go over handrails, go up onto the hoods of cars (not that you ever would, of course...) and accomplish a million other wonderful things.

I've never done a "three-footer", but I've brought someone who is on his way to doing it: Martin "Jamalama" Larrea. In the next sequence, we'll see how he makes it to the thirty-inch mark with no trouble at all!

What's this? It's that same hop stand from the last sequence, set six inches higher! And isn't that Martin, going into his crouch?

Martin's explosion out of the crouch is much more dynamic than mine, but the principles are the same.

He's got a little problem. It's not enough to just pull the front end of the bike up. To get thirty inches, he has to bounce the bike off the ground nice and early.

Note that, unlike my and Rachel's hops, even with a near-vertical bike it won't be enough for his front wheel to clear. He has to vertically hop his bike before he levels out. That's the secret of super-high hopping.

He's done it! At a time when I am leveling my bike, Martin is still pulling the bike vertically into the air. As a result, his front wheel is now nearly three feet off the ground.

As he begins to pull with his legs, the bike is still moving vertically. His front wheel is now thirty-seven inches up. It's all up to his rear wheel now. Is his Back Hop as good as his outstanding Front Pull?

Crunch time now. He's very close. A little more leg curl and he'll make it.

Pull, Martin, pull! Luckily, he's got a lot of tuck room left, because unlike me he doesn't eat entire pizzas at a single sitting.

And he's over.... but it gets me thinking. Earlier in this column, I told you that Martin would out-tuck me and make it to thirty inches that way. But when I look back at my tuck, I think I might have out-tucked him a bit, big belly and all. Which means that Jamalama should be able to tuck more and hit that elusive three-foot mark!

Remember that story I told you about Dominic and flipping over the bars? This is how it starts. But unlike Dominic, Martin has full control of the bike. I bet he levels it out.

Getting there...

Leveling... Might as well take this moment to mention Jamalama's vintage 1979 Saab Turbo. It's a nice car. You can see it in the background. Sometimes, when he parks it there, the mailman doesn't deliver my mail.

He actually touches his rear wheel down first. NICE.

Time to absorb the shock of landing from thirty inches up onto blacktop.

And off we go. Ho hum. Another day, another thirty-inch hop.

Although it's slightly larger at 196K, I really recommend you watch the movie on this one, just to see the fluid ease with which he hops. When I hop, it's like watching a crane lift something heavy into position; when Martin hops, it's a thing of beauty!

Review Time!

Okay. Let's review:

• Anybody can bunnyhop.
• That includes you.
• We start by learning the Front Pull.
• Then we learn the Back Hop.
• By putting them together with a little tire bounce, we have a bunnyhop.
• Adding a full tuck helps us get into the twenty-inch zone.
• Learning to do a hard bounce on the way up, combined with safe landing procedures, takes us all the way to three feet and beyond.

There's more to learn, but we'll save that for future columns. I want to close this month with a really beautiful vidcap. You see, we closed the video session with a "long hop" contest - hopping across "gaps" created by placing a box at the beginning and the hop stand, set for eight inches, at the end. We set up an eighteen-foot gap for Martin. He hit it at top speed, clearing it easily. As you can see, he even had time to lean it over a bit:

Do you need any more inspiration than that?

The Right Kind Of BMX Bikes For Freestyle And Dirt Jumping

By Kum Martin

Though BMX is a universally used term when it comes to BMX bicycles, it is important to know that BMX racing (or bicycle motocross) refers to racing on a dirt track. However, there are other types of BMX bikes used for different other forms of BMX racing. These are freestyle and jump bikes which are much heavier and sturdier than ordinary BMX bikes because of rigorous treatment they put through.

A good quality BMX bike for a beginner costs approximately $200. If you are into BMX freestyle and dirt jumping then you need to pay special attention to the type of BMX bike you are purchasing.

For BMX freestyle and dirt jumping, your bicycle should have a sturdy and heavy frame. If you compare an actual freestyle bicycle to a conventional BMX bicycle, you will realize that a freestyle bicycle is nearly two times heavier. While jump bicycles are lighter than freestyle bicycles but heavier than BMX bikes. If you are small in stature, you should not worry because there are many frame sizes to choose from.

Usually BMX bicycles have a 20” wheel diameter. Jump BMX bikes in contrast have bigger wheel diameters. If you are tall and large then you should opt for a jump BMX bicycle with a 24-inch wheel diameter. Most jump bikes have 13-gauge spokes while freestyle bikes have a 48-gauge spokes. If you compare the tires of different types of bikes, there is a vast difference. Jump bikes are heavily treaded among all BMX bicycles. This is because jump bikes have to concentrate on traction rather than speed. While freestyle BMX bikes have smooth treads making it easier to use them on pavements or indoors. Freestyle BMX bikes also have axle pegs which are used for performing tricks.

Now that you know the basics about BMX bikes for freestyle and dirt jumping, you can hop to the nearest store and purchase one for yourself.

How to spin on a BMX

How to spin on a BMX

Want to get your airs looking stylish and amazing people? Add some spins to them. Don’t know how? Carry on reading.

Spinning is one of the scariest, yet most rewarding and good looking forms of tricks there is. They are very hard to learn, because if you don’t go for it first time, you are very likely to fall. Unlike with any other trick, you may not always be facing forwards or backwards, trying spins can be uncontrollable when you start and are very difficult to control.

How to get better at BMX

Do you want to push yourself to become a much better rider? Do you want to be able to compete with the people who have been riding at your local skate park for much longer than you? In this BMX article I will be telling you how to become a better rider.

Becoming a better BMX rider is something you will want to do if you have the drive to do it, some people buy a BMX, ride it for a few weeks and then when they find out they can’t do anything on it, give up. This is a very bad approach to take, not just on a BMX but in life generally.

How to get into freestyle on your BMX

So, you want to get into freestyle BMX? In this BMX article I will be talking about freestyle BMX and how you should go about getting into it.

Freestyle BMX is the art of expressing yourself through what you do. The name pretty much gives away what it is, it is whatever you want it to be. However, the more commonly known “freestyle” is doing tricks and creating lines to ride. This is the kind of freestyle I will be talking about.

But before I start, remember that safety comes first. You should think about yourself before you attempt anythi

Hello, and welcome to and thanks for reading the BMX article. In the BMX article I will be talking about why people ride BMX’s, as a pose to any other type of bike.

If you don’t ride a BMX, you may well be thinking to yourself, “Why would anyone want to ride a BMX? It is really small, has no gears and no suspension”. Everything that has just been said is absolutely true, but it depends on what you like as to whether this applies to you. The lack of suspension will make your riding a lot smoother, it will make sure you don’t make mistakes that would be soaked up by the su ride a BMX?