BMX Discipline
Vert
Vert is the BMX discipline of riding a half pipe with walls 10 to 13 feet high, launching airs above the coping and performing tricks before dropping back in.
Updated 5 min read1,179 words
Vert is the BMX discipline of riding a half pipe: two facing transitions that rise to true vertical, topped with coping, typically 10 to 13 feet (about three to four metres) high. Riders pump from wall to wall, launching airs above the coping and performing tricks before landing back on the ramp. It was the headline discipline of BMX through the 1980s and 1990s and produced some of the sport's most famous riders.
What it is
A vert run is a sequence of airs. The rider drops in from the deck, pumps the transition to gain speed and launches off the opposite wall. In the air they perform a trick, land back in the transition and carry speed to the other wall for the next air. A contest run lasts around a minute and might contain ten to fifteen airs, each one bigger or more technical than the last.
Height is the defining quality. Because the walls are vertical, a rider who pumps well goes straight up and comes straight back down, which allows airs far higher than any other ramp. Three metres above the coping is routine for professionals. The combination of height and vertical landing makes vert the highest-consequence discipline in BMX: a bad landing from four metres above a four metre ramp is a long way to fall.
Vert emerged from the backyard quarter pipes and skatepark bowls of the 1980s freestyle boom. Early ramps were small and had no vertical section. By the late 1980s riders were building full half pipes, and through the 1990s vert ramps grew in size and quality as contests demanded bigger airs.
Where it is ridden
Vert ramps are rare. They are expensive to build, take up a lot of space and need regular maintenance, and most public skateparks do not have one. Vert is ridden in:
- Private ramps: most of the discipline's history was made on ramps built by riders at home. Mat Hoffman's Oklahoma ramps are the best known.
- Indoor skateparks: a few large indoor parks in the United States, UK and Europe keep a vert ramp.
- Training centres: national training facilities built since Olympic inclusion sometimes include one.
- Contest sites: temporary ramps built for X Games and similar events, dismantled afterwards.
Because ramps are so few, vert has always had a small number of participants compared with park or street. Most vert riders travelled to ride.
Typical bike setup
Vert bikes are built for hard, high landings and the forces of pumping a large transition.
| Part | Typical choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Frame | Chromoly, 21 inch top tube, 74.5 to 75 degree head angle | Strength first; a slightly longer bike is more stable on landings |
| Brakes | Rear U-brake, sometimes front too, with a gyro | Speed control on the ramp; gyro allows barspins with a brake |
| Pegs | Two or four | For stalls and lip tricks on the coping, see pegs |
| Rear hub | Cassette | Reliable engagement for pumping |
| Tyres | 2.1 to 2.3 inch, 90 to 110 psi | Hard tyres roll fast on ramp surfaces |
| Cranks | Three-piece chromoly, 175 mm | Strength under heavy landings, see cranks |
| Bars | 8.5 to 9.5 inch rise | Taller bars suit the upright stance of vert |
| Wheels | Heavy duty rims, 48 or 36 spoke | Impacts from high airs are extreme, see rims |
| Seat | Mid height | Riders use the seat for grabs and to steer with the knees |
Vert riders have generally kept brakes longer than other freestyle disciplines. A rear brake makes it possible to stop on the deck and control speed on a ramp where going too fast means going too high.
Key tricks and skills
The foundation of vert is pumping and aerial awareness. Before any trick, a rider has to be able to air above the coping and land back in the transition every time. Then:
- Grabs and body variations: tabletops, can-cans, no-handers and x-ups, all done high.
- Spins: the 540 is the classic vert spin, since a 180 or 540 lands the rider facing back down the ramp. 900s are the top level; Mat Hoffman is widely credited with the first in 1989.
- Flips: the flair, a backflip with a 180, is a core vert trick. Double flairs have been landed in contests.
- Bar tricks: barspins and tailwhips done at height, often combined with spins.
- Lip tricks: stalls, grinds and fakie tricks on the coping, including icepick and feeble stalls.
- Inverts and handplants: the rider plants a hand on the coping and holds the bike above them.
- Transfers: moving between a half pipe and attached extensions or a spine.
Vert tricks tend to be clean, held and large rather than technical. The margin for error is small enough that riders do fewer tricks per run than in park and do them bigger.
Culture and media
Vert was the glamour discipline of freestyle from the mid 1980s to the early 2000s. Mat Hoffman, who turned professional as a teenager in the late 1980s, defined the discipline with his height, his invention of tricks and his willingness to risk injury. He founded Hoffman Bikes in 1991 and ran the Bicycle Stunt contest series that became the template for the X Games in 1995. In the early 2000s he built an oversized quarter pipe and, towed in by a motorcycle, set big air records that still stand out. See BMX in the 1990s.
Dave Mirra won X Games vert medals through the late 1990s alongside his park titles and was one of the few riders to compete at the top level in both. Jamie Bestwick, from England, dominated vert contests from the mid 2000s into the 2010s and is the most decorated vert rider in X Games history, with a long unbeaten streak at the event.
From the 2010s onward, vert's contest presence shrank. X Games cut vert from some years and ran it with small fields in others. Few new riders came up through the discipline because so few ramps exist. By the 2020s vert survived mainly as a demonstration format and through a small, dedicated group of riders who keep ramps running. The Olympic programme chose park, not vert, as the freestyle discipline.
Vert's influence survives in park riding. The airs, spins and flairs that win Olympic park medals were all developed on vert ramps first.
How to get started
- Learn to ride transition in a skatepark: pump a quarter pipe, air above coping and drop in from a deck.
- Learn to ride a mini ramp (a small half pipe with no vertical) wall to wall.
- Find a vert ramp. Indoor parks with a vert ramp usually run coaching sessions.
- Drop in from the deck and learn to pump the vertical wall before trying to air.
- Learn small airs and x-ups before anything that rotates.
- Wear a full-face helmet, knee pads, elbow pads and consider a back protector. Every vert rider does.
Vert is not a beginner discipline. Most vert riders came to it after years of park riding. See how to start riding BMX and park.
Related
Frequently asked questions about Vert
How high do vert riders go?
Top riders regularly air three to four metres above the coping on a standard ramp. On oversized ramps built for big air records, riders have gone far higher, with Mat Hoffman's quarter pipe attempts in the early 2000s reaching roughly eight metres above the ramp.
Why did vert decline?
Vert ramps are expensive to build and maintain, there are very few of them, and learning takes years. As public skateparks spread, park and street attracted most new riders. Contests followed the riders and vert events became rare.
Is vert the same as park?
No. Vert is ridden on a single half pipe with true vertical walls. Park is ridden on a course of smaller ramps linked together. The skills overlap but the scale and risk are different.
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