BMX Event
Bicycle Stunt Series
The Bicycle Stunt (B.S.) series was Mat Hoffman's early 1990s freestyle BMX contest tour, run from 1992 to 1995 and a direct precursor to the X Games.
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The Bicycle Stunt series, usually called the B.S. series, was a freestyle BMX contest tour organised by Mat Hoffman in the United States in the early 1990s. It ran from January 1992 to a final event in November 1995, held mostly vert contests with some street, and gave pro and amateur riders a place to compete when the industry had left freestyle behind. It is widely seen as the bridge between the 1980s contest scene and ESPN's X Games.
Background
The freestyle boom of the 1980s ended abruptly around 1989. Big bike companies cut their freestyle teams, magazines shrank and the large sponsored contest series disappeared. See BMX in the 1990s. A core of riders kept going, but there were few places to compete and little prize money.
Some rider-run events, such as Ron Wilkerson's 2-Hip King of Vert and Meet the Street contests, had already shown that riders could organise their own competitions. Hoffman, then one of the best vert riders in the world, took the same idea further. Around 1991 he set up a promotions company in Oklahoma City, alongside Hoffman Bikes, and began planning a full series.
History
First contests
By Hoffman's own account, the first B.S. contest was held in Dallas, Texas, on 25 and 26 January 1992, under the name Texas Chainwheel Massacre. Hoffman has said the aim was to prove that freestyle BMX was not dead.
The series then moved around the country. Stops recalled by Hoffman include Glendale in Arizona, San Jose in California, Daytona in Florida, Emmaus in Pennsylvania, Oklahoma City, Moreno Valley in California, Overland Park, his own Hoffman Bike Park and Hampton in Virginia. Exact dates and the total number of events are not well documented. Hoffman has estimated around 13 contests in total.
Format
The B.S. series was centred on vert, which was Hoffman's speciality and the main contest discipline of the time. A street contest was added at some stops. Riders competed in pro and amateur classes, and Hoffman later added extra amateur classes so more riders could take part. Contests were often run as weekend events with side attractions alongside the riding.
Hoffman and a small team ran the events themselves, from booking venues to running the scoring software. Because riders ran the events, they are generally remembered as more relaxed and rider-focused than the corporate contests of the 1980s.
Final event
The B.S. Finals were held at Stone Edge Skate Park in Daytona, Florida, from 17 to 19 November 1995. Hoffman has described it as the last contest of an era.
Riding and progression
The series coincided with a period of rapid progression on vert. Riders pushed bigger airs, flip variations, tailwhips and barspins to higher levels, and the standard of vert riding seen on television at the early X Games was built at contests like these. Coverage reached riders through magazines and video, including early issues of Props.
A generation of riders who later became X Games stars, including Dave Mirra, came up through the contest scene of this period.
Link to the X Games
ESPN launched the Extreme Games, later renamed the X Games, in June 1995, a few months before the B.S. Finals. The B.S. series had already shown that freestyle BMX could be run as a professional contest series, and it supplied a ready-made pool of riders. By Hoffman's own account, the new X Games contest scene also made it hard to find sponsors for B.S. events, which is one reason the series ended.
Hoffman has said that after the 1995 finals, ESPN asked him to organise its BMX events, and his company worked with the network on BMX contests in the following years. Some sources describe ESPN partnering with Hoffman's company from 1995 to produce and televise events. The exact arrangements are described differently in different accounts.
In 1999 Hoffman's organisation, by then known as the Hoffman Sports Association, launched a new tour called the CFB (Crazy Freakin' Bikers) series, which was shown on ESPN2. CFB is often seen as the B.S. series' successor.
Legacy
The B.S. series is remembered as the contest circuit that kept freestyle BMX alive in the early 1990s. It showed that riders could run their own events, it gave sponsors and television a structure to buy into, and it set the template for the vert and street contests that followed.
For Hoffman, it was one part of a wider effort, alongside his bike company and his own riding, to rebuild the sport after the 1980s bust. See Mat Hoffman.
Related
Frequently asked questions about Bicycle Stunt Series
What does B.S. stand for in BMX?
In this context B.S. stands for Bicycle Stunt, the name of the contest series Mat Hoffman ran in the early 1990s.
How did the Bicycle Stunt series lead to the X Games?
It kept a pro freestyle contest circuit alive when the industry had largely abandoned the sport. When ESPN moved into action sports in the mid 1990s, Hoffman's organisation and the riders from the B.S. circuit were ready, and Hoffman says ESPN asked him to help organise its BMX events.
Who organised the B.S. series?
Mat Hoffman ran it through his promotions company, based in Oklahoma City, which he set up around 1991 alongside Hoffman Bikes. He handled much of the work himself, including the scoring.
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