BMX Rider
Edwin De La Rosa
Edwin De La Rosa is a New York City street rider long associated with Animal Bikes whose Can I Eat part and pegless approach shaped modern street riding.
Updated 4 min read893 words
Edwin De La Rosa is an American street rider from New York City, long associated with Animal Bikes. His section in Can I Eat (2004) is one of the most influential street parts of the 2000s, and his decision to ride without pegs for much of his career helped establish pegless street riding as a style in its own right. He is one of the riders most closely identified with New York City BMX.
Early life and background
De La Rosa grew up in New York City and started riding BMX in the 1990s. The city's street scene at the time was small and tightly knit, centred on a handful of spots and a group of riders who filmed each other. Riding in New York meant dealing with traffic, security and rough ground, and it produced a style based on speed, quick decisions and making use of whatever was in front of you.
He came up alongside the riders who would form the core of Animal Bikes, the parts company founded in New York in the late 1990s, and the brand's early videos were where he first appeared.
Career
De La Rosa's professional career began around the turn of the 2000s with Animal. After a part in Animal's first video, Animal (2002), his closing section in Can I Eat, released in 2004, made his name. The part was filmed almost entirely on New York City street spots and showed a rider moving through the city at speed, hopping up and over obstacles, wallriding and linking lines that other riders had not seen. Much of it was ridden without pegs.
Riders voted him street rider of the year at the NORA Cup in the mid 2000s, and he became one of the most photographed and filmed street riders of the decade. He had a further part in Animal's All Day (2006), shared a closing section with Tom White in Fit Bike Co's Fit Life (2007), and appeared throughout the brand's web content as the sport moved online.
In the mid 2000s he co-founded Skavenger, a New York based frame and parts brand, which operated alongside his relationship with Animal. He also attracted attention from outside the BMX industry, including a footwear deal in the late 2000s, at a time when few street riders had mainstream sponsors.
Through the 2010s and beyond he continued to ride and film in New York and remained a presence in Animal's output and in the wider East Coast scene. He never built a contest career and did not need one; his standing came from video and from the city.
Riding style
De La Rosa's style is fast, relaxed and economical. He rides street as a sequence of lines rather than a set of isolated tricks. A typical clip involves bunny hopping something large at speed, landing smoothly and carrying on into the next obstacle without stopping. His hops are high and his bike control in the air is precise, which allowed him to clear objects that most riders would have grinded or gone around.
For much of his career he rode pegless. Without pegs he could not grind, so his riding was built on hops, wallrides, manuals, gaps and bar tricks such as barspins. The result was a style that looked different from the grind-heavy street riding of the time and proved that a street part could be built without a single rail.
His bike setups were also influential: pegless, often brakeless, and simple. The look of his bike became part of the look of New York street riding.
Video parts and notable moments
De La Rosa's career is defined by video parts rather than contests. Notable parts and moments include:
- Can I Eat (Animal, 2004), the part that made his name and one of the defining street sections of the decade.
- All Day (Animal, 2006), another closing section for the brand.
- Fit Life (Fit Bike Co, 2007), a closing split section with Tom White.
- NORA Cup street rider of the year recognition in the mid 2000s.
- Co-founding Skavenger in the mid 2000s.
- Extensive coverage of New York City spots in magazines, Animal web videos and independent edits through the 2000s and 2010s.
Legacy and influence
De La Rosa's influence on street riding is hard to overstate. He showed that street could be about flow and lines rather than individual hammers, and that a rider could build a career on how they moved through a city rather than on the size of the rails they rode. Riders who favour speed, hops and lines over grinds often trace that approach back to his Can I Eat part. The rise of street riding as the dominant discipline in the 2000s had New York as one of its centres, and he was its most visible rider.
Pegless riding became a recognised approach because of riders like him. It had existed before, but his part made it look like a choice rather than a compromise, and it opened the door for later riders to build pegless styles of their own.
He is also central to the identity of Animal Bikes and of New York City BMX more broadly. Later New York riders such as Nigel Sylvester came up in a scene that he helped define.
Related
Frequently asked questions about Edwin De La Rosa
What is Edwin De La Rosa known for?
He is known for his closing section in Animal's Can I Eat (2004), for riding street without pegs at a time when almost everyone used them, and for a relaxed, flowing style built on New York City spots.
Did Edwin De La Rosa ride pegless?
Yes. For much of his career he rode without pegs, relying on hops, wallrides, manuals and lines instead of grinds. This was unusual in the 2000s and influenced many street riders.
Who did Edwin De La Rosa ride for?
He was long associated with Animal Bikes, the New York parts company, and co-founded the New York brand Skavenger in the mid 2000s.
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