Street & Dirt Bikes 

Trails are lines of jumps built from dirt (heavily compacted mud). It can also be named as a pack such as a 4 pack, 6 pack and 8 pack. The jumps consist of a steep take off, called a lip, with an often slightly less steep landing. The lip and landing are usually built as separate mounds, divided by a gap. The gap is measured from the topmost part of the lip, horizontally to the topmost part of the far side of the landing. Gaps typically range from only a couple of feet to over twenty feet. A moderate gap is around twelve feet.

Trails riding is sometimes also referred to as “dirt jumping”. Most trails riders maintain that a subtle difference exists in the style and flow of “dirt jumps” and “trails”; trails riders focus more on of a flowing smooth style from one jump to the next while performing more stylish tricks, while dirt jumpers try to perform the craziest tricks, they can over larger, less flow-oriented jumps. This flowing trail style is popularized by riders such as Mike Aitken, Chase Hawk, and Chris Doyle.

Although many regard trails and street as being completely opposite, the attraction is similar — trails riders build their own jumps, so their riding is limited only by their creativity and resourcefulness.

Trails riders usually run a rear brake only as they have no use for a front brake, and usually gyro to make it easier to do bar spin, as they do not have to spins the bars back the other way to untangle it, which is hard to do on trails. In general, trail / dirt jumping bikes have longer wheelbases (chain stays) than other BMXs to aid with stability.

With trails you do not need to pedal so much in between jumps. By “pumping” you gain speed to clear the jumps. Pumping is landing smoothly on the backside of the landing, bending your knees, and crouching down between jumps, and then extending your legs and springing upward off the next lip. The upward springing motion is very similar to that of a bunny hop, only you are using your legs to boost higher off a jump rather than your sole method of vertical propulsion. This pumping action works like swinging on a swing; you can keep swinging indefinitely by continuing the pumping action.

Flatland BMX occupies a position somewhat removed from the rest of freestyle BMX. People who ride in the above disciplines will generally take part in at least one of the others, but flatlanders tend to only ride flatland. Flatland differs from the others in that the terrain used is nothing but a smooth, flat surface (e.g., an asphalt parking lot, basketball courts, etc.).

Tricks are performed by spinning and balancing in a variety of body and bicycle positions. Riders almost always use knurled aluminium pegs to stand on to manipulate the bike into even stranger positions.

Flatland bikes typically have a shorter wheelbase than other freestyle bikes. Flatland bikes differ from dirt jumping bikes and freestyle bikes in one way. The frames are often more heavily reinforced because the people riding flatland often stand on the frames. This shorter wheelbase requires less effort to make the bike spin or to position the bike on one wheel. One of the primary reasons flatlanders often ride only flatland is the decreased stability of a shorter bike on ramps, dirt, and street. A variety of options are commonly found on flatland bikes.

The most unifying feature of flatland bikes is the use of four pegs, one on the end of each wheel axle. Flatland riders will choose to run either a front brake, a rear brake, both brakes, and no brakes at all, depending on stylistic preference.