What do you think of when you hear BMX? You might think of brands like Subrosa and Sunday, or you might not know what a BMX bike is. Over the years many breeds of BMX bikes have come to light including race bikes, freestyle bikes, and cruisers. So what’s the difference between them?

The race bike, if you’ve ever seen a BMX bike with a big front sprocket and a small back sprocket it was probably a race bike. These bikes are built to fly through the air and speed around corners. These bikes are typically made out of aluminum or carbon to be as light as possible. These bikes typically have a higher gear ratio to give them more speed.

The freestyle BMX bike came shortly after the race bike, first made by Bob Haro the founder of Haro BMX. As the sport gained popularity names like Dave Mirra and Mat Hoffman began to gain recognition throughout the BMX community. Today these bikes are made out of Chromoly and have many different parts making every bike unique. These bikes typically have smaller gear ratios to give them quick acceleration while still giving them a decent top speed. 

Finally, we have cruisers, Cruiser BMX bikes typically come with 24-26 inch wheels. These bikes are made for adults looking for a bike to ride, or kids who want to cruise around in comfort and don’t want to do any tricks. These bikes, like the freestyle bike, are made of Chromoly. These bikes have to same gear ratios are freestyle bikes.

So what bike is right for you? It depends on what you want to do. If you like to go fast and catch air then you’re going to want a race bike, but a race bike is not going to work how you want it too if you want to ride it at a skate park. If you want to go to a skate park you are going to want a freestyle bike, but if you want to ride around town with friends you’ll want a cruiser.

If you’re going to buy a bike I recommend choosing a bike that will keep up with what you want to do with it. Brands that mass produce bikes like huffy and mongoose are unreliable because they make bikes as cheap and affordable as possible, but brands like fit BMX and Subrosa make each make to be strong and ready for anything you want to do with it. 

Each bike has pros and cons, and if your getting your kid a bike to learn to ride on a bike from Walmart will work great but if you kids Perseus the sport a sturdy, well build bike will be safer. Even if you don’t think a BMX bike is the right bike for you, a mountain bike is always an option.