Old School Schwinn BMX Racing 1980

Below is from the 1980 Schwinn catalog…

Bicycle Motocross Racing

Bicycle Motocross racing is blasting down a 200-foot straightaway, up and over a jump and into a hard hair pin turn with a berm that’s like climbing a wall. You start jammin’ and bunny-hop through a series of whoop-de-doo’s and then it’s the fight for the finish. A swoop inside through the last turn and you’ve aced out the field.

It’s happening week after week throughout the country—at sanctioned or independent tracks, in forest preserves and even inside arenas. It started with kids on the west coast riding stripped down 20″ Schwinn Sting-Ray bikes on the trails. They would charge through ravines and down hills—imitating the motorcycle motocross stars. BMX, however, quickly became a sport in its own right and the sport has swept the country.

BMX today is not a backyard activity. It has become a highly organized and care
fully regulated sport—not unlike Little League or football leagues. Official sanctioning bodies such as the National Bicycle League (NBL), National Bicycle Association (NBA) or the American Bicycle Association (ABA) provide annual point standings, safety supervision and other details of the racing. They make certain that competition is fair and sportsmanlike. Problems are rare and competition is invigorating.

. . . the Growth of A Sport

It isn’t unusual to have several hundred riders turn out for a major national race. However, the turnout at local tracks sponsored by civic groups like the Jaycees or Optimist Clubs is always very good. Parents, too, are swept up in the enthusiasm and big crowds are at nearly every race.

Many manufacturers are also behind the sport. Schwinn Bicycle Company has made sizeable investments in promoting and supporting BMX. Schwinn has a national BMX team which is instrumental in the development and evaluation of Schwinn’s entire BMX line. And, Schwinn Dealers also help to manage and support the sport on a local level.

For 1980 Schwinn is proud to present its most impressive selection of superb BMX cycles. The Schwinn Sting and the new SX-2000 lead Schwinn’s line, but the same attention to quality and dependability that makes these two machines tops in their class has been generously spent on each and every BMX bicycle Schwinn builds. Schwinn’s ability to build a quality product has never been tested to such extremes as the constant pounding of Bicycle Motocross. But, in the brief history of the sport, Schwinn has proven to be the leader in the hard-fought world of BMX racing.