Urban Freestyle is considered as a way of living. BMX, Street Trial, Dirt Bike or Fixie are examples of such a concept which goes beyond making tricks with a bike. It also comprehends specific garment, how you speak and living based on concrete music and images.

The Freestyle comes from BMX which popularized in the seventies. Then, riders competed in races on earth and some of them started doing some tricks after competitions end. Regarding Street Trial, it comes from trial when some riders used street furniture as a playground. As it comes to the Wheelie Boys, it was born in New York (USA) when riders improved wheelies to the next level.

Inside the BMX style, we have Flatland in which riders use light and small bikes to allow complete maneuvers around the bicycle. On the other hand, in Street BMX, street furniture is used as playground and no matter whether it is handrail or curb, all is accepted. In this case bikes are a heavier, so bikers use to be strong. Finally BMX Park is an Olympic discipline in which riders jump in spectacular, innovative ways on their bikes, made mainly from titanium and carbon.

Street Trial combines street furniture with height and was created by Danny Macaskill. So, Street Trial is the most multipurpose discipline in the Urban Freestyle. Light bikes with carbon bicycle frame are used.

Wheelie Boys is a New York discipline in which riders make wheelies in artistic ways. No matter which bicycle they use, all bikes are appropriate to practice this sport.

We, as bikers, know all the benefits that riding a bike produces like human health improvement, environment protection, more free surface for people in cities, less dangerous crashes, you name it (or at least we should know them). Making efforts to promote it is an encouraging task which gives back pride in return. The problem is that sometimes we focus too much in people who are already cyclists or concern about the benefits of using bicycles.

I consider there are three types of persons in this regard: Those who are already convinced of the advantages of pedaling, those who are in the path of arriving to the previous group, and those cochistas who will never allow themselves to see positive points in bikes. I reckon the bike movement should focus more on convincing the group two of people, as indicated before. Most of them see bikes daily, have some concern in human and environment, check bad mood in car drivers, see cars and car infrastructure occupying too much surface in the neighbors stealing it from people, among others. They just need a little push to become riders and we, as experimented bikers, should constitute an example for them, transmit our good mood, explaining how it feels when riding a bicycle, all the benefits it has. This way more and more bicyclers will be seen on the streets which will encourage more people to pedal, politicians to build bike infrastructures and diminish car lines. In the end, all the people will benefit including those in the group three, though they will probably continue opposing bikes. Do not worry, their sons or grandsons will appreciate bikes.

• Cycling is expensive: False, you can buy a second-hand bike for much less than you imagine. Maintenance is also cheap, much more cheap than a car or motorbike. Remember always to demand the invoice of the original bicycle so that you do not contribute with bike theft.

• Women need women’s-specific bikes: False, women ride each and every bike, no matter it has a low bar or not.

• Riding is dangerous: False, it is safer than driving a car as it comes to number of crashes and importance of injuries and deaths (https://etsc.eu/transport-safety-performance-in-the-eu-a-statistical-overview). Even a pedestrian has more probability to suffer an accident compared to the one of a bike being involved in a crash.

• Bike weight is the most important issue: False, regarding weight the most important issue is the rider sometimes followed by the extra weight you carry in backpacks, saddlebags, etc.

• Cycling to work makes you arrive sweating: False, even in warm climates what makes you to sweat are issues like the speed or riding uphill. Consider the extreme case of cycling at 40º Celsius and you are at the top of a mountain. You just need to pedal once to ride, let’s say, 5 kilometers while a pleasant wind blows on your face. Remember that for long distances the combination of train + bike is ideal.

• It is impossible to ride with extreme conditions like raining, snowing or warm temperatures: False, people from diverse countries still use their bikes no matter if it rains, snows or there is a high temperature. People in north Europe say that the problem is not the climate conditions, but the garment you wear. Here you have some photos to illustrate it

• Biking is not for obese people: False, quite on the contrary biking is an excellent, aerobic exercise to loss weight.

• Riding is bad for your articulations: False, indeed cycling is well recommended by doctors to those who have problems in articulations such as the knees by substituting other exercising with higher impact on these like running, jogging or jumping.

• People with vertigo can not ride: False, this is a misconception. People who suffer from vertigo can ride a bike if their vertigo is not severe. In severe cases there is always the option to use a tricycle.

• Bikers do not pay taxes: False, it is a common sentence by car drivers. When you buy a bike or some component you do pay the VAT or equivalent tax in you country. When you bring your bicycle to a workshop to repair, also you pay a tax which is implicit in the cost of the service.

• Bikes should show a plate and have a specific insurance: False, another false argument by car drivers. Plates in bicycles were used in some countries such as Spain long time ago, but they were prohibited by the clear reason that it has no sense since plates were so small that a person could very hardly read it and the excessive administrative costs involved. Regarding insurance, today’s home insurance covers bike issues in most cases, where in others the possible damages caused by urban bicycles are so small that it has no sense to pay for a specific insurance.

• Cyclists are not held for traffic violations: False, conversely cyclists are held for traffic violations the same way drivers are. It is clear that bikers present specific issues due to specific infrastructures such a bike lines, but if police catch you drunk on a bike, you will be fine.

• Bike paths creates traffic: False, as you can see in the next picture comparing the road surface occupied by 200, the more bikes, the less surface use.