https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMnZ18Gg3vc

BMX

Rampworx is a breading ground for some of the worlds best BMX riders. Many Pro riders  session the skatepark on a regular basis such as Harry Main, Ben Lewis, Paul Ryan, Anthony Watkinson and Pete Sawyer.

Events

Every year Rampworx hosts a huge BMX Halloween Allnighter event. This event is just crazy, riders from all over the country come to Rampworx in fancy dress to ride non stop all night. This event typically runs from 10pm until 8am the next morning! We host a bunch of contests throughout the day and give away a bunch of prizes.As well as big contest we also run a series of more low key events throughout the year. Our “BMX Only Sessions” usually take place on a Monday night and allow all of the BMX riders to ride the park without any other sports in the building, the atmosphere at these events is amazing, everyone is cheering each other on to land tricks and try new things. Make sure you keep checking out our events page for our latest BMX Only Session.

Coaching

Rampworx Skatepark offers BMX coaching on specific days during the week, all equipment is provided and our skilled coaching staff will help you get the confidence to use the skatepark like a pro in no time! It doesn\’t matter if you have never skated before or you just want a little help to perfect your technique we are here to help you achieve your goals!

History

The BMX phenomenon really began in the early 70’s when kids began jumping on their BMX’s to race on the dirt tracks of southern This was a direct offshoot of motorcross, which was incredibly popular at that time. The popularity of the Schwinn Sting-Ray, which was easily customized for control and improved performance. By the mid 1970‘s BMX had really took off and respective manufacturers began creating bicycles designed especially for the sport. For a long time the freestyle BMX movement was largely an underground movement until in 1977, the American Bicycle Association (ABA) was established as one of the key governing bodies who really took hold of the sport to drive it forwards for the sport. Founded in 1981, the International BMX Federation was formed with  the very first World Championships held in 1982. After this point BMX began to gain in momentum and prominence.

Modern day BMX Freestyle incorporates the Dirt, Vert, Park, Street and Flatland discipline. It was a combination of BMX racers who enjoyed taking their sports to stylistic limits of what they could do on their bikes who began to take the sports to the next level and it was  Bob Haro, the founder of Haro Bikes, who became known as “The Father of Freestyle.” Such is the popularity of BMX Freestyle it has become one of the main events at the annual Summer X Games Extreme Sports and the posthumous ETNIES backyard jam, which is hosted on both coasts of the United States. Freestyle BMX is rather unique in that their are no no specific rules (street riders usually don’t have brakes If they do, it is mostly straight cable, not gyro!) and style/aesthetics, skills, and creativity are widely encouraged! Most riders like to have front and back pegs on one side of their bike. The market for freestyle BMX is hugely competitive as manufacturers try to lure riders with lighter freestyle bikes, advanced components, and eye catching accessories. BMX is now one of most popular and widely participated extreme sports at Rampworx.

Aggressive Skating

Also know as Blading, Inline Skating is a hugely popular sport across the globe. The true beauty of Aggressive Inline Skating is that it allows the user to perfect their own unique style as the skates become an extension of their body.

Events

Every year Rampworx hosts a huge international Inline Skating contest called “Laced“. The contest formed in 2012 has seen some of the worlds top athletes fly into Liverpool to compete for the number one spot. Not only does the contest have a prestigious pro contest but it also runs a very high level Am contest, the winners of this contest go through to compete with the Pro riders. As well as big contest we also run a series of more low key events throughout the year. Our “Inline Only Sessions” usually take place on a Monday night and allow all of the inline skaters to ride the park without any other sports in the building, the atmosphere at these events is amazing, everyone is cheering each other on to land tricks and try new things. Make sure you keep checking out our events page for our latest Inline Only Session.

Coaching

Rampworx Skatepark offers Inline Skating coaching on specific days during the week, all equipment is provided and our skilled coaching staff will help you get the confidence to use the skatepark like a pro in no time! It doesn’t matter if you have never skated before or you just want a little help to perfect your technique we are here to help you achieve your goals!

History

Interestingly, it was a group of ice hockey players back in 1980 from Minnesota who were looking for a way to practice during the summer who invented rollerblading.  Rollerblade Inc was set up by Scott and Brennan Olson who made the evolutionary leap of skates with four polyurethane wheels arranged in a straight line on the bottom of a padded boot. Quite a contrast from the quad boot commonly seen at roller discos!

Their first aggressive inline skate was released in 1988 called the Rollerblade Lightning TRS. However, it wasn’t until the early 1990‘s that Aggressive inline skating finally developed as an organized sport by a number of enthusiastic aggressive inline skaters who formed the Aggressive Skaters Association (ASA) in 1994 to formulate the rules governing competitions and equipment. In 1995, the sport was a feature of the first X games, which included a ‘vert’ (vertical) ramp and street event competitions.

When Disney released a mainstream movie called ‘Brink’ it became apparent that Inline was now a seriously recognised a global sport. Unfortunately, the popularity of Inline suffered a considerable decline in its popularity and as such was removed from the ESPN X-Games in 2005. However, there remains a traditional hardcore group of skaters throughout the World and this is reflected in its inclusion in the Asian X Games, LG Action Sports Competitions, Montpellier Fise, and other large competitions. A great deal of the sports progression has been documented through a range of inline skate videos, such as T-Bone Film’s ‘The Hoax’ and ‘Videogroove’ series which are no longer trading. If you want to see some sick skate videos the best and most obvious place to start is Youtube and Vimeo.  You can also  google some of the finest riders ever, such as Brian Aragon, Montre Livingstone and Nick Lomax.

Tricks

When it comes to tricks most riders perform on street obstacles, or ramps. ‘Grinds’ and ‘slides’ tend to be the choice of street skaters, whereas ramp skaters utilise ramps to gain ‘good air’ which helps them perform a range of acrobatic tricks. Most skateparks are set up so that riders can do both. Aggressive skates utilise frames and plastic plates on the base of the skate to perform grinds which are usually done on a single or series of rails and ledges although this can be performed on any given obstacle that allows the rider to slide, such as a curbstone, or handrail. A ‘cess’ slide is similar to grinding, but it involves the sliding on the sides of the skate, and can be performed on any surface that will allow for sliding.

People who ride private and community skateparks are known as ‘park skaters’. This differs vastly from street skating due to the nature of the obstacles that skateparks use. This includes utilising coping which is a metal tubing placed at the top of the ramps (similar to a handrail) to allow riders to slide along and perform tricks on top of whilst moving. Skatepark riders often focus on the technical side of aggressive inline allowing them to complete a variety of different skills and tricks. Skaters will connect a variety of different and complicated tricks often referred to as a ‘run’ with a series of tricks connected over a number of different ramps and obstacles being called a ‘line’.

As you will no doubt appreciate, these stunts, tricks, and maneuvers require an advanced level of skating skills to execute them effectively and with some degree of safety. Aggressive inline maneuvers, like all extreme sports can be very dangerous and this is why this skating discipline is labelled with an “X,” or extreme sport classification.  To enable greater strength and control, inline skates were updated in 1988 to include small, relatively soft inline skate wheels that help skaters accelerate and decelerate quicker. This different inline setup also permits better skate control for stunts and maneuvers. Aggressive skates are slower and the less durable soft wheels need more frequent replacement than other inline skate wheels. The boot shell comes in three styles and is made of plastic that can tolerate hard blows, scrapes and bumps to protect feet from the battering they could encounter in the sport with a sole plate attached under the boot as a solid platform for the feet and for use in some of the stunts. The actual frame, which houses the axles for the wheels, has thicker walls and more reinforcements than other inline skates. And there is a gap and grooves in the center of it which are also necessary for many of the aggressive tricks.

Skateboarding

 

Events

As well as big contest Rampworx also runs a series of more low key events throughout the year. Our “Skateboard Only Sessions” usually take place on a Monday night and allow all of the inline skaters to ride the park without any other sports in the building, the atmosphere at these events is amazing, everyone is cheering each other on to land tricks and try new things. Make sure you keep checking out our events page for our latest Skateboard Only Session.

Coaching

Rampworx Skatepark offers Skateboard coaching on specific days during the week, all equipment is provided and our skilled coaching staff will help you get the confidence to use the skatepark like a pro in no time! It doesn’t matter if you have never skated before or you just want a little help to perfect your technique we are here to help you achieve your goals!

History

Skateboarding developed by accident when surfers in California decided to add wheels to boards so that they could ride when the waves were flat. This happened around the late 1940’s, early 50’s. No one knows who made the first board, but this was the start of skateboarding as we know it  today. Funnily enough, the very first skateboarders started with wooden boxes or boards that had roller wheels attached to the bottom. These boxes soon became planks, which, in turn became decks of pressed layers of wood, which are very similar to the skateboard decks of today.

During the early days, skateboarding was often referred to as “Sidewalk Surfing” and was seen as something to do for fun besides surfing. In 1976, Alan “Ollie” Gelfand transformed the face of skateboarding following the invention of the ‘ollie’. This was largely a Florida trick until he decided to visit California in 1978 when he showed off his revolutionary-type maneuvers capturing the imaginations of the West Coast skaters and related media where it began to spread worldwide.

In 1982, Rodney Mullen adapted the Ollie to flat ground who invented the “Magic Flip”, which was later renamed the kickflip, as well many other tricks including, the 360 Kickflip.

Crucially, it was the creation of the the ‘flat ground ollie’ that allowed skateboarders to perform tricks in mid-air without the need for any other equipment other than the skateboard they were using and this has formed the basis of many street skating tricks we see today.

Rodney Mullen was a true pioneer and ensured that freestyle skating remained hugely popular throughout this period by inventing many of the basic tricks of modern street skating such as the ‘impossible’ and the ‘kickflip’. It was during the mid eighties, the influence freestyle on street skating became apparent. However, this was still performed on wide vert boards with short noses, slide rails, and large soft wheels. The majority of modern skateboards are 714 to 8 inches (180 to 200 mm) wide and 30 to 32 inches (760 to 810 mm) long and the wheels are made up of a hard polyurethane. Wheel sizes are now smaller to ensure that the boards are lighter enabling riders to perform tricks easier. Since the 70’s the styles of skateboards have changed dramatically. Todays modern shape of skateboard is a simple evolution of the freestyle boards that existed in 80s with their familiar symmetrical shape and relatively narrow width which was firmly established in the 90’s.

Stunt Scooter

Scooter riders under 16 years of age must wear a helmet when using Rampworx Skatepark, this is for your own safety. Stunt Scooters are a very popular sport with thousands of participants. This is a great way to get into extreme sports, Stunt Scooters start from around £60 and go right the way up to £300 for a top of the line scooter.

Events

Rampworx hosts a series of huge scooter events throughout the year. We partner with big companies like MGP to get the best pros in the world to come and ride with our local riders and have a contest, give out some prizes and just have a good time. As well as big contest we also run a series of more low key events throughout the year. Our “Scooter Only Sessions” usually take place on a Monday night and allow all of the scooter riders to ride the park without any other sports in the building, the atmosphere at these events is amazing, everyone is cheering each other on to land tricks and try new things. Make sure you keep checking out our events page for our latest Scooter Only Session.

Coaching

Rampworx Skatepark offers Stunt Scooter coaching on specific days during the week, all equipment is provided and our skilled coaching staff will help you get the confidence to use the skatepark like a pro in no time! It doesn’t matter if you have never scooted before or you just want a little help to perfect your technique we are here to help you achieve your goals!

History

Would you believe that the first Primitive scooters have been hand-made in industrial urban areas for at least 100 years. Before bicycles became popular among children, steel scooters with two small bicycle wheels had been the most useful vehicles for them. Around 1987, many BMX manufacturers produced BMX-like scooters known as as ‘Scoots’. Those manufacturers discontinued their scooters, but some scooter manufacturers were established after years, and still develop similar scooters today; Some are used in dense urban areas for utility purposes, being faster than a folding scooter and more convenient than a utility bicycle. Some are made for off-road use and are described as Mountain Scooters.

A kick scooter or push scooter, originally scooter, is a human-powered vehicle with a handlebar, deck and wheels that is propelled by a rider pushing off the ground. In the late 1990s, the “Micro Skate Scooter”, a sleeker, narrower folding version of the kick scooter, was created by Wim Ouboter of Micro Mobility Systems in Switzerland. The scooter was rebadged as the “Razor” in the USA. JD Corporation, the founder of Razor USA also sold them as the “JD Bug/Razor MS-130A“. In 1999 and 2000 the aluminum scooters and their copies became popular in Japan and the United States, in a wide variety of colors and styles. The three brands are still produced and are popular with children and with a niche market of young adults who use the scooters to perform stunts. The Razor scooter is a foldable scooter invented by the J.D. Corporation, which also sells aluminum bicycle parts and electric scooters in Shanghai, Taiwan. The Razor Scooter took 5 years to design under Gino Tsai, the then 44 year-old Taiwanese president of J.D. Corporation. Gino Tsai, a mechanical engineer claims that his legs were too short, and his walking speed always seemed too slow to get around his large bicycle factory in Chang Hua, Taiwan. To serve that purpose, Gino Tsai updated the old-fashioned scooter into the modern Razor scooter. The Razor uses airplane grade aluminum tested to support an 1,100 pound load without bending, (often neon colored) polyurethane wheels with silent bearings, and a patented brake worked by stepping on the rear fender. The most common scooters today have two hard small wheels, are made primarily of aluminium and fold for convenience. Freestyle Scooter Riding has grown massively in the last couple of years is a progressive, modern sport that is really exciting with people like Terry Price and Ryan Williams achieving new tricks for the first time.