David Wiggins - The UK's Youngest Freestyle Rider!

At 19 Dave is still currently the youngest fmx rider on the UK freestyle scene. You may well remember him if you are a regular P&H customer as he used to work part time in our parts department but left about a year ago to concentrate on his freestyle career. We now offer our support to Dave through sponsorship.

Dave learnt to ride a motorcycle at the age of 5, was competing in motocross at the age 14, then at the age of 16 embarked on a career into freestyle. Only having been doing freestyle for three and a half years he is now making a name for himself in the extreme sports industry - part of the UKFMX freestyle display team Dave is now also creating waves amongst some of the UK's top riders.

Dave has been featured in Two Wheels Only magazine, Dirt Bike Rider magazine. You can also catch him on Men and Motors on Bikes Aloud with John Cantlie, Chris Moss and Louise Bradie, Crash Stunt Idiots on Men and Motors. He's also starred in Heaven and Hell - The 2nd Coming! The UK's best selling independent Freestyle DVD and has also be doing his bit for road motorcycle safety and has appeared as a stunt double in the MCIA's new DVD about scooter safety, following on from 'A Street, At Track and Open Road' with Chris Walker and James Toseland. Check out Dave's website and learn about what he's been up to and his plans for 2006 at www.dwextreme.co.uk

You may have seen him in action at our open weekend in July 2005, where Dave and Gary Taylor from UKFMX were showing off their amazing display of freestyle stunts/jumps on Gary's very own freestyle ramps. If you haven't seen freestyle motocross before, then basically these radical and mad athletes jump 30 - 40 feet in the air, travelling distances of over 60 to 80 foot. They perform awesome tricks like the cliffhanger, seat grab, heart attack and kiss of death.

They use a take off freestyle ramp which is about 8ft in height and approximately 4ft wide and a landing ramp, which has to be in the region of 15ft wide and 25ft long. To get a better idea of the system that freestyler's use, take a look at UKFM'X's freestyle ramps.

The riders generally learn and adapt their freestyle motocross tricks from the motocross track. This is how and where it has originated. Whilst negotiating motocross jumps such as table tops, step ups and doubles, riders started to incorporate tricks into the races, this was then taken off the track and hence, we now have freestyle. Freestylers hate their fmx riding to be referred to as motorcycle stunts, stunt riding or motocross stunts, as far as they are concerned it is FREESTYLE MOTOCROSS, so should you ever meet a freestyle rider, never use the word stunt in front of them. These guys are athletes - not stunt men, it's a sport not a death defying daredevil experience.

Freestyle motocross is a huge industry in the USA with famous riders like Travis Pastrana, Chuck Caruthers and Nate Adams. Whilst fmx is getting more popular in the UK, we still have a long way to go before it's anywhere as exciting as it is over the Atlantic - but hey the Americans always did do everything bigger and better than us!

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This extreme sport is becoming increasingly competitive with freestyle jumps like back flip variations and the double back flip recently performed by none other the Travis Pastrana.
Some of the other freestyle mx riders include Gary Taylor, Kris Brock, Jamie Squibb, Danny Veale and Chris Birch and you can see then in action through out the year at events like The International Motocross at Hawkstone Park, NASS at Shepton Mallet, Sprite Urban Games in Clapham Common, London, The Newquay Board Masters in Newquay and numerous Monster Truck events across the country.

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For further information about UKFMX, the team, the freestyle tricks, an insight into the different shows, plus all the UKFMX latest news and gossip check out their website at www.ukfmx.com

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