11 Practical Gift Ideas for BMX Riders


The holiday season is coming up fast, and I’m a little bit behind. Bmx riders are a little bit odd. We don’t like normal things. Usually, we just want to ride our bike and hang out with friends. But this makes your job of buying a good gift kind of hard. I’m going to look into some of the best gifts that are BMX related and explain how it is useful for a BMX rider. This will save you a lot of headaches because I’m sure you have a lot of people to shop for.

I remember when I was 15 and any time that my birthday or Christmas was coming up, my mom would ask “what do you want?” Being bashful I always said nothing. (maybe I was just difficult) My dad would just get me some cash and say “here is some cash since you’re so hard to shop for.” Now I’m sure you just want to get something heartfelt that shows how much you care.

Just to be transparent, some of the product links will be affiliate links. If you buy something through the link, I make a small commission. It’s not much but it really helps me keep the website running.

Best Gifts for BMX Riders

1. Bike Upgrades

Everyone and I mean EVERYONE loves getting new parts for their bike. Shopping for bike parts is only hard if you don’t know what to look for. I wrote a post about “Ultimate Upgrades for your BMX bike” You should look over it and any part from that list would make a good gift.

BMX riders need to upgrade parts in order to keep the bike fresh and progress with riding. New parts always make new tricks easier. So you can never go wrong here.

Where to find

I always recommend DanscompOpens in a new tab.. They are a family-owned BMX shop that has a HUGE customer service focus. I’ve been buying from Dans for over 10 years.

2. Trip to Woodward

About Woodward

Woodward is literally Action sports heaven. Kids come here and stay for a minimum of 1 week. During this week kids are surrounded by other progression hungry BMX riders and paired with a coach ever morning. Being around other BMX riders and getting coaching will help the rider take their skill to the next level.

I have been to Woodward camp 4 times now, and when I was younger it played a crucial role in getting me to where I am today. There are multiple camp locations, but the best ones are Woodward EastOpens in a new tab., and Woodward West. East is giant, you can actually get lost there, and it has so many other activities. If you want more of a summer camp experience go with east, and more of a BMX experience, go west.

Learn more about Woodward hereOpens in a new tab.

3. Camera

Why a Camera?

For some reason, us BMX riders are obsessed with taking pictures for Instagram and other social media platforms. You don’t really need a fancy camera, but I know for a fact owning one of these nice Canon cameras is a dream come true for most riders.

Nowadays, it is a real thing for teenagers to make $1000+ a month through social media. If this is a dream for someone you know, the camera is actually a good choice. Think of it as an investment. I actually use a camera that my parents got for me over 6 years ago to create a lot of the content on this website. Because of the camera, I’m finally building a business.

Best Cameras for Photography

Best Camera for VLOG

4. Laptop

Why a laptop?

My 2017 Macbook Pro was hands down the best gift I ever got myself. Again, this goes down that road of a gift for a BMX rider who wants to build a business around the sport. A good computer is crucial for creating good content and making $$ doing what you love.

If your BMX rider doesn’t have dreams like that, don’t worry. A $1000 computer isn’t for everyone and that is okay.

Laptop gifts under $2000

5. BMX Clothing

Why BMX Clothing?

Normal clothes are boring. BMX riders like to identify with something and most BMX clothes are pretty unique. A popular design includes shirts that are just a little bit taller than most. This helps keep your shirt from riding up when doing tricks.

Where to buy?

BMX t-shirts are here on Danscomp.Opens in a new tab.

6. Bike School

What is Bike school?

Bike School is the ultimate course that will give you the information and the tools needed to become a better bike rider. 50+ How-to Videos + Personalized Coaching.

Learn more about Bike School hereOpens in a new tab.

7. BMX Tubes

Why Tubes?

Sadly, during the summer of 2020, someone bought ALL of the tubes. Well, I’m not sure if that’s the case. But man I had a really hard time finding tubes and your BMX rider probably is too.

The only thing worse than being at the park, and getting a flat. Is getting to your car to fix said flat, and realizing youre out of tubes. I always have 3-4 tubes sitting in my car just in case I need one. Make sure you are stocked up.

Where to buy

8. Headphones

Why Headphones?

Riding with headphones is a widely discussed topic in the BMX community. Some riders love it and absolutely swear by it. While other riders just want to be immersed in the experience of riding. I go back and forth. Some days I love to use the headphones to get in the zone. But other days I just like to hear everything else.

There has definitely been a lot more riders using headphones since the release of AirPods. They have really changed the game. A lot of riders love that they can just put in just one headphone, this gives them the best of both worlds.

Personally, I bought myself the Airpod Pros as a present when I paid off my debt from the U.K. I love them so much. I was never a headphone guy before, but now with these, I’m able to tune out the world and focus on the riding. Such a good feeling.

Best Headphone Choices

9. BMX Shoes

Why Shoes?

Shoes are one of those “boring gifts” but they play a huge role in comfort when riding BMX. Trust me, I have ridden in some junky shoes. Not. Fun.

To be honest, normally I ride in the cheapest shoes from ross or footlocker. I’m not crazy picky. However, recently I started to love riding in Nike SB shoes. Mostly because the sole has nice padding and saves me from heel bruises.

As soon as I ruin the pair of SB’s that I’m riding right now, I will try out the Larry Edgar Pro Vans. I’ve heard so many good things about these shoes, and I’m excited to test them out.

When you buy shoes for a BMX rider, think about a couple of things. Think about ankle support, and grip when you decide what shoes to get.

Ankle Support will play a huge role since a lot of tricks will cause the bike to smack into your ankle. A lot of riders choose to ride in high-top shoes as a way to keep the ankles safe.

Grip is the pattern on the shoes. When riding BMX, we need certain kinds of patterns on our shoes. Vans are some of the best shoes for this because the deep waffle cone pattern lets the pins of the pedals sink in.

5 Best BMX Shoes

10. Safety Gear

Why Safety Gear?

Hopefully, the person that you are shopping for wants to wear safety gear. Otherwise, you are just throwing money into the air. Safety gear is crucial, but a lot of people won’t wear it until its too late. The best thing to do is to make it a habit and put your gear on before riding every time.

Shin Guards

For me and a lot of other riders, shin guards are the handiest piece of safety gear available. Not many things hurt more than taking a pedal straight to the shin. Especially when learning tailwhips and can-cans. I ride fuse because simply they are the best. One day I’ll start my own line of pads and they will be better 😜

I listed the Fuse shin guards that I ride above, but if you want to shop all shin guards, do so here. That link has shadow invisi light shin pads, which are really low-key and lightweight. The fuse still offers the best protection.

Knee Pads

70% of riders do not wear knee pads. But I’m so glad that I do. There has been countless times where I clipped my tire on something that sent me flying onto my knees. I’m old and a broken knee cap would not be fun. When shopping for good knee pads, you will want something light and breathable. Essentially, you want to forget that you even have them on.

Again I ride and recommend Fuse knee pads. Why? Well, these knee pads are really slim and light. But they have a thin layer of hard plastic that really saves your knee. Not to mention all the padding on the sides.

Top Picks

Elbow pads

The last time that I wore elbow pads was about 7 years ago during my first stay are Woodward East. We had to wear them to ride. Sometimes, kids would get socks and cut the ends so they had just the tube part. Then they would pretend that they are elbow pads. The point I’m trying to make is that most of the time, kids will not wear these.

However, if your kid has some mental blocks and thinks elbow pads would help I’d recommend Fuse again. You can shop all elbow pads here.

Helmets

At the time of writing this, helmets are in a strange place. What I mean by that is that they are changing regulations and requirements. So a lot of the popular BMX helmets are staying out of stock until everything is sorted out. The POC that I ride is completely gone, and it makes me sad because I need a new one.

You can shop all helmets on Danscomp here.Opens in a new tab.

I recommend a lot of people the Shadow Featherweight because it is certified and lightweight.

Make sure your helmet is certified. Riding an uncertified helmet might seem safe still, but it really is useless. Uncertified helmets offer no protection. Read more about the issue here.

11. Food Gift Cards

This is one of those gifts that you don’t appreciate until you use it. My parents chose this as a gift option in high school, boy do I miss it. Food really adds up, and some help here and there will always be appreciated. Especially when your kid is out riding street and he gets hungry.

Gift cards are the simplest and potentially cheapest gift options for BMX riders.

Douglas Laird

My parents bought me my first BMX bike in 2011 and it changed my life. This bike has taken me all over the world and introduced me to cool places and cooler people. My goal is to help get 1,000,000 people into BMX so they can experience the joy and freedom that comes from a progression based sport.

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