I never thought I’d say, or even write, the words ‘I want a BMX’ but I have and I do.

Until very recently I never understood the appeal of a BMX. My rural upbringing automatically made the mountain bike my bike of choice - the more suspension and the fatter the tyres the better. Although I’d only use 1% of the bikes potential it was nice to know that I had V-breaks and 26 grip shift gears so I could climb a mountain if I wanted to (which I didn’t).

Nowadays I zip around on my old Raleigh racer, which is great. Cycling is my salvation in London and I really don’t think I’d go to work if I had to get public transport every day. Being crammed in with hundreds of strangers noisily chomping on crisps and sneezing down the back of your neck is enough to drive the sanest person to random acts of violence.

But returning to BMXs, I never really got it. However, now I’m thinking that’s more my fault than the bike’s.

First off, I’ve always been too ham-fisted to do tricks and too scared to jump off things at speed, so that whole ‘fun’ element was out. Plus I always thought they were too small and a bit undignified to ride, which is true but also part of their charm.

My epiphany came the other day when I stumbled upon the following pictures. I know now that If I’d seen these images when I was a kid I would have hounded my parents every Christmas and Birthday for a BMX - yeah I was a brat.

Observe for yourself…

Their crew looks pretty rad - I think that’s an appropriate BMX word.

They had some babes too.