BMX bike on Display in the OSS Shop (Vanessa Okoth-Obbo/Neon Tommy)

Los Angeles is rewriting its narrative as a "car city" to make room for cyclists. Efforts to encourage a cycle-friendly environment, like beloved biking event CicLAvia, are increasingly common, and California recently passed a law requiring motorists to give three feet of clearance when overtaking people riding bikes.

But while these initiatives resolve some cyclists' concerns, not everyone who prefers two wheels to four has an easy ride in the City of Angels.

“When it comes to riding in the streets, almost all of us have gotten a jaywalking ticket or some sort of ticket in this area that has to do with bikes,” explained local BMX - or bicycle motocross - rider Alfredo Mancuso.

Mancuso says he and many of his fellow cyclists have experienced resistance from the law, by way of pricey fines and even DUI citations, while trying to do what they love.  

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BMX is a cycle sport that originated in Southern California in the late 1960s. It was born from young riders’ attempts to emulate their motorcycle idols, using the bicycles they already owned when couldn't afford the motorized equipment. BMX is divided into two categories: Supercross (competitive racing on a pre-designed circuit) and Freestyle (stunt riding).

During the 1970s, BMX riding grew in popularity and spread across the nation, becoming more professional and specialized as it caught on. A national sanctioning body was introduced in 1977 as a means to recognize the various BMX groups across the country and to help regulate competition. The sport has gained so much traction that the Supercross racing iteration became an official Olympic sport, with male and female riders competing in the 2008 Beijing games.

BMX for all (Vanessa Okoth-Obbo/Neon Tommy)

“For BMX racers, they will adapt to any situation needed to train and ride,” said Pete Dylewski. Dylewski has been racing since he was 12 years old, and he currently hosts the annual BMX World Cup Series. 

“No matter what part of the country you are in, for racing, it’s about adapting and traveling from track to track - to not only mix things up but to get [access to] the different types of tracks to use for training,” he explained in an e-mail.

He is content with the opportunities available to those most interested in the racing side of BMX, but he concedes that some freestyle riders have a harder time.

“For the street scene there are plenty of places for riders to [potentially] ride, but some may not be bike friendly,” he said.

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Freestyle is the BMX category devoted to stunts and artistry. It is generally divided into five specialties: park, vert, flat, dirt and street. Since riding a bike is a difficult and at times dangerous endeavor in car-centric Los Angeles, BMX street riders have a hard time practicing their craft in a safe space - before they factor in the threat of being fined several hundred dollars by the police.

In search of a solution, Alfredo Mancuso and his business partner Adam Grandmaison opened On Some Shit (OSS), a BMX shop in Downtown L.A. The two riders already owned a BMX media company called The Come Up. The OSS shop, which opened in November 2013, is where they showcase their bikes and apparel. It also serves as a social center for BMX street riders.

“[A few months after] we moved in, we started doing a monthly bike ride,” Mancuso explained. “We invite all the kids in the community to ride with us, and we have prizes and giveaways.”

For Mancuso, who is the chief financial officer for OSS, this monthly event is a way to build up a BMX riding community that he feels is often overlooked downtown, mostly because there is no hub or skate park where riders can meet. Although "park" and "street" are two separate disciplines within the sport, street riders often go to skate parks to use the railings and other obstacles they need to do their jumps. In Los Angeles, this causes problems.

On Some Shit, located on East 5th Street in Downtown L.A. (Vanessa Okoth-Obbo/Neon Tommy)

According to Rose Watson, an official at L.A. County’s Department of Parks and Recreation, there are 24 skate parks in the city. But a municipal ordinance prohibits bikes from riding in most of these parks, except for a few that allow bikes only at certain times.

Craig Raines is a landscape architect for the City of Los Angeles who oversees the design and construction of skate parks. He acknowledges that the municipal code prohibiting biking in some skate parks was designed at a time when there wasn’t a complete understanding of participants' needs. But he isn’t entirely convinced that skateboarders and bikers can operate peacefully in the same environment.

“A lot of the skaters don’t like it when they have to share with BMX because riders tend to try and assert dominance or control of space, due to the fact that they’re on a piece of machinery,” Raines said.

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Adam Grandmaison, co-owner and creative director of OSS, recognizes that limited space can be an issue but doesn’t think that it justifies excluding bikes entirely. 

“Skate parks do get really crowded… I think that is probably the only argument in favor of keeping bikes out,” he said.

However, he has seen parks in cities like Austin and Chicago where skateboarders and bikers co-exist, and he thinks that the problem is wider than square footage alone.

Grandmaison says that skateboard companies often get involved with the design of the parks, adopting a "tribal mentality" that protects skaters' interests while ignoring those of bikers. But eventually, bikers find a way in.

“In Los Angeles, we will technically be disallowed from skate parks. But then [a new park] will be around for a year or two, and all of a sudden there’ll be 30 percent as many skaters as there were during the first couple of weeks,” he explained. “Then bikes will start riding there, and everyone will forget that bikes aren’t allowed.”

Grandmaison knows from experience that the rule prohibiting bikes from skate parks is not always enforced strictly, but cautions that this is “the best possible scenario. The worst possible scenario is 14 year-old kids getting $300 tickets.”

Mancuso says that there is no ill will between himself and the many skaters he knows, and that BMX riders don’t go to skate parks to cause trouble. But the occasional power struggles for space and the possibility of being thrown out of skate parks at any time underline the need to create more opportunities for freestyle riders. That is what OSS aims to do, especially in the neighborhood that the shop calls home. 

Part of the battle involves changing perceptions of BMX street riders themselves. Both Mancuso and Grandmaison think that BMX riders are quickly branded as vandals or immature because of the way they dress or the bikes they ride.

“I don’t know why exactly, but there is more of a prejudice towards bicycling - especially in downtown L.A., which is supposed to be a friendlier hub,” Mancuso said.

OSS apparel, for looking good while you ride (Vanessa Okoth-Obbo/Neon Tommy)

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Although it may take some time to reshape attitudes around BMX street riding, Mancuso and Grandmaison have made some progress since opening their shop.

“People always come by our store and congratulate us. They say that this area needed a bike shop. We’ve seen a lot more bike locks go up around our area, so that means that [the community is] embracing the fact that we do bring more of a crowd here,” Mancuso said.

Craig Raines said that the City is open to discussing new spaces for BMX riders only. Mancuso and Grandmaison also have plans to open a second OSS store in a different part of L.A. and to build a park open to the BMX public. But all of these are long-term goals.

For now, Mancuso and Grandmaison will continue to offer their space as a meeting point where street riders can come to share ideas, compare riding styles and get help with assembling and maintaining their bikes.

The OSS shop will celebrate its one-year anniversary on November 21st.

Contact Staff Reporter Vanessa Okoth-Obbo here and follow her on Twitter here.