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Has anyone ever tried to contact him? Shouldnt be hard to get him on the phone let him know about this site. He might show a lil intrest. Maybe.

kmpap wrote:

buddyroe wrote:

Has anyone ever tried to contact him? Shouldnt be hard to get him on the phone let him know about this site. He might show a lil intrest. Maybe.

True enough.  But if I were RL Osborn and read through this thread, it would simply reconfirm my decision to move on and not bother with OS Anything.  Despite some intelligent or empathetic posts, this thread's tone by-and-large isn't inviting and wouldn't foster the desire to explore the scene or hobby.

As if he owes any of us a anything because we once looked up to him or rode a product he did...good grief.

Agree......But I Was just meaning this site, info, bikes, etc...

All I am stressing is I think RL was highly underrated. His skills, his technical abilities in the air and on ground, his talent and his professionalism. I think he was the best overall BMX Freestyler of all time. RL doesn't owe me anything. However, I think his exit from the sport was strangely unnoticeable. From my perspective, it seemed like nobody even knew or cared when he retired. That said, I think RL and the Osborn family deserved a lot more credit for what they gave to the sport.

Fyi: I phoned RL a few years back and expressed my appreciation for what he gave to the sport and the pleasure he gave me watching him perform.

Have A Nice Weekend.

Peace

Last edited by oldschoolray (2012-06-03 12:36pm)

That was supposed to say "The Osborn family DOES get a lot of credit..."

Enough already. If RL wanted to be more visible in todays bmx community he would be. If he doesn't that's his choice. It doesn't affect in any way what his contributions were BITD...when it actually mattered.

Exactly. He was one of the founders of a great sport. What more can one really ask of him?!

Old Trick Star wrote:

Not sure if everyone has seen(read) this yet,but you can read this: articlhttp://espn.go.com/action/bmx/blog/_/post/5923046e.

? which one?  be a bit more specific

I thought it was Ozzy Osbourne.

D-money wrote:

oldschoolray wrote:

All I am stressing is I think RL was highly underrated. His skills, his technical abilities in the air and on ground, his talent and his professionalism. I think he was the best overall BMX Freestyler of all time. RL doesn't owe me anything. However, I think his exit from the sport was strangely unnoticeable. From my perspective, it seemed like nobody even knew or cared when he retired. That said, I think RL and the Osborn family deserved a lot more credit for what they gave to the sport.

Fyi: I phoned RL a few years back and expressed my appreciation for what he gave to the sport and the pleasure he gave me watching him perform.

Have A Nice Weekend.

Peace

Thats nice to say but  an insult to all Dennis McCoy did.I always liked Woody best but DMC owned it.

I'm sure he didn't mean it as an insult to Dennis. But if you are going to have a conversation about the best overall ever, both of them go on the list, but I think RL has more significance. Saying Dennis is better than RL is like saying Matt Wilhelm is better at flatland than Bob Haro... Of course he is, but in the big picture, is he more important? With all due respect to Matt, I don't think so.

oldschoolray wrote:

Fyi: I phoned RL a few years back and expressed my appreciation for what he gave to the sport and the pleasure he gave me watching him perform.

http://espn.go.com/action/bmx/blog/_/po … ett-reeves   Article discusses a location RL used for a magazine photo shoot and a rider also used the same location in his 2011 video.

Just goes to show that not all the new school guys are familiar with the old school crowd. Which leads me to think that if the old school riders didn't make a name for themselves during the mid school or early new school (whatever that is supposed to mean) eras they are probably unknown to many of the new school riders. It's just a guess though.

Last edited by 00_Duck (2012-06-04 9:29am)

It is all very complex... To the riders, who were there then, and were sponsored at the time, THEY understand. 88-90 was a VERY hard time for the "sponsored" side of the sport. The old days of getting to tour and getting paid were drawing to an end. I know some guys who had their tour cut short when they realized that they were literally out of money, and no more was coming in from their sponsors... They had to use their own cash to get home in the middle of a tour.

Many promises were made by the powers that be in BMX manufacturing and they abused many high level riders. Contracts weren't fulfilled, and bike sales dropped dramatically. Our sport became an "old fad" and got slashed by corporate, and quietly went underground. Sales quit being bike shop focused and everyone bought from the magazines, so the bike shops that used to spend money on tours, didn't anymore, as the big bike sales went to the few magazine advertisers (kind of like the way everyone buys online now).


The other side was the level of skill that the non west coast riders brought to the table... Magazines were focused on the west coast, so they were usually a year behind the curve. If you have been lucky enough to see video from the AFA contests on the east coast in the late 80's until the AFA went away (or if you attended) you would know that the expert classes of riders were far better than the pros, it wasn't even close. But, the judging was pretty wack then, as the "famous" riders would win contests not because of their runs, but because of their name recognition. Which was the beginning of the end for big contests... As once you don't award the best rider with the win, what is the point of attending?...

I am sure it was uncomfortable for the pros who attended to see the skill level of unknown, unsponsored experts who could have easily won pro class with their tricks, even though they drove old station wagons, and worn out bikes to the contests, and were going up against the legends in the sport...



It all came to a head, and riders stopped caring about the previous "goal" of getting good enough to get sponsored. Being sponsored was a huge hassle, it became a job, and you couldn't enjoy the sport like you once did. Guys were paid based on their coverage, if you got a pic in a magazine with a sponsored product on, you got a check. So branding was critical back in the old days. Once those checks stopped coming in, it all changed. And riders started riding for themselves, and just focusing on fun.

Riders started inventing stuff, and being free of corporate sponsorships, you could ride what you wanted... So trick progression really took off. But, the west coast guys were so focused on the old way of things, that many couldn't keep up with the progression.

And with the bike shops dropping freestyle, it meant the old way of distribution wasn't going to work anymore, the entire game changed.

Then, the 90's started, and it all died out. No flatlanders sponsored, only a few ramp riders, or the new breed of street riders who got bikes, and clothes but only a few got checks and nothing like the old days.


Guys had to make a living, so the majority moved on to other things to pay their bills.

oldschoolray "when the sport took a serious nose dive for no apparent reason"

Ummmmmm.....I think a a plethora of reasons have been made obvious towards the decline in the late 80's.