Do BMX Bikes Have Gears? (BMX Bike Gears Explained!)

BMX bikes are famous among children who love staying outdoors and riding cycles. The word BMX stands for Bicycle MotoCross. These off-road racing bikes are lightweight, easily transportable, really good for fun riding and stunts as well as dirt jumping and all.

BMX bikes are not too expensive. So, it’s not necessary that you only buy one for your kid if he/she is interested in racing or any stunts. You can buy your kid such a bike even if it’s only about transportation.

Do BMX Bikes Have Gears?

Yes, BMX bikes have gears. The old models of BMX bikes had bigger gearing in the ratio of 44/16. The newer ones come with smaller gearing such as 22/8, 23/8, 25/9, 28/10, 30/11, 33/12, 36/13 (gear ratio around 2.8/1). Small gearing makes the grinding clear while making the cycling easy and smooth.

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What Gear Is A BMX In?

BMX bikes these days have smaller gearing although the older ones have bigger gearing. The gear ratio is measured around 2.8/1 for every other gear out there.

So, basically there are multiple gearings depending on the gear inches, roll-outs, gain ratios and sprockets.

The available gear ratios are 22/8, 23/8, 25/9, 27/9, 28/9, 30/9, 28/10, 30/11, 33/12, 36/13, 36/16 and so on. A BMX bike can be in any of these gears. Among all, the 27/9 and 28/9 are the most preferable by the youngsters.

How many gears does a BMX bike have?

BMX bikes have sprockets in the front beside the pedals and cassettes as well as a set of cog in the rear wheel. These two work as gears when connected through a chain while the whole process helps the wheels rotate.

So, yes, we can say that a BMX bike has two gears.

What Is The Best BMX Gear Ratio?

It’s super easy to calculate the gear ratio of your BMX bike. Just count the tooth of your front sprocket and your rear sprocket. Now, devide the number of tooth of the front sprocket by the number of tooth of the rear sprocket.

The result is the gear ratio of your bike. Now, which gear ratio is the perfect one for you? Or which gear ratio is the best out there?

Well, it entirely depends on the size of the wheels and more importantly your comfortability. The bigger the wheel is, the more in number the teeth are going to be. So, among all ratios, choose your one wisely.

According to the highest review statistics, here are the best gear ratios and why they are the best.

44/16 Gear Ratio:

This is one of the best gear ratios out there. It has 55 gear inches. This is one the old BMX bike models which have bigger wheels and these are still being used vastly by a lot of people.

25/9 Gear Ratio:

This gear ratio is very very popular among people. It has around 2.78/1 gear ratio. The lesser the ratio is, the better it will be for your bike. Smaller gears make it easy to pedal and move the bike forward.

30/11 Gear Ratio:

This as well, is a very good ratio for a BMX bike. The gear ratio is almost 2.73/1 which is a perfect ratio to consider. It is a lot easier when the ratio stay within the limit.

Makes it easy to pedal and privileges with perfect grinding.

There are a lot of combinations of gear ratios out there. It is best if you always go for the ratio within 2.8/1 or less. These make the bike light in weight and easily transportable.

Why do BMX have small sprockets?

BMX bikes are stunt bikes. These are used for off-road, dirt jumping and doing stunts mostly. These cannot be easily done by any bike kinds.

There are some constructive differences between stunt bikes and regular bikes. The prime of which is the size of the sprockets. In case of BMX bikes, the sprockets are smaller. But why?

Bigger sprockets make the bike slower whereas the smaller ones make it faster. One of the few ways to ensure that the bike is faster is when the front sprocket is bigger and the rear sprocket is smaller in size.

This size-balance makes the bike not only fast but also comfortable in pedaling.

What are the different types of BMX bikes?

As we know, BMX bikes are stunts bikes. These are pretty among kinds. There lots of variations of these specific kind of bikes.

BMX bikes are categorized into three different types. These are the pure BMX bikes, the freestyle bikes, and the dirt jumpers.

The Pure BMX Bike:

This is the story of the late sixties (some say that it’s the early 70’s) when the BMX bikes started their journey. Soon after, these motocross bikes were seen almost in every houses as these started getting popular among kids. The perfect gear ratio is 2.8/1 or less for these kinds of bikes.

These were and still are used for racing and doing stunts.

The Freestyle Bike:

This kind came out soon after the introduction of the bmx bikes. These are not actually used for racing. Rather, on flat surfaces, these are used for rough street riding, going vertically on the skateparks and all.

The gear ratio for such kind is also 2.8/1 here. This is the proper gear ratio for BMX bikes and its kinds. The gear system here should be where the front sprocket is bigger and the rear sprocket is smaller.

The lesser the turnovers, the easier it is to pedal.

The Dirt Jumper or The Jump Bike:

The use of this bike is as the name goes. These are used for taking flights from an ascent trail to a descent area. These are very light weight for the purpose of easy lifting and.

And about the gear system, it is as similar as the other kinds of the BMX family. The ratio should be within 2.8/1 because it makes it very easy to pedal and to move forward.

How Are BMX Bikes Different From Regular Bikes?

BMX bikes are definitely different from the regular bikes although it doesn’t mean that these cannot be used as the regular ones. The BMX bikes are usually made for children height. However, these can be used by anyone is set on longer and bigger wheels.

The basic differences-

The BMX bikes come in a tube that is 20 inches long whereas the regular bikes come in 45 more or less-inch long tubes.
The BMX bikes are and have to be lightweight because of all the stunts, jumping and stuff. However, the regular bikes can barely be as lightweight as such initially because of their length.
The size of the wheels here are durable and smaller balancing with the body of the BMX bikes but the regular ones have bigger wheels with less durability.

There are many more differences that differ the BMX bike from the regular one. Mostly likely, BMX bikes are flexible, stronger, durable, faster and so on.

Are BMX Bikes Fixed Gear?

Not all, but some BMX bikes are fixed gear i.e. these bikes have no freewheel mechanism. Unlike some, most BMX bikes, these days, come with hubs allowing the rider to coast or freewheel.

In such mechanism, the rider is seen moving the bike forward or backward without exactly having to pedal forward or backward.

Why are fixies so popular?

The simplicity of the fixies are why they are so popular. They are very lightweight. Their weight make them easily transportable.

Only the one who has proper knowledge about cycles can realize how gorgeous this bike is within its simplicity. These bikes don’t have breaks, so they stop when you stop pedaling. It’s really fun riding a fixie.

Can Adults Ride BMX Bikes?

Adults can ride BMX bikes. Well, they not only can ride these bikes, they are riding and also using these for racing and doing stunt activities.

Although the adults cannot use any size of the BMX bikes as these bikes are made balancing the children height, there are 24 inches (in exceptional cases) BMX bikes that allow the adults to ride easily.

Is A 20 Inch BMX Bike For Adults?

The 20- inch BMX bikes are suitable for the youngsters. However, the adults, if they weigh regular, they can absolutely ride the BMX bikes although the minimum age for riding such bike is seven or eight years.

Now the question may rise that these are small bikes, so how can they carry the weight of an adult?

The answer is simple. The BMX bikes are stronger than the regular bikes because of the mateirals they are made of. These are the chromoly steel or aluminum.

So, these bikes are very durable which reduces any risk of breaking down while ensuring the adults to ride on these easily.

We recommend you to buy your kid a BMX bike because not only it’ll help them with their transport, it’ll also make their childhood funny and memorable.