The Evolution of Supercross BMX Race Frames

When we formed Supercross BMX, we weren't looking to start a new company. We already established a small apparel company, TECH BMX.At the time, we had no clue as to how we were going to build a high-end race frame. There was a lot of learning that needed to be done in the beginning!

The story has been told many times before, but we had a great little race team with TECH. Billy Harrison, Brian Lopes, Bogi Givens, Glenn Pavlosky. The problem was that we couldn't get anyone to supply our riders with frames. So we thought, why not just make our own? However, we didn't want to just do a frame, to do a frame, there had to be a reason behind it. The frame had to be better than the industry standard, it had to be the best there was! 

Fast forward a few weeks and one night when we were doing gate practice behind the shop, when we really started to notice how much the frames of the day were flexing in the gate. We were getting over a 1/2" of chain droop. The rear ends were pulling hard, and that’s where we found our inspiration.

Bill Ryan (Current owner of Supercross) went in and drew up the first prototype of a Supercross BMX frame. It started with a basic front triangle, but where this design really stood out was closer to the rear end. Using the triangulation theory we came up with the secondary seat stay design that made the original Supercross frames so legendary in performance and shape.

That one evening at gate practice, which seemed to be like any other day, became the spark in creating the modern day SupercrossBMX.

From day 1, Bill designed each and every Supercross frame to address the largest technological limitations of the time. Since that day, we continue to utilize this formula in our mission of bringing you the best BMX products on the market. With each model, we grew, developed, and improved.

What we now present to you is the ever growing index and history of the Supercross BMX frames. We list out the major distinctions between product lines and how each frame is built upon the concept of always improving. We start with the 250 and go all the way up to the modern day pinnacle of BMX race frames, the ENVY BLK 2…

1989 - The Original Supercross SX250 Pro XL Race Frame. The very first frame was a Pro XL. 21.25" Top Tube, 15.25" Rear End, 74º Headtube Angle. It was made out of Full 4130 Patco Seamless Cro-mo. The Secondary Seatstay design was designed to use existing tubing sizes and wall thickness to stiffen up the rear end and make the frame launch and accelerate faster than any other current BMX race frame. The Dropouts were extra thick. It used a 1" threaded headtube and fork and had the large American BB shell. Traditional Brake Style, 1" seat clamp and 7/8" post. Top Tube was 1 1/4" , Down Tube was 1 3/8", rear stays were 3/4". The Original decal sets were die cut rub on's as we couldn't afford to do a full 4 color Silk Screen run. Originally we wanted to do all the frames in a two/tone color combo. Black/Neon Green, Black/Cyan Blue, Black/Neon Yellow and Black/Red. Due to cost that never went in to production. All of the first Frames and Forks were Chrome. And occasionally if a frames chrome was rejected, we would powdercoat it, Black, Red or Blue. The Decal colors were Yellow, Red and Cyan Blue with White and Black. Retail was $139.95 for a frame and fork as they were sold as a set.

1990 - No changes from the 1989 model. Except for the addition of the SX125 Pro Size. Same colors, 90% of the Frames and Forks were Chrome. With occasional Black, Red or Blue frames.

1991 - For 1991 we finally could afford to do Silk Screened Decals.  Frames were still chrome. We started work on the SX500 Supercross Pro Cruiser Frame. This was designed specifically for Todd Steen who was our Pro at the time.

1992 - Still the same frame and fork as the Original 1989 models. But we started tinkering around with some new TANGE Ultrastrong tubing, We also started developing our first Mini/Junior Frame.

1993 - The "LWR" model Mini / Jr. frame was introduced. We started adding Canti mounts as an option on our frames. And we built a few 1" Threadless Fork / Stem combo kits and started playing around with 1 1/8" threadless steertubes.

1994 - Canti mounts are now stock on all Supercross BMX Pro Frames. We build our first carbon fiber frames. It is a Cro-mo Rear End, Cro-mo Headtube and has a Carbon Top and Town Tube. Decals and logos get a refresh. By mid year all Pro Frames and Larger have 1 1/8" threadless headsets as stock. We built our first Signature Frame, the "Supergas", for A Pro/ Superclass racer Ronnie Gaska. It was a SX250 Frame with all Tange Prestige Tubing, and double thick dropouts.

1995 - 1 1/8" threadless is stock, Canti Mounts are stock, and we start experimenting with Aluminum. The first Aluminum prototype frame we build is the new XXL size for our AA Pro Eric Jones. The new size is called the Moto Monster. Eric Prefers cro-mo and we continue doing Cro-mo frames and introduce the MOTO Monster as a Cro-mo Frame.  The Frame sizes now include, SX50 Mini, SX60 Junior, SX80 Expert,  SX125 Pro, SX250 Pro XL, the Moto Monster XXL and the SX500 Cruiser.

1996 - This was the first year of our AMX line of Aluminum frames. While most companies were doing a straight 6061 T-6 Aluminum, we stepped it up a bit and used a special high ceramic 6013 Aluminum which is a higher strength and better yield material.  It costs a bit more, but it is a superior material to the 6061 Aluminum. And our goal has always been to build the best. And this was the step in the right direction as we knew Aluminum was the future at the time for BMX race frames, but we wanted to make it lighter, stronger, faster than the other aluminum frames. So this was our first full year of having the SX 4130 Cro-mo Series of Frames and the AMX ( Aluminum MotoCross ) Series of frames.

1997 - With having the 2 series of Race Frames going, we just kept refining the wall thickness and tube diameters to keep the evolution going. At this point we were doing 500 frames a month and BMX was going great. We started work on the new EVOLUTION series of Race Frames, which were based off of the AMX Aluminum frames, but we did a special Monocoque rear stay that eliminated the Secondary Seatstay design. Due to a MFG issue, there were only 3 of the prototypes of this frame ever produced.

2002 - We introduced a full new line in 2002, the UL series Air Hardened Triple Butted Cro-mo Race Frame, the EVO 6061 T-6 Aluminum Race Frame and the DEVO 4130 Cro-mo Race Frame. The UL was one of the first race frames to use an Intergrated  Headtube on the race scene. Originally we had been working with Cane Creek for the Integrated headset and found there to be too many different sizes, so in an effort to make things more compatable with the market, production versions used a traditional 1 1/8" headtube. It also used a Euro BB shell and an Integrated seatpost clamp. A lot of people wondered what we were doing by having our Cro-mo Race frame be the high end while most other companies were putting Aluminum frames at the high end.

2003 - We added the Euro BB shell to all the EVO frames, Randy Roberts got the first one, a nice Anodized Blue one. Transworld did a nice write up on him and it, and the link is still live, you can click here to see. The rest of the Frame line up remained the same.

2004 - The EVO got updated to a traditional rear end from the 6 bar rear end design. It also featured rectangular rear stays to add to the stiffness on the rear triangle. We introduced our new MX and MXP Park and Trails Frames with input from Ben Snowden. The UL Series got a refined headtube and new smaller dropouts, but for the first time, our Aluminum frame sales out sold the Cro-mo. Mid way thru the year the EVO lost the built in seatpost clamp and went to a more traditional seatpost size. This was also the year we introduced our first MTB frame the MX26, a Dirt Jump / Pump track cro-mo frame.

2005 - The EVO was completely gone over and we introduced the lightest Pro XL Aluminum frame on the market, the EVO G6 . At 3lbs 3 oz, BMX Plus! Magazine called it a wonder bike.  Everyone wondered how we got an Aluminum frame, that light and still that strong. The UL continued on, but sales kept slowing down on Cro-mo so they were starting to become limited.

2006 - EVO G6 sales were going crazy, it was becoming our most popular frame yet.  This year we re-imagined the UL and it became the R-CR complete with the Integrated Headtube it should of had from the begining.  We also did a short run of MX Frames that were a Ben Snowden Signature model, the Disciple. It was a $199 Heat Treated Cro-mo frame imported from Taiwan.

2007 - Things were starting to get heated up for the 2008 Olympics, and we knew that we wanted to up the game from the EVO G6 to make sure we were building the absolute best BMX race frame in the world. This meant we did a lot of testing on Carbon, Titanium and Scandium, Scandium was the material we ended up going with to build the lightest production BMX race frame ever.  It was based off of our G6 but used a special Easton® Scandium Tubeset. We also started back side CNC'ng the dropouts, anything to save precious grams and still maintain strength and stiffness.  Our Pro XL Supercross S7 weighed in at 2.65lbs. That was 22% lighter than the EVO G6. And had undergone torture testing from Randy Roberts, for 2 years before we brought it to market.  Also new for 2007 was the introduction of our EVO iS series of Aluminum race frames. It was a Taiwan version of our popular EVO G6 and was at a lower price point of $279. The R-CR remained the same as did the MX, and MXP Dirt Jump and Park Frames.

2008 - This was a big year for BMX with it's introduction into the Olympic games and a huge year for Supercross as well. We were still making the EVO S7 and had back orders galore, and in our constant pursuit of perfection, we continued working with Easton® to refine the tube shapes and started doing the custom formed and shaped Scandium tubes on the 2008 models. This year we also introduced the new G6e series of Easton High Ceramic EA6X race frames. Something in between the Imported EVO iS and the High End Scandium S7. We were trying to make sure that everyone could ride a Supercross regardless of price point, while still pursuing the best BMX frames in the world. This was also the year of our Icon complete bikes.  Our first full production of a line of completes, based off of our EVO iS race Frames. The R-CR, and MX remained the same.

2009 - The year of the ENVY, this was our first year for the ENVY, when the ENVY was introduced it replaced the S7 and the G6E. It allowed us to bring the performance of the S7 down to a lower price point. The ENVY has been the cutting edge of BMX racing performance and was the first BMX race frame to use a custom Easton® ULR 7005 Triple Butted Tubeset. The EVO iS continued, the R-CR was replaced with the new BOLT LT , the MX was replaced by the Passion and we were dabbling with more Mountain Bikes and started to develop the new SHINE and started work on a few other MTB Frames.

2010: The beginning of R&D for the very first carbon fiber Supercross frame, the Envy BLK. The Chromoly Supercross frame ridden by Mikey received a #10 Pro National ranking proving that steel is still real. This event showcased that our Chromoly race frames are capable of competing at high levels of competition. 

2011: Launched a revision of the Envy V2. This frame featured modified seat tube butting which flared out towards the BB creating a stiffer power transfer center; Essentially, more launch out of the gate! 

This frame was lighter and stiffer than the original Envy placing this frame as our new premium line. We also modified the dropouts creating a sleeker look, and reduced the travel of cantilever brakes allows for more efficient brake pad contact while making the optimal setup more achievable. 

2013: Launched the Envy V3! This edition also received more tubing modifications allowing for a smoother ride without sacrificing stiffness or gaining any weight. The Envy V3 featured 15mm dropouts, a tapered head tube, and a more substantial flaring of the seat tube tubing, making the frame stiffer at the center. This Envy was stronger than ever, smoother than ever, and faster than ever. 

2014: We dropped our first full carbon BMX race frame, the Envy BLK. This model sported Torray T700s nano alloy pre preg carbon fiber, high compaction molds featuring high modulus weaves. The carbon used here is the same carbon fiber technology of F1 cars and fighter jets! You may remember the tag line; Not all Carbon is Created Equal…  Titanium Brake Posts, Titanium Dropout Scuff Plates, Truly the Ultimate BMX Race Frame. BMX Plus Magazine redeemed us and called it the best bike they ever rode in their final issue.Perfect for our 25 year anniversary right? 

2015: Envy V5 hit the shelves! However, this specific Envy model was the first to move away from using Easton tubing. This time around, we created our very own BMX race-specific aluminum tubing. As designers, we had full control over the inner and outer wall designs and geometry of the tubing, allowing us to tailor each piece towards the specific demands of BMX Racing.

2018: We revisited our carbon line up and released the premier Supercross frame you know and love today, the Envy BLK 2! This time around, we implemented Torray T 1100-KS carbon. The Envy BLK 2 is lighter (about 6% to be exact), faster, and stronger than the previous Envy BLK. We wanted to produce a durable carbon frame that could withstand multiple seasons of use while also improving upon overall ride quality. 

2019: We released the Cruiser 24” and Pro XXXL version of the Envy BLK 2. More sizes and options, allowing you to find your true perfect fit.  

2020: We came out with a modern redesign of the original SX 250. Back in the day,we were limited on tube sizes that the Steel Mills were running and had to solve the problem of frame flex and stiffness. Extra triangulation of the rear end is what we did! That’s how we came up with the 6 bar rear end. With this release, we did more than just create a beautiful wall hugger. We got Tange back on board to produce more Prestige tubing.Essentially, we modernized the performance to help the Chromoly frame compete with the performance standards of newer race frames.

We also released the SX 450 that also featured Tange Prestige Chromoly tubing. Unlike the SX250, the SX450 is more focused on Chromoly innovation with some flashes of old school traits. The SX450 was not created to pay tribute but rather perform at a high level on the track providing you with one of the most advance Chromoly race frames on the market.  

Later in 2020, we are releasing the new RS7 Fastback, another edition of the RS7 optimized for disc brakes. This model features internal cable routing and a sleeker back end with dropouts conditioned to withstand the breaking force of disc brakes. You will also notice that the fastback is equipped with disc brake-specific mounts, so no more messing around with disc brake adapters! 

Disclaimer. This is written from Bill's Memory. Some exact dates and specs may be a little off, but we are trying to make this as accurate as possible. If you think we mentioned something incorrectly, please e-mail us where you think we screwed up.