R.L. Osborn & Mike Buff

Filed under Hall Of Fame on April 23, 2012 | Comment(s)

Although they are best known as the godfathers of freestyle, both R.L. and Buff got their start as BMX racers. At age 11, R.L. was part of he first ever "BMX test team" for Bicycle Motocross News (from late "75 to late "76). An entrepreneur at the early age of 14, R.L. started up his own company, Hot Stickies. As the son of BMX Hall of Famer, Bob Osborn, R.L. went on to become one of the main test riders for BMX ACTION magazine. In 1978, R.L. teamed up with fellow BMXA employee Bob Haro to form the very first freestyle team, which made its debut at ABA`s Winternationals in Chandler, AZ. Local Torrance hot-shoe racer Mike Buff joined the BMX ACTION test team in 1979. Buff soon crossed over to freestyle and in the absence of Haro, the longtime teaming of R.L. & Buff began. As the "Nerd herd", R.L. & Buff were vital in setting BMX trends during the 80`s, from jumping styles in bike tests to the 4x4 vehicle craze, to clothing fashions and hairdos. Each year from "82 until "88, the BMX ACTION trick team (as well as R.L.`s later sponsorship with Redline and General) spread the BMX gospel. In all, R.L. and Buff took their annual Summer Tours to 48 states in the U.S. and over 15 countries, taking BMX to places where racers and tracks couldn`t, turning many kids on to BMX in one form or another.