Brian Lewis

Two Wheeler's Cover Boy — the Rider on BMX Action's First Issue, 1976

A Legend Bike Co. rider page · researched from bmxsociety.com community record, fatbmx.com's BMX Hall of Fame nominee archive, and bmxmuseum.com community sourcing

At a glance

Level AA Pro
Scene Southern California, 1974-1980, with a brief cruiser-class comeback in the 1980s
Teams Two Wheeler's (Stroker frame, mid-1970s)
Known for Being the rider on the cover of BMX Action's first issue in 1976, and racking up track records at the Western Sports Arama that nobody else could touch

Brian Lewis raced during the years BMX was still figuring out what it was. He started in 1974, rode Two Wheeler's rectangular-tubed Stroker frame through the mid-1970s, and by 1976 was recognizable enough to land on the cover of the first issue of BMX Action magazine, the publication that would go on to define the sport's first decade in print.

Unbeatable at the Western Sports Arama

Lewis built his name at the Western Sports Arama, where accounts describe him as one of the more self-assured racers on the gate, backed up by track records nobody else could touch. He turned pro in 1978, four years into his career, and raced on through 1980 before stepping back. He returned briefly in the 1980s to race the cruiser class before leaving competition for good.

Life Off the Track, According to the People Who Knew Him

Stories that circulate on bmxsociety.com and BMXmuseum.com's forums paint a specific picture: a rider who could bunny-hop three or four trash cans from a dead stop, who tested new bikes by jumping them off truck loading docks to see if the frame would hold or crack, and whose parents' garage stayed stocked with ten to twenty new bikes still in the box, contest winnings and factory freebies from sponsors including Two Wheeler's. Riders who've spoken with him since describe him as one of the more genuine, easygoing people from that era of the sport. A 1976 Two Wheeler's Pro race frame built for him, its tube cracked and repaired at the time by Johnny Truetorch, still turns up in collector conversation on bmxsociety.com decades later.

Where the public record runs thin

Multiple sources describe Lewis as a BMX Hall of Famer and connect him to Two Wheeler's founder Marshall Wheeler alongside fellow rider Jeff Bottema, but this page could not independently confirm his specific induction class or year on USA BMX's official Hall of Fame database in this session, so that detail is left out rather than guessed at. Some general web searches for "Brian Lewis" and BMX surface a claim that a rider by that name was active in the 1990s. Nothing in the period magazine record, bmxsociety.com, or bmxmuseum.com checked for this page supports a separate 1990s BMX pro carrying the same name. The documented Brian Lewis in the BMX record is the 1974-1980 Two Wheeler's racer covered here. Name spelling variants (Bryan Lewis) belong to unrelated cyclists and are not this rider.

Where Brian Lewis fits in the bigger story

Riders: Jeff Bottema. Press: BMX Action Magazine. The bigger arc is in our The History of BMX series.

Sources

bmxsociety.com community threads (accessed via site search), including the "1976 Two Wheeler Pro Brian Lewis race frame" thread on his period race bike and repair history. fatbmx.com's BMX Hall of Fame nominee coverage, fetched directly, for career dates, team, and Western Sports Arama record. BMXmuseum.com community forum threads (accessed via site search) on his riding style and reputation. oldschoolmags.com's BMX Action magazine PDF archive was checked for the first-issue cover directly; the specific scan was not retrievable as text through this session's tools.