Eddie Fiola — The Man Who Defined BMX Freestyle | Legend Bike Co.
Legend Bike Co. — Eddie Fiola
Eddie Fiola
Five times King of the Skatepark. The first NORA Cup ever awarded. The GT Performer. The stunt double inside the movie that told the world what BMX was. And a frame he designed with Bill Ryan because he wasn't done yet.
Before there was a BMX freestyle industry, there were riders who invented it on the fly — in parking lots, on curbs, in skateparks that weren't built for bikes. Eddie Fiola was one of those riders. Then he became the one they all watched.
Eddie Fiola came up through BMX in the years when freestyle was still being figured out. Nobody really knew yet what a trick was supposed to look like, or what a frame was supposed to do, or whether the whole thing was going to stick around. Eddie worked it out the only way anybody could back then — by going out and doing it in front of people, week after week, better than the guys riding next to him. He didn't walk into a legacy. He was one of the people who made one.
His run lines up with the entire golden era of the sport. The early skatepark contests where the rules were getting written on the spot, the GT years, the Performer, the NORA Cups, the movie, the tours — and then decades of riding after most of the riders he came up with had quit. He never did. He's still on a bike now. That part matters every bit as much as the trophies.
The Record
Kuwahara, Torker, And The Day Bob Haro Almost Won
Eddie came up on Kuwahara, then moved to Torker — both legitimate names in early BMX. He was good enough that the industry was already watching, and Bob Haro was one of the people doing the watching. Haro was building out the freestyle side of BMX right then, putting together what turned into one of the most recognized brands the sport ever had, and he wanted Eddie on it.
So Haro gave Eddie a full kit. He set up a shoot with photographer John Ker, and the two of them put together a 6-page feature for BMX Plus, one of the biggest magazines going. Six pages was serious real estate in 1982. That was Haro telling the industry: this is our guy.
The next day, Haro took the bike back. Whatever the reason, the deal fell apart overnight. Eddie was left holding a BMX Plus feature — in full Haro gear — and no contract to go with it.
Then came the cover of BMX Action. Eddie Fiola, full Haro kit, on the cover of the other major BMX magazine of the day, riding a Torker. The Haro gear, the Torker frame, the cover — that's one of those images people who were around for it never quite shook. Eddie had been photographed head to toe for a brand that didn't sign him, on a bike from the brand that did, on a cover nobody planned.
None of it ended up mattering. What came next was bigger than either of those deals.
The GT Performer — 1983
By the time Eddie got to GT he wasn't just a sponsored rider. He was in the design process. Gary Turner was the fabricator — the man with the tools and the geometry — and Eddie was the rider who knew, from thousands of hours on a bike, exactly what a freestyle frame had to do.
The GT Performer came out of that in 1983. Turner's build, Eddie's input from the saddle, and a frame neither of them would have landed on the same way by himself. It went on to become arguably the most recognizable freestyle BMX frame ever made — the one every kid in the 1980s rode, wanted, or stared at on the wall of the local shop.
"The Performer became what it was because Eddie knew what he needed out of a frame — and he'd never ridden anything that gave it to him."— Bill Ryan, Legend Bike Co.
It's hard to put a ceiling on what the Performer did for freestyle. It handed the discipline a tool built for it, at a point when most riders were still making do on frames meant for something else. Before the Performer, freestyle was happening on race frames. After it, the whole design conversation in freestyle moved and never moved back.
The GT Era
Eddie rode for GT straight through the peak of the freestyle boom — the contests, the demos, the tours, all of it sitting on top of a frame he'd helped develop. The titles landed in this stretch: five King of the Skatepark wins, four NORA Cups. The first NORA Cup ever handed out in the sport went to Eddie Fiola, in 1985, the first year the award existed. That's a line worth reading twice.
Career Highlights
Ever Awarded — 1985
for Cru Jones — 1986
RAD — 1986
In 1986 a BMX movie called RAD came out and turned into the kind of cultural moment a sport gets maybe once. Nobody's going to call it a great film. But it was the right film at the right time, and the riding in it was real, because Eddie Fiola was the one doing it.
Cru Jones, the main character, was played by actor Bill Allen — a BMX racer trying to qualify for a pro race. The riding all the way through the film, the tricks, the racing, the finale, was Eddie as Allen's stunt double. Anything in that movie that made you want a BMX bike, Eddie put there.
The dance scene in RAD — Cru Jones riding his BMX bike through a school gymnasium to "Send Me an Angel" by Real Life — is one of the most referenced moments in BMX history. That's Eddie Fiola on the bike. Every move, every circle, every turn.
For a whole generation of kids who caught RAD in the theater or wore out a VHS copy in the living room, Cru Jones was the reason they wanted to ride. The riding that made him worth watching was Eddie's. He was behind it the entire time — just not in the credits the way he should have been.
Eddie Fiola Through the Years
80s
89
The Former Pro — 2012
When Bill Ryan started putting Legend Bike Co. together, he already knew who he wanted at the center of it. Eddie had co-designed the most important freestyle frame in the history of the sport. He had the title count, the credibility, the knowledge — and the one thing you only get from being the guy on the bike, knowing how a frame feels when it's right and when it's wrong.
In 2012 Eddie sat down with Bill and they started in on a frame. Not a retro replica, and not a licensed name slapped onto somebody else's geometry. An actual Eddie Fiola signature frame, drawn up from scratch for what Eddie wanted under him.
Why "Former Pro"?
The frame was going to be called the Pro Former. Good name — plain, descriptive, and it fit what Eddie was. But GT still held the Performer trademark and the ground around it, and once the Pro Former name went public, GT sent a cease and desist.
Bill flipped the two words. The Pro Former became the Former Pro. Same meaning, with a little more edge on it — a nod to where the frame came from, who designed it, and which era of BMX it belonged to. The name held. The frame went into production. And Eddie Fiola's second signature frame showed up about three decades after his first one.
"Eddie is the only active freestyler in the group. He is still out there, touring the world, riding the bike."— Bill Ryan, Legend Bike Co.
That's what sets Eddie apart from just about everybody else in BMX history. He didn't retire into his legacy and coast on it. He kept riding, kept touring, kept showing up to events and proving the titles weren't the peak — they were the start of a career that never actually wrapped up. The Former Pro is the frame he rides now, built the way he wants it, carrying a name pulled straight out of the history he helped make.
The Former Pro Frames
Eddie Fiola's signature frame. Four sizes and materials — 20-inch race, 26-inch pump track and dirt jump in both chromoly and aluminum, and the complete frame and fork set.
The standard. Chromoly. The 20-inch Eddie Fiola signature frame, built for flatland, street, and skatepark riding. The frame that carries the name.
Shop the 20" Former Pro26-inch chromoly. Built for pump track and dirt jump. Eddie's geometry, bigger wheel, same signature. For the riders who grew up watching and now ride a bigger bike.
Shop the 26" Cro-Mo26-inch aluminum. Lighter. Same Eddie Fiola signature geometry. For pump track and dirt jump riders who want to shave weight without giving anything up.
Shop the 26" AluminumThe complete package. Chromoly frame and matching fork, Eddie Fiola signature. Everything paired the way Eddie intended it to be ridden.
Shop the Frame & ForkThe Full Legend Bike Co. Story
Eddie Fiola. Pete Loncaravich. Bill Ryan. Three careers that shaped what BMX became — and one company built to honor where it came from.
Meet All Three Founders The Former Pro StoryAbout Eddie Fiola
What did Eddie Fiola design?
Eddie Fiola co-designed the original GT Performer in 1983 with Gary Turner. The GT Performer became one of the most iconic BMX freestyle frames ever made. Later, Eddie sat down with Bill Ryan in 2012 to design the Former Pro frame for Legend Bike Co.
What is the NORA Cup?
The NORA Cup is BMX's reader-voted industry award, run by BMX Action magazine. Eddie Fiola won four NORA Cups, including the very first one ever awarded in 1985. Winning in the first year the award existed means Eddie's name is permanently attached to the beginning of that record.
Was Eddie Fiola in the movie RAD?
Yes. Eddie Fiola was the stunt double for Cru Jones — the main character played by Bill Allen — in the 1986 BMX film RAD. Every riding sequence in the movie, including the now-legendary gymnasium dance scene, was performed by Eddie.
What happened with Bob Haro and Eddie Fiola?
Bob Haro nearly signed Eddie early in his career. Haro gave Eddie a full kit, shot a 6-page feature with photographer John Ker for BMX Plus, and then took the bike back the next day. Eddie ended up on the cover of BMX Action magazine in full Haro gear — riding a Torker. The deal fell apart, Eddie went to GT, and the rest is history.
What is the Former Pro frame?
The Former Pro is Eddie Fiola's signature frame for Legend Bike Co., designed with Bill Ryan. The name came from the "Pro Former" being blocked by a GT cease and desist. Bill flipped the words and the Former Pro was born. It comes in 20-inch and 26-inch sizes in both chromoly and aluminum.
How many times did Eddie Fiola win King of the Skatepark?
Five times. Eddie Fiola won King of the Skatepark five times, making him the dominant freestyler of BMX's golden era in the 1980s.
Historical BMX records sourced from BMXmuseum.com. Career details confirmed by Eddie Fiola and Bill Ryan, Legend Bike Co.