Which bike for the pumptrack?
On a pumptrack you ride without pedalling. You push the bike into the dips and pull it over the crests, the speed comes out of your own body. That is why almost any bike without suspension works there, and why choosing a bike is really a question of what you want to do on the track.
Ridden without a single pedal stroke: the speed comes out of the rollers.
The short answer
Rigid, short, sturdy. A suspension fork swallows exactly the pressure your speed comes from. A short wheelbase lets you carve tight berms. And the bike has to be sturdy, because a pumptrack is harder on parts than it looks from the outside.
Everything else comes down to what you want to do there. Just pick whichever sounds most like you.
Then get yourself a BMX race bike. That is exactly what it is built for, and at championships practically everyone rides one.
Here is whyThen take a BMX bike. Short, nimble, and after the track you can ride straight on to the skatepark.
Here is whyThen ride an MTB, but without suspension. More room for you, in exchange for a little less control.
Here is whyYou want to race
Pumptrack stopped being just an afternoon of fun a while ago. It is a discipline of its own in organised cycling now: the UCI runs a World Championship, the UEC a European Championship, and through German Cycling there are national championships and qualifying events. If you want to line up at one of those some day, there is barely a way around a BMX race bike.
A race bike is built for acceleration and top speed: a light frame, slightly longer geometry for stability at pace, tall gearing and a brake you can rely on under pressure. Exactly the things that show up on a stopwatch.
Popular BMX race bikes
You want to jump and do tricks
If the track interests you mainly as a playground, so airs over the crests, manuals through the rollers, tricks off the lip of a berm, then a BMX bike is the better tool. Short wheelbase, compact geometry, built to stay controllable in the air and on the rear wheel.
A BMX is heavier and geared lower than a race bike, so you will not put down the same times. In exchange you can ride straight on to the skatepark afterwards, and most people get more out of that in the long run.
Our picks: BMX bikes
The geometry feels too small
BMX bikes are perfectly rideable as an adult, but they are small. If you are tall, or simply do not feel at home on 20 inch, a mountain bike without suspension is an honest alternative. You sit more upright, you have more room, and you get through the berms cleanly with less practice.
What you pay for that is control. A long bike reacts more slowly, it is harder to lift over the crests, and in tight corners you miss the pull a short wheelbase gives you. For racing it is the weaker choice. For riding it is completely fine, and we would rather say that than sell you a bike you do not feel comfortable on.
The one thing that matters: no suspension, or a fork you can lock out completely. See our MTB bikes
What else to look at
- Suspension: none. Anything that compresses eats your momentum. If your bike has a suspension fork, run it as firm as it goes.
- Tyres: smooth rather than knobbly. Most pumptracks are asphalt or hard packed dirt, where a knobbly tyre only slows you down and makes more noise.
- Brake: at least a rear one that bites reliably. Plenty of BMX bikes get ridden without, but on a track shared with other people that is not a good idea.
- Saddle: low. You ride standing up, and a high saddle is in your way on every movement.
- Tyre pressure: a little on the high side. Soft tyres flex in the rollers and cost you speed.
And what is a pumptrack, exactly?
A closed loop of rollers and banked corners that you can ride without pedalling once. You generate the drive by weighting the bike in the dips and unweighting it over the crests, which is where the name comes from. Most tracks are open to the public and free to use, and the number of them in Germany has been growing for years.
That makes them one of the best places to learn bike handling: you need nothing but a helmet and a bike, and within a few laps you feel the difference between pedalling and pumping.
Pumptrack events we have supported
We back pumptrack and dirt events with prizes and parts. Here are a few of them, with a report.
Hessisch Pumptrack Series
Back to Dreck 2026 on June 13th in MagdeburgWhichever way you go
We have the bikes here for you, and we are here for your questions. All three routes from above stand side by side in our shop in Stuttgart, so you can put them next to each other and get your hands on them before you commit. And whatever is not on the floor, we order in for you.
We ride pumptracks ourselves and have been on most of the bikes above. If you are unsure which direction suits you, just get in touch. It helps us if you mention how tall you are, where you plan to ride and whether you have ridden before.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach us anytime via our contact form. In the shop you can reach us on +49 711 / 219 548 90. How to find us is described in our article BMX in Stuttgart.