Independent beginnings
In the summer of 1985, a Mountain Dew commercial began airing that featured pro California riders Eddie Fiola, Ron Wilkerson and R.L. Osborn. Hoffman said, "Its flight lasted all summer, and Travis, Steve, and I would surf around channels trying to avoid the shows but find the advertisement. My mom saw how psyched we'd get and called the local Pepsi bottling and distribution center to talk about creating a local form of promotion in sync with the commercial. A few days later we set up our ramp in the Pepsi distributorship parking lot and did a show in full uniform for a couple of executives from the plant. They were stoked, and we were in. We painted a big Mountain Dew logo on our ramp, got jerseys and stickers, and they set us up with a sponsorship through Edmond Bike Shop to keep us flush with parts and inner tubes. In exchange for the Mountain Dew support, we'd do shows at random supermarkets that sold the soda."[4]
In 1986, the Haro Freestyle Team came through Oklahoma on their tour with Dennis McCoy and Tony Murray. Hoffman said, "They let us ride their ramp with them before the demo, and I unleashed everything I had to impress the famous factory superstars. They paid me the ultimate honor, asking me to ride with them during their demo. This was the equivalent of an aspiring local guitarist being asked by Metallica to come on stage and jam. Afterward, Dennis took Steve Swope and me to dinner and announced that he wanted to bring me on the road for the rest of their tour. I was so blown away I could barely stammer out "sure," and during dinner I was already mentally packing my gear bag for the tour. Dennis made a phone call to tell the guys at Haro the good news. He came back with a weird look on his face that said the call hadn't gone well. Today, I understand how silly it must have sounded when he phoned in his request: "Hey, I found some random fourteen-year-old kid in Oklahoma who rules. Can we pick him up and take him on tour around the rest of the United States?"[5]
Mat Hoffman first came to the attention of people outside of Edmond, Oklahoma, when a letter and photo appeared in the Street Talk section of Freestylin' Magazine's August 1986 issue. In the letter he mentions being sponsored by Mountain Dew and the image shows him pulling off a one footer over a nine foot quarter pipe.
In 1986 Hoffman entered two national freestyle competitions as an unsponsored rider. The first was the AFA Master Series Round 2 in his home state of Oklahoma in August. Mat was prepared to enter as an amateur but his father convinced him to enter as an expert for the competition. Mat was one of the only riders to wear a full face helmet and JT motocross body armor. Once he began riding the spectators and other riders understood why he had on the protection. He finished first in 14-15 expert ramp and stole the show. He had learned to ride BMX with a few friends and with no professionals for reference other than from magazine pictures. He remembers: "When I got to that contest I went 'woah, I guess I am going higher than everyone else'."[6]
Hoffman entered his second national competition on June 29, 1986, at the General Bicycles/AFA Freestyle Championships at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He finished first in 14-15 expert ramp category riding a blue Haro Sport and was the rider everyone was talking about. In the November 1986 issue of Freestylin' Magazine coverage of the event, Hoffman received a two page photo spread because of his performance. After the competition he was solicited by over 15 sponsors/bike manufactures to ride for them. Hoffman said, "Before I'd caught my breath after my run, the team managers from Skyway and Haro had approached with sponsorship offers. Haro wanted to try me out on their B Team, and let me work my way up. Skyway didn't operate like that, I would be part of their factory squad and get to go on tour, get flown to contests, and draw a salary."[4]
Skyway years
In July 1986, Hoffman signed a one-year sponsorship deal with Skyway Recreation. "I signed on the line with Skyway and was soon flown to their headquarters in Redland, California. The team manager had been hyping my skills, and the owners wanted to witness their new kid in action. During the show I slammed so hard I snapped my other collarbone and wound up in the hospital. Luckily, they decided to keep me on the team."[4]
After healing his collarbone, Hoffman made his Skyway debut in August at the IBMXF World Freestyle Championships in Vancouver. This competition was held in conjunction with Expo 86 the World's Fair. The freestyle contest was sanctioned by the International BMX Federation and run by the Canadian Freestyle Association using AFA rules. The majority of the 72 participants were from the U.S. and Canada, with one rider from Switzerland and one from France. Skyway, Mongoose and Kuwahara sent full squads of combatants, and while most of the other major factory teams had a couple of riders in attendance, there were some serious absentees. Hoffman finishing second behind Kuwahara's Tim Rogers.
On December 13, 1986, Hoffman rode in his first 2-Hip King of Vert contest at Ron Wilkerson's The Enchanted Ramp in Encinitas, California. There were six pros (Wilkerson, Todd Anderson, Mike Dominguez, Eddie Fiola, Brian Blyther and Josh White and the expert division had riders such as Tim Rogers, Steve Broderson, Marc McGlynn and Hoffman. It was thought that the contest would be a battle between Rodgers and Broderson, "but they weren't on the same level as Matt Hoffman. Matt wasn't 15 yet, but he was by far the raddest guy in the class. He was popping off eight to nine-foot aerials, no-footed cancans, regular cancans, no handers and all sorts of other tricks. He was unbelievable. He was actually radder during practice than he was in his run (like he was at the Velodrome), but still rad enough in his run that there was no doubt who had won. If he stays in freestyle long enough, it's virtually a sure thing he'll be the raddest guy alive in a couple of years. He's kind of shy and quiet when you meet him, not at all what you'd expect from someone so radical."
Haro years
In 1988, at the age of 16, Hoffman signs a one-year deal to ride for Haro Bikes after the departure of Dennis McCoy and Joe Johnson from the Haro roster freeing up the budget. Hoffman said, "For years, I'd wanted to ride for Haro – the first company to create a freestyle bike – run by the guy who invented the sport. It was a pure respect thing. Adding to the appeal, Haro's roster of sponsored riders was the coolest in the world: Ron Wilkerson, Brian Blyther, Dave Nourie, Joe Johnson, Dennis McCoy... it was the dream team.
Around this time, a shady lady had entered the bike scene with high hopes of turning bike riders into Michael-Jordan-level megabrands. Despite having little clue as to what bike riding was even about, she began handling the careers of a few riders-including Joe Johnson and Dennis McCoy. Whispers of big-buck sponsorships convinced McCoy and Johnson to quit the Haro team, which left gaps in Haro's am and pro ranks and loosened up quite a bit of cash in their team rider budget. It took months for the drama to unfold, but their manager almost "managed" to torpedo their careers. It was unsettling to see two of the best riders in the sport paying their own way to contests, wearing Adidas track suits and doing demos at Chrysler dealerships, just to make a little extra money until that bazillion dollar Pepsi/Huffy deal kicked in (which, of course, never did). But Dennis and Joe's lapse in judgment was my gain-I made a phone call to Rhino and secured a spot on the Haro team. I would remain classified as an am for at least the rest of the year, but I got a pay increase and was making about $50,000 in annual salary -approximately ten times what I earned with Skyway."[4]
At the 1989 2-Hip King of Vert finals in Irvine, California, Hoffman competes in first contest as a professional while still competing as an amateur. The amateurs rode first and Hoffman placed first then turned pro after his run and took first in the pro class. He also won the highest air of the contest and also finished the year as 1988 #1 amateur. An article in Ride Magazine commented: "What's left to say about a guy who ignored all established limits and redefined vert riding – at age 15[?]".
First 900
On March 25, 1989, in Kitchener, Ontario, Hoffman lands the first 900 ten years before Tony Hawk landed one at X Games V. It was only Hoffman's second pro contest and first after quitting Haro. Hoffman had only attempted the 900 once before.
In early 1990, nearly a year after quitting Haro and riding independently on a SE P.K. Ripper, Hoffman re-signs with Haro. Hoffman said, "I was sponsorless for about a year. It was a learning experience -I learned how to fix my parts really well.""[4] But in 1991, a year later, Hoffman would leave Haro a second and last time before starting his own company Hoffman Bikes. "When Bob Haro left in 87, I was there 88 and 89, now it's Jim Fordes company and Jim has to make money and these people don't know where they're going with Haro, they don't know how to reinvent. Haro weren't about reinventing, they were just about growth, and I was about reinventing. I was the reason why Haro had a bash guard and had pegs coming out of the forks, they were my designs. I was trying to do new things for Haro, but I would design something and by the time it got to the table and back to me, it was not what I was saying. I was getting knocked out daily, often because of bad parts. Whenever it was about designing parts, I can't tell someone how to do it, I have to do it myself. I could have stayed at Haro and it would have been easier but I would never have got what I believed in, I'd always have to compromise. I never got into BMX to compromise. I got into BMX to dream and keep it pure whatever I dreamed about."[4]
Hoffman Bikes
In late 1991 after leaving Haro, Mat Hoffman began the seeds of Hoffman Bikes. Linn Kasten the founder and engineer of Redline Bicycles helped Hoffman develop a frame and fork and made him five prototype Condor sets in his shop in California. Hoffman remembers, "I went to Linn's house where my crude drawings became intense technical discussions. We tuned the geometry in the drawing and discussed the dilemma of weight versus strength. I wanted a bulletproof bike, but it had to fly. There were incidents in the past where I'd broken three brand-new bikes in one day -and was sick of that crap. I wanted top quality, which meant using American made 4130 aircraft grade chrome-moly tubing, the best money can buy. I was also stoked that it was going to be built in America, which was a rarity for freestyle bikes. A couple of weeks later Linn's machine shop had built me five prototype Condor frames, one for Steve Swope, Rick Thorne, Dave Mirra, Davin Hallford, and me. Our mission was to try and break them. The Condor was good. It was quick, it was stiff, it had clean angles, but more than anything, it was built to last. (rode my prototype frame and fork set for seven months, trying everything in my power to bring it to its knees. The bike held up to flatbottom landings, rooftop drops, handrails, gaps, dirt, street, ditches, extreme weather conditions, name-calling, and giant ramps. I caused my body way more harm than my bike, and the rest of the prototypes held up, too. Midway through the testing phase, I made a couple of minor improvements and declared the design phase done. Time to see if the public would buy them."[4]
In the summer of 1992, the first Hoffman Bikes production frames became available to the public. Although the prototypes were made by Kasten, Hoffman switched to SE Racing for manufacturing. Hoffman said, "Precision materials and craftsmanship came with a steep price tag, and I found out I couldn't afford to have Linn Kastan's shop do production. Mike Devitt of SE Racing saved the day. Mike was another old school BMX guy, and he'd been through the ups and downs of the industry with another legendary company, SE. Their machine shop could make a limited run of custom frame and fork sets. The condition was, I had to pay for half the batch up front, the other half on delivery "Make me two hundred of these," I told Devitt and sent off the schematic for the Condor with a down payment check for $18,000."
