![]() “My first motorcycle was actually a Kawasaki 90 and we used to go riding in a place out in the desert called Little Rock. So how did Bernie – the greatest trials rider America has ever produced and a genuine icon of the sport – get involved in the first place? When I think of SoCal in the ’70s I automatically think of motocross although, to be honest, if I think of SoCal in the ’80s, ’90s and beyond the last thing I would think of is trials. There were some hills behind the house and I’d build a little ramp to make a jump. My father noticed that I liked bicycles a lot – besides for just delivering papers. I only had a brake on the back so I’d just balance. ![]() “I was riding a Stingray bicycle and we had a lot of hills and I always enjoyed trying to do wheelies down them. “I grew up in Los Angeles and I had a paper route after school for quite a few years,” he says. Now living in Zurich with his wife – a tax lawyer with a consulting powerhouse company – and their young son, Bernie may have moved away from his home state the best part of forty years but he still possesses that laidback, easy-going SoCal cool. A young Bernie Schreiber in 1973 – Photo: Len Weed Sadly, I never did get those boots – I’d never have been able to fill them anyway – but by way of consolation I did get to spend a couple of very enjoyable hours on a Skype call with him back in January after he responded to my friend request on Facebook. Sure, I had lots of role models from much closer to home to choose from but mighty Martin Lampkin – who lived less than sixty miles away – or Finnish iceman Yrjo Vesterinen didn’t capture my imagination in the same way as the alluring American did back in 1979. Tall, handsome and with style for miles, he had the same aura of California coolness that the likes of Bob Hannah and Broc Glover exuded. I was nine years old when Bernie won the FIM World Trials Championship and to me – and most of my trials buddies – he was the man. Wearing the signature Alpinestars boots carrying his name, Bernie Schreiber waits his turn at Achlain during the SSDT 1980 – Photo: John Honeyman, Markinch, Fife When your old man’s the Editor of Trials and Motocross News you get all the best machinery and all the best kit – bikes that are still in a developmental stage, the latest line in Ellgrens – but the one thing I wanted more than anything else was a pair of Bernie Schreiber-signature Alpinestars. Main photo: Eric Kitchen copyright This article first appeared in Dirt Bike Rider Magazine, March 2018. Words by Sean Lawless Photos by: Iain Lawrie, Kinlochleven John Honeyman Chris Sharp Photography Stephen Postlethwaite Blackburn Holden III Alain Sauquet Eric Kitchen Fin Yeaman Len Weed Claudio Pictures (Jean-Claude Comeat) Jean Caillou. The only American to win a world trials championship, with his pivot turns and bunny-hops California’s flamboyant Bernie Schreiber was a god-like figure to a whole generation of young riders, changing the face of the sport…
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