Builders discussion and rant zone

PB Forum :: Trail Building
Builders discussion and rant zone
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flag inked-up-metalhead
Posted: Dec 1, 2014 at 8:07 Quote
Mine being an official spot with actual gates and the like we have very few problems with motor vehicles, though for a while there were a few chavs who brought their pit bikes and proceded to roll everything. The one time I caught them was enough to stop them, having a 20st guy running through the trees wielding a sledge hammer bellowing obscenities at them seemed to scare them, plus the fact i told them if i caught them up there again their bikes would be left in lots of little pieces did the trick. One of them started trying to kick off back and nearly got a sledge hammer to the face. They left very quickly after 3 of my mates had to jump on me and tell them to run haha. Our main problem is horses these days, apparently most horse riders are too stupid to realise a trail with 3 - 5ft drops in it isnt for them.
flag Marshall8
Posted: Dec 1, 2014 at 8:43 Quote
Slightly different prospective but why not embrace them to an extent?

At our local the tracks were regularly being destroyed by motor bikers, so we made some of the tracks very tight and narrow and not very pleasant to ride on a motor bike, but some of our other tracks we made MX friendly, with huge jumps and wide berms and had the motor bikers help us in exchange for helping upkeep it if they ruin the jumps. Made the work a lot easier. Also having a motorbike drift round a flat corner soon makes a berm which you can then easily shape after most of the work has been done for you.

Doesn't always work, some of the locals get very miffed with the motorbikers but seem friendly enough to the mountain bikers. Just hope they don't associate the both of us as a team and try to have the whole venue closed. We also have had a few of the bikers actually return later with a mountain bike so they can ride some of the other trails.
flag ghooostdog
Posted: Dec 1, 2014 at 9:11 Quote
Well, giving them easier access doesn't seem an option here,
they have full access to the lower part of the trail and that's the main reason why it was like a giant rut, almost unridable when I decided to dig there.
It's about as if suddenly I found it cool to skid my downhill bike on a bmx track, lame and disrespectful...

What I'm trying to do is some sustainable intermediate dh trail, that require little maintenance after things are set up the right way, and get nicely eroded and beat up.
But unfortunately, that doesn't include random ruts, collapsed drops and f*cked up trannies, not exactly the same kind of gnar I guess....
I might as well end up finishing this line asap and leave it the way it is and focus on my alternate lines that most won't know about.
Really Mad
flag ghooostdog
Posted: Dec 2, 2014 at 11:52 Quote
dirtbike rut

That's the kind of rut I'm talking about!!
flag inked-up-metalhead
Posted: Dec 2, 2014 at 12:04 Quote
Holy shit. Thats not a rut, thats a bloody chasm.
flag bigburd
Posted: Dec 2, 2014 at 12:30 Quote
That is a rut and a half..

Hate to say it but it might be worth cutting your losses and moving on to another area , maybe try to find a spot where you can put a line in that doesn't start or end near any paths or fireroads to keep it a bit hidden ?
flag vernonjeff
Posted: Dec 2, 2014 at 13:03 Quote
bigburd wrote:
That is a rut and a half..

Hate to say it but it might be worth cutting your losses and moving on to another area , maybe try to find a spot where you can put a line in that doesn't start or end near any paths or fireroads to keep it a bit hidden ?

put a couple of drops on that. it will keep them out. we are fighting the same thing here.
flag ghooostdog
Posted: Dec 2, 2014 at 14:23 Quote
photo

Same section after it got fixed.
problem with drops in this particular area is that I'd like them to be rollable by cross-country guys, don't wanna piss them off too much

I might use some wood to fix the more delicate part, but yeah as soon as this line is fine, I'm already planning on opening two dh lines up in the woods where they can-t access.
Once it's done it's gonna be an awesome spot.

@inkedupmetalhead
the swinging a sledgehammer to their face thing just got me a boner lol
flag dash34
Posted: Jan 5, 2015 at 21:46 Quote
Anyone with land issues should move to Canada. Just find a logging road that goes up hilll and youve got yourself a zone. In my town the company but a gate on their road and we blew it up, so weve come to an understanding now, the company just puts up no trespassing signs so they arent liable if we hurt ourselves. They also do chemical tsting in the area so its officially a bio-hazardous zone, keeps alot of people off the trails.
flag ghooostdog
Posted: Jan 6, 2015 at 4:02 Quote
Yeah, guess what my girlfriend is spending the year in montreal and I am surely going to check what it is like to spend some time in canada, not sure I could take the winters though...
keep telling her she had better chosen Vancouver!!
flag bikermaniac101
Posted: Jan 6, 2015 at 19:09 Quote
RonDH wrote:
Looking to buy a flashlight for building at night, I had one which was really good and was connected to the bike.
Any suggestions?

Princeton Tec Headlamps, made in the U.S., lifetime warranty, and used all over the world for caving. Buy their Apex, it's $85-ish, but will literally be the last light you will ever purchase, you break it, call em, they'll send you a number, you mail it back and they'll give you a new one!
flag James-Carey
Posted: Jan 7, 2015 at 0:12 Quote
I have a zebra light sc600aw. It's an amazin torch, and would work well. I use it for everything, but it happily lit an underground cavern the size of a football pitch
flag liamthebadger
Posted: Jan 12, 2015 at 15:22 Quote
I have a pair of Lezyne lights which light up everything I need them to plus they are USB rechargeable which is a plus.
On a second note anyone got any ideas for trail features? I have dirt and 1ft diameter logs to work with? any ideas?
flag robbiedunks1
Posted: Jan 12, 2015 at 19:05 Quote
liamthebadger wrote:
I have a pair of Lezyne lights which light up everything I need them to plus they are USB rechargeable which is a plus.
On a second note anyone got any ideas for trail features? I have dirt and 1ft diameter logs to work with? any ideas?

stack up those logs and make some jumps, cut them up for filler to make berms, cut them lengthwise and make some planks for a big wall ride.
flag liamthebadger
Posted: Jan 13, 2015 at 1:02 Quote
MrDman wrote:
*snip*

stack up those logs and make some jumps, cut them up for filler to make berms, cut them lengthwise and make some planks for a big wall ride.
I should have mentioned its a red grade style trail and not exactly legal. Was more wondering if anyone had tips on log rides and rollovers... We're hoping the trail is going to be used by us and the rest of the local biking community which is very much XC/AM based...

 


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