Video: Nico Vink's First Big Bike Jump Line at Royal Hills Bike Park is Now Open to the Public

Sep 20, 2022 at 5:59
by Nico Vink  

Words by Nico Vink

Super stoked to announce that one of my favourite spots to ride jumps will be open to the public from September 2022.

Royal Hills is a very special place to me. In 2013, I decided to quit racing and focus on freeride. At that point, I had been dreaming about building a big set of jumps for the DH bike for quite some years and Royal Hills gave me the opportunity to build my first proper DH bike line on their property.

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I've hosted multiple Fest events and sessions on the location and RH provided tons of good times.

In November 2021, Stoïca from RH contacted me to ask if we would like to build a bike park on the location. I really liked the idea so we got a 3 guy crew together and started the build in January 2022. The crew was made up of Kristof Lenssens, Aloïs d'Adamo and myself.

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We had the idea of adding two lines to the venue that are both interconnectable with the two existing big lines. One is called the “Flow Line” and is the easiest. The second is called the “Snake Line” which is a bit more technical and has a set of medium sized table tops at the bottom of the line.

The lines are more or less 600 meters in length, built in such a way that there are a lot of possibilities. With all 4 upper lines being interconnectable with all 4 lower lines, the bikepark provides tons of options. We‘ve built the lines in a way that when doing trains or riding with friends you can easily overtake each other, ride side by side whilst ripping trough the woods and finish either on the easy flow trail, the medium sized table tops or the the big set of jumps at the bottom of the hill, which is a pretty exciting experience.

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We finished the build mid-February and let the lines dry out until April. The testing crew consisted of Kristof Lenssens, Jeroen Meersman, Marcin Rot, Alois D’adamo, Héloïse Lamberti, Steven Stuyven and myself. Super stoked on how the lines are running and looking forward to people coming to ride the Royal Hills bike park.

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The Royal Hills compound is usually known for its moto tracks as it offers 2MX tracks, a SX track, MX Freeride compound and Enduro Moto trails. Adding a bike park to the location has turned it into a great place to disconnect and a super fun spot for any two wheeled off-road enthusiasts.

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For more info: royalhillsexperience.com

Media crew: Hannah Retz, Raul Martinez, Hector Cash, Thomas Sandell and Héloïse Lamberti.

Riders: Marcin Rot, Kristof Lenssens, Aloïs D’adamo, Nico Vink, Vincent Tupin, Andreu Lacondeguy and William Robert.

Author Info:
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Member since Sep 19, 2022
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59 Comments
  • 86 2
 So any info on where the bikepark is actually located would be neat.
  • 23 2
 Royal Hills Experience moto tracks, near Toulouse in south of France Smile
  • 59 1
 @Voxran: Thanks I found it on google too. My point was that in a news article info like this should be in the first paragraph.
  • 65 5
 No; the location is only let known if you’re core
  • 16 16
 @Voxran: OMG dude, be careful. He may sue you for blowing up his spot before they were ready to officially reveal it on their social media accounts.
  • 8 4
 @scott-townes: Perhaps I didn't get the joke, but the name of the location is in the title & text of this post, soooo... ?
And if it's a joke with the Fest Series wanted to keep their events more "private" and less "social-medias oriented", we're not speaking about them here. It's a Nico Vink build and, personally i like this guy and the tracks he build, so I won't go into bashing him Smile
  • 2 0
 Who, what, when, WHERE, why....
  • 3 7
flag yinyang (Sep 21, 2022 at 9:28) (Below Threshold)
 @Voxran: There are things named Royal Hills in Ohio, Thailand, France, blah blah blah.. If you think a sarcastic jab is 'bashing'... lighten up.
  • 7 0
 @yinyang: Bikers are famously known to have a fantastic sense of humor which is why the only popular jokes you see on here are 3rd grade puns.
  • 3 0
 @colincolin: Outside is improving so much PB journalism recently... We all can appreciate...
  • 4 0
 @scott-townes:

I like to think that I pun at a 5th grade level, thank you very much.
  • 4 0
 Yep, no mention of region or even country. Pretty odd. Article reads like a copy paste press release might not be someone at pink bike.
  • 30 0
 Open to the public. "We've got Friday fails coming to you live from Royal Hills!"
  • 2 0
 This is a great comment!
  • 16 0
 Hyperlink: "For more info: royalhillsexperience.com" doesn't lead to the website.
  • 12 1
 Open to the public...to watch I guess!
  • 6 18
flag Mugen FL (Sep 21, 2022 at 2:34) (Below Threshold)
 I'm not sure I understand all these new bikeparks/trails that seem extremely expensive to make but only pro-level riders can actually enjoy. Are people really hitting 5+ meter doubles and 10+ meter tables?
  • 13 0
 @Mugen: Theres a good range, with tracks for all abilities, aswell as the huge Fest line. We asked the same question, as the Reverse staff want to go and ride there and we were wondering "Will we be able to ride anything? Smile But Nico always seems to aim to make something rideable for all levels so there's alot of scope for rider progression.

www.royalhillsexperience.com/extrabikepark
  • 13 0
 @Mugen: There are not that many that ride such lines, but if you do there are nearly no spots at all so why not built such lines? the ones that ride these line also are not complaining that there are only flow trail popping up like there is nothing else to ride
  • 6 1
 two new bike parks near me, they're not as big as fest series but there's some pretty big 20-30ft gaps.....
little kids on 20" and 24" are hitting them.
The future of FR is going to be HUGE.
  • 9 0
 @Mugen: Yes and a lot more than you would think. My local spot Salbert Mountain bike (Nort east of France) has a black jump trail called TN full of 10+ meter doubles. You wouldn't beleive the number of 15 year olds shreding this line year round. So yeah I actualy think there is a growing demand for such trails.
  • 2 0
 Heard there is a new DH rating, triple black diamond.
  • 4 0
 @Mugen: 90% of all trail systems and bike parks everywhere don’t have anything at all for expert and above riders. I think it’s awesome to have such places. Growing up or living somewhere where they actually have stuff to progress to is one of the biggest factors in how good riders can get. It’s very frustrating for me to not have anything to ride except for what I build.
  • 3 0
 @pinkknip: it’s called proline
  • 1 2
 @naptime: little kids on 20" bikes hitting 20-30' gaps, LOL....I think it's naptime, wait a second!
  • 2 1
 @RadBartTaylor: prove me wrong......
  • 2 1
 One little one now rides for commencal.....
  • 1 3
 @naptime: I think any proof falls squarely on you, has it been done, maybe, but kid(s) are not doing that as you allude too....
  • 2 0
 @Mugen: short answer... yes.

Growing up on the west coast of Canada, i can assure you there is a massive amount of shredders who ride all the proline stuff at Whistler and CGP.
Its worth touring around to hit these top level trails as an expert rider because for every 1 proline out there, there's 100 blue lines.
  • 2 1
 @RadBartTaylor: tell me you've never been to whistler without telling me that.

Lots of kids on tiny bikers boosting the moon booter, GLC and dirt merchant proline.
  • 1 2
 @deepstrut: do you know the difference between a "gap" jump and a table top? Asking for a friend...
  • 1 1
 @RadBartTaylor: again prove me wrong, your'e making the accusation it's your job to prove it.............
all I have to do is 30 seconds of interneting to make you look like the fool you are
  • 1 1
 ..
  • 1 0
 @naptime: go re-read what I said...I'll wait




You want me to prove it's not common (as you allude to) that 8 year olds on 20" are hitting the jumps in the original article?
  • 1 0
 @RadBartTaylor: whut? Who said 8 year olds? Not me. Who said any thing about kids hitting the jumps in this article? (Even though there has been videos of Nico hitting this spot with young teens) Not me. Stop trying to worm your way out your bullshit accusations an go look up Finley Davis. (he had an interview on this very site) 11 years old an hitting bigger stuff than you and me combined... As well as other local BMX race youths (not sorry I don't know thier names) that hit the 20-30 ft gaps At The Two Parks Opened Near Me In My Original Comment....
that you insinuated was false...

GFY
  • 1 0
 @naptime: 8 year olds ride 20" mtb's, teenagers don't, so there's that, considering this is a discussion about MTB's and a MTB forum.

The OP brought up this park not being rideable by normal folks, you responded saying kinds on small bikes near you regularly hit 20-30' gaps.

Your right I'm wrong, can't wait to see 8 year olds on 20" MTB's ripping this place...
  • 1 0
 @RadBartTaylor: what ever bud
Zzzzzzzzzzzz
  • 7 0
 Those perfect looking radial curves and shapes are like artwork. We use helac bucket attachments (similar to these)at work for final grade stuff but building something like this would take an enormous amount of experience and I’m curious if they have a local surveyor or anyone to help them lay it all out. I now of a few bike parks that were actually designed through cad and laid out by surveyor’s with GPS equipment and/or total stations when tree canopy is too dense. What a dream it would be to be able to build and ride something like this. Maybe one day when I get , even older? Err ya , anyway what an amazing place. Excellent job Nico and hats off to the other builders also.
  • 12 4
 Hope they have the local hospital on speed-dial
  • 5 0
 Looks amazing but I'd never consider riding the big lines!
For those thinking about visiting the area, there are some good enduro trails not too far away too: www.blackmountainriders.org/presentation
  • 3 0
 If Nico builds a Hardline track and the Pierron boys builds one too, that's 2 more for a mini series held after the world Cup season.
  • 5 1
 Nico is a master at shapping and riding !
  • 4 4
 he should go back to Chatel to do maintenance for Vink line. Upper section has terrible break pumps.
  • 1 3
 @HenkkaK: I think it’s running really well tbh
  • 3 2
 @HenkkaK:
That’s because of the thousands of noobs who can’t ride.
And doesn’t have Chatel their own maintenance crews…???
  • 2 2
 @HenkkaK: dude Nico design and shape line, that's not his role to do the maintenance.
Every bikeparks were destroyed by the brake bumps. Why ? Because it was way to dry this summer
stop complaining and go ride
  • 2 0
 Amazing, if this was in North America if would be a litigation nightmare. 1st day someone would get hurt and sue rather than realize it was their fault they crashed.
  • 1 0
 It's about personalities, a lifestyle, a certain dedication to the art of riding bikes and building trails, things that are far more important than how many views or likes a video gets on social media.
  • 3 0
 I could watch Vink ride all day!! Unreal style
  • 2 0
 Royal Hills in next to Edinburgh castle
  • 2 0
 Looks amazing. Great job!
  • 3 0
 Looks like so much fun!
  • 3 0
 I like the boob garden
  • 1 0
 dont we all
  • 2 0
 Thank you Nico!!!!
  • 2 0
 SO RAD!
  • 1 1
 As talented as some of these guys are on a bike, they’re Ben better at operating an excavator.
  • 1 0
 Wow! Plus: great soundtrack!
  • 1 0
 Who are the artists for the music?







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