PUMP TRACKS oh yea...

[flognoffsky]

hey
i am currently biulding a pump track in my back yard i got the inspireation from the augest issue of mountain bike action(good read)does anyone have any tips on how to make it?

 

[---Matt---]

hey
i am currently biulding a pump track in my back yard i got the inspireation from the augest issue of mountain bike action(good read)does anyone have any tips on how to make it?

Trial and error. Ours has taken about 4 rebuilds to get right. But now I reckon it's perfect and it's awesome to ride! Helps your cornering and fitness immensely.

---Matt---

 

[haroboy182]

This should help, i built one with this plan and its farkin awsome.. http://www.leelikesbikes.com/build-your-own-pump-track.html

 

[DH_Freak]

to thsoe who have built these pump tracks, how long has it taken to build. obviously it would be smart to build them after rain as the ground would be soft and clayey (if thats a word? ) im looking at biuilding one to those exact measurements to that link thatw as given. also how deep should i dig the track into the ground?
CHeers. HEAPS.

REece.

 

[ashhash]

Yeah we built one, its fairly shit to ride to be honest.

Make sure you've got enough space and plenty of patience.
Ours took ages to build and we were sick of riding it after a few days.

If I could do things again I would build a heap of dirt jumps instead, much more fun.

 

[bazza]

or it would be best to find a neighbour or source around for someone diggin a pool nearby or see if you can get a large amount of decent dirt cheap and just get that dumped as close as possible to where you are building and work with that. so much more easier than digging your yard up.

 

[HYOSHIMO]

i agree with ash ^^^ pump tracks are fun to ride for like an hour but are lame for any long term kinda riding.......build some dirt jumps and put some rollers and berms in but pump tracks are a novelty that wears off really quick.

rollers and berms are pricks to build and get right, rollers use heaps of dirt if theyre over a foot high and are too repetitive, build jumps

 

[bazza]

i agree with ash ^^^ pump tracks are fun to ride for like an hour but are lame for any long term kinda riding.......build some dirt jumps and put some rollers and berms in but pump tracks are a novelty that wears off really quick.

rollers and berms are pricks to build and get right, rollers use heaps of dirt if theyre over a foot high and are too repetitive, build jumps

exactly why you bring in a shit load of dirt and just make it bigger. or make it with jump lines. but than again it just ends up pretty much being a bmx track.

 

[---Matt---]

I disagree... the pump track we built is loads of fun and the rollers only take an hour at most to build when you have the dirt. Berms do take longer to build but once you build one you'll know what and how to build in the future. Our pump track has been really good for learning cornering techniques, fitness and other handling skills like manualling.

As well as that, the pump track has encouraged my girlfriend to ride and improved her bike handling skills too.

Here's the only pic I have of our track. It's way out of date but I haven't taken any more pics recently... been too busy riding it

---Matt---

 

[DH_Freak]

so when you build your pump tracks, do u dig the whole track out about a ft deep and about 3ftw die to get the dirt? of just make it all on top of the ground?
CHeers.

REece.

 

[bazza]

so when you build your pump tracks, do u dig the whole track out about a ft deep and about 3ftw die to get the dirt? of just make it all on top of the ground?
CHeers.

REece.

you can do it either way. if you do have some spare money or its possible to get the extra dirt do that as its so much more easier to work with. if not dig into the ground if its diggable.

 

[ashhash]

That track is sick Matt, good work mate!

We used about 8m3 in ours, all moved by wheelbarrow & shovel with two people!
For the effort it took we would have had some sweet jump lines and rollers.

Not trying to discourage though, whatever floats your boat.

 

[$ryano$]

Yeah man thats SICK!!!!!!!! man i wish i was you matt.

 

[---Matt---]

That track is sick Matt, good work mate!

We used about 8m3 in ours, all moved by wheelbarrow & shovel with two people!
For the effort it took we would have had some sweet jump lines and rollers.

Not trying to discourage though, whatever floats your boat.

Thanks guys... yeah that track took a while to come together but I really think that if you don't think you're getting value for effort out of your pump track, then something wasn't built right (or the dirt was crap like in our case at the start). I'd guess that I've done at least 1000 laps of that track in the last 4 months and I'm still not sick of it. Also, because the track comes together near the middle there's transfer lines as well as the possibility to jump from roller to roller or even manual the whole back straight. There's also now 7 rollers in the straight instead of the 4 shown in that pic.
I guess, like everything, it takes time and modification to get it right and they're great to ride of it's too wet/windy to jump.

---Matt---

 

[mpdowling]

hey guys,

i'm pretty keen to get into this becusae i can see so many advantages of the pump tracks. I'm hoping to contruct one in my back yard, its rouphly the size of a tennis court about the same dimensions in front and back, its a rectangle as a tennis court. i'm just interested in some designs, becuase i want to get as much out of the space as i can, all the track designes i've looks at have almost been an eight design, and i was hoping to have a set of pumps along every wall, a berm in every corner then work it in like a rectangle spiral, it would work as a spiral but in a rectane and eventualy work into the middle, where you would jump out of it and start again? what do you guys think of this? are there anyone else who has tried something similar or who has a similar amount of land? due to the size aswell i'm unable to build any real dirt jumps becusae of lack of run in, so this is the best and most probably thing.

cheers, its early in the morning so hopefully you understand what i'm saying

 

[---Matt---]

We tried putting jumps in ours but any time you get off the ground you lose over 50% of your momentum. Having a jump sounds really good in theory but in practice it really wasn't practical in our track. If I were in your situation, I think something like this would make more sense... if you plan on using the entire track. A track like this gives you cornering both ways and allows you to maintain speed between corners by putting rollers in each straight including between corners.

---Matt---

 

[rhyno]

hey guys,

i'm pretty keen to get into this becusae i can see so many advantages of the pump tracks. I'm hoping to contruct one in my back yard, its rouphly the size of a tennis court about the same dimensions in front and back, its a rectangle as a tennis court. i'm just interested in some designs, becuase i want to get as much out of the space as i can, all the track designes i've looks at have almost been an eight design, and i was hoping to have a set of pumps along every wall, a berm in every corner then work it in like a rectangle spiral, it would work as a spiral but in a rectane and eventualy work into the middle, where you would jump out of it and start again? what do you guys think of this? are there anyone else who has tried something similar or who has a similar amount of land? due to the size aswell i'm unable to build any real dirt jumps becusae of lack of run in, so this is the best and most probably thing.

cheers, its early in the morning so hopefully you understand what i'm saying

There are a fair few plans on leelikesbikes.com.

 

[Gronk]

Free dirt!

Just on a bit of a side note, I have spoken to a couple of excavation companies in regards to getting some dirt to fill in my pool. Anyway, they have each said to me, that if they have a job going on in the local area they will happily give you all the dirt you need for free. Basically they'll dump it somewhere and you just go ahead and shovel it to wherever you need.

Just thought this might help any aspiring backyard pump track builders.

 

[CyberL45]

Dont you put water in pools

 

[rhyno]

Just on a bit of a side note, I have spoken to a couple of excavation companies in regards to getting some dirt to fill in my pool. Anyway, they have each said to me, that if they have a job going on in the local area they will happily give you all the dirt you need for free. Basically they'll dump it somewhere and you just go ahead and shovel it to wherever you need.

Just thought this might help any aspiring backyard pump track builders.

Yeah; Great if your in suburbia, but try finding cleanfill in the sticks! i'm trying to get a heap of dirt for cheap to build my 4x track in Mafeking (half hour out of Yea). Pretty hard to find, and we dont really want to dig holes on the property as it is owned by the scouting assoc.

Anyone got any ideas?