http://dirtfactory.org/

Have we discussed this yet? Will it really happen? Would you use it if it did?

Seems like a good idea to me and is probably use it, especially in winter.

Sounds like a brilliant idea to me, especially in a bad winter but even in summer short, repeatable, consistent loops are great fun, good for skill progression etc. Lots of people are skeptical about Ray’s etc til they ride there.

I don’t see a location, I’m assuming one of the big english cities though so not that likely I’ll ride there but if it was nearby, I would for sure.

Yup it’s planned to be in Manchester. I just wonder how much of a pipe dream it is. The website seems reasonably professional etc but I’m not sure how much funding (if any) has been secured yet.

If it had decently made jumps with good progression from easy to big (and someone like Jedi to make me do it 🙂 ) I’d definitely use that.

Surprised there doesn’t seem to be a lot of interest in this. 😕

People get snotty about riding trail centres, let alone riding an indoor one…!

Seen a few videos of American versions and it looks ok for a one off. Don’t think it’s really mountain biking though.

BMXers would love it though I imagine.

People get snotty about riding trail centres, let alone riding an indoor one…!

Good point! I wouldn’t really see it as ‘mountain biking’ but somewhere decent to practice/progress at jumping that’s available all year round would be really handy. Something like the Glentress bike park but indoors.

Packing bike into car, driving to Manchester. Pay £x, unpacking, riding around in an x square meter warehouse with some yoofs on jump bikes. Packing bike into car again and driving home to unpack it.

or…

Shove a jacket on and ride from my doorstep straight onto mint trails. Get a bit wet, ride some proper stuff. Get home, hose the bike down and jump in the shower.

grum – Member

Surprised there doesn’t seem to be a lot of interest in this

I don’t think STW is really the target market tbh! If you can’t fit bigger wheels to it, it’s not mountain biking

DBW – yup I know what you mean. For me at the moment I have to drive to ride anything decent anyway, though I will be moving somewhere with decent riding from the door hopefully fairly soon (not too far from you I think).

Dunno about round there but for me there were fairly large chunks of this last winter where there wasn’t much that was worth riding – I could see something like this Dirt Factory place appealing on a miserable winter evening.

I don’t think STW is really the target market tbh! If you can’t fit bigger wheels to it, it’s not mountain biking

🙂

grum – Member

Surprised there doesn’t seem to be a lot of interest in this

If it was in the south i would be very intersted. But i could fly to spain for some winter riding in the time it takes to get to Manchester.

Hi guys,

I have just come across this thread, many thanks for all your comments – please read my comments below.

So first of all the Single Track market segment is very important to us. The building we have proposals for (we have a lease agreement subject to us securing the capital to start the business) is huge with large outdoor spaces too. It is a huge space for a reason because we will be a multi – discipline MTB’ing centre. i.e. there will be lots of fun quality riding for XC, BMX, Dirt Jumps and some full–suspension stuff too (you can bring full on DH bikes but it will be overkill).

We use the Glentress example a lot when explaining our vision, we will be bringing the 7Stanes experience INDOORS the best we can. We will be building elevation into our centre using a number of innovative techniques, so the centre will have rolling hills with trails meandering all over the place ensuring we link the indoor and the outdoor areas we have.

We have enough space to build a massive XC loop (up hill and downhill) all the way around the perimeter of the building and linking to the outside. We have enough space for a number of massive pump tracks, a huge kids learning zone, dirt jumps, table tops, gaps, north shore drops, one adult foam pit and one kiddies foam pit – and all this will be progressive to inspire learning and improving bike skills.

We are currently working on a 3D visualisation model, but check this link out which shows one element of the vision we have https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=212936785517213&set=pb.185777944899764.-2207520000.1384190259.&type=3&theater

‘We are bringing the outdoor indoors’.

We are by no means intending to replace the outdoor riding experience – we cant! I have been riding for 15 years and nothing will ever beat the outdoor experience. But what we are doing is providing that alternative option, that convenience to go to the Dirt Factory after work for a session, that place to go practice some bike skills before going to Glentress for the weekend – we are that place to visit when the weather is so miserable you don’t fancy going outside.

Oh no. I’m a market segment !!!

Seriously; good luck, it sounds like a lot of fun.