i think they are painted with paint with sand in it - i may be wrong but there is definitely some attepmt to increase the grip. still got the feeling my front wheel was going to wash out at any second when it was raining though...
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Lovely looking bit of new trail... don't you agree?
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Posted 2 years ago #
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paint/glue sand mix last less time than chiken wire
Posted 2 years ago # -
You aren;t going to get proper wooden trails in the South
chicksands anyone??
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Posted 2 years ago # -
most of that is no longer there
Posted 2 years ago # -
Looks to me like they've done the best with the available terrain. Fact that the woodwork section is longer than most dh trails in the south seems to make people think that is the whole trail!
Don't see how they couldd've made it mroe exciting/imaginitive without it being ridiculously expensive.Posted 2 years ago # -
The sleeper up to Fort William is excellent.
Mad girl arrives in Scotland
Somewhere on Rannoch Moor on the way home
N.b. other trails are available in the area. Very easy to find something utterly wonderful.
TM
Posted 2 years ago # -
The thought crossed my mind also that the Gondola might close because it is too windy on the red run, when the black is still perfectly serviceable, so the real riders then lose out
They close the gondola because the wind is too high for the actual gondola, not because it's too windy for the trail.
Posted 2 years ago # -
jedi - Member
chicken wire is best for grip.
if builders had a maintenance ethic the problems of it ripping up after a while wouldnt be an issueMr Agreeable - Member
I think the word you're looking for there is "budget" not "ethic". I'm sure there would be plenty of people out there willing to do the work if they got paid.
I'd have said the words you're looking for are "willing volunteers". Considering how many people ride these trails, they translate into precious few willing hands. The enthusiasm is even worse when it comes to repairs and maintainance.Posted 2 years ago # -
the builders shouldnt build if they dont maintain.
Posted 2 years ago # -
So how do they achieve grip? Or isn't there any?
They are painted if I remember right? It was very wet the day I went so grip was pretty poor.
A lot of negativity from people here... If its not what you would have done then find a bit of mountain and build what you want!
I take the view that slagging someone else's work as poor and that you could do better can only be justified if you actually *have* done better! For example I took a fair bit of stick on a different thread for something I did from a few people that proved they had done better - fair enough! I learned a lot from that! But slagging the trail without riding it and without having built something better seems a bit pointless. Loads of opinion and little fact. Nothing to back up some statements made. Lots of willy waving.
Oh - hang on - Im on the STW forum here? Ignore my last paragraph...
Posted 2 years ago # -
dmiller, im not slagging it!
Posted 2 years ago # -
it looks well good to me. i'm deffo gonna try and get up there
Posted 2 years ago # -
Jedi - then I have totally miss-read your posts... sorry!
I wish the internet had a "pint in a pub" button. One press of the button and everyone in the forum magically appears in a pub, pint in hand, for a chat.
So much easier that way!
Posted 2 years ago # -
I'd have said the words you're looking for are "willing volunteers".
"indentured slaves", surely?
I hear ya completely about the enthusiasm thing, many mountain bikers just don't seem to get the connection between building something, maintaining it, and having somewhere good to ride. A bit more of the dirt jumper mentality of "you dig, then you ride" wouldn't go amiss IMO.The problem with planky stuff is that the raw materials work out a lot more expensive than conventional trails, even if you get volunteers to do the actual building.
Posted 2 years ago # -
im talking about chickn wire and its use as grip agent.
plus i do have shore building experience .
am in talks with building a wooden trail at a trail center too .Posted 2 years ago # -
It's 2 hours from me. I haven't ridden it yet because there are heaps of other brilliant trails between me and it. I'm going to ride it next year, and the black - and heaps of trails between me and it. I sometimes wish I lived down South so I could spend more time on the internet whinging about trails I haven't ridden rather than going out and riding trails.
It's gash
Blimey, you're a tough person to please, where's the mecca that you compare it to?
Posted 2 years ago # -
im talking about chicken wire and its use as grip agent.
I think that a grippy paint would be more skin friendly... perhaps get a sample of each out in the local woods and see how they handle winter and what local riders think?
Posted 2 years ago # -
The problem with planky stuff is that the raw materials work out a lot more expensive than conventional trails, even if you get volunteers to do the actual building.
depends where you're building it. build that far up a (proper) hill and it becomes very expensive to helicopter in enough rocks to build a sustainable trail across a boggy hillside. as was pointed out a while back, boardwalk like that is a lot easier/cheaper to remove in future too.Posted 2 years ago # -
slagging the trail without riding it and without having built something better seems a bit pointless.
You know, in the sober light of day as my nerves jangle with a 2.5 bottles of red wine hangover I do feel a bit bad about being so relentlessly negative about the trail and someone's handywork, especially having never ridden it. I do still think it is a bit of an eyesore though, and more suited to the Tate Modern rather than a Scottish hillside.
Posted 2 years ago # -
yes it's very expensive and time consuming, and (in our case) FE structural engineers have to get involved.
It can be done with free materials off the floor tho:
Posted 2 years ago # -
nice log work
Posted 2 years ago # -
Marty, point taken, but that still puts it at the more expensive end of the scale. My comments were aimed more at the guy who wanted to know why the FC weren't covering his local hill with woodwork.
Nana, second what Jedi said. I'll have to have get searching the Singletraction forum and see if I can discover the secrets of knackerising.
Posted 2 years ago # -
the boys at deepcut experimented with grip paint nearly 10 years ago now.
chicken wire/plasterers lathe lasts longer and works betterPosted 2 years ago # -
Blimey, you're a tough person to please, where's the mecca that you compare it to?
Er...... I dunno....... the trail right next to it? You know the one, starts at the same place, finishes at the same place, you might have seen it on the internet a few times.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Well I don't get the log stuff in terms of riding.
I understand it's the easiest options to build a trail depending on the conditions, but in such case why make it wider than 25 cm?Posted 2 years ago # -
Trail is fun but I agree with Jedi - the timber sections could have been executed far more imaginatively. Also, not at all sure how it will all fare / ride longer term - with or without chicken wire. That's a hellish environment up there...
From an engineering point of view there is a far superior material commonly available and readily used in marine environments - meshdeck. This stuff is INCREDIBLY grippy and all the sh1t and gloop which is currently getting dragged onto the running surface would just get washed through with the rain.
Basically it's a structural fibreglass with open squares and a crushed quartz aggregate coating bonded within the surface. It's manufactured in sheet form and can be cut to size. Comes in various colours too iirc. For the Nevisrange application it could just have been bolted directly down onto the stringers. Not a natural prodct like timber but I think it would actually blend in better in the correct colour - the timber will bleach and become very visible.
Cost would be comparitively high but then you are looking at something that comes with a 50 year warranty for pedestrian use and they are charging £25 a throw to use the track for the day. Would have been worth exploring imo
Posted 2 years ago # -
the boardwalk at glencoe appears to be a means to an end (or rather reach the end of a steep off camber bog traverse)rather then a taxing bit of trail.
unfortunately you have to design these things for numpties to ride rather than technical for skilled bikers.
oh and chicken wire is the only way forward for grip on shore. all the alternatives are a maintenance nightmare and completely unpredictable grip wise.
Posted 2 years ago # -
B.A.Nana - that looks superb!
Posted 2 years ago # -
paulrockliffe - Member
Blimey, you're a tough person to please, where's the mecca that you compare it to?
Er...... I dunno....... the trail right next to it? You know the one, starts at the same place, finishes at the same place, you might have seen it on the internet a few times.
You mean the one that is grade as black and a lot of non god like riding persons wouldn't ride down and such they decied to build a easier one for the masses?
Posted 2 years ago # -
£25 quid!?! Christ.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Re the chickenwire debate, surely the most durable/cost effective solution is to roughen up the surface of the wood like in the above pictures, or use wood that naturally splits with a rough grain, like they do in Canananandana?
Posted 2 years ago # -
they use chicken wire in canada loads too
Posted 2 years ago # -
Wood still becomes lethal in the wet/damp for months on end.
Posted 2 years ago # -
they use chicken wire in canada loads too
Is that everywhere, or just on machine cut timber?
Posted 2 years ago # -
they use chicken wire in canada loads too
Is that everywhere, or just on machine cut timber?
Posted 2 years ago #
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