Firstly, I’m sick to death of mowing the lawn and dealing with cuttings etc. I reckon I might just get a pump track past “the committee” so I’m slowly getting my plans down.

I’d love one of those modular all weather ready made tracks. But with the best will in the world, they look a bit too pricey for me at the moment.

I’m a bit tight on space, but my fag packet calculations reckon I’ll be able to get a dirt berm in, with main line radius of 2 – 2.5m if I didn’t need a big pile of dirt behind the berm to support it. So I’m thinking about a reclaimed sleeper supporting wall around the back and sides of the end berms. I guess it would be about 1m high, then once I’m happy cut the sides down to follow the berm to make it look tidy.

What do you think, crazy idea?

Save up, you know you want to. Our latest build is nearing completion for its first outing at Selkirk on the 1st of May and the following week just outside Edinburgh. Really looking forward to having a rip round it.

What about gabions? Easy to put up, and can fill with stuff you dug if you line with a water permeable membrane or just stones.

Steve – I follow your tracks on FB. Hopefully there will be lots of pictures of the new build. Oooo….. I might be near Edinburgh that week.

There is actually an advantage of a dirt track for me. It means I can more easily have / alter different transition lines turning a simple loop into a figure of 8 etc in the small space I’ve got. I don’t get the all weather / leave it outside ability though!

Gabions. Interesting idea. I’ll take a look. The might end up being a bit deep.

Seems like a retaining wall might not be that daft though.

spoken as a non track builder/ poss talkin bolleau

but could you use fence posts (4×4) cheaper than sleepers, upright, at intervals with a frontage to stop movement

– so consider an angled fence made of wood
– then instead of a wood frontage what about that green covered metal mesh stuff as that could be curved under the flat part of track and up posts
and actually plant stuff on the back of the earth to give grass/shrub root stability

and yes it might be a really bad idea

a metre is hella high for a pump track berm but I admire your ambitions.

Well the main line will only be half way up. Just wanted to make sure that there’s scope for faster / higher lines without feeling like being on the verge of popping out the top.

fence posts/stakes and boards. you would need to anchor the sleeper for lateral load anyway. a fairly shonky timber fence can take bike loads easily… there are a couple of good ones locally i`ve tested.

dont try boarding up a chickenwire fence and then riding the fence as you will end up in your neighbours garden upside down and need to repair hte fence…. not that i`ve done this… 😳

I`m considering a quarter pipe for my track but am put off by the need for it to be bone dry to ride it. it would be bleedin ace though..

pump tracks are ace. here is my old one, showing some berm construction

I like that!

@sam_underhill

some more pics for your pleasure

sadly..long gone (demolished) but great fun whilst it lasted.

That looks awesome.

Speaking as a trailbuilder, rather than pump track builder: wood rots, especially if it’s used to shore up earth. If you look at the *beautiful* stuff Esher built, you’ll see the wooden bits are relatively easy to get to for maintenance or replacement.

You might want to consider stone or breeze blocks (possibly with some sort of prettification to keep the committee happy) as a more long-lasting alternative to sleepers. They might also work out cheaper for the volume you’re considering. I’ll defer to others – I’ve always had the luxury of plenty of space to support the back of berms with loads more earth. HTH.

That is useful food for thought. Thanks.

I think I’m going to either build something entirely from wood above ground or stop buying other rubbish so I can afford something from Steven!

If you had a way to put in serious drainage, you could always build semi-down, of course. 😉