Just finished building up my new xc bike.
Had a brain wave and decided to take it for a spin at the local BMX track in Hereford - had so much fun ended up spending 2 hours ripping up + down it. Even managed to get some air time!
I highly recommend it for sharpening up your flying skills + scaring your self.
BMX tracks are a hoot. I'm liking this one at the moment - built by Jason Carpenter of Dragon Downhill fame. I had to email him to find out where it was!
[img] 
[/img]
had so much fun
be warned though, you are now on a rocky road. i too had a wee play on a bmx track, just to keep my 6yr old company really, and the next thing i knew i was scouring classifieds for jump bikes and bmx race stuff for the kid.
be warned though, you are now on a rocky road. i too had a wee play on a bmx track, just to keep my 6yr old company really, and the next thing i knew i was scouring classifieds for jump bikes and bmx race stuff for the kid.
I have already started looking!
where is that track mr a?
It might be mildly fun on a mountainbike but it is Soooo much better on a bmx. Suspension ruins it as you struggle to get any pump.
Get a bmx race bike, you know it makes sense. (Scurrys off to the shed to dig bmx out.)
RichC, it's at Longwell Green, behind B&Q. Have a shufti on Google Earth and you should be able to find it.
really? thats close to my work 😐 that could be a bad thing
It might be mildly fun on a mountainbike but it is Soooo much better on a bmx. Suspension ruins it as you struggle to get any pump.
Get a bmx race bike, you know it makes sense. (Scurrys off to the shed to dig bmx out.)
Don't say things like that! it's just giving more reasons to get another bike.
What BMX bike should a 44 year old ride? 20" wheels or go for a cruiser 24" wheels (I think?).
im 41 this year and ride 20" bmx. its rad 🙂
So I take it you can just turn up and play on these tracks? or do you need to be a club member?
and just how much stick do you get off the kids 😉
Cripes that's just 3 miles from where I work too. Lunchtime STW meetup then?
So I take it you can just turn up and play on these tracks?
Yup.
just how much stick do you get off the kids
Not very much, generally they're a lovely bunch. There was one lairy little twerp at the Keynsham track one who kept shouting things like "Oy, you're shit!" but to be fair he had a point. He also had a comedy crotch/stem interface on his first and only lap. 🙂
Lunchtime STW meetup then?
I work in the centre of Bristol sadly, but I could do an evening there!
Hmmm, OK I know this is going to end badly for me, but I take it you just need a smallish MTB, and pads, or should you really put some semi slicks on (to prevent your bike tearing up the track) and a full facer?
i went with a yeti dj, partly because where i ride there is a jump park as well (not that i jump) and partly because i justified the spend in that i could always run it as a hardcore xc bike.
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
i also figured that at 43, 5ft11 and 16stone a 20" bmx might be a bit silly. did look at 24" cruisers though; se racing floval flyer mmmmm - and only 300quid for a new complete!!!
The inevitable what tyres question! 😉
You won't damage the track if you ride on knobblies (it's made of packed-down clay with stone on top and is rock hard) but you will feel the benefit of some whizzier tyres. Full facer and pads is up to you.
Hmmm, might give it a go on my PA then 🙂 whats the worst than can happen 😆
"just how much stick do you get off the kids"
like mr agreeable, they are generally great. most of them are really amused to see someone as old, if not older, than their dad playing around.
the only thing i don't like, and its just in my head, is having such a trick bike and being so utterly shite. its very levelling when you are struggling to get a chink of daylight under your tyres and some kid on a rusty saracen, with a value of less than 1 of my disc brakes, whips by and effortlessly flies through the air at a speed and altitude i can only dream of.
i am exactly the sort of guy i have been known to pour scorn on, all the gear and no idea!
I might go and have a look one lunchbreak so I can have a play without completely humiliating myself (just partially).
24" bike. BMX's are too small for normal people. It is indeed a rocky path, but well worth the effort. Had a great time while I was playing about. Even entered quite a few races. Think I won one once.
12 year olds eh? Think they know everything but veiled threats on the start line seems to sort them out.
Plus when you turn up on a cruiser everyone thinks you're some retired BMX star from the 70's.
I was on an Evil Doc with Conti Verts - but who cares really. If it wasn't xxssing down I'd be down that track again! Instead I've started writing my pupil's end of summer term reports.
Is this a midlife BMX crisis - back in 1980 I went down the route of road racing as BMX hadn't really started in the UK. Maybe I have found what's been missing from my cycling life - BMX!
I'm sure I have a full face motorbike helmet in the loft somwhere!
"just how much stick do you get off the kids"
Like mr agreeable and gavtheoldskater have said the kids are fine. It can be a bit soul destroying getting advice off a 10 year old on how to go faster - but they're usually right.
Even turning up at gate practice at the local track with an mtb was fine - everyone was welcome.
