Surely an indoor MTB park, (not unlike Rays in Cleveland Ohio), would do rather well over here!

Purely of course for those of us who’d rather not MTFU!

Tell you what, if I had the spondoolies in place I’d consider opening one!

Plenty of shut down warehouses to choose from!

Who’s with me? Let’s gooooooooooooo!

Your idea of “mountain biking” and mine clearly differ somewhat. Unless the warehouse you have in mind is really very large. 🙂

Where would you stick the mountain? 🙂

Or is this for the new Olympic sport of MoundBike racing that they are going to have in Essex in 2012? 😆

Indoor BMX sounds good though…

It can work, but as BD points out, you have to not mind actually going anywhere. Not a problem for our 20″ wheeled cousins, but a bit daunting if, like me, the idea of riding at a vertical wall of wood and coming out facing the opposite way fills you with dread.

Admittedly there are some really impressive setups out there though!

If there was something like an indoor version of the CwmCarn black run within an hours drive, I’d certainly pay a tenner to go and session it on a wet winter day.

i think the idea could be a goer, but not in a ware house. What you really want is a tower block with some nice up and down ramps. Imagine what could be done in say Canary Wharf!!

Or basically what Antony posted…

If there was something like an indoor version of the CwmCarn black run within an hours drive, I’d certainly pay a tenner to go and session it on a wet winter day.

A cunningly adapted multi storey car park could be a lot of fun. You could charge people 50p a time to use the lift.

FFS – why?

You cannot get a proper MTB route indoors. ten miles is the absolute minimum for a decent ride with 30 being more like it.

I read an artical on Ray’s in some US mag a while ago. Seems like a good idea to me. As someone who loves trail centers and natrual trails, I would also be keen to be able to go somewhere in the dark winter nights and practice a few core skill.

Rays place looks hugh from what I’ve seen. I think he XC time trials in there.

I think this is a good idea, there would be a good vibe in there. With all the empy 200,000 sqft warehouses about could be a go, just to get landlords out of the rates.

Good for a few hour blast. I see there is so much sponsership in there only somthing we could dream of in the UK.

Liking the carpark idea…

id be up for it!!

tho actually the cwmcarn dh track still rides pretty well in the wet, just need some tear offs

Just look at Chicksands and Esher Shore: They’ve managed to cram quite alot into a small area and therefore I think it is definitely doable. If there was one in the south-east, I would go occasionally, certainly wouldn’t replace proper outdoorsy mtbing though – nothing can

How much will a warehouse (and the land it stands on) set you back though? Else rent would be pretty pricey, as would rates? Then pay to build the thing.
I’d guess you couldn’t get enough coming in the door to cover it?

Also, peaks mud isn’t that bad when wet in the middle of winter. Well at least not all of it

EDIT: a few posts seem to gone up between going to write this and actually posting it ..

Also, isn’t there already a BMX/4X/pump track in sheffield already? Where did singletrack go when they did an article on somewhere a bit like this (not quite rays admitedly)

A factory like that outside of london, it would be £2-3psf, with they way of the market might get it free just to take rates off, and rates of £1-1.5psf

Just take up BMX and you could invest a fraction of what that would cost for one (probably in london where there are no mointains to compare it to, everyone else will just MTFU and get out) in floodlighting ever national standard track in the UK?

Not sure I like the idea of a wharehouse full of NS. At least a park has potential for tricks, that US place looks a bit croweded to build anythig big enough to trick. That and compare it to climbing walls which get re-set every month or so as people get bored once they’ve ticked something off. Can’t imagine riders comign back to ride the same couple of tricks day in day out.

What would be quite cool is if there were some weatherproof DH runs, kinda like bobsleigh tracks have covers over them.

Rays in Ohio does well because for quite a sizable chunk of the year they have a respectable amount of snowfall (record was 77 inches over the season).

Quite why you’d want anything other than dirt jumping, plank balancing or perhaps at a push 4X in a warehouse is baffling.

yes there is a indoor BMX track in close to sheffield. it used to be an indoor MX track bust some kid died smacking his head on a beam so its pedal power only now. also i think you used to be able to take your bmx down the House on a thursday or something.

we used to run x2 slalom down multi story carparks, it was loads of fun.

lots of people wont like the idea but it is doable.

To be honest I think the main problem you would face is just getting people in the door. If you want to improve your skills and get a ride in by mucking about on man-made obstacles, without having to wash your bike afterwards, most town centres will be able to provide something suitable.

I think the indoor BMX track in Sheffield is called Wheelbase? Google’s getting lots of old results but nothing past 2007.

Didn’t that place in Sheffield hold a round or two of the NPS 4X a few years back?

Dialled Bikes ran a race series there IIRC.

people pay to rock climb and ski indoors so its not the craziest suggestion in the world. But how much would you pay (and how often) to ride say a 1 mile loop indoors? Can only see it being attractive (commercially) in a large city with crap alternative riding opportunities… unless there was some way to make it free (or almost free) e.g. from sponsorship, bike shop on site, cafe on site, events, grants etc…

the edge and the other one in Sheffield are always rammed and they have some bloody good rocks in the Peak district. so i don’t think locality or cost is much of an issue.

an indoor track, like a trail centre is an alternative not a substitute. there is a big difference

Sizable Tower block – 20 storys – gut and build DH inside with ramps n stuff – lift

I’d venture to say that there would be quite a few self proclaimed mountain bikers in this country that have never actually ridden their bike up an actual mountain.

I’m sure I must have, . . .eeek!

The most regular assent that I do is the long mynd, and that’s not big enough at 516m to be classsed as a mountain!

So I’d imagine that lots of mtbers have a different perception of mtbing.

That is why in this expanding maket, something like, (Keith’s i’m calling it), would work!

Should have planned it for the old gorbals in glasgow, with skinnies joining each hi-rise?

I was thinking of Toronto, with all those covered walkways joining the offices and malls…..

Pipeline in Manchester used to let us in on our mountain bikes. A good laugh and certainly improved my jumping skills no end. Not sure if it’s there anymore though…

I cannot see why not – a lot of outdoor sports have ‘indoor facilities’
take rock climbing for instance…
Skiing, etc.. Dont knock it till you’ve tried it – be a good laugh with a few mates on a Friday night with a beer or 3

Some enterprising company built a 700,000 sq foot warehousing facility at Rugeley – good thinking cos it was completed just in time for the recession – tis empty – think what could be done with that amount of covered space…

Wheelbase closed due to lack of support I thought…

and here it is

http://www.gazeley.com/en-GB/Home_Our_Sites_UK_Buildings_Available_Rugeley.aspx

Wheelbase closed a couple of years ago due to the cost of running it.
It was ok during the winter but once the weather turned there were less folks turning up.
Was a great place to ride I rode the track with lads from all over the country, goes to show that if you build it they will come.
Now then who is minted?