[don]

For the past few years I've been farting around with a ramp/dirt jump setup in my backyard near my garage. When we got the house there was some garbage and a bunch of nasty bamboo in the area.

The first year I started with a treefort for the kids and clear most of the bamboo. 2nd year saw a mini ramp and some dirt jumps.

Mid summer last year I got fustrated with the setup and decided to start over and make it bigger and get it as dialed as I could. Here are the current pics:

Standing on the main deck

View from the spine

2nd transition, wood on the left, concrete on the right. The concrete lip was from the old setup and was mostly an experiment. It was a huge PITA to move into spot were it is now

1st landing. You use the 2nd transition to jump into this thing. The kiddie line is on the right (or left in this picture). I used landscape 6x6 timbers to hold the dirt nice and together.

 

[demo 9]

sick-im jelous

 

[don]

More pics:

1st dirt set - the run is basically drop in, spine, wood tranny to dirt landing, then to this dirt spine sorta thing. Next is the berm that goes underneath the tree fort.

Side view of the dirt set. Again kiddie line on the right (closer in the pic)

Berm. Impossible to get a good shot of this as it's very shaded. It needs some work but it's a good size.

Roller, small set that will head back up hill. I am at this section now as you can see. Need to finish the retaining wall on the left. Eventually I will add on to the ramp and will put a transition up by the garage wall, by the rakes

 

[don]

Some side shots:

 

[don]

Some olds pic from this time last year and the year before that:

 

[DirtBag]

Wow. I would never leave home again.

I like the entire set-up. It looks really nice. I like the progression of the spine, jump, dirt spine and berm under the tree fort and on to the new stuff. It must flow very nice.

 

[CHOP]

Very nice setup.

 

[.:Jeenyus:.]

looks like the perfect setup to ride if yer bored and at yer house.

 

[Blown04GT]

Man I am SO jealous!!! I have a decent size backyard so I asked my wife if I could put ONE jump in the back and she very quickly said no way. Maybe I should wait till she goes out of town or something and have a two day dig sesh and say the hell with it! Or I can just dream about having a backyard like yours

Very nice work man, keep it up

 

[Savage_Animal]

Thats awsome, I was going to post up pics of the QP i just built but it now it doesn't even compare.

 

[Mr Tiles]

yeah, don, nice work brother. I got a couple acres I'm going to starting tinkering with when my son gets a little older and I have more leverage with the wifey.

 

[swerve76]

Thats nice. makes me wish I had a back yard...

 

[Mr Tiles]

Hey don, do you have some sort of weather treatment on that plywood?

 

[stino]

Man I am SO jealous!!! I have a decent size backyard so I asked my wife if I could put ONE jump in the back and she very quickly said no way. Maybe I should wait till she goes out of town or something and have a two day dig sesh and say the hell with it! Or I can just dream about having a backyard like yours

Or get a wife that truly understands your needs

 

[don]

Thats awsome, I was going to post up pics of the QP i just built but it now it doesn't even compare.

Still post the pics up. I would love just to have a QP setup in the driveway for learning lip tricks and stuff. The ramp is great but the how it is now, it's pretty tight and there's no "give time" in between dropping in and the next side.

 

[don]

Hey don, do you have some sort of weather treatment on that plywood?

Nope, I did prime it and paint it with a porch paint. Some of the ply is used and needs to be replace as it got some decay from bugs and stuff. 1/8" ply is pretty cheap so it's on my list of things to do this summer. I was going to go Skatelite or Ramp Armor but that stuff is flipping wicked expensive.

 

[v-digit]

that is sooo nice. looks like such a blast to ride.

 

[don]

Man I am SO jealous!!! I have a decent size backyard so I asked my wife if I could put ONE jump in the back and she very quickly said no way. Maybe I should wait till she goes out of town or something and have a two day dig sesh and say the hell with it! Or I can just dream about having a backyard like yours

Very nice work man, keep it up

Thanks. This project has taken a LOT of work and if I was to do if over I might skip the ramp section as that part itself was a lot of work - cutting, painting, getting the blocks for the base correct, etc. I'm not a big ramp rider myself but my son and his cousins were using the old one for skating and their scooters so that's why it was built.

I think for backyards, pump tracks might be the best thing overall and see if you can go that way with your wife instead of the I want to "add a set of doubles" route:

- They are fun for both adults and kids. And are really good for a "pop in and get some laps before or after work, no helmet, no stress thing". You can add a couple of jumpable doubles or transfers to add to the trick level if you lay it out right.
- You can even play the angle to your wife that it's a pump track is a workout (anyone who has done a few laps on a good one will attest to that). I know my wife is into the palatis (SP?), running and the gym so the physical activity part helps.
- With some good landscaping you could pretty much camouflage a pump track so noone else sees it. There are some pics on leelikesbikes.com that I was very impressed with. If you weren't into bikes you might think it was part of the landscape design. Wifes like flowers and trees and stuff that make their house look good (we are merely there for labor and to get a place to sleep ). So spend some time on a good design and see if she would go for that - or buy a bunch of trees, shrubs and stuff and have her go away one weekend and tell her you will be working on a "landscape project". Besides whipping thru a pump track that is wide open is pretty fun. Adding trees and shrubs on either side so it's like a tunnel ups the fun factor by a lot.

 

[Cru Jones]

Dang, that's rad... it's like you got your own mini Hell Track in your backyard. Now all you need is a giant Kix cereal bowl.

 

[don]

Thanks for the props on the setup. If anyone sees anything they think would be cool to add or fix let me know.

Like my trail spot, I'm always thinking of how I can improve the backyard setup. My list has gotten longer after riding and looking it over last night. Since I have to do a resurface - I'll probably make it wider on the other half and have the spine go almost all the way across (8'). A 3'x6' wide spine is managable on it's own but in the ramp setting it feels narrow. I also want to make it easier for the little ones to hop on and get some laps - so looking to make the concrete lip wider by integrating some of the wood tranny.

A zip line and painting the tree fort for some extras, and moving the climbing wall too. Maybe this time next year I'll finally be happy with it

 

[Stoked]

right on man! amazing use of space. i love all the different things to play on. a vert wall next to the garage wall would be a perfect ending and start to run it backwards

 

[chaloots]

very nice bro. it looks fun. enough to get a quick fix.the plant camo will keep the wife and neighbors happy..pics gave me some ideas, i need to start planning my yard

 

[ReVolVeRage]

http://www.vitalbmx.com/videos/features/Ryan-Guettlers-Backyard-Ramp,16277/Ryan-Guetlers-Backyard-Ramp,2750/Losey,112

 

[gackrider24]

Don im coming over for some molly maguire gnar shred sessions

 

[grom-dom]

sickkkkkkkkkkkkk

i really want to build a mini, but b/w wood and stuff it's soooo expensive. so i'm building dirt jumps instead.

i wouldn't mind that in my backyard either.

 

[seth505]

don, thats sick!

 

[Fool]

Approved.

 

[Leethal]

Don this is off the top of my noggin but there is a company in Ohio that makes a 1/8 weatherproof wood much like skatelite for about 33% the cost.. I am sure if you look around you could find out more about it as you may/maynot know skatelite was originally designed for boots I believe..

 

[eaterofdog]

One crazy backyard. Looked like fun when it was all dirt too.

 

[don]

Don this is off the top of my noggin but there is a company in Ohio that makes a 1/8 weatherproof wood much like skatelite for about 33% the cost.. I am sure if you look around you could find out more about it as you may/maynot know skatelite was originally designed for boots I believe..

Cool, thanks Lee, I'll check it out. Didn't know that about skatelite - learn something new every day.

 

[Savage_Animal]

I know masonite gives you a great finish but idk how it is outside, just an idea.

 

[A Grove]

Masonite is what a Local kid is going to use to cover his mini.