[urbaindk]

So I found some derelict DJ's pretty close to my house. Should I just fix them up myself or try to find out who built them and get their OK. I have no idea how I would begin to find out. What's the edicate here?

They are located in a buffer zone between a neighborhood and fairly busy road. Just a couple of smallish doubles and a berm or two. Nothing spectacular. Perfect for me, a novice jumper. Judging from the tire tracks in the mud, it looks like local kids have been riding around in the area but not hitting the jumps or doing any maintenance.

 

[Stoked]

try and make an attempt to find out if they're still in use and by whom. go frequently for a few weeks and see if anyone's riding there. i think after that amount of time goes by and you have yet to see a single person riding, then i think it would be ok to dig/improve them.

 

[don]

Judging by the size and condition, I'd just start digging and riding there. If there were a lot more sets (10+) and they were of good size and shape, I'd say try to find the locals that built them.

 

[boostindoubles]

If they look pretty mangled and un-maintained its probably safe to dig on em. But if you want to be careful, start digging your own sets out of their line. Just make sure theyre out of the way of the doubles already there

 

[Leethal]

Start spending some time there raking and buffing the straights and fixing drainage, that way so put in time in case they show without altering their work...if there are locals you'll run into em within a few sessions. If no one shows you inhereted them...congrats!


www.unionstreetbikes.com

 

[don]

Actually, after reading Lee's, Stoked's and boostindub's repsonses, it might be safter/better to go w/ their advice.

I responded w/ what I would do but I'll only touch things I know I would be able to fix better than it was. If you do find the locals, ask them if you can do what you want to do. I've been riding w/ some of the same guys since 1998 and I still ask them if it's cool to do certain things before the shovel comes out.

 

[urbaindk]

Thanks for the tips. It could be that they are abandoned or it could be that it has rained a lot lately and they just need some TLC. I don't know. There is a bike shop a couple of miles away. I could maybe discretely ask them if they know.

Drainage looks like it could be a pretty big issue. One of the doubles had a pretty good sized puddle in front of it making it unrideable. Looks like it just needs to be raised up a bit or the surrounding area lowered and channeled to move the water. Maybe I could clean that up and do some raking. I might go by tonight with some tools and see what's up. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll run into the purveyors of this spot.

I'll just see how it goes and not mess with the actual jumps. Judging by the trannies (tight) I would guess they are cut for BMX and not 26" so I might really piss somebody off if I did resculpt them.

 

[urbaindk]

I went and check out the jumps Tuesday night, shovel, rake and pruners in hand. They are pretty trashed and crumbly. There are maybe 2 or three lines. The left line has 2 tall rollers or unfinished doubles, I'm not sure really. Kind of dumb if you ask me This leads into a big double or you can cross the main line and hit a small hip.
The main line is a small step up or double depending on how you hit it, the big double followed by a pretty good sized gapper. The right line is just a set of rollers / rhythm section. If you can pump it fast enough you can hit the big gapper.

The whole area is really sandy and I spent a lot of time just trying to rake loose sand out of the straights. The lander for the big gapper was total trashed. It looked like it was built pretty recently and was then ridden wet and repeatedly cased. Ugly. I rebuilt it and made it wider. Next time I go back I'm going to add a little dirt to the stepup-double as it is crumbling pretty badly.

Here's some pics. I won't post the location but if anybody recognizes these as their own please PM me. Thanks.

Step-up / double (notice the tall roller in the back ground - looks like somebody needs to finish a lander for it)

Rhythm section (right line)

Hip

The big dub

Gapper

One last comment - it's too bad you can't build DJ's out of empty gatorade bottles - there must have been a thousand of them littering the area. One of my next tasks may be to clean up the trash.

 

[ÆX]

find a old 50 gal barrel and cut the top out. makes a great trash can.

they are in the trees and hidden so they might last a while. otherwise i would put you work into a better place with water near by and good dirt.

is there a trail coming thru going somewhere?
is the road a dead end road?
where do you live?

 

[urbaindk]

find a old 50 gal barrel and cut the top out. makes a great trash can.

they are in the trees and hidden so they might last a while. otherwise i would put you work into a better place with water near by and good dirt.

is there a trail coming thru going somewhere?
is the road a dead end road?
where do you live?

Yeah, I had thought of the trash can idea. It would definitely go a long way towards making it look less trashy.

Not really that well hidden. It's in the buffer zone between a road and a housing development. The strip is maybe 50 yards wide. I first saw the jumps while on a road ride this winter. I wasn't exactly sure if they were jumps or not. I thought maybe there it was a construction site or something. I had forgotten about it until last week when I was on another road ride through the area and I stopped to check them out. Long story short, when the leaves are gone in the fall, the jumps will probably be really obvious. What's odd is that the people that live behind the jumps obviously dump their yard waste over their fences and onto the jump area.

There is a trail that goes through the woods past the jumps. I rode it, and I don't think it goes anywhere really. It may just be the route people are using to get to the jumps or a neighborhood short cut. It's not a real trail.

I've got another spot that I need to scope out that is even closer to my house. It's in denser woods and might be a good place to build. It's across the road from a greenway trail so more bikes would just blend right in. I just need to get up there and scope it out and see if the dirt is any better.

I live near the Chesapeake bay and the whole area is pretty sandy. Without going a lot further west I'm not going to have much luck avoiding sand I fear. Sand is funny stuff. You can get it to pack really well when it's wet and it will stay that way for awhile then it just starts floating to the surface and is bitch to ride on until it rains again.