The UK's FIRST Indoor Multi Discipline Bike Park

oojames

Thoughts and Ideas Wanted - what would YOU like to ride?

We want to build an Indoor Bike Park here in the UK inside a warehouse or an old factory, ideally located around the Bristol area.
We are looking for something in the region of 40,000-50,000 square ft with room for expansion.
It will be available to all riders of various disciplines and skill levels with a variety of different trails, jumps and features, and an XC/Freeride loop.
We will be approaching various people from each discipline of biking to help plan and build the park. We also want to include a cafe and
chill area for you to refuel and recover before your next ride.

We want your ideas, what would you like to ride? We also want to try and find out how much demand there would be for something like this - would
you come? Check out a US Indoor Mtb Park for inspiration and you'll get the idea!

Cheers, see you there!

Turrican

funny im thinking of simular kind of thing recently about aquireing a warehouse ( when i come into money ) and creating a northshore type stuff for freeriding with DJ/Street stuff for others.

So north shore stuff from me

JamesBrckmn

I looked at the 'rays mtb' bike park - it's looks like a good idea.
So could you build one next to my house? pretty please?

stevet1992

Build it down here in kent ... We are owed some good biking round about now

jonnyc2420

north shore stuff would be fun - and bristol would be really great !! would get my attention for sure ! - ideally if you were able to have bookings/risk assesments online and an adventure activity type licence with qualified assistants then i could also take groups of kids i work with and call it work/get paid which would be a double bargin !!

RevellRider

Not to p**s on your bonfire, but 50,000 sq ft is less than 70 by 70 metres. The new indoor Olympic bmx training centre is going to have a track taking up 100 by 70 metres. You'll need something far large than this to give the XC boys something that will hold their interest for more than 15 minutes.

oojames

Thanks for your comments so far keep them coming please...

chick0

Here's one of the in parks that's doing well in the US

http://www.raysmtb.com

Tom Barton

I can't see this sort of venture appealing to XC at all - however it certainly could work as a dirt jumpimg, dirt bmx/flat 4x style area.

And Revelrider is right - its not as huge as you'd imagine but so long as its high some imagination and good planning could see a nice little set up.

Perhaps a large central set of dirt jumps (with varying levels of big/difficulty side by side with a suitably big drop in ramp. Then around the edges a bmx style track or (albeit flat) 4x track.

Maybe a trials area - few big crates, rocks or other industrial sized objects for guys to hop their way over.

North shore sounds good - it could be a stand alone or it could be designed to work alongside other features or take in other parts of your centre.

A foam pit? Or inflatable landing like they had in mbuk a few months back? Allo guys to practice big tricks with a nice landing.

Street stuff (i guess if there was an outside area to your warehouse this could be utilised for weather proof riding typres).

'Half pipe' mtb bike style (check some mtb videos to see what I mean - not an exact half pipe but a gully with alot of line options and jumps up the sides).


Set up a jump with a 'high jump' style measuring bar?

Bike hire facility? Tuition facilities? Bike mechanic? Get a LBS to have a sateilite store on site?

Plant a couple of big trees in there somewhere - give an authentic experiance lol!

Sounds like a great idea you've got, although I think I'm brain stormed out for the day!

Tom Barton

or even wow - check out the rays place /\

joec1

im game if its in brizzol

oojames

Building something for xc would be hard. My idea is to have a number of raised platforms around the area. Each platform would be over 4m high depending on eaves in building(looking at property with 6m+ eaves). You would get to the top by northshore or plywood ramps. Then there would be different options on the way down X/C or Freeride. There would be loads of different obstacles and jumps etc on the downslopes and along the flat untill the next uphill. The size of building we are looking at i reckon we could get around 6 to 10 of these raised platforms on a loop.You get my idea???
Check out Rays bike park in cleveland and you will get the idea of what sort of stuff will fill the rest of the place.
Please keep all comments about anything to do with this coming. The more intrest there is the bigger and better it will be....

Thanks James

ESHER SHORE

the reason that Ray's MTB works is because warehouse rental is stupidly cheap in the USA - they are not short of land!

I have been involved in many skatepark and bike park projects over the years, and provided information to many people who have attempted to build indoor skatepark / bike park projects in the UK

in every case, the business plan failed (or the business soon failed once opened) due to land rental costs - the cost of renting a suitable building with enough space was unsustainable

IF you can find a "unique" situation (a warehouse due for demolition in a few years time) and can negotiate a "peppercorn rent" (i.e. £2K a year) with the landowner or agent, then it may work

many UK indoor skateparks REALLY struggle to make ends meet, and the skate / bmx / rollerblade market is much bigger in the UK than limited numbers of Mountain bike riders who would use an indoor biking facility

your best bet would be to make a skatepark that is suitable for mountain biking too... to maximise your income from the most diverse user group possible

oojames

Thankyou very much for your comment i can see that you know what you are on about. We are looking at buying a place not renting because like you said renting is so expensive

El Capitano

oojames wrote:

We want to build an Indoor Bike Park here in the UK inside a warehouse or an old factory, ideally located around the Bristol area.
We are looking for something in the region of 40,000-50,000 square ft with room for expansion.

If you're considering doing this just over the Severn Bridge in South Wales, then PM me your contact details and the exact building specification you require.

Lapierre t 400

there must be a big warehouse somewhere in the south east surely

roger_merriman

like others I'd say XC is not likely to work well, and to keep the appeal broad.

RevellRider

oojames wrote:

Thankyou very much for your comment i can see that you know what you are on about. We are looking at buying a place not renting because like you said renting is so expensive

Again, unless you have a lot of money this is hard to do. I've just had a scout around a few property websites and prices are massive.

There is this one here in Swindon (I know not quite Bristol) for a cool £1.2 million, it's only a third of the size you was aiming for too.

http://www.egpropertylink.com/EGPLPROPERTY12511052.htm

trailpuppet

first aid/casualty room

Also worth runig the idea past an insurer :roll: :!:

Ditto planning department re change of use

Sure there will be other hoops but do some leg work before committing to a building

RevellRider

Liability insurance? Oh yes, you'll need that. Plus you probably have to jump through hoops and do backflips for h+s. You probably won't need a first aid room, just a registered first aider on site, need to do CRB checks on any staff there if you're letting minors in. I'm also sure there are rules about the amount of people you can have on the premises according to the space on offer.

Lapierre t 400

what about a block of flats.

JamesBrckmn

Flats would need a lot of work- ceiling wouldn't be high enough for jumps etc.
maybe take out every other floor?

flubbub

Yes, Please build it in Bristol!!
i know i'll be a local!

Northwind

Warehouse, hmm... How about abandoned retail place? There's tons of those round here, all the old little Tescos and B&Qs and that which have moved into monstro-marts out of town. Big, and out of favour, and also usually in decent locations. And with the housing market being down they're not being demolished as fast as they would have been. Also usually have the advantages of vast car parks, which you could use for outdoor features- sure indoor's your USP but don't rule out other stuff.

I'd think if it's ever going to be viable, you'd want to find a location that nobody else wants so you're getting a "better than nothing" rent not a full market rent. My brother's business unit's like that, he rents the space for about 1/10th of the market value just because it's better than the 0/10ths they'd have otherwise. You'll want to get outside funding if possible, sports organisations and such. You'd need to make it offer things nobody else does around you too. You definately can't be just a wet-weather thing, you need to have people coming through all the time.

For pure XC, sure, that's a hard mark but look at, frinstance, Laggan's black route or McMoab at Kirroughtree, or Dougie's Day Off at Kielder and you realise you can pack a huge technical challenge into a small space. When you think about it, about 9/10ths of most XC trails is just nothing at all. So you'll never attract the weenies but maybe you can make something that works for the all mountain guys. Short sharp shocks, various lines, big stupid features. But don't overlook the noobs and kids.

PS see if you can do a dual use thing- you need roofspace for jumps, right, but you don't need all the walls and you don't need most of the roof. So do you have a climbing centre local? No? Do that. Do you have a Go Ape? Do that too. And if you can get a bike shop on-site, if there's space, that'd be grand.

TBH I doubt it'll work at all but it's such a nice idea to think about

cooldad

Not my idea of fun, but good luck.

bigbelly

Just my 2 pence worth. I personally like the whole concept and idea. I am a self confessed city boy, started off commuting on a mountain bike, upgraded to commuting on a road bike. Did trail riding once but fancy a bit more now that I have upgraded my mountain bike with a few tasty bits. Trail riding still on menu as well as XC.

So, how about the big warehouse/retail space, for the bmx, dirt jumps with all the facilities mentioned above. The killer feature would be this space located next to a big national park / where people currently XC. Then you could do guided trails, make up local routes with sustrans or local council. To make city boys feel safe you could do trail rides that loop and have a "chicken out" route close to base. A bit like the 9th hole on a golf course.

One big issue for me is the distance I have to travel to XC. If there was a "centre" I could park up, XC in local countryside safe in the knowledge I could get back to a car park with bike cleaning facilities, showers, cafe or chill out area to rest up before going home.

Surely there must be somewhere in Bristol / Wales / Kent area that has these geographical features?

I for one would definitely go for a place like this....

40sheds

Just a thought but why not model it on a multistory car park?

Same bulding footprint but multi levels with ramps accessing the various levels.

You could get 3/4 times the amount of square foootage.

cee

we have this...

http://www.transgressionpark.com/gallery.htm

in edinburgh...

built as a skate park, but does inline and bikes too...

been going for a few years now....

also the new skatepark at saughton is quite big...bikes ride there...but obviously its outdoors.

phinbob

For the XC crowd you could build an 'Apline Skills' section, teaching ordinary XC riders to ride tight switchbacks and other features you find in the alps and other places but less so over here.

Then you could offer spring pre-alps training days - I'm sure that one of these would have enhanced my enjoyment of the Tour Du Mt Blanc a couple of years ago (not that I didn't). Learning the skills *without* the big drop might have been easier...

You could also build a skill section for learning wheelie drops, with a series of graduated drops for beginners to session (once you have more capitol link it up to a big screen and do continuous instant playback) sorry - getting ahead of myself.

Stick in a spin studio for the XC/Roadie crowd with a big projector screen.

Create a short suspension tuning test track (like a rolling road service with a mechanic ion hand to help you make the adjustments) with data logger hire for magazine testers and bike designers (like having the Mira test track for cars).

You can tell I'm bored......

oojames

We stopped working on this idea quite some time ago. The cost/rental of a property big enough made it not viable.

However we have busy planning an outdoor park. The land has been purchased and the planning application goes in any day now. Check out our website.
http://www.revolutionbikepark.co.uk

Thanks James

40sheds

looks pretty impressive. good luck with planning and look forward to you opening in the near future.

when your up and running are you going to have a map on your website to show people where you are?

I'm based in Merseyside so a trip to North Wales is not that far away