As someone who has been building trails for years, I was really pleased to see this vid. Most riders these days don't seem to understand how to build or maintain a trail. Let's hope they learn from this.
I just spent 3hrs building a small dirt jump and it's quite fun. I can't wait to make it bigger and make more, especially considering I can't dj very well.
It's been quite a while on this one. Any chance we could get more videos on this subject. Making log obstacles, dirt jumps, etc... would be pretty interesting to me.
Hey thanks guys, I have asked for this a couple times now and I am glad to see that you do read the comments and take our comments into consideration! Cheers guys and hope to see more on this subject :D
Another helpful, maybe obvious, tip: When clearing debris or building new trail, move the material off the trail down hill from the trail. Rain tends to bring material cleared uphill back onto the trail. Great tips!
I'm a little surprised that you didn't mention IMBA and their trail building standards for sustainable trail. Their standards help reduce the need for human intervention to maintain trails.
I rode Eastridge earlier in the year. It was awesome - nice and rooty with some wicked switchbacks and a decent DH section too. Thanks for maintaining it :)
Here in Austria there are only a few trails wich are public, there are local bike clubs which own a trail so you can only ride there if u are a member of that club, because in Austria basicly every forest is owned by someone, and so it is illegal to build your trails..
I'm currently building a 2 to 3 mile trail on my parents' 30 acres of woodlands. The biggest problem I've run into so far is that in several places, the elevation dips into swampy areas where the terrain is bumpy. It's mainly due to tree roots being covered in soil while the spaces between trees has washed out from years of rainfall. How can I smooth this out? Also, the other problem I'm having is judging the distance of turns & straights. The thing is, a straight may seem long on foot, but will be super short on a bike. I try to take this into account when plotting my trail. So far, we've covered about 1500 feet or so. A few other tools I recommend: *_Chainsaw_* - If the area you're in is heavy with undergrowth, it's good idea to have a chainsaw; sometimes you'll have no choice but to cut down a tree that's maybe 3 inches or so in diameter to maintain flow. *_Garden rake_* - A garden rake (you know...the metal ones that cartoon characters always step on) works great for raking away the surface layer of leaves & straw. *_Axe_* - Where I live, the woodlands are rife with creepers and vines, some nearly 1/2 inch thick. An axe works great for clearing these out of the way, as well as removing unwanted roots that may cross the path.
For smoothing roots and such out, take big rocks and logs and put them in between the roots. Pack dirt in between them, and stomp on it a few times and then ride it and see how it is. As for the swampy areas, try and avoid thise completely. They suck for building, but if you want to make it flow nicely straight into a swampy section, rocks, logs, branches, and even compost will fill these in. If you fill them in, NEVER use metal or plastic or anything not organic or natural, because if you fall on these things, it hurts crazy bad.
good topic. would like to know how you incorporate wooden obstacles/wallrides at the trail but that's for the future. just showing how to work natural terrain is great.
what is the best shovel. You guys should also do a clip on how to make rock gardens and drop offs. You could also have a race to see who can make the best track and then race them.
+Bigfoot And Bananaman pick axes have to spikes, axes have a blade and a flat end, and pulaskis have a blade and a digging tool. pickaxes are more for breaking up rock than moving stuff around
Kind of starting to get the "bug" there is a real need for trails and bike lanes in this area( a good bike shop would be nice) the topography is perfect, ridgeline gradients, difficult to mild climbs,karst geology, my biggest concern is hunting seasons and erosion( just a fancy, it has been growing on me lately) liability concerns and selling it to landowners the US Forest service may be an obstacle as well.
Try to take a shovel, a pick axe and a pair of cutters to any woodland in Liverpool and people think your going to dig up something illegal or bury something illegal, I need a good track to ride in Liverpool I've found a small amateur one down otterspool but that's the only one I know of
you say you shpuldnt lay branches n stuff blocking ppl's way than 1 min later you lay a branch down n say this will make it flow this way haha just do what you began doing clearing it and making more noticeable dont block it.... both routes looked fun
No, putting dirt with water makes mud and the puddle will be to soft when riders go over it, wheels will just sink into it and the dirt won't stay in place and the puddle will just reoccur. Drains dry out the puddle because the dirt underneath the water usually is hard packed down.
+Scott Phillips i've seen puddles being filled in by branches/twigs lined up across to make a sort of a bridge. Over time dirt will fill in the spaces between the branches, i guess..
Scott Phillips I wouldn't say gravel, as gravel is usually crushed rock with sand. (This will still "squish"/ sink and not harden when riders go over it). Rocks with no soil would be ok, but a drain to the side of the puddle is the best solution.
I live in banff canada if I build a trail I am in deep crap my friend was fined 8000$ and went to court we have trails up to black diamond but I have reached my peak of skill but I want to get better what do I do?
Hi I live in Shrewsbury and used to go to haughmond hill and love your guys vids but I can't because as I have a cheap bike my brakes don't work so it's too dangerous but I was wondering is eastridge is any good for beginners like me :)
Ur trails whats that dark and squishy thing ... is that dirt well i gues here in portugal we have mainly sandy and rocky dirt and normaly the trail are the actual drainage of the place so u can guess how that goes
For the trails I have built and never reading or watching anything b4 this moment, I pretty much did all that my self. With the exception of the jump, I have hit ramps but never trail jumps. I have a major project possibly coming, in the form of 86 acres, frankly a bit overwhelmed. Are there any other good sources for education on building trails?
i wish there was concern for how close the trees end up being for using the trail, or other such things like rocks and boulders where you may only be a milometer away from your handlebar making contact. After watching some video's of alot of these trails, i'll leave this activity to you crazy people.
Nice video! Do you know any way to find a land ower I see these good foest and I normaly freeride down the hill but all the lef and sticks make it super hard to brake causing me to crash once and I wanted to just rake it and make some jumps but I want to know if it's okay first how can I find the land ower.
My local trails are good for building because the guy how owns it doesn't care and the guy how owns the other side of the road is an ex racer and has his own trails with jumps and berms which he lets us use as we helped with a couple of his projects
There's a fun black diamond run full of braking bumps on one of my local trails. We have dig days and it recently had one where berms and jump where added, but there's "no unauthorised trails works" should I just wait till a dig day? I think some people actually like the bumps, but most people on XC hard tails don't. Just wait until a dig day?
there's a lot of old abandoned trails by me, they look like they were built In the nineties because you'd struggle to get wide handlebars through them, and because they're narrow they've just got unused. shame really, but can't make them wider without wrecking a load of trees
My buddies and I found some around our houses a few months ago and were slowly cleaning them up and today when we were building some jumps over a large fallen tree we couldn't move or do anything about the original trail creators walked by (they were old and must have built it when they were young) and were amazed that we took the time to go outside and have some fun hanging out on bikes.
One thing I would say on this is DON"T build a trail that goes straight down a hill. That's a sure fire way of ending up with a rutted trail in no time. Per IMBA's Trail Solutions book, you should follow the ten percent rule for most soil types. So, if the hill you are building on has a 30% grade, your trail should climb/descend at an average of a 3% grade. Also, the downslope side of the trail should be slightly lower than the upslope side. This will keep water from flowing down the trail and creating ruts.
+Henry Christell It's an online app that records your rides and splits them into segments. You can compare your segments to other peoples and the fastest rider is called King/ Queen of the Mountain. Neil
I really wanted to build a trail in my city because there is not any, but I don't own land. wait a minute yes I do, I do own land but I don't know if its possible to build in.
As someone who has been building trails for years, I was really pleased to see this vid. Most riders these days don't seem to understand how to build or maintain a trail. Let's hope they learn from this.
What organization have you been building trail with? This video is hideous. Way below most GMBN standards.
Potential tip: Do building work on wet days, as dry dirt doesn't form very well.
Also, if your're using a machete to maintain trails, make sure to not scare groups of OAP hikers. The police let me off, luckily.
+Ethan IsAFish we all watch the news too much, a machete is a tool not a weapon ffs!
gotta watch out for those god damn hikers
That is hat I said, also a good excuse too. They never did find the bodies.
+Ethan IsAFish what kind of person are u and put a no hiking sign on the trails to prevent that
Ethan IsAFish haha
What shovel is there? SHIMANO or SRAM?
Yeah dud, that's the new Shimano Land Excavator LP-956
Omg! I'm dying from this right now.😂😂
wtf is this lmao
No it’s the TBS 1 trail building shovel from Park Tool
Box 1
I just spent 3hrs building a small dirt jump and it's quite fun. I can't wait to make it bigger and make more, especially considering I can't dj very well.
wearing a helmet while building a trail?
safety first i guess
+Thomas Kanzian ha! Try riding your bike with a shovel in one hand and a mattock in the other ;) Neil
+Global Mountain Bike Network Already have done it.
saefty is numba oane praoriteh
crazy russian hacker
+Danny Cu Camera I was just about to say that
Danny Cu Camera are you romanian?
hmmm, I miss the part where you need dynamite in order to create a rock garden
JF F rock gardens suck
@@swedishdagger8410 looks like a road cyclist here
@@juno7580
we have alot if rocks where I live, but no roots :(
@@dotdankory you can have my bloody roots, its an absolute pain building dirt jumps
It's been quite a while on this one. Any chance we could get more videos on this subject. Making log obstacles, dirt jumps, etc... would be pretty interesting to me.
Great video in the future could you do another more advanced trail building video eg gap jumps?
Hey thanks guys, I have asked for this a couple times now and I am glad to see that you do read the comments and take our comments into consideration! Cheers guys and hope to see more on this subject :D
Another helpful, maybe obvious, tip: When clearing debris or building new trail, move the material off the trail down hill from the trail. Rain tends to bring material cleared uphill back onto the trail. Great tips!
+Bill Crosby Love your comedy! Who is that in your avatar? Your grounds keeper?
great tip.. thanks for posting it :)
...you mean people tend to throw the dirt UPhill instead of down?
I'm a little surprised that you didn't mention IMBA and their trail building standards for sustainable trail. Their standards help reduce the need for human intervention to maintain trails.
I found this really helpful as we are working on an abandoned trail in the woods. Thanks gmbn
New tv show - One man and his mattock - Carving his way through the wilderness
2 digging tools 1 guy
that sounds like one of those fetish videos xD
Annihilation Inc xD
Mathew Day 😂
I rode Eastridge earlier in the year. It was awesome - nice and rooty with some wicked switchbacks and a decent DH section too.
Thanks for maintaining it :)
Here in Austria there are only a few trails wich are public, there are local bike clubs which own a trail so you can only ride there if u are a member of that club, because in Austria basicly every forest is owned by someone, and so it is illegal to build your trails..
this is the best vid i have found on this topic
Thanks Neil and crew. I had it all wrong. I was gearing up to go in with Roundup and a Bobcat. Thanks again for the great RUclips channel.
2019 anyone? Btw a metal rake is good for clearing the loose stuff
Aussie Biker 2020 here!
Meeeee
A"Pulaski" would be useful as well, theres a "Firetrail" I have been eyeing.
Hi, could you make a video on how to build wall rides and berms? Thanks for the tips!!!
I'm currently building a 2 to 3 mile trail on my parents' 30 acres of woodlands. The biggest problem I've run into so far is that in several places, the elevation dips into swampy areas where the terrain is bumpy. It's mainly due to tree roots being covered in soil while the spaces between trees has washed out from years of rainfall.
How can I smooth this out?
Also, the other problem I'm having is judging the distance of turns & straights. The thing is, a straight may seem long on foot, but will be super short on a bike. I try to take this into account when plotting my trail. So far, we've covered about 1500 feet or so.
A few other tools I recommend:
*_Chainsaw_* - If the area you're in is heavy with undergrowth, it's good idea to have a chainsaw; sometimes you'll have no choice but to cut down a tree that's maybe 3 inches or so in diameter to maintain flow.
*_Garden rake_* - A garden rake (you know...the metal ones that cartoon characters always step on) works great for raking away the surface layer of leaves & straw.
*_Axe_* - Where I live, the woodlands are rife with creepers and vines, some nearly 1/2 inch thick. An axe works great for clearing these out of the way, as well as removing unwanted roots that may cross the path.
For smoothing roots and such out, take big rocks and logs and put them in between the roots. Pack dirt in between them, and stomp on it a few times and then ride it and see how it is. As for the swampy areas, try and avoid thise completely. They suck for building, but if you want to make it flow nicely straight into a swampy section, rocks, logs, branches, and even compost will fill these in. If you fill them in, NEVER use metal or plastic or anything not organic or natural, because if you fall on these things, it hurts crazy bad.
sixstanger00 oh how about you use a rocket launcher
Buy some dirt and fill it in.
Bridge over swampy areas if possible.
do this in a public woods and you will look like a serial killer
YES! Thanks SO much to the Don and his trail building know-how. Really stoked this video was uploaded.
-Alex
I spent 8 hours building a trail and some jumps with my mates on the weekend.... Came back the next day after school, they were all destroyed😭
Reginald Rigney sad what kind of devil riders did it
Theres a "Killjoy" in every group,I would sooner have the kids getting high on adrenaline.( Don't give up Mate)
good topic. would like to know how you incorporate wooden obstacles/wallrides at the trail but that's for the future. just showing how to work natural terrain is great.
Good riders are normale good builders
More of this please.
Down where me and some friends ride it dose not matter who works on it as long as they make good jumps
"To make it flaw a little bit be-eh" lovely British accent
Good to see some trail building. the most important skill in MTB. (Y)
Mountain
Trail
Building
if you cant buy a shovel and a mattock, a hoe is a really good choice
it is good for packing jumps and digging drainage
what is the best shovel. You guys should also do a clip on how to make rock gardens and drop offs. You could also have a race to see who can make the best track and then race them.
Thanks I found this helpful can u maybe do more videos like this or jumps thanks
Also, a rock rake works great for clearing stuff away and moving dirt
In the US your "mattock" is called a Pulaski, it was first invented for provide a digging and cutting tool for wild land firefighters
I thought it was called a pick axe but I think maybe a pick axe only has two points and not a flat one
+Bigfoot And Bananaman pick axes have to spikes, axes have a blade and a flat end, and pulaskis have a blade and a digging tool. pickaxes are more for breaking up rock than moving stuff around
+Drew Maggio I don't have rocky soil where I live, so I don't see too many pick axes.
+Bigfoot And Bananaman same
metals rakes are also really good and time efficient
My god, even digging soil in slow mo looks awesome!! 👊🏼😎🍺
There is a tool that helps when building mtb tracks called a rakehoe that is commonly used by fire fighters
I would love to see more trail building tips and I would like to know where to join a club
Great motivational video, thanks. I'm currently in the process of seeking permissions and advice for creating a trail in my local wood.
Can you plz do vid of how to reshape a berm
I'm doing this in my backyard!
Build at Byrn at 3:00 and add a jump over it so you can ride the other trail
I'm leaving in a city close to see with no mountain or jungle. Only dirts and desert. Is there any video to guide us how to make a trail on dirts?
I live in Shropshire and always riding there
I too appreciate a good mattock.
Kind of starting to get the "bug" there is a real need for trails and bike lanes in this area( a good bike shop would be nice) the topography is perfect, ridgeline gradients, difficult to mild climbs,karst geology, my biggest concern is hunting seasons and erosion( just a fancy, it has been growing on me lately) liability concerns and selling it to landowners the US Forest service may be an obstacle as well.
I love the track
Try to take a shovel, a pick axe and a pair of cutters to any woodland in Liverpool and people think your going to dig up something illegal or bury something illegal, I need a good track to ride in Liverpool I've found a small amateur one down otterspool but that's the only one I know of
you say you shpuldnt lay branches n stuff blocking ppl's way than 1 min later you lay a branch down n say this will make it flow this way haha just do what you began doing clearing it and making more noticeable dont block it.... both routes looked fun
In Indonesia, maybe using a cangkul and art is probably more apt. Cangkul is Like mattock and shovel in one tool
My friends and me are building our own trail and si very interesanting a nd we have very big jumps turns
to fix a puddle could you also fill it with dirt? bunny hopping over puddles helps them to not get bigger, riding around them makes them wider
+Scott Phillips Good question. I'd like to know the same.
No, putting dirt with water makes mud and the puddle will be to soft when riders go over it, wheels will just sink into it and the dirt won't stay in place and the puddle will just reoccur. Drains dry out the puddle because the dirt underneath the water usually is hard packed down.
+Scott Phillips i've seen puddles being filled in by branches/twigs lined up across to make a sort of a bridge. Over time dirt will fill in the spaces between the branches, i guess..
+Spazamazz so it would have to be gravel, thanks for reply
Scott Phillips I wouldn't say gravel, as gravel is usually crushed rock with sand. (This will still "squish"/ sink and not harden when riders go over it). Rocks with no soil would be ok, but a drain to the side of the puddle is the best solution.
do more trail building videos please!
I love Niels bike in this one
You should chop the hard original jump before adding new dirt so it sticks better, just saying.
hands down the best trail tool is a mcleod
I can second that
Would u ever go to the ercall in Telford to rebuild trails and jumps???
can you do a video on how to make a berm????
Me and my friends done a small trail
If you build it...they will come...
I live in banff canada if I build a trail I am in deep crap my friend was fined 8000$ and went to court we have trails up to black diamond but I have reached my peak of skill but I want to get better what do I do?
Go faster on the black diamonds
Buy 16 8/16th acres and build your own 😀
+MTB TOP5 travel
@@DoctorYoda2 yeah, because everyone just has 100k lying around smh
B0bb217 Touché
Hi I live in Shrewsbury and used to go to haughmond hill and love your guys vids but I can't because as I have a cheap bike my brakes don't work so it's too dangerous but I was wondering is eastridge is any good for beginners like me :)
Good idea for new trails,
Wait for a bushfire or hazard reduction burn off.
You can see the whole hill and no need to clear vegetation
xD
+Docter Yoda xD
could of had this before rampage! already started my line.
SWTBRO really?
Ur trails whats that dark and squishy thing ... is that dirt well i gues here in portugal we have mainly sandy and rocky dirt and normaly the trail are the actual drainage of the place so u can guess how that goes
For the trails I have built and never reading or watching anything b4 this moment, I pretty much did all that my self. With the exception of the jump, I have hit ramps but never trail jumps. I have a major project possibly coming, in the form of 86 acres, frankly a bit overwhelmed. Are there any other good sources for education on building trails?
i live in shropshire too
Hyped and waiting for it to load?! Aarrrgggghhhh
What kind of shovel is that?
Neil should open a landscaping business called Donaghue Landscaping!
i wish there was concern for how close the trees end up being for using the trail, or other such things like rocks and boulders where you may only be a milometer away from your handlebar making contact. After watching some video's of alot of these trails, i'll leave this activity to you crazy people.
That is really hard to do in California. We have to wait till it rains... so pretty much never
Nice video! Do you know any way to find a land ower I see these good foest and I normaly freeride down the hill but all the lef and sticks make it super hard to brake causing me to crash once and I wanted to just rake it and make some jumps but I want to know if it's okay first how can I find the land ower.
What bike shop do you go to?
#askgmbn
I am planning to build m own pumptrack.
Would like to know minimum space required to get started and other possible consecrations?
Nice vid, would you do another video for how to make a 4x track?? I have a little space in the yard and thought a 4x track would fill it :B
updated
updated
My local trails are good for building because the guy how owns it doesn't care and the guy how owns the other side of the road is an ex racer and has his own trails with jumps and berms which he lets us use as we helped with a couple of his projects
There's a fun black diamond run full of braking bumps on one of my local trails. We have dig days and it recently had one where berms and jump where added, but there's "no unauthorised trails works" should I just wait till a dig day? I think some people actually like the bumps, but most people on XC hard tails don't. Just wait until a dig day?
1:06
there's a lot of old abandoned trails by me, they look like they were built In the nineties because you'd struggle to get wide handlebars through them, and because they're narrow they've just got unused. shame really, but can't make them wider without wrecking a load of trees
My buddies and I found some around our houses a few months ago and were slowly cleaning them up and today when we were building some jumps over a large fallen tree we couldn't move or do anything about the original trail creators walked by (they were old and must have built it when they were young) and were amazed that we took the time to go outside and have some fun hanging out on bikes.
One thing I would say on this is DON"T build a trail that goes straight down a hill. That's a sure fire way of ending up with a rutted trail in no time. Per IMBA's Trail Solutions book, you should follow the ten percent rule for most soil types. So, if the hill you are building on has a 30% grade, your trail should climb/descend at an average of a 3% grade. Also, the downslope side of the trail should be slightly lower than the upslope side. This will keep water from flowing down the trail and creating ruts.
What happens if you run into a bunch of rock? Like uphill
For me, it's hard to pick where trails will be, I really can't choose
voilà ce que je voulais voir sur cette chaîne
+Antoine Bouthors sauf qu'en français ils ne comprennent pas tête d'ampoule
Je sais mais c'est international et aussi j'en ai rien à foutre , bonne soirée
what type of bike was that blue canyon
make sure the trail is wide enough for 5 inch Fat Bike tires...
Love the bit where neil shows how to use a how to prevent things getting wet. Wrong way round i think neil
Nice
Oh excuse me, but I believe you're sitting on a patch of poison oak!
Lol
Misty OjaiGirl meh
What if all the dirt here is rock solid and sandy...
hate strava people who just straight line through perfectly good trails I don't get the point in being top at something if you cheated
Can someone please explain what strava is?
+Henry Christell It's an online app that records your rides and splits them into segments. You can compare your segments to other peoples and the fastest rider is called King/ Queen of the Mountain. Neil
Thank you neil
Where is this?
where is this
I really wanted to build a trail in my city because there is not any, but I don't own land. wait a minute yes I do, I do own land but I don't know if its possible to build in.
what a bike you have?
At 0.35 he has his bike leaned on his rear derailler
😕 Bad Neil
flat shovel ??
make a how to on building a mountainbike trail!!?!?!?
a what point do you check for snakes or aren't there any in the UK? #racingnakeproblems
+H Bekker We have a couple here they are pretty rare and not really dangerous. Although the Adder has been known to bite its not fatal.Cheers Marc
Bruh I'm in Australia and I don't even have to check
Pepe mate, here in South Africa, a lazy Puffy waits for you
In my country that tool is called "enxada"
I thought you would use a rake but ok