Dustin07

Or Quarter- My brother and I have been talking about building a half, what height and width do you guys think is a good average for bikes. If I build one at my place it will be in town so I need to keep it a respectable height so it doesn't stand to far above the fence. What do you think... 8ft?

lunchbox

6ft tall 8-9ft wide if your a begininer.

Dustin07

I'm not a beginner to bmx, I'd say advanced-intermediate... but i've only been riding vert for a few months so in that respect i'm a beginner.

Jerry Garcia

Depends on your riding. Some like minis(3-4'tall x 8-12'wide) and some like vert ramps(6'high x 8-12'wide).

lunchbox

Between6ft-10ft high.

ride till i die

9 ft radius, 6 - 12 inch vert, 24 ft width, 4 ft deck, 20 ft between arcs.

Dustin07

I'm drooling-

Found bunch of free masonite in good condition on Cragslist too

pnj

do you want a vert ramp or a mini ramp? even if the ramp transitions go to vert, if it's under 8 feet it's usually considered a mini ramp....

masonite and seattle weather don't usually mix too well. it doesn't like water...

where do you live in seattle?

Dustin07

hey pnj, thanks for the reply. I actually live south, Enumclaw... but nobody's heard of Enumclaw so...

I was under the impression that a good coat of paint could help it last longer. What do you suggest?

eightdip

Paint could make it slippery

FuzzyRyder

No, painting it would be fine.

Dustin07

Yeah I just remember from 8 years ago or so a local guy built a great halfpipe and we got to help... Didn't get to ride it much afterwards, but i remember he built almost the whole thing out of second hand lumber and then was going to paint it a million colors... not intentionally, just sealing it with any free paint he could get.

It was a great halfpipe though.




I suppose it would be Slippery When Wet............. but then it is anyways without paint.

eightdip

well im only going off the fact that our local halfpipe was being remade and they painted over the top of it. this was a big mistake because it has been uber slippery ever since then. it is definatly the paint because we rode it before it was painted and it was fine

CMcMahon

If you paint it, I would highly, highly recommend renting portable sandblasting equipment and roughing the paint up to make it more grippy.

pnj

paint won't help much. but if it's free, use it.

Dustin07

that's not a bad idea. I think the type of paint a person uses can make a difference too. What's that thick oil based stuff called? Like a latex paint? That stuff would be a bit more rubbery. and if it put a nice coat on, would actually do a better job water proofing then the cheap stuff.

Pain4Pleasure

i remember hearing somewhere that you could put sand on the paint or mix it in or somthing and that would make it have more traction, but i have yet to try that

Dustin07

I wonder if that would hurt to land on... for that matter then, a person could probably just mix in pearl dust and whatnot and really give it a cool look

now that I think of it, if the paint was applied with a compressor/paint gun then you would probably get an orange peel type of finish anyways, like on a car before it's wet sanded/waxed after first being painted.