Obstacle Building Tips

Obstacle Building Tips Trials Obstacle BuildingTips

Sandwich Boards

Sandwich boards are probably the most versatile trials unicycling obstacle and are also very easy to make. They are light and portable, and in my opinion one of the most important elements of a good trials course.

Materials
20mm (or more) thick sheet of wood
35x70mm (or similar) planks
50mm long screws
2 solid hinges
Solid string or thin rope
Wood glue

Building Instructions

Cut the sheet of wood into two identical bits that are preferrably almost twice as wide as they are high. A standard size is about 250x400.
Cut the planks to the same width as the sheets.
Place one plank on the long side of the sheet (70mm face down), glue it into place, then add at least 5 screws placed diagonally. Repeat for the other sheet and plank.
Lay these pieces down flat, side by side with the planks together and facing up, and separate them about 5mm (maybe less if you’re using a smaller hinge).
Place the hinges slightly in from the sides and mark where each hole is.
Screw the screws (usually provided with the hinge) in loosely starting with the outer ones. Check the alignment of the hinges and planks. Tighten each screw.
Drill two holes in each sheet in the two remaining bare corners. Make the holes only slightly wider than the string you have chosen.
Open the sandwich board to your desired angle (around 60 degrees) and feed the string through the holes. Tie knots on the outer side of each hole making sure that the strings are equal in length.
Cut off excess string and lightly melt the strings at the cut and also at the knot to prevent it from loosening.
Ride on your new sandwich board.

Applications
- Gapping between sandwich boards at various heights and angles
- Supports for planks and balance beams
- A unicycle stand for running suicide mounts
Andrew Carter

Practice Rails

The handy thing about this type of practice rail is that it’s very portable. It allows you to move it around and also to change the length of the rail. This design uses the narrow face of a 35x70mm plank as the riding surface. It's not quite as challenging as a 2cm diameter round railing, but it's narrow enough that the rider has to focus on staying on top of the uni rather than moving the wheel side to side underneath them...more of a moving stillstand.

This particular design is for a 5mx35mm rail that’s about 20cm above the ground. These dimensions can be easily changed to suit your preferences.

Materials
35x70mm (or similar) planks, one 5m long
60mm long screws
Wood glue

Building Instructions

Cut the planks into the following pieces:

Glue and screw together the pieces as in the diagram. Shown is the end support. For the middle supports, use the 160mm pieces in place of the 90mm pieces and have them extending all the way down. Also, attach the two 300mm pieces to the sides of the middle supports (in place of the 400mm pieces) so that they rest on the ground and face perpendicular to the 5m rail.
Slightly sand or plane away the sides of the 5m rail where the supports sit if necessary.
Place the two end supports and three middle supports on the ground in a line and fit the 5m rail in the slots.
Give it a test ride.

Note: The rail should sit approximately 20mm above the top of each support. This allows an uninterrupted ride along the rail.

Applications

This practice rail is perfect for improving your rail riding technique. It is low to the ground so that you can build confidence in your skill level and then move on to higher rails if you choose. Once you can ride all the way along, practise riding it slower and slower. This will force you to keep your balance longer and develop your still stands.
Andrew Carter

Hopping Posts

These are particularly challenging to use and therefore good to practise on because the landing surface is so small that the rider must concentrate strongly on his or her balance in all directions. If you land wrong on one of these (even if you don’t) it’s very easy for most of us to lose balance.

Materials
35x70mm (or similar) planks
60mm long screws
Wood glue

Building Instructions

Cut the planks into the following pieces:

At the midpoint of one of the 500mm pieces, cut out a 35mm wide section that extends only half way across.
Repeat for one of the other 500mm pieces.
In the final 500mm piece, mark the midpoint and offset that line 35mm in both directions. Offset these new lines another 35mm and cut out similar sections as in step 2 between the outermost lines on each side.
Place the two pieces from steps 2 and 3 in the slots you’ve cut so that the two planks are perpendicular to the third one. The slots of the connecting pieces should face each other to create a flush join 70mm high when sittingo n the ground. This is just a test to see if the slots have been appropriately cut.
Extend any slots that aren’t cut deep or wide enough.
Glue and screw together each of the three 300mm pieces and the 500mm one as shown in the picture. Start by joining two together with one raised 70mm. Then, join this to the piece with the two slots cut out of it. Finally attach the last 300mm piece. Be careful not to place the screws too close to each other.
Finally, glue and screw the remaining 500mm pieces onto the third as mentioned. You may also want to screw these two pieces to the middle structure.
Allow the glue to dry before using the obstacle.

Applications

- Gapping onto and off in trials lines.
- Holding up narrow balance beams (with extra screws attached)
Andrew Carter

Gapping Bars

Gapping bars are generally used in the same way as sandwich boards (gapping between the tops of them) however they can be made to have a much smaller landing surface. The landing surface of these particular gapping bars is 35mm wide and also flat as opposed to v-shaped like the sandwich boards. The v-shape helps to catch the tyre and prevent it from rolling off, however this doesn’t happen in the case of the gapping bars. Gapping bars are great for training for really technical and narrow landings and are a lot of fun.

Materials
35x70mm (or similar) planks
60mm long screws
Wood glue

Building Instructions

Cut the planks into the following pieces:

Using one of the spare cut pieces as a guide, glue and screw two 140mm pieces to the side of the 400mm piece. Place the guide in the centre and secure the two pieces either side of it . When attached, they should snugly hold a 35x70 plank between them. You may need to place some more spare pieces underneath the two shorter ones for support while screwing them in. That way you can push down firmly on them with your foot and they will stay in place. Use two screws for each piece, inserting them on a diagonal. If you put the lower screw too close to the end of the piece it may split.
Repeat for the opposite side of the 400mm piece, inserting the screws on the remaining diagonals (so they don’t hit the first set of screws). Again, use spare pieces to line up the angles correctly and support things while working. Throughout steps 2 and 3, keep checking the alignment of each piece. The final product should sit firmly on the ground and snugly hold the 1m bar perpendicular to it.
Now that one support is done, repeat for the second.
Allow the glue to dry, then place the 1m plank in the 35mm wide grooves and use your gapping bar.
Build at least one more to get the most out of them.

Applications

- Really technical gapping
- Long distance gapping to small landing surfaces, 180’s between them.
- Holding up narrow balance beams in the groove.
Andrew Carter

Northshore Structures

You need an axe, a hammer, a big box of 6" or 8" nails, and a smallish chainsaw. You will get in trouble if anyone catches you, as they call it criminal damage. If they don't catch you making it, you'll find it pulled down before too long. The forestry commission certainly don't like them!

Now, if you can get the landowners permission that's a different story.

Like all construction the key is thinking in triangles, oh and remember that trees are much stronger than any post you can bang in.
‘joemc’ from unicyclist.com forums

In the UK there are a few relevant laws to do with illegal building.
Firstly, even if the woods are open access for pedestrians you're probably not supposed to ride off bridleways, so you're trespassing. This is a civil offence though, so it's not like the police can haul you in for it. Also riding is unofficially tolerated in a lot of areas anyway. Basically if you're allowed to walk your dog in the woods, this isn't too much to worry about it.

Next up, if you damage trees, you're potentially up for criminal damage. However, unless it's a commercial woods and you've destroyed tons and tons of trees, this isn't ever likely to happen to anyone.

The most important one though, is that the landowner of the woods has a legal duty of care to people who are in the woods. What this means, is that if the landowner knows there are dangerous structures in the woods and someone falls off them, there's a possibility that the landowner could be sued for it. Because of this, if the landowner finds out about anything you build without permission in the woods, they'll probably chainsaw it down.

The best thing to do is to try and find out about any legal trail-building near you, maybe ask in bikeshops, or ask local mountain bikers. However, it's quite likely that this will not be north-shore, because it requires quite a lot of organisation to get allowed to legally build structures. That's why only 3 or 4 of the forestry trailbuilding sites have got permission to build north shore yet.

However, if you're building illegally, the most important thing is that it should be hard to find. It shouldn't be near any obvious paths or visible from any of the main paths in the woods. You need it to be made so that dog walkers don't come across it and tell someone. You should also keep quiet about exactly where it is and definately never post the exact location on the internet.

If you get told by the landowner to stop building, or if stuff gets torn down, it's not worth building any more in the same location, it'll just get chainsawed.

Practical things to remember when building:

Only use dead wood (fallen down), best is wood you got from somewhere else.

Don't use really rotted up wood .

If you're using a live tree as a support, if possible don't nail into it, use forks in the tree as support points.

Expect illegal building to get pulled down at some point, don't spend too much time on it.

You need a saw, lots and lots of nails and maybe an axe. A chainsaw is nice if you have one, but not really vital.

Don't forget, even if the wood costs nothing, nails cost money, so building shore isn't totally free. The stuff in http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albuo83 apparently had several hundred pounds worth of nails in it. One other thing is that if you clear trails on the ground, as opposed to northshore, they're a lot less likely to get closed down. It's also much quicker to build than north shore.

Obviously it just isn't the same and isn't up in the trees, but you can still make trails that are really good fun to ride.

You can go halfway between full on north shore and normal trails, by building trails on the ground and building small stunts along the way, skinnies, see-saws, drops etc. This way even if the stunts get killed, you've still got the trail to ride. Low down stunts like that are also much much less likely to get torn down, as they're much less likely to make the landowner worry about liability.
Joe Marshall