So, lets talk about Garage Ramps!

[Bunky]

With winter quickly approaching, I've decided that as soon as I finish building my chicken coop that I'd like to build a garage ramp to mess around on so I can keep my muscles stretched out and in riding order while the weather is gross and rainy.  If I use half the garage it allows me a 23ft by 10ft space to build in, and I already have a decent amount of scrap wood to get things started.  I'm thinking about a vert wall on the non door side, a steep banked wall on the wall with the window, and a two and a half foot tall quarter on the garage door side.  See pictures below:




Here's where you guys come in.

I can't for the life of me decide what radius I should use for the transitions!

I helped my buddies Scootie and CJ build some small garage ramps several years ago that turned out awesome, but I can't remember how we came up with the radius size.  I know we measured some other ramps that they had and kind of winged it, and it came out awesome. 



Anybody have any ideas?

[ginger]

No idea about radius but keen to see how it turns out. It's gonna be tight son!

[barcodebilly]

Would be cool to put them on fold up casters so you could move tthem around if you want.

[@ss4oLe]

I've had some small ramps in my day.

Remember, a four foot transition will go to vert at four feet. that's pretty damn tight but can be fun/good for peg stuff. But it doesn't leave much actual transition to land in. Airing it can be sketch.

A five foot tranny, on a four foot tall ramp gives you more to surface to land in but is still steep enough to do peg stuff.

food for though....

[cmc4130]

I have never spent time riding one, but it might be interesting to build a ramp with an elliptical transition.



http://rampplans.org/faqs/#How_do_I_draw_an_elliptical_transition

http://rampplans.org/rpdo_mini.html

I don't know if this one is exactly elliptical.... but what it does is create a steep part only at the top, for peg tricks, but it also has more wheelbase area at the bottom to land on....


cool graphic:

[LukeTom]

I looked into this before, I think I decided on a 4.5ft transition with it being 5ft tall. I have an old 'Thrashers' magazine about ramp building with loads of plans, and I remember looking at them for a while before planning it all out.

Post pictures of how it turns out!

I imagine airing an an eliptical ramp might get some getting use to.

[ginger]

4.5' tranny with 5' height? That would be over-vert.

[paranoidmexican]

http://www.freshpark.com/

[cmc4130]

I looked into this before, I think I decided on a 4.5ft transition with it being 5ft tall. I have an old 'Thrashers' magazine about ramp building with loads of plans, and I remember looking at them for a while before planning it all out.

Post pictures of how it turns out!

I imagine airing an an eliptical ramp might get some getting use to.

i scanned and posted the THRASHER ramp plans book that I ordered a long ass time ago. 

http://forums.mtbr.com/urban-dj-park/thrasher-80s-ramp-plans-jpg-intensive-485306.html

[LukeTom]

I looked into this before, I think I decided on a 4.5ft transition with it being 5ft tall. I have an old 'Thrashers' magazine about ramp building with loads of plans, and I remember looking at them for a while before planning it all out.

Post pictures of how it turns out!

I imagine airing an an eliptical ramp might get some getting use to.

i scanned and posted the THRASHER ramp plans book that I ordered a long ass time ago. 

Yep, thats the exact same book I had, very useful actually (and interesting to just browse)

[blueee]

Make a super tight spine mini

[Bunky]

Thanks for all the useful replies, guys.

I'm getting closer to having the chicken coop done, and once it's complete it's all about building ramps time.

I like the idea of doing an elliptical transition, but feel like I'm going to have to get it just right. 

Here's a shitty MS Paint sketchup of what I'm thinking about currently:



Crappy sketch, I know, but hopefully you get the idea.

[master]

I'm a fan of straight transitions. In a tight garage, 4' tall ramps with a 5' radius feel good to me. I've ridden 4' radius transitions and they feel too tight on a 20", and on your bigger bikes they may feel even tighter.

[master]

How high are your ceilings? That's a big factor...

[Bunky]

Not very high...

I'll try to remember to measure them when I get home.

I stuck my Wave-C up in a double peg on the work bench on the back left side, and My head was barely between the rafters when I stood up in a comfortable position.  I could probably ride it that way, but it would be a little close for my liking.  The bench is 3ft tall, so I'm thinking about going with a 2.5 tall quarter on the garage door side.  Obviously, I'm looking at doing a vert wall on the other side. 

Sometime soon, I think I'm going to draw out some transitions on cardboard and just put them in place to see how it looks.  I keep reminding myself I have to stay aware of the amount of flat-bottom between the two if I want it to ride comfortably.