I wanted to make some hopping posts and also a nice skinny for practicing trials and to get better at still stands. So I came up with this. It’s made from all 2x4’s so it was fairly straight forward to build.
There are 8 hopping posts about 13.25" apart, and 13" high. I used three pieces of 2x4 for each post; The outsides at 13", and the middle one at 11.5". Then I cut “inserts” for the middle of each post to make them flush for hopping posts.
When you take out the inserts, you simply drop in a 10’ long 2x4 and you have a 10 foot long skinny to ride! Works great and solid as a rock!
Thanks for the comments! Yeah I actually have more room than before! It took me a while but yesterday I broke down all my old, rickety pallets and other junk I had been using for trials. I then loaded all the stuff in my car and took it to the dump! Good riddance, lol!
So all that space that was occupied by the old pallets…oh and I also threw away my broken down patio set. So now I have planty of room for all my new trials stuff yay!
Very crafty fine sir!!! Looks fun, fun, fun … and ain’t powertools fun as well.
I rode trials at Cotter’s Barn Saturday … first “real” trials experience and am in the act of some building too. Rain slowing me down today though so editing a short from Saturday.
Looking terrific Terry. Now, your own 11 mile MUni trail…
Shug
Did you get the idea for this after I told you about my hopping posts/skinny? You’ve got almost the same design as me, just more hopping posts and each post on mine can be seperated. It looks good!
EDIT: I made a video showing mine the day after our ride but my computer won’t read my camera so I have no way of getting it online.
To maestro: I have some of my own. Because the space between each 2x4 holding in the insert is the exact same width as a 2x4, it’s very solid when you put the insert in. I’ve used mine for many hours and they’ve never slipped at all when the inserts are in. It’s actually kind of hard to pull them out.
Actually I looked at several pics of different skinnies for ideas. I just tried to go for simplicity without sacrificing strength. Yeah I also thought of putting “spacers” on the inside of each long 2x4, so I could just drop in each post at different widths, but I made this on my lunch break and so just decided to put them in at equal widths permanently.
If/when I get adept at it I can just hop every other one or whatever. I haven’t tried it yet it’s been a busy work day, but tomorrow is pretty wide open so I’ll try to make a video tomorrow doing the whole trials set up.
I forgot to mention that the whole thing cost a total of about $15 in materials! I bought six 10 foot long 2x4’s, and large boxes of galvanized 3" nails & screws. Not bad! Took me only about an hour to build it!
Due to any real serious practice at still stands and riding super skinnies, I’m pretty bad at it. Trying to balance on those tiny square posts I made-even momentarily-was a losing battle, so I decided to cap each one with a round plywood disc, simulating a small round wood post. Now I have a bit more room, but It’s still a real challenge for me to stay on, and hopefully when I improve I can always take them off again. I think I will also add a couple 2x3’s on each side of the posts, just under the discs, running the full 10’ length to basically “tie” the posts together at a higher point, instead of just at the very bottom.
I can also still use the extra 10 foot long 2x4 as a skinny, by using three long hex bolts. One on each end and one in the middle go through the 2x4 and into a threaded “Tee nut”, which is on the underside of the round discs. It can be removed and refastened unlimited times since it can’t strip out the wood. If all else fails, at least I have 8 seats when company comes over!
Cool idea. On the last one I would have done something a bit different though. I would have nailed those into those small 2x4 pieces and used a peg to hold them in place.
haha, I thought of that too! But I decided to use four 3" wood screws for each disc to give them lots of strength. I thought also of attaching 4 pieces of 2x4’s under each disc, forming a square that would fit snugly over each post, then drilling a 3/8ths" hole through the whole thing, securing each one with a long QR cotter pin deal for easy removal. But when I thought of how to attach the skinny on top of the discs, I realized they could just be screwed down, which was much easier and way less time consuming.
On the contrary! I want to hear your ideas! It was mostly suggestions and looking at pics of various trials courses that I was able to build what little I have so far! So please don’t stop making suggestions! I was only saying that we thought of basically the same thing. Your take on it was better than mine though! :o
:o