Has anyone ever seen a skate park that you cannot ride bikes or unis at !
My town just in the last year built a very nice skate park down at the beach. So I stoped by to check it out to find that no bikes are allowed,Now i have seen skate parks have days for bikes only but this is not the case here.
Today i called my LBS to get the scoop,I was told that the concreat was not hard enough and bikes will damage the surface. I am planning to go to the city to talk about this.The LBS guy says noway will they let me uni on it, but i want to have a game plan before i go down to the city. To me the only thing a uni can damage the skate surface with is the pedals,so why not just use plastic ? Does anyone else have any comments or has had a simillar problem?
The only thing i can see that LBS would stand for in all that is Load of Bull Sh*t…
If a bike has more impact than hard skater wheels i’ll turn into a fricken pope.
Throw on some plastics, so them that your gonna be hitting the ground with mainly only a chunk of plastic, or your rubber tire. Hardly ever will your frame fly sideways into something. If it does, its probably going onto a rail or coping, which shouldnt get damanged.
Ask how exactly if the unicycle going to damage anything in the park, and also let them know how you ride.
At a local skate park I’ve been told the same thing. The issue is the metal pegs and bar ends will damage the concrete. Also the grinding surfaces were made for grinding w/ soft aluminum or plastic and the steel would tear it up.
Also safety was an issue since bikes and skateboards sometimes take different lines, it’s harder to hear a bike coming if someone doesn’t see it and a bike can hurt more if it hits someone.
Put plastic pedals on or aluminum ones w/ pedal protectors and the pins removed. Then explain how there will be nothing hard to hit the concrete, or mess w/ the grinding surfaces, and it’s unlikely the uni would ever hit anyone.
The BMX pegs normally damage the skate park. Here you pay like R$10 (5 US dollars) to skate board on a park and about R$30.00 (15 US Dollars) to ride a BMX on the same park.
There are some rubber attachments to the pegs that helps a lot on big falls. Some skateparks (private) can borrow this protectors for the most popular pegs here…
Ya Im going to the city and just ask them.I have heard that a bmxer was arrested for riding at the park. To me the only danger a bmx has if you collided with a skater, but thats why its ride at your own risk !
I feel im going to get a big NO! which makes no sense to me especially since they do not require protective gear to be worn ! Its kinda funny ! The sign stating the rules goes Bla ,Bla, Bla ,NO BIKES ALLOWED !
I have never actually seen a skatepark where they allow bikes, unicycles, or anything other than skateboards. It is an issue of insurance. Most skateparks are government or privately owned and aren’t just sitting there with nobody to be held accountable, because of that, and because we live in a world where anyone can and will sue anyone, many skateparks will not allow people in their park who are not covered by their insurance because they don’t want to be responsible.
This is the major reason that only skateboards are allowed in there. There are are also other reasons that are pretty weak, such as bikes are very heavy and therefore do more damage than a skateboard so the park will wear out faster, or that coping isn’t designed for the abuse that bikes give it (I have actually seen a whole section of coping rip out from a bike grinding it, and it never showed any damage from skateboards, although it does seem a little weird).
There are also safety issues in the styles of riding. A bike generally moves much faster and therefore can do more damage to people, as well since it is heavier if there is a rogue bike it will do more damage than a rogue board.
I know most of these arguments are anti bike, but they apply to unicycles as well. Another problem is that unicycles are slow, we don’t flow parks the same way bikes or boards do, we are much more static, and often you see unicycles riding trials in parks. This gets in the way of skaters (who the park was built, designed and probably in part payed for by) and other more flowy vehicles, so it is generally a pretty rude way of using their park. I know I have seen many vids where people are riding flat or trials in a skatepark, or doing things like rolling up a ramp then standing there hopping before getting on a rail or ledge. These kinds of behaviors are really rude, especially since you probably shouldn’t be there in the first place.
All that being said. I ride my local park a ton, but I do so in a constructive manner. I’m friendly and obliging when and if I get kicked out. I always stay moving and follow the same paths that a skateboard or bike would follow. I always give right of way to a skateboard and usually to bikes, whether or not they actually should have right of way. If I film, I do so when the park is empty, or just don’t do it at all. If I bail, I get the hell out off of the stunts and out of people’s way ASAP no matter how much it hurts. I also NEVER ride trials or flat, there are plenty of other places to ride that won’t get in people’s way. I also try to whenever possible chat with people there, let them try or teach them to ride, oblige trick requests, and generally be a friendly guy.
We don’t belong in a skatepark, we shouldn’t be there, but many of us still go there. If you do use your local skatepark don’t be that unicyclist, be THE unicyclist. I know there have been other unicyclists that have gone to my skatepark and they have made many of the locals pretty annoyed, but I have gotten to know most of the regulars there decently well and I always either get a good reception or I take off.
Sorry long rant, I think I left out a couple things, but whatever it is already long enough.
You can also get nylon pegs, but they wear out crazy fast. There was an indoor park here for a while that let bikes in on special bike nights and they had to put duct tape on their pegs.
What exactly happened when you went to the park? Did you just see a sign that said no bikes, or was there a guard type person there that kicked you out?
If it’s just a sign, just keep riding there untill someone of authority tells you not to. Otherwise take Jerrick’s advice.
It really doesn’t make any sense that a skate board won’t damage the concrete when bike or uni will.
People bike all the time at the park in my city. And I have uni’d there on several occasions with no problems. I’m pretty sure that there is an official rule about no bikes, but it just doesn’t get followed.
Many parks depending on where you are and who funded it charge some money, usually just to help pay for maintenance, but I have seen public and private parks charge for entrance. Sometimes it is also just to keep numbers down which helps in safety and means you can usually ride more, less waiting for lines to open up.
Explain that your speed and overall ridding is much more like skateboarding than biking. Plastic pedals are great as well. I have always ended up getting parks to let me ride.
I also should add, that any park that has bike and skate sessions at different times would allow me to ride either. I would always choose the skate, as the flow is much more similar then those maniacs on their bikes.
It does make alot of sense ! I would only ride when their was one or two people riding anyways(looks like some cool trials lines in their).
I feel bad for the bmx kids! more than just for me,who knows i might not even like riding on it,i just dont like not having the chance to !
yeah my nearest skate park has a sign that says no bikes and we do often times get told that we are not supposed to be there but we usually talk are way out of it.
One thing we have recently started doing is going early in the morning at like 8 cause none of the skaters get there till at least 10 or later.
Public don’t ask money here and normally is really ugly and destroyed…
Private are expensive and hard to find where I live (we only have some far away from my house… São Paulo is HUGE)
There are some skate parks that charge just some money for maintenance… normally deals between skate brands like Billabong and the government to run the skate park…
I bet our town has maybe 10000 people and i dont think 100 kids total skate.
I want to just wing it once but the skate park is on the main steet and on the beach. Im the only person to ride a uni and many people know me so it wouldnt take long for the word to get out. I think its better to ask first.
Once again, trials is about the worst thing you can be doing in a skatepark, please find a better place to do it, because if there are other people there, then it is very easy to get in people’s way.
Legally, in most states, I’m pretty sure skateboards and unicycles are considered pedestrians and bikes are considered vehicles (as far as on the road and sidewalks).
It took until post #8 for anyone to mention the “I” word. Insurance will be the reason bikes (and probably unicycles) are not allowed, and insurance is probably the underlying cost that draws the line there. It’s probably cheaper to insure for one type of activity only, where there’s less chance of collision between different modes of activity. Also the bikes do go faster, weigh more (than a body + skateboard) and have a lot more pokey metal sticking out to do damage to people and property.
That said, AgentQ may have had the best advice in here: “your speed and overall riding is much more like skateboarding than biking.” This is true. Also, you don’t have the handlebars and added hardware of a bike to do damage in a collision with a person. Plus, it’s much harder to send a unicycle shooting out like a skateboard (though we know it’s possible).
If you make your case politely and with plenty of facts to back you up, you might make some progress. Though I can’t recommend “just riding there” and seeing what happens, it might be the best way to maximize your amount of time to use the park. Ask, and they can say no. Don’t ask, and they can only say “get out.”
