Best soil to use for building jumps?

[EvilRabbit]

Hey Guys

 

Not a dirt jumper at all, but have a stretch of land near me that could do with a few jumps to get learning on. The soil around the area is not really usable and was looking to get some decent dirt delivered. Anyone recommend something to order? Any builders in the Gardens area, CPT, pm me.

 

Peas

[patches]

I'm not sure what soil can be ordered or what the best to use is...

 

but when we build we use a red-ish coloured soil that works really nicely. When we waer it down and compact, it sticks to the stomper a bit, so we sprinkle some white/sandy soil on it.

 

(Almost like baking and sprinkling flour on the dough so it doesn't stick to the rolling pin, haha)

[Super_mil]

Why is the soil not useable?

I would say, use whatever is closest to you or within wheel barrow distance of your spot. You will be surprised and just how much soil DJ's consume, especially tabletops (which is what you'll probably be building first up). Often you can get soil for free (see who's digging a pool closest to your jumps), but getting the soil to your jumps is never free. The biggest cost of importing soil will be for transport, whether you pay for the soil or not.

 

I would suggest that you perhaps check out some local DJ spots and see what works and perhaps help out with some of the local builders.

 

Good luck

[patches]

Yeah +1 on that Super_mil...

 

Carting soil isn't fun... so use what is close. And if mass ammounts of soil are scarce and helping hands are few... back fill with logs etc, then pack dirt on top.

 

Here's a log-based jump, with dirt packed on top...

 

not for learning on though

 

http://lp1.pinkbike.org/p5pb5990368/p5pb5990368.jpg

Edited March 29, 2011 by patches

[Capricorn]

lol Patches. that was sharp ... but man, that jump is just mental.. that whole setup in that dude's backyard is just so sick.

 

evil: what's wrong with the soil? carting around soil from somewhere else? you best hire a digger and have it make the rough jumps for you. Then make a sieve and filter that soil to make the top layer. Bring in loads of water and then finish off the jumps.

Either that, or hire a truckload of cheap labour, hire some spades for said cheap labour, and get your project leaders hat on..

[udxcob]

Most soil in cape town is no good for making jumps, if your soil is too sandy build up the bulk from the area around the jump and then cover it with Laterite (the red soil the council use for the pavements)

[Taps]

Looks like that poor bugger got caught on Eskom's line. Makes for an electrifying jump.

[DaLoCo]

You can mix a weak mix of cement into the soil if it is too loose to make it bind better. They use the technique in road building all the time to bind the soil before the tarmac goes on.

 

You can see on the log jump that there is definitely something more than soil holding the layer together on the logs.

[missionS]

I know this is off topic but that picture is sick. Makes me want to go out and slay some trails

[manbearpig]

As you say you are a learner I'd suggest the softest soil you can find so when you fall your mielie off you don't break anything.

[Dan Dob]

When I was helping at the UCT track we just asked any builders to dump the soil there and they'd happily do it for free (it's cheaper than going all the way to the dump in Muizenburg to dump it!). They best soil is clay, white/red, fine and dusty as hell when dry and sticky as hell when wet. The UCT jumps have stood up to a lot of abuse with minimum rebuilding.

[Brett]

clay.

and that red stuff...if you can get your hands on it.

 

go with iRide's idea!!!

[patches]

Most soil in cape town is no good for making jumps, if your soil is too sandy build up the bulk from the area around the jump and then cover it with Laterite (the red soil the council use for the pavements)

 

Hells yeah! the red soil rocks! A friend-of-a-friend was building a swimming pool, so we got the dirt dumped at my friend's plot.

 

I just gotta say how awesome it is to build jumps out of soil that one doesn't have to dig for, sift rocks out of, or even cart via wheel barrow!

 

The pile from which we created the first jump was the red stuff. Soo easy to work with. It took 2 of us about 20-30min and we had a packed and ridable jump! Hardly any water needed.

 

First Jump

 

The soil for the second jump was more brownish, but not too loamy, so also easy to work with and easy to pack, This one we spent about 15min building before testing it.

 

Second Jump

 

As you say you are a learner I'd suggest the softest soil you can find so when you fall your mielie off you don't break anything.

 

And that we did... as you can see from the pics, we only packed the launch and landing... and left all the other soil loose. There were a couple of involuntary dismounts during the afternoon, but thanks to the soft soil.. no serious injuries.

 

Here you can see the softer soil on the sides of the landing

 

 

 

oh and for those wondering, the shade cloth 'walls' in the background is a paintball arena, and the piles of rocks and tyres are an endurocross play track

Edited August 22, 2011 by patches

[Rydogg]

Flip, that looks fun.

 

If you're gonna do something like this, do it properly. Well done!

[geecee]

we have red sand in our area, works great and dries rock hard. also sometimes mix some cement in with the top layers of sand to make it stronger.

 

as above use whatever you can underneath to avoid using soo much soil, we even had an old fridge under a jump at one point

[Super_mil]

Looks good patches. Nice work.

So when are we getting the invite?