Cost of building trails / process

[Yo-Yo]

With the massive increase in trails being built here in the WC I am interested in the process / cost of these projects. It seems that every wine farm and deli in the winelands has a new trail network. These I understand as they are trying to attract more visitors and therefore turnover from restaurants, accomodation, deli, cellar doors etc other than get just the nominal trail fees. There also seems to have been a big increase in other trails outside of the traditional trail custodians [Tokai MTB, TBMBC and so on]. 

Does anyone have a rough guide on the kind of cost per KM that trail building entails and how the process works?

A family member has about 1000 hectares of essentially mountains outside Worcester that he rides moto on and is looking add some basic cottages for riders / bikers. There is very little in the way of any kind of animal, car or moto tracks so it is a blank canvas but from when I've been there it's something special.   

I know there are lot of variables in the kind of trail you build and cost would depend of features included, how sculpted they are and so on but a jump off point would be a great help. 

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Yo dude, it comes down to one price: It Depends.

 

Terrain, desired trail, soil type, conditions etc. Prices vary greatly per builder as well, if you're talking about hiring a professional trail builder to do the job for you. Best bet would be to ping Deon at TokaiMTB, who should be able to give you a lot more data. 

 

The more raw the trail is, the less it'll cost. For a "hack and ride" sort of ride, which means natural trails and no manicuring - just clearing brush / grass and "cutting a line" it can be pretty cheap and easy to cut trail. In the region of R 5,000 to R 10,000 per km or so.

 

If you're moving rock, sculpting trails, putting clay in, building jumps or making it smooth like butter, then it can run to more than R 50,000 per km pretty damn fast. 

 

*figures fixed.

 

It pays to point out that if you're ONLY cutting a path in the grass, then my earlier R 1,000 to R 2,000 per km may be appropriate. 

 

But again, I could be wrong. 

Edited June 21, 2018 by Cptmayhem

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

From knowledge of the terrain in worcester, though, I hope it's kept as natural as possible. The terrain out there is fecking lovely. 

[dirtypot]

Why not contact someone like Bennet Nel from Ace of Spades and get a proper quote?

[Yo-Yo]

Why not contact someone like Bennet Nel from Ace of Spades and get a proper quote?

 

Thanks. Any other builders that can be recommended? I'll talk to Deon as I know him a bit there was a guy called Troops who I chatted to when he was building but couldn't remember his company. 

 

I found this riding area / blog and have asked to meet them when I am in that area next month. 

 

http://www.gvbconservancy.co.za/conservancyblog/from-trail-rider-to-trail-builder-nine-mountain-bike-trail-building-myths

Edited June 21, 2018 by Yo-yo

[Meezo]

With the massive increase in trails being built here in the WC I am interested in the process / cost of these projects. It seems that every wine farm and deli in the winelands has a new trail network. These I understand as they are trying to attract more visitors and therefore turnover from restaurants, accomodation, deli, cellar doors etc other than get just the nominal trail fees. There also seems to have been a big increase in other trails outside of the traditional trail custodians [Tokai MTB, TBMBC and so on]. 

 

Does anyone have a rough guide on the kind of cost per KM that trail building entails and how the process works?

 

A family member has about 1000 hectares of essentially mountains outside Worcester that he rides moto on and is looking add some basic cottages for riders / bikers. There is very little in the way of any kind of animal, car or moto tracks so it is a blank canvas but from when I've been there it's something special.   

 

I know there are lot of variables in the kind of trail you build and cost would depend of features included, how sculpted they are and so on but a jump off point would be a great help. 

 

let him leave as is,

 

this is how ezelenduro and klipberg enduro was started sort, these areas are used for moto, and if the moto's can ride there then mtb's can, especially when pointing down.

 

just worry about a nice place to setup camp, park cars and obviously ablution/shower facilities

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

let him leave as is,

 

this is how ezelenduro and klipberg enduro was started sort, these areas are used for moto, and if the moto's can ride there then mtb's can, especially when pointing down.

 

just worry about a nice place to setup camp, park cars and obviously ablution/shower facilities

This.

[Yo-Yo]

From knowledge of the terrain in worcester, though, I hope it's kept as natural as possible. The terrain out there is fecking lovely. 

 

It's so big and the mountains are not hills that there is not that much actual usable area in the whole property but the bits that are accessible are amazing. So untouched and rough that you would struggle to tame a lot of it even if you had the money so hackable and natural would be the best end result of a project there. 

 

[Meezo]

pm when you going to check it out with your bicycle, and him with this moto, he can show us the track and we'll hike-a-bike up them and bomb'th them down...

 

[GrahamS2]

It's entirely dependent on the landscape you start with and what you want to achieve. Gradient, size and density of vegetation, number and size of rocks, soil consistency, drainage, etc. will all play a part in how long (and thus expensive) it will take to clear and make rideable. Work on a minimum of 2 labourers for basic clearing, and go from there. 

[FarmerMTB]

Just somthing to think about...(It all depends from trail to trail, but here it is) a trail of 30km

 

2X Labourers X R150 per day can do 0,1km =R300/day

=(30km / 0,1km) X R300

 

=300 days of work X R300/day

=R90 000-00

 

That is without any other costs like marking where the trail should be build or supervision to make sure the labourers are doing the job right!

 

Building a trail cost way more than one might think, the thing with the whine-farms is that they have a lot of labour they can use in the off-season.  

 

[popcorn_skollie]

It's so big and the mountains are not hills that there is not that much actual usable area in the whole property but the bits that are accessible are amazing. So untouched and rough that you would struggle to tame a lot of it even if you had the money so hackable and natural would be the best end result of a project there. 

 

Screen Shot 2018-06-21 at 11.56.44 AM.png

 

Sweet Christmas that's mooi. I can see the lines already. I would ride the **** out of that place. 

[Thermophage]

So gatvol of so many trails (yes you especially Tybergerg/TygerBERM) being built in such a smooth/dumbed down version of the natural terrain. Keep it natural, keeps it cheaper. Use the natural features, don't see a damn rock garden and go around it

Makes me sad.

So now they don't get my money anymore. Will get day permits, at least them (AFIK) the money only goes to the farmers.

Edited June 21, 2018 by Thermophage

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

It's so big and the mountains are not hills that there is not that much actual usable area in the whole property but the bits that are accessible are amazing. So untouched and rough that you would struggle to tame a lot of it even if you had the money so hackable and natural would be the best end result of a project there. 

 

Screen Shot 2018-06-21 at 11.56.44 AM.png

OMFS drooooool!

[Meezo]

So gatvol of so many trails (yes you especially Tybergerg/TygerBERM) being built in such a smooth/dumbed down version of the natural terrain. Keep it natural, keeps it cheaper. Use the natural features, don't see a damn rock garden and go around it

Makes me sad.

So now they don't get my money anymore. Will get day permits, at least them (AFIK) the money only goes to the farmers.

Not sure if you've ridden the mount pleasant st at the rhodes gate, there's a baby rock garden near the end, quite a few riders at the Cape Epic had a OTB there or just got off and walked, since then okes has made a line which skips of this baby rock garden, and i admit illegally i closed this new chicken run up with tree stumps it just gets moved again....

 

 

 

Mind you table mountain has become over populated with those road bikes with bigger tyres on, so probably these okes too

[Thermophage]

I think I've ridden there. Yeah, quite a lot of the local trail building seems aimed at making the trail flow but also be as smooth and easy as possible. Then people enter real MTB races, or ride real MTB or more natural trails and do kakapoeffie like make chicken lines to the chicken lines.

Not sure if you've ridden the mount pleasant st at the rhodes gate, there's a baby rock garden near the end, quite a few riders at the Cape Epic had a OTB there or just got off and walked, since then okes has made a line which skips of this baby rock garden, and i admit illegally i closed this new chicken run up with tree stumps it just gets moved again....



Mind you table mountain has become over populated with those road bikes with bigger tyres on, so probably these okes too