When I was a kid my dad and I built a 7' halfpipe with 1 ft of vert - 6 ft transitions. 8 ft of flat. 12 ft wide. It was tough. I then cut it down to 5 ft. Still tough. I then cut it down to 3.5 ft. Left a little 4' wide, 5' high extension on one side. It was magical. Sponsored skaters would drive from an hour away and show up at my house to skate it. When I moved, I sold it and it got taken away on a flat-bed - and apparently 4 years later, it changed hands again. I really want to just recreate that design someday. I learned soooooo much stuff on that 3.5' final cut.
Funny fact, that i first watched your drywall tips videos and i didnt even know you have this yt channel😅. Now here i am, learning how to make a diy quarterpipe😂
Damn dude, makes me want to build a ramp and get back on my board lol. I remember the first ramp I dropped in on was 8 feet or more....I was terrified 🤣
Not gonna lie man, seeing your departing video has made me binge your stuff this morning. Building a mini has been something Ive always wanted to do and I have a 6 year old so I can only imagine how much fun it would bring over the years. I think after this morning I want to do it and I thanks ya for giving us a real rundown on ramp considerations.
Ben! I was able to drywall my house with your help. I moved from that project to my backyard mini which will be wrapped up this weekend. I'm excited to watch this and see all the places messed up
How funny Ive watched your drywall videos when doing projects and I had they feeling you were cool but this just confirms that your the man! Dope ramp man!
Very satisfying to hear and see your opinion here, our crew just built the small part of our indoor mini ramp, almost exactly the same height and radius.
Those were some solid tips! Do you have any idea what the ideal lenght is for the flat bottom? Is this a standard lenght per height of the ramp or also more a preference like with the radius? Looking forward to this series, trying to build one myself here but I'm thinking concrete 😀
Great start to a mini build! I figure I’ll throw my 2 cents in. I started skating later in life but loved it so much I put a ramp in my yard for fun and exercise (can be seen on my channel). I went with a 7-foot radius to be a bit more on the mellow side but it is still super gnarly for me. Similar to your ramp, I cut the transition out of 4’x8’ sheets and put the flat on 2”x6” boards so the height from flat to platform is just about 3.5 feet. I am using Gatorskin surface although as a new skater I don’t have enough experience to make comparisons with other surfaces. I used pressure-treated for everything EXCEPT the transition plywood that is under the Gatorskin, but I caulked all the seams between the Gatorskin sheets. I made my ramp a bit small (8-feet wide) but it is plenty of ramp for me. I am in New England (Northeast USA) and put a large tarp over the ramp in winter but have had it for about a year-and-a-half and I expect it to hold up for many more years. I used to do a lot of driving to get to my local park but not anymore!
@@jackstraw5527 yes, in fact I only used a tarp for the 1st winter. Since then I just clean the ramp off when it is wet or has snow on it. I bought a double-sided squeegee, one edge is rubber and flip over for a foam edge that isn’t as sticky as the rubber. I also keep a mop and broom stored with the ramp. I skate on the regular so I am happy to spend the time pushing the water off and mopping. I always mop first because it is outside and always gathering dirt, then squeegee. I estimate about 20 minutes for a full mop and squeegee, definitely worth the effort considering the cost which was about $4,000 total. That was in 2021, mid-covid, so lumber prices might be a bit cheaper now. Hope this helps….
@@necgist dude that’s phenomenal! I’m in the Chicago area so I feel like we get a similar amount of rain and snow compared to the NE, so your testimonial is great to hear. I like your idea to do everything possible out of pressure treated, I think if I’m investing the time and money, then that extra cost is well worth it. Love the tip on caulking the seams of the gator skins too. Hope you get a lot of years out of it man.
@@jackstraw5527 One problem with the caulk….I used black but this is probably true for any color: a little caulk got on my wheels. Most of the caulk was just below the surface of the ramp but a couple of spots had a bit of caulk above the surface. Since I don’t ride street the caulk just stayed on the wheels and caused them to wear unevenly. Not a big deal and probably would have worn off on the street if I rode street. Anyway, had knee surgery Friday so out of the game for 6 weeks but I do get a little Zen maintaining the ramp anyway. Good luck!
@@bendegros 5 years is encouraging. Rain will be my issue here in the Netherlands too. Looking forward to the rest of the series. Thanks for your reply.
Is the height from flat 3 feet or 3.5 feet? I first hear 3 when you talk about the height but then you say “six foot transition on a three and a half foot tall ramp” when you talk about the transition? Thanks for the video. Thanks for taking the time super helpful. 🙏🏼
Mellow is too slow, boring and lame. We just got rid of that era of mellow transition. Maybe try smaller heights of transition rather than mellow transition?. If you have more patience and gain more skills you might appreciate more how good it is. Nothing great comes easy. Street skaters smh sometimes.
I just built one a few months ago by myself. Was a fun project. I did a 3ft with a 6’10” radius so I can learn transition skating. I have a video of it finished on my channel.
My 2c. A lot of people think a 2ft mini is the way to go but I find them harder to skate than a 3ft or 4ft cuz you have no time from the flat to the coping. The transition is so short if its steep at all it makes it hard to skate. Plus your almost guarteed to fall all the way to flat everytime
I just realized that I understand everything you talk about when it comes to skateboarding only related stuff but I don't have any carpenter related english vocabulary haha, gotta look up some words to understand the whole video :D
You could just measure the entire height and subtract the deck height to find the height. You don't need a piece of wood unless you can't see the side of the ramp.
PS- I saw an old video of urs where u said u were gonna talk about the miniramp build and I was like "what the heck, wherw is the video!?" 🤣 I figured u didnt wanna edit it. I hate editing certain videos too. I have ones 2 years old 🤦♂️
Thanks for all the info. For my garage I measured out 3’ high mini ramp but I’m too tall and will hit the garage door supports. Do you think a 2’ is too small? What transition would you use for that? I figure 2’ would allow me to practice and learn tricks at home, then take those tricks to the parks and bigger ramps to progress.
my conrete miniramps 15yrs old this sept. it measures 3ft high, 11ft width w/ 6.5ft of transition..wood wont last on a tropical country like ours. Good investment, if u truly love skatebordng fo life
One thing my nerd brain has been thinking about recently is non-circular radii on transition. Has anyone tried coming up with a miniramp that experiments with elliptical or conical shapes? The reason I ask is that in concrete skateparks, some of the most interesting parts to skate are where two different radii blend together and form a unique path.
Hey I have a mini ramp too but I don't have skate light I used birch for the top layer. How does skate light hold up to rain? Do you cover your ramp with a tarp every day?
mini-ramp = tax write off now. liking how you're thinking ben lmaoooo. jk but thanks the tips in even this video were super helpful and a lot more straight forward than a lot of diy tutorials
Cant you just use a string to find the arc length of the slope/ramp instead of the pivot thing? Especially if the transition isn't linear (r (radius) in polar coords)
@@bendegros That is really smart. Not something you learn in school but you are the Vancouver carpenter. Excited for the series of how to build a mini (when I can afford one)! Have a good one
When you said that it’s a 6ft radius on a 3 and a half foot ramp, don’t you really mean just a 3 foot ramp? Since the extra half foot is just from the bottom support, and not part of the top surface?
ok but coping is the scariest part about bulding a ramp in my opinion id hate to have noping and id also hate to have a big gap in the trany to the coping also it never feels truly sturdy on wooden ramps
@@bendegros I was watching a video of Bucky Lasek on a ramp and noticed that the coping was metal pipe, but, the pipe had grooves in it. Basically grooves that look like a candy cane stripe. Any idea how to do that on the coping? I think Tony Hawk's ramp might have that too. I think it gives texture to grinds.
