BMX
Murray Loubser and his friends decided to build a kicker, ride it and then give it away to a lucky fan. Here's how you can build (and ride) your own.
Have you been inspired by Bas Keep's More Walls and want to add some variety to your BMX street riding? Then consider using a kicker ramp in your set-up. A kicker ramp can be very mobile and be carried to almost any location. It will undoubtedly unlock a few spots and help you find different ways to approach certain street obstacles that you want to ride.
You don't have to go to a specialist company to build a ramp, as it is something that you can build yourself with the right materials and the right tools. South African BMX athlete Murray Loubser had to change their plans to celebrate the country's BMX Day and decided to build a kicker ramp to ride on the day. Luckily for us, he and his long time friend and mentor photographer Wayne Reiche documented the process so you can repeat their steps and have a kicker ramp to ride too.
"A little kicker ramp like this really goes back to the roots of DIY riding," explains Reiche, who was instrumental in helping to put together Loubser's Shapes In the City project in 2020.
"Like when a kid puts a plank on a few bricks and starts launching off it and then just slowly pushing it higher. It was super rad to see Murray find different angles on things where you are usually limited by how high you can jump."
"I was super stoked when the idea came about using the kicker in the streets," Loubser says. "Reiche is a magician in the workshop, so I just went in and gave a helping hand."
Loubser spent a few days leading up to the build scouting the streets for spots that he couldn't normally ride because they are a bit too high: "So when we got the kicker, we could kind of just go roll the streets and ride those spots I'd found."
"It's funny, though. We had all these spots penned down that we were going to ride, and when we got down to it, we pretty much just drove around and found others. We ended up hitting none of the spots we first had planned," he says, explaining the beauty of how mobile a ramp can be.
"I'm definitely going to build my own one now. It's added a new dimension to street riding and really opened my eyes.
"Stuff that you would not normally be able to ride suddenly becomes possible! We spent such a short time using it, and it was mind-boggling how much we could ride."
Keen to build your own? Read on:
How to build a DIY BMX Kicker Ramp
Materials
- 1 x Sheet of 21mm shutter plywood
- 1 x Sheet of 6mm plywood
- 3.6m Pine Beam 70mm x 32mm
- Screws
Tools
- Circular Saw
- Jig Saw
- Drill
- Piece of String
- Pencil
- Tape Measure
Step 1
Lay the 21mm Board flat on the floor. Take the string and securely fasten the pencil to the end. Place the pencil at the corner of Boardoard and measure 2.7m on the string. Secure the point of the string, make sure it is taut and draw the arc of the ramp.
Step 2
Measure 1.5m on the long side of the board and draw a line up at 90 degrees until it meets the arc line. You now have the shape of your ramp. Using the jigsaw, cut out the template. Use the cutout, trace the shape and make another cut out.
Step 3
Take the 6mm plywood sheet, measure 60cm on the short side and cut into two long pieces for the top. Cut the beams up at intervals of 55cm. Place the beams on the ramp cut out as seen in the diagram and make sure they are evenly spaced, and line up flush with the edges. Screw securely into place.
Step 4
Line up the 6mm board on the face of the ramp. Measure that there is a slight overhang at the bottom and trim off the excess. Repeat this with the other board. Screw the 6mm plywood onto the support beams and not the cutout piece.
Step 5
You're all done, it's time to go out and ride on the ramp
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