# wooden rollers/ roller doubles/step ups



## snug dug (Jul 7, 2012)

Now that I've hit the ten post threshold for posting a new topic, I sure would like to see your pictures of rollers, roller doubles, step up type structures that you've made out of wood.
I'll be building some soon into a trail system, and have some ideas how I'm going to build them, but it sure would be nice to sneak a peak at some others. My main goals are for them to be functional, round, and NOT look like they were lifted from a skatepark. :rockon:


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## dburatti (Feb 14, 2004)

Sorry i don't have a way to upload pictures to a website at work, so these attachments will have to work. I was experimenting with efficient ways to make wooden rollers, both in time and materials, and this worked fairly well. I ended up shaving the peaks of the rollers down a few times to get the arc I wanted after laying decking on top and test riding. All the cuts were made with a chain saw. Decking is 2"X6" rough cut cedar. 

D


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## Mr. Lynch (Jun 11, 2010)

We have two rollercoasters on one of our local trails. A "smooth" 3 hump coaster and a rougher 3 hump coaster to skinny feature.

I dont have pix, but I do have video.





You can see the first one at the 1:29 mark. It has 3 humps, and the peaks are roughly 16ft a part and the overall length is around 50ft. For the base we used railroad ties, then cut the arches out of 2x12 and used the convex part for the main arch and the concave parts were used for the up ramp and the down ramp.

The 2nd one is at the 4:18 mark, and it was built with split cedar for the decking. The actual "coaster' part is only about 16ft long, but it has a steep ramp up and is a nice challenging feature.

At the 2:18 mark there is another interested feature. It is an up an over that goes from 3ft wide to 2ft wide up the first ramp, 2ft wide to 18" wide across the top, and 18" wide down the backside. At the start of the downhill your 8ft off the ground and the down ramp has 2 stages, a steep inital drop and a more mellow end section. The entire bridge is 40ft long.


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## snug dug (Jul 7, 2012)

dburatti said:


> Sorry i don't have a way to upload pictures to a website at work, so these attachments will have to work. I was experimenting with efficient ways to make wooden rollers, both in time and materials, and this worked fairly well. I ended up shaving the peaks of the rollers down a few times to get the arc I wanted after laying decking on top and test riding. All the cuts were made with a chain saw. Decking is 2"X6" rough cut cedar.
> 
> D


Thanks. Awesome. That method is certainly efficient, and not very lumber intensive. I'm planning on doing mine pier/boardwalk style with vertical posts in the ground with 2x12 stringers, which will flow into rollers and wooden berms. Will most likely use vertically stacked 2x12's like your example, but have been toying with laminating multiple sheets of treated plywood, and the facing the ply with something to get away from that skatepark look.


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## snug dug (Jul 7, 2012)

Mr. Lynch said:


> We have two rollercoasters on one of our local trails. A "smooth" 3 hump coaster and a rougher 3 hump coaster to skinny feature.
> 
> I dont have pix, but I do have video.
> 
> ...


That's fantastic. Talk about squeezing in every inch of trail you can somewhere. What do yo have there, like 5 miles of trail in one acre? Awesome.

That coaster in your video is pretty close to what I want to build, but bigger and longer, and with banked turns, and elevated a few feet off the ground like a boardwalk. Pump track like, but on a trail in the woods.

Keep the pics coming, I need to get stoked!


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## Mr. Lynch (Jun 11, 2010)

The coaster in my video is slowly being extended. It started off as a single hump. A large 24ft "hump" with an angled turn will be going in once we get some rain and can move dirt easy again. 

The area we have to work with is quite small, so we try to make the most of it. One of the trails near the one in the video is 2.3 miles long maybe a 2 acre area, if that.


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## PepperJester (Jan 2, 2003)

I've built some in a similar style to that of dburatti, but using rough cut hemlock in place of the cedar - mostly due to availably.

Here is a small double roller we built for our Porta-Park, it's 10' long and 30" wide, believe we used 2"x12" on the stringers.










Here it is in action along with a good portion of our park


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## PepperJester (Jan 2, 2003)

This guy was a bit larger project. It's super smooth and super fast. Not a huge amount of roll but enough to keep it fun 










This side shot shows the construction. We used 2"x10" x 10' stringers, cut to shape with the chain saw and set up on log sills and cribs.










Bridge is just under 100' long and on average 3' wide with a bit more on the corner and entrance tapering to about 4'.

Hope this helps,
- Ryan


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## snug dug (Jul 7, 2012)

nice work, everyone!

We're going to be building several of these, each 200 to 300 feet long. Can't wait to get started!

Keep the pics coming!


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## cmc4130 (Jan 30, 2008)

more wooden rollers inspiration here:

Wooden Pump Tracks . . . . - Pinkbike Forum


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