FAQ

How do I build a mountain bike trail?

The process of building a mountain bike trail typically includes the following steps:

1. Prepare a proposal showing a map of the new or rebuilt trail, review the terrain data available in Google Earth or contour data in local or regional council mapping viewers. Southstar Trails can prepare professional map based drawings with notes to use for a trail proposal.
2. Present the proposal and obtain approval permission from the land owner or land manager.
3. Raise funds to cover design and construction costs. These costs typically range from NZ$25-$40/m. Wide trails with large jump and berm features are more expensive to build than narrower single track.
4. Flagging the alignment. Tie flagging ribbons at 5-20m intervals. Measure gradients between flags with a Clinometer or Abney level. Gradient maximums are specified in the New Zealand MTB Trail Design and Construction Guidelines. This is critical and the most consistent outcomes are achieved if trail design is completed by a professional trail designer. Southstar Trails provides trail design services.
5. Building the trail, clearing vegetation, digging the trail bench by hand or with a small excavator, compacting the natural soil surface. It is critical for the trails longevity to include water management features such as cross slope, grade reversals and culverts at natural water crossings.  Trails that are both fun to ride and sustainable to maintain are achieved by contracting a professional trail builder such as Southstar Trails with 25 years experience in providing trail construction services.
6. In areas with poor natural soil, the trail can be surfaced with 50mm of AP20 gravel, then compacted. Trail surfacing is a low difficulty, high labour task and can be economically achieved by a professional trail builder working in partnership with a community group.
7. Audit the trail meets the trail grading criteria in the guidelines and for hazards such as pungee sticks. Pungee Sticks are cut foliage that have not been trimmed back to the trunk or ground and could pose a threat to falling riders. 
8. Opening the trail with a community event or ribbon cutting.
9. Schedule ongoing trail maintenance, including spring and autumn vegetation cutback, annual tread maintenance to clear out silt build up from grade reversals and repair any storm damage. Allow approx. 20% of the build budget per year for maintenance. Southstar Trails can provide contract trail maintenance services.
10. The trail will need annual inspections to check for degradation and program any major repairs. These can be done by the trail manager or contracted to Southstar Trails.
11. Every 5-10 years the trail will need a refresh or rebuild. Here experienced professional trail builders can add value by modernising and improving the features in the trail so that it provides a higher level of riding experience. This rebuild is a chance to modify jump and drop features so that they better suit the natural speed of the trail.

 

How do I get funding for a mountain bike trail?

Funding for trails can be provided from several sources:

Local and Regional councils provide funding for volunteer led projects.  These can include contracted professional services such as trail design, construction and auditing. The volunteer input can include tasks such as project management, land manager liaison meetings, Iwi liasion, site inspections, opening event management.

The lottery grants board accept funding requests https://www.communitymatters.govt.nz

​Gaming Funding for community groups has funded many mtb trail projects around NZ
https://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Services-Casino-and-Non-Casino-Gaming-Funding-For-Community-Groups?OpenDocument

Donation funding, either from a number of small donations in a Give-a-little style crowd funding campaign or larger sums from local family or business donors. https://givealittle.co.nz/

What tools do trail builders use?
For clearing vegetation we use Silky Saws, we prefer the largest teeth available for the fastest cutting ability.

We use Milwaukee Battery powered chainsaws and hedgetrimmers for smaller trees and foliage as they are much quieter to work with than a larger petrol powered equipment. 

For trail construction Southstar Trails use small 1t to 1.8t mini excavators from CAT or Yanmar. The diggers are equipped with 180 deg tilting hitch attachments to enable shaping of trail features like berms and jumps.

For hand-finishing mountain bike trails Southstar Trails uses Hilty Hoes made by Hilton Taylor, enquire at Revolution Bikes in Havelock North. These are great for benching through roots and dirt.

Atlas Spades, these spades have built hundred of km of trails around the world

Bomag Vibrating Pedestrian Roller – this provides a 1 tonne compaction force

37kg Meiwa Plate Compactor, this small compactor is agile enough to man handle around steep berms and the sides of jumps.

For trail testing we use ebikes from Transition and Velduro

MTB ADVOCACY RESOURCES

We maintain a Google Drive folder that has all sorts of useful resource documents for trail managers and advocates.  Economic Impact Studies from other projects can be really useful when you are trying to get new trails approved.

To get access to the folder, email a request to [email protected]