Fed up with grimy winter days in the Peak District, George French decided to take it upon himself to make a new way to ride. The result is Sheffield Bike Park that could pip Dirt Factory to become Britain’s first indoor mountain bike park.
Sheffield Bike Park has taken inspiration from the likes of Ray’s in the States and will be a mainly wooden, multi-level indoor bike park to be used for mtbs and BMXs.
In their own words, it will be: “A big cavernous space full to the rafters with fun stuff to ride silly bikes on. A range of terrain including climbs and descents, pump track and trails, big jumps and little jumps, and even a wooden bowl. A cafe. Bike hire. Video screenings. Barbecues. A place where you could learn skills, get even fitter, meet friends, have a laugh, take a break in a cafe and not worry about weather or access rights or walkers or cars or horses or landowners.”
A 28,000 square foot venue has been scoped out and George would be looking to start building and crowdfunding as soon as the key is turned in the lock. If everything goes to plan, the park could be open before the clocks go back in October.
So what makes this different from Dirt Factory? Well most obviously is the location. Sheffield is a bit of a drive from Manchester and the scene in Sheffield is so strong at the moment it should be able to support something like this on its own.
Secondly SBP will be mainly wooden, not using much dirt, making it a different experience to Dirt Factory. This also means it will be less fuss to build but can still be a modular layout can be switched up if needed.
Finally, SBP is not-for-profit. This means tax breaks, grants and volunteers that should bring down the running costs – it does mean the the park will need some help though. At the moment George are looking for anyone that can help out in any way from building, to web stuff to making tea and biccies.
They will also be setting up a crowd funding campaign in the near future, we’ll get details on that as soon as possible. In the mean time, keep up with all that’s going on through their Instagram or website.
