Even if you are not very up to date in the world of Freestyle, you will have seen what type of ramps are used. They are high, steep and have the reception far away. Long jumps in which you can show your skills. But Colby Raha wanted to give the concept a twist (pun intended) and build a Spine ramp for motorcycles.
For those of us who are not very used to it, this ramp concept comes directly from the skateparks and, in short, offers a high and short jump. With skateboards, bicycles or scooters, it is used to make flourishes, but with a motorcycle things are complicated.
A Spine ramp in the middle of the California desert
The fact is that Raha, with her nine X-Games medals, started with bikes before moving on to motorcycles. So with the idea he went to the desert to prepare a Spine ramp but adapted to motorcycles.
With more than six meters high and more than nine meters wide, they created a ramp that works well for light vehicles but was an uncertainty for motorcycles. They also took advantage of that uncertainty to document the project and stop just before the final test.
Although the ramp doesn’t make heads or tails of what we’re used to, the end result is that, at least, it’s not a disaster. What’s more, it can be a perfect type of ramp to develop a new style of FMX, although personally it has a great resemblance to the “pyramid” type jumps that we find in motocross, such as the emblematic one at Cerro Negro in Talavera.
Of course the sensation of jumping high and short, which in motocross is solved by folding or braking with everything just before depending on your level and your courage, was spectacular so it is to be assumed that although for now the jump on a Spine ramp is not It is very spectacular, there is room for it to improve…
