Who want's an indoor dirt park in Manchester?

It’s just a proposal at the moment, but with enough interest it could happen!

One of the guys behind the idea, Danny Makin sent over the details:

Would you like an indoor MTB/BMX skills centre in Greater Manchester?

Yes, we have outdoor trail centres dotted about, skate parks here and there and the new national BMX centre in Manchester, but this idea is something totally different. The business is called Dirt Factory and my proposals are to open up a huge warehouse building (approx 50,000 sq feet) and transform it into an indoor MTB/BMX riding experience – on DIRT!

Sound crazy, well it might do, but its actually possible if done the right way. Once upon a time who would of thought you’d be able to snowboard indoors all year round? You just need a lot of support, people power is what I need. I plan to open a facility where you can bike indoor all year round, so when its peeing down (like most of the time in Manchester), you still have some dry dirt to go have some fun on.

Dirt Factory plans to offer a wide range of features for different types of riding and for different capabilities. For sure there will be some dirt jumps, huge pump/jump track, table tops, variety of berms, drop offs, north shore and a foam pit, but there will also be graded zones e.g. blues, reds and blacks so its user friendly for people who are new to biking, I want the facility to accommodate all different types of biking and riders, especially young and new people. The majority of the facility will be constructed from dirt, but there will also be a good mixture of wooden features.

A main focus point of the business is to get more people into riding their bikes, whether this be on the road or off road, and I intend to do this by forming partnerships with schools, colleges and charitable groups as part of their physical education or just a fun day out. For all the bikers out there already, you will be familiar with the benefits of biking and the positive impact it can have, well this is what I want everyone to experience at Dirt Fctory. The business operates as a social enterprise, the whole Dirt Factory concept involves a social purpose which is “To provide customers with a safe, fun and inspiring indoor bike facility that will improve their bike skills, health and well-being and by doing so, help provide a sustainable future for the sport, local community and wider society”.

So where am I up to now? I am currently at the stage of promoting and marketing the idea, basically all the work I have done is either stored on my computer or in my head – and its about time I spread the idea to see what people think. Please let me know your thoughts, and more importantly give Dirt Factory some support by following us, spreading the word and by completing surveys that will provide extremely useful information for me.

Check out www.dirtfactory.org

Hit up the Dirt Factory Facebook and complete the survey.