September 26th, 2009

Building A Kicker
A 'Ghetto Fab' Creation
by Adam Anton

A kicker is easily one of the most fun obstacles you can have at your local spot, as it provides endless hours of entertainment for those riding and also those who are spectating. It’s a great way to add amplitude and style to your basic tricks or push your 360s that extra rotation into a 540. Lets face it, everyone wants a kicker at their local spot. Over the years we’ve had so many requests for kicker plans on the Forum, so I’ve decided to break it down for you. Many of our users have come to the rescue of fellow troops by giving advice on how they built their own kickers, so that’s basically what I’m going to do here. This will be a rough outline on building a kicker like we have at Jabberwock Beach here in Antigua.  Its 14 feet long x 5 feet high x 4 feet wide with a flat entry to gradual curve at the top. Some people prefer a continuous transition but we found that after experimenting with different trannys this one worked well. Ok here we go.

Material:
1 sheet of 5/8” or 3/4” plywood
10 lengths of 2x4x16
20 lengths of  1.5" or 2" PVC
5” hex bolts and nuts for bolting legs to the frame (Approx 16)
3” or 3.5” galvanize hex screws (Approx 100 - these work well for framing the structure but you can use whatever you feel works or what is available to you)
1.25” or 1.5” drywall screws (approx 100 - these are for screwing the PVC onto the frame. Again, use whatever screws you feel will work. I say approx 100, but you should probably get about a million if you’re as clumsy as me)
You’ll want to grab a gallon of your favorite color paint, and a couple of kite scoop stickers as well ;)

Tools:
Circular saw
Power drill with wood drill bits and screw bits.
Jig saw
Measuring tape
Ratchet for hex screws (if that’s what you’re using).
Pencil
String (kite string works well)
Some semi-intelligent friends. Seriously, don’t even bother with the dumb ones.

Cutting Your Transition
Ok the first thing you’re going to do is measure and cut your transition. Its important that you get this right because this determines the amount of ‘kick’ in your kicker. We’re going to use one sheet of ¾” or 5/8” ply to get both transitions. Now to get the perfect tranny you need to take a length of string with a pencil attached at one end and use it like a compass to draw your transition onto the plywood. The longer the string (larger radius) the more mellow the tranny, the shorter the string (smaller radius) the steeper the tranny. The following link explains how to use the "string compass" method if you are not already familiar with it,  and also how you can cut both transitions from one sheet of ply. Keep in mind that this link is for a mini ramp transition which is much steeper than what you want for your kicker, so use a much longer radius than they use in the instructions: http://rampplans.org/ramps/Jeff_Dalehite/index.03.html

Ok now that we’ve got that drawn out, the guy with the steadiest hand gets to cut it out with the jig saw. Don’t try drawing both transitions cuz you’ll never get two of them to be identical. Draw one, cut it out, then use it as a template to draw the second one.
When you have both of them cut out, its time put together the basic frame structure.
For the framing stage you should drill pilot holes for the 3.5” screws. If you have ever tried to drive a screw straight thru a 2x4 you will know why :) 

Basic Framing (See Diagram Above)
Step 1 - Cut two 5’ lengths of 2x4 and attach them to the back edges of the transitions. These are the upper legs. You want the plywood (tranny) to sit flush with the INSIDE edges of the 2x4s so that when you reach Step 4 the long 2x4s that you cut can be screwed flat against the plywood and the inside of the upper legs. You might have to attach the ply to the upper legs temporarily with some scrap wood until Step 4 is complete, as Step 4 is the stage that actually holds it all together.
Step 2 - Cut two 4’ lengths of 2x4 and screw the trannys together for support beams.
Step 3 - Cut two 14’ lengths of 2x4 and screw them to the base of the legs.
Step 4 - Measure the distance from the very front of the 14’ lengths to the legs and the back of the tranny, cut two lengths of 2x4 for this. You will want to mark and cut the angle so it joins flush with the flat 14’ lengths (See circled area).
Step 5 - Add support beams where necessary.

Adding Ribs, Supports and PVC (Diagram Above)
Step 1 - Now that the basic structure is up, the rest is pretty easy. You should add some diagonal supports to give strength to the structure.
Step 2 – Cut a bunch of approx 4’ lengths of 2x4 which will act as ribs. I say approximately because they might not be exactly 4'. Measure the gap before cutting each one, you don't want to cut a bunch at exactly 4' and end up with ribs that are a quarter inch too short, you'll end up wasting wood. This will be the platform for laying your PVC and also add more strength to the kicker. Space them evenly apart (no more that 12” apart) along the full length of the top of the kicker. Again it’s easiest to drill pilot holes for the screws.  Now is also a good time to start painting before you add the PVC.
Step 3 – Lay your PVC along the length of the kicker and start drilling your pilot holes for the drywall screws. You will want the hole on top to but just big enough for the head of the drywall screw to pass thru, and the hole at the bottom just big enough for the width of the screw itself. Tack the PVC to the kicker with a couple screws and you can easily line up the rest of the holes with the ribs. Do this for each length of PVC until the surface is covered. This part is pretty tedious but it’s the perfect time to let loose and start bragging to your homies about the frontside 5s you’re gonna pull of this thing ;)

Add Lower Legs, get her to the beach!
Ok you’re almost there, now you just need to work out how high you need to lift her out the water so that she sits at the right level. We just went to the beach, walked out to the spot where we wanted to put the kicker, and measured how high the water was in that area. From that we could average the length of the legs, give or take a little with tide change. In Antigua the tidal change is small, but if you live somewhere that has a more drastic tidal change you should try floating the kicker instead. We eventually did this to the same kicker a couple years later and that’s how it is to this day. Ok so go ahead and bolt on the legs and session the damn thing. Shoots!