Ideal quarter pipe radius for a 28” tall mini ramp? 5’ vs. 5.5’ transition
I’m building a custom 8’-wide mini ramp for my garage and looking for some feedback from people who have experience riding or building smaller quarter pipes.
I’m currently leaning toward 28” tall with a 5’ radius, but I’m also considering a 5.5’ radius and potentially adjusting the height an inch or two.
A little background on my skating: I recently got back into it about 5–6 months ago after taking roughly 15 years off. I have around 5 years of total skating experience and would consider myself intermediate. I’m comfortable with the basic quarter-pipe stalls and recently learned blunt-to-fakies. I’m definitely not an advanced skater, but I’m not a beginner either.
My previous setup was a pair of 3’-tall, 8’-wide RampTech quarter pipes with an estimated 6’ radius. I actually really enjoyed riding them. The transition was comfortable and easy to skate, but the ramps took up too much room in my garage and left me with limited flat bottom. That’s why I’m building a smaller custom setup.
What I’m trying to achieve:
Something comfortable and forgiving enough for casual sessions, including days when I’m feeling a little sore.
A transition that’s still steep enough to practice and progress with more technical tricks, especially blunts, Smiths, feebles, and other coping tricks.
Enough clearance for rock-to-fakies. I want to be able to rock forward until the deck contacts the coping without my rear wheels interfering with the transition. Ideally, I’d like a few inches of clearance.
A relatively compact footprint to maximize the flat bottom between the two quarters.
One of the biggest things I’ve noticed is that a lot of 2’-tall quarters use a 6’ radius, which seems pretty mellow to me. I’m concerned that at such a low height, the transition won’t provide the coping angle or rear-wheel clearance I’m looking for.
I’ve been experimenting with a full-scale plywood layout (pictured) comparing 5’ and 6’ radii at different heights, using my actual skateboard to test the clearance.
At a 5’ radius, my rough measurements have been around 2¾” of clearance at 27–28” tall, increasing to about 3¼” at 30”. The 30” option looks a little steeper than I’d prefer, which is why I’m leaning toward 28”.
And just to address the suggestion of going to skateparks and trying different ramps: I live in the Tampa area and skate at Skatepark of Tampa (SPoT) pretty regularly, along with other local parks. I’ve ridden plenty of different transitions, so I have a general idea of what feels comfortable to me. The challenge is knowing the exact radius and dimensions of the ramps I’m skating. Even bringing a tape measure doesn’t necessarily make it easy to determine the radius of a transition.
I’ve drawn out the different radii and heights at full scale to get a better visual comparison, but obviously looking at a transition and actually skating it are two very different things. That’s why I’m hoping to hear from people who have firsthand experience with these specific dimensions.
For those who have ridden or built quarter pipes around 2’–2.5’ tall:
Would you recommend a 5’ or 5.5’ radius for a 28” quarter pipe? Does a 5’ radius feel comfortably rideable at that height, or does it start getting too tight and whippy?
I’m especially interested in hearing from intermediate or advanced skaters who regularly do coping tricks on smaller transitions.
I’m trying to find the sweet spot between a fun, comfortable mini ramp and something I can continue progressing on for years. I’d rather get the geometry right now than build something I’ll eventually wish was steeper or mellower.
Appreciate any feedback!