Sunday, 6 July 2025

McDuffe Skatepark

 McDuffe Skatepark

Oakville, ON.

Near 6th line & Burnhamthorpe Rd East on Settlers Rd East.

This smaller skatepark was completed in 2024 (the park was supposed to open spring 2025 but is now delayed to late-summer 2025) and is a design/build by Canadian Ramp Company.  There were no public consultation as far as I know(it's also in a new neighbourhood).  Additionally, this park, known as NP9 in city docs, wasn't supposed to have a skate spot so I'd been looking for NP8. 

Anyways, here's a honest review with constructive criticisms and suggestions for improvement.

Overall, the park looks good with a variety of rails, stair set, QP wall, ledge, 'A' frame with rail and hubba.

There is no drainage as with a lot of small parks so the spot was built with a bit of a grade so rain runs off the grass.  

Here's what I got up to at McDuffe.

And here's a critique and tour.

The 'Grading' is pretty noticeable when you look at it head on but it didn't affect my riding.  The rails are a good height and I was able to ollie the stairs but found it a quick throw down and pop.

At the other end of the park is a large QP wall. It's about 42" high with an ~6' radius.  After riding several CRC qp's and being less than trilled I was surprised how well rode.  The coping reveal was good with no sections on 'No-ping'.  There are some imperfections in the transition with some bulges just under the coping but nothing that stopped me from doing tricks (Belleville's mini bowl had bad bumps that screwed me up).




An issue that comes up again and again with CRC is the seams between pours.  Seams should feel SEAMLESS.  The seam before the tranny felt like going over a sidewalk crack and this seam between to QP sections is the same. It's not as bad as Innisfil where the seam what so bad I'd loose contact and slide out.

The beveled end on this ledge was a blast to wallie on.  I feel this ledge could have been made twice as wide and functioned as a manny pad. I, personally, don't have manny skills. Maybe you do? 


Another on-going issue with CRC build and these wonky lines.  I feel like this shows a lack of pride in their work. Yeah, it's good enough but do other companies finish concrete work like this?


This rail (flat and down) was the tallest at 20inches and ending at 22".  There was an opportunity to created a neat bank to bank here but all the banks are rounded into the flat making it harder to hit your pop into the high rail.

'A' Frame with rail and Hubba.



Great flat bar.

This Ride-on ledge section was what drew me to the design.  Hitting it down meant having to go from backside to frontside (Goofy foot).  There were some bails.  It's also fun to ride up to the top of the park or pop off into the bank

It took a while but I rode its full length.



The one design flaw is this Ride-on section straight in into the stair feature. whoops.

Much better stair set.  The stairs are a consistent size and there's no big crack/seam at the top.


My biggest issue with this build is the seams, which, as I said before, should feel SEAMLESS!

On my EGAD Scale (excellent, good, acceptable, despicable) this park is an upgrade to CRC's past construction and gets their highest score yet of a Good.

Canadian Ramp Company
If you are reading this, I (& other users) would love to have a discussion on how to improve your minor but consistent construction issues that skatepark users have noticed and are frustrated with.  Attempts to reach you on social media have failed.  We just want top quality parks and feel some feedback and consultations with users would help you hit the mark.


Friday, 27 June 2025

sticking my nose in it, once again

 The City of Toronto is planning a skate dot at Bartley Park in the Eglinton and Vic Park area.  It's not too far from a cookie factory and the park is using some of the famous cookies as texture and colour references.

The skate dot concepts, as it stands now, are a nearly 1m tall QP or a Ledge Spot or a hybrid of the two.


The biggest issue I notice is with the Ledge concept where users would have to cut in on quite a sharp angle and the ledge ends in the lawn.  I also think ~1m is too tall for the space and cutting it down to 60-76cm (24-30inches- ARC's small QP is 24in) would work better.
ARC; Everyone's favourite Quarter Pipe.

The Survey uses 2 of my photos as references for Skate Dots so I feel entitled to get involved for the good of all mankind.

So again I write

Hello City of Toronto Staff
I'm writing in regards to the proposed skate dot at Bartley Park.  I have been to many skateparks and feel a few modifications to the current concepts will make the dot more user friendly especially for beginners.  Given the space provided, a 900mm quarter pipe is quite tall. It will be difficult to gain speed on the approach and dropping in will create enough speed to put users into the lawn.  The hugely popular Quarter Pipe at Audley Recreation Centre in Ajax is 60cm tall.

  Additionally, the higher the quarter is, the more of a berm need to be behind it.  It can be difficult to grow grass on hilly features around skate obstacles due to frequent foot and wheeled traffic.  One way to combat these bald patches is to create faux stone finishes on the steepest areas.  


The ledge concept has issues in the way users would approach and exit the obstacle. The ledge ending at the lawn is not favourable as it upgrades a beginner feature to an expert feature.  Georgetown recently added a small ledge and mistakenly off-set it into the grass. They now plan on extending the flats to increase usability.

  I grew up in East York and I love the idea of including references to the local Cookie Factory and those could extend into the skate dot.  Working with Concept C,  I would suggest a smaller quarter pipe with brick stamped concrete in a pattern that references the Peek Freans Cookie Outlet storefront.

I have included some additional references of stamped concrete used in skateparks as well as another Ledge based skate dot.
Brick stamped quarter pipe with ledge.

Brick Stamped bank with dark concrete.

Garden City Skate Dot in BC.

Lastly, a skate dot could also look like a regular park feature or piece of art as is the case with Ray St Park in Markham or this stylized bench I spotted on my travels.
Ray St Park

Thank you for your work on this project. I have written several articles on small skateparks on my blog and have a vast collection of photos of skate obstacles that I use for skatepark advocacy.  In fact, 2 of the 3 skate dot references in the survey are my photos.
Happens all the time.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Scott


Saturday, 21 June 2025

Moses Springer Roller Spot

 Moses Springer Roller Spot

On the trail near the community centre.

Waterloo

This is a weird one. Four rollers just off the main trail. Definitely made for riding.  I get to make my own rules so it counts.  Thanks Cam.






Snake Side DIY

 Snake Side DIY

somewhere near London

I dropped off some metal rails and a bunch of Pool Block and got a little 2 piece line.  Named for an actual incident - 'Early in the builds, a woman walking her dog by the spot and a snake bit her dog in the face!' 

Don't ask, I'm not at liberty to disclose the location.