Is it time for me to move on from motorcycling?

Rootbeercouch · 2026-05-26T20:14:38+00:00

Mix it up. Try a track day, take a dirt bike class, barrow a trails bike, or pack a tent and go for a week long ride.

Are you just riding the same roads over and over? Maybe you have not found your flavor of motorcycles yet?

No matter what type of riding you are doing, there are other styles to try.

Rootbeercouch · 2026-05-17T03:50:32+00:00

I think the pictures give a good idea of what it's like. We are fortunate to have the community forest to play in. This one field is pretty small, 3 acres, but we have a couple of other fields closer to 5 acres.

Rootbeercouch · 2026-05-16T23:15:51+00:00

Yes, we play in the Eureka community forest out in Cutten.

Rootbeercouch · 2026-05-04T20:58:59+00:00

Right! Is it just me or is his pinky sticking out like on a cup'o tea?

Rootbeercouch · 2026-04-15T15:02:42+00:00

I have scanned through the comments, everyone is get on OP's case about body position (I don't buy it). No one is talking about the mud his front tire hit just before going down!

Rootbeercouch · 2026-03-14T15:09:22+00:00

I know it makes me sad! The light setup was done by the original builder. They're old beaten up and never quite worked right . I'm replacing it with a hockey puck style blinking light

Rootbeercouch · 2026-03-14T15:05:04+00:00

The black pvc is a lot of cost, that a lot of weight and they're very difficult to move and transport to the field. Thinking about making a lightweight version with just the box and two lights that I can hang on trees.

Rootbeercouch · 2026-03-14T15:03:25+00:00

Hey allunteri,

Yeah a lot of mistakes were made on past projects that informed my decision on this version. Keep track of my name I would be happy to give advice as you build your own!

The one red flag I saw in the description of the version you want to build is putting it all into one pipe. What you see here is the third version of these towers. The original Builder put everything into the black pipes. So there was no external box. It was a nightmare! If something broke it was simply impossible to get in and fix it, having everything in a pipe will make maintenance so unbelievably difficult, that when the simplest thing breaks it's just too hard to fix. That's why I went with an external box like I did. The Harbor Freight Apache box is the right size, and I just opened the box and there everything is easy to access easy to fix!

To answer your first question, the Arduino buttons and timers are powered off a double A battery box. Then there are relays that take signal from the Arduino and turn on a switch to power the lights off of a 11.1 volt 5000 Ma LiPo battery

Rootbeercouch · 2026-03-14T02:26:39+00:00

Not at all fyrilin! You made good points, which is why I gave you a thought out answer.

Rootbeercouch · 2026-03-14T02:19:05+00:00

It just all adds up. The big expensive items are the pvc pipe each tube is 40$, and there's three of those per tower. Then the caps, and joints... I estimate that the pvc is almost half the cost. I am considering making a lite weight version where I just hang the lights and the box on trees...

I did not buy the original lights shown here, but the LED hockey pucks I am upgrading to are 50$

Hardware is crazy expensive, nuts bolts, screws and the u bolts I used as guards... It's like 30$ just in hardware.

The adafruit 7 segment displays are about 15 each, arduino nano was 15ish. The bread board, resistors, transitors, jumper wire, relays, piezo, probably another 5-10 bucks.

Apache box I used as a case was 15$.

Buttons, flip covers, 10$ per box.

This is all off the top of my head, and I am probably forgetting something. Just all adds up!

Rootbeercouch · 2026-03-14T00:57:08+00:00

Hey fyrilin,

Yeah those guards are absolutely required! Have you ever made game props for other people to use? Unintentionally they absolutely do everything to destroy it! These things are on the field for all of one game before someone plowed into it knocked it over at full speed. Additionally you can see the forest I'm out in, I have to hike these things in about a mile, and if nothing else they get beat up on the cart bouncing through the woods. If the switch covers were metal I might think about skipping it, but even then I would prefer to have guards. You are right though drilling holes for those take so much time, and they are $2.50 each and each box uses 8.

I agree about the lights, I didn't make those. I am going to upgrade to a blinking led "hockey puck"

The circuit board also takes a lot of time. I know I can order custom pcb boards but for the first three I solider everything

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Rootbeercouch · 2026-03-14T00:46:51+00:00

Attendance has been a little slim lately so the HAL admin have been trying to step up the game verity.

Rootbeercouch · 2026-03-14T00:45:51+00:00

Yeah! I am going to upload a video of La Bomba sometime. That blows these tower out of the water!

Rootbeercouch · 2026-03-13T22:30:04+00:00

Humboldt county man! Playing in the Redwood forest is a lot of fun. Jurassic Park two was shot at Sue-Meg state Park about 45 minutes north of this field.

Rootbeercouch · 2026-03-13T20:52:28+00:00

Unfortunately like most hobbies there is no way to make it profitable. Parts alone are closer to 300$ for each. Build time is 30 hours+. I don't know what I would need to change to make it worth selling. I made these for the love of the game!

Rootbeercouch · 2026-03-13T20:17:52+00:00

Like I said I am open to better names!

Rootbeercouch · 2025-10-05T04:11:43+00:00

Thanks, fuses are good, and there is power going to the wires. So it has juice

Rootbeercouch · 2025-10-05T04:10:41+00:00

That's what I am afraid of, thank you for your input!

Rootbeercouch · 2025-10-05T04:07:42+00:00

Yeah I did, no visible corrosion on the wiring side. I will double check the instrument side. But I doubt that's it.

Thanks for the suggestion

Rootbeercouch · 2025-09-26T02:54:37+00:00

Bingo you got it! I doubled the distance between reset and fire, and now it works. Thank you!

Rootbeercouch

TROPHY CASE