Daft Vader

Some pictures from the Fun Ride at Helderkruin this morning... Daft Vader2009-02-01 09:19:11

Who-hoo. My stuff is on the way. I was reading a post where vaulter was maoning about out of stock items at CRC (a stem that they cancelled on his order.) Well, I left a few pieces of my bike build out of the CRC order. Some I am taking off my current bike, and some I would source locally. I have spent a bit of time going from bike shop to bike shop to 1) Locate the items I am looking for; 2) Buy said items. Nobody holds stock of a simple item which should be a realtively cheap option (i.e. BBB 160mm rotors). No I managed to find Avid Rotors at R500 a pop. (R280 @ CRC). Did I buy them? No. I'll rather place another order. I was offerred a special deal on some wheels. (I won't mention the brand) but the LBS price was almost double more than I paid for a set of wheels that retail for less than the wheelset that I purchased. Yes there has been a 3 week delay in shipping my new bike, but when I do the maths I have saved approximately R9000 on a R15k bike build. (Excluding the parts that I already have) So in total, on a bike that would have cost me close to R25k to build, I have spent R6k. Having said this, ordinarily CRC orders take a week to arrive, so in most cases they are faster than the LBS's as well. Use it, don't use it...Daft Vader2009-01-30 08:33:21

So the idea is to let the bike park owners make some money so that they can build the next one in the Oss Rondt. And before you ask, no, I have absolutely no financial interest in the parks, I am only a freerider that is so desperate for a place to ride and not get sued that I am building jumps at the bike park for free, gratis and for fokall. But I s'pose people will criticise them too...

People vote with their feet. I agree that it is a tragedy to lose ANY MTB trail, especially in deprived Jo,Burg, but it only catered for medium technicality. So none of the freeride and big hit guys bothered going there as the trails are too tight and are not enjoyable on any sort of freeride rig. (including DJ). I can assure you that the masses (i.e. all those beginners and people who aren't race snakes) enjoy the sensation of a flowy trail (even if they don't actually realise what it is) without the huge effort required to get some flow going. We call it the effort vs reward ratio. The new park, although smaller is more ideally located so that you don't have to drive for 2 hours to ride. That is where the people were obviously coming from. In addition, it has more flow in the Drop Zone and Green Mile trails. Another nail in the coffin is many (most) people think trails are easy to build and can be done in a couple of days. It takes a massive effort, time & expense to build trails. You can double or even treble that for a reasonably good trail. Then we have people moaning about the parks not being world-class and expect Whistler or Saalbach in Bryanston. There is absolutely no reason why 2 parks should not be able to operate in this vicinity. But seeing as 90% of the Jo'burg MTB community thinks that dirt roads are good MTB trails, real mountain biking is just not worth the effort. You want these parks to be able to stay around, then it's also part of your duty to support them, and to get your mates to support them.

location location location. I believe that is Logwood's shortfall.

And a later shot where more work was done...

Yes, but you will have this to look forward to Daft Vader2009-01-29 02:09:29

I have spent over R20k at CRC last year. My 2 orders in January were the only orders where there was a delay in shipping. Otherwise, their service has been 100%. You can work on about 7 days from order to the goodies being in your grubby little paws, with at least 3 days of that delay being in SA at the Poeskantoor...

RESPECT!!!

XC is for pansies. You get switched in 4x, fair game. he with the bigger goons rules. If MTB weent the way of holing hands, I'd have to take up something less faggot.

Is she hot?

Just wait for the dirt jumps to be finished. I'm sure you'll still be bored with it.

Whoop-dee-doo

Is it a case of your wife ran off with your girlfriend? Bummer...

Eish. The anticipation is killing me. Can't wait to build myself a new bike...

Me too. They say they have been inundated with orders. I placed my order last week Monday morning.

Has anyone ever tried to jump a tandem? A mate and I tried to do a stoppie on one once, but all that happened was that he mounted me...

Where the pics dude?

I think all guys who race are dopes... I'm more of a style over speed kind of guy. Pity I don't have any style either.

Yes I concur. I have never experienced such good service from any other distributor. Shamus and Kelly, You guys ROCK!!!!

You ditch the lycra and start wearing baggies.

I know for a fact that lawyer's letters were delivered to some of the trail builders stating the intention to sue these guys in their personal capacity. I have personally read the letters so it's not heresay. In fact, one of the guys who recieved the letter, was not involved in erection of the teeter totter at all. The fact that legal action is being taken and blame apportioned to other people for his own decision to ride the teeter and not recognising the limits of his riding abilities is the reason that Peter was slated on this forum. I sincerely hopes he makes a fast and full recovery, but I think that pursuing legal avenues is totally unacceptable.

The specialized okes are the funniest. everything has specialised all over it. The bike says it 200 times, and then they still think they need to plaster themselves with specialized paraphenalia so that it says it another 200 times in case you missed it....

This is him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMAIs8P1cMk