Captain Fastbastard Mayhem

Yeah he did break his pelvis somewhere... but there had to be penetration from something otherwise the bleeding would just have been internal. The guy on the side wouldn't have known that his pelvis was broken just by stemming the blood flow. Maybe it was a previous injury?

Nah. Definite penetrative there. Otherwise there would just have been internal bleeding. So it must have been a brake lever.

That's the normal cost on customs / vat. Calculated on Value plus 10%. The clearance fee is the bit where DHL charge ZAR 150 and the PO charge 30. Ups varies. but the calculation is correct.

That's really not cool, bro. First I've heard of them (or the postal system) stuffing something up like that. If you had said DHL though, I'd have understood

No problem dude. Will work 100%. Chain is the same across x0 and x01. No compatibility issues.

Ja but let's face it. That section is hardly a challenge to climb. And it looks as if it has so much flow on the way down. Btw. I do climb. Slowly, but I climb.

Boss man got me these... perfect for working and walking the mountain.

Not yet, taahir. But there are plans for a climbing track that will allow you to get to the top of mamba from the bottom of boomslang. It may be longer though. At the moment it's jeep track all the way back.

Ja, and? Have any retailers shown an interest? It's not as if they do the same as ritchey did, and are offering to sell at lower prices dorect to public than the LBS were able to offer. They're offering direct sales ad the only option. Nothing wrong with that.

Nope.

Black. In keeping with local skills and conventions. We cannot yet compare local trail to Europe, when the majority of riders view a pavement as a "major obstacle" Sad but true.

You mean the thing that WASN'T found on many an early XT / XL / XR 500 / 550 / 600!? That meant you had a good chance of removing your calf if you got the compression stage & throttle position wrong on the kick?

Indeed. Which is why there's quite a bit of focus on putting in new lines in Tokai, as well as the skills park areas etc. We need to put as much trail as possible, but it's just such a pity that we have such a limited amount of slope to work with in Tokai...

And this is EXACTLY why people get confused. Trail grading colours MUST be standardized. And the best way to do that is by following the IMBA standards. With a few years in the sun, the red grading colour will look pink, and people will think they can ride it. And be wrong. Horribly, when they encounter a drop across the entire trail (red route, after all) and aren't prepared for it.

Unfortunately that makes DH0 a Red trail. Agreed on the rest of them though. Firmly blue. Pretty much everything but that rock drop into the flow section on DH1 is rollable. But, as you (and I) have said, the grading needs to take the prevailing trails into consideration. There are very few PROPER black trails in RSA. Other than the provincial / national level ones, of which there are a handful. And yes - the level needs to be raised. For developments sake. But we also can't all-of-a-sudden make EVERYTHING on the DH line a black, overnight. People WILL end themselves. It has to be a gradual increase in technicality, so that in 3 to 5 years, maybe, it's a proper black, and not blue interspersed with a single red feature. Say it's red in a year's time. Then yellow in 3 years. And so on.

Hmmm. Interedasting. By that classification the DH trails in Tokai (and most of the country) would be Red. Jonkers new DH line could also be red / yellow. What would PMB be considered, as compared to the Euro WC standards? Yellow?

Did you read my follow up post, dude?

Nice review, dude... Where did you get them from? Not many FUNN stockists out there!

SO true, dude... oh. And it is Friday for me. Off to the mountain tomorrow to put in some much needed, freshly printed SIGNAGE!!!

Awesome, dude!!! Just awesome!

Ja, but unfortunately the grading is a necessary feature for the public liability insurance that trail centres and landowners need to have in place. If a trail isn't graded, or is graded incorrectly according to the rest of the region / country etc then the insurance won't cover it, and the landowner will be liable for any damage / injury incurred as a result of an accident. Cos if the trail is graded blue and it has a road gap in it somewhere, it's not actually a blue trail. It's a black trail with blue features. So unfortunately grading is here to stay. Luckily we have the IMBA and the standards they set for trail grading, so we can go by that. But as with everything, it's open to interpretation. Which means drastic differences between here and other places and even different trails in the same region.

But also remember that the gradings have to be relevant to the overall perceptions of the riders as well. So in the case of SA riders in general they are a black trail

DH0 is black cos of the road gap. Otherwise pretty much everything could be classed as blue.

Lol. Tokai DH trails are only just black...

Lol. It's not that dude. There are plenty of places that a blue / black grading would be warranted. But some people just don't know that a loose corner is NOT a technical feature described by 3 downward black arrows, normally reserved for drops over a metre high...