LanceB

"The climb up is long but not technical so it just a question of pacing." And it is mostly covered singletrack climbing through the forest so you have shade. Bonus. "The way down has some track that is rocky and rutted." Perhaps, but nothing out of the ordinary and that one gully is well signed. "Overall it's a fantastic route." Quite. The closest to Karkloof type riding I have done in WC. Absolutely worth the cost of whatever climbing is involved.

"Jonkers just seems so far and expensive to travel to every weekend." Cheap as chips gate fee, especially if you take the year membership option. RideIn is a great meet-and-recover venue enabling a morning and afternoon session. Striking scenery. Excellent trails. Virtually no crowds on the gradient stuff and those you do encounter are similarly minded and benevolent descending types. I ride Jonkers three to four times a week. Which requires a lot of 04:30am alarm time if you live in Sea Point. It is inarguably worth it, harnessing what is a world-class riding resource. With fuel prices suppressed in the short-term, there really is no excuse. Even at R1 per kay, it's a bargain.

Floating rear triangle would sway my bias to Banshee. But Transitions are just as desirable with regards to pure descending geometry. Just buy a Spitfire, with a DB inline and Pike, post it and spoil my year. You know you want to.

SC in its natural habitat and therefore at its happiest: hunting down some fire(trails).

A boutique bike brand I’ve been attentive to and quite fortuitously happened upon at one of the Jonkershoek demo days. Can’t comment on the Rune, it is a bike well beyond the fold on my riding ability. Spent some time on the Spitfire which makes for a stellar trail/enduro bike in my estimation. Adjustable geo is fantastic bike geekery, yet in principle it is plenty slack enough even in the steepest setting and has a substantially generous top tube length. Suspension sophistication is notable with a true floating/independent rear triangle - think Santa Cruz, Ibis, Intense. Dampened by Cane Creeks hugely desirable Double Barrel, the Spirtfire tracks over broken terrain without any trace of wayward pin-ponging. It’s reassuringly stable when rolling over trail chaos, yet the wide bars and committed geo collaborate to make for a bike given to fantastically intuitive directional changes when you speed up into berms or terrain requiring deft flicks to navigate. Builds are striking too: Chromag goodies make for much Whistler bike park associated sexiness. If you are keen on a pretty killer 140mm rear travel, floating triangle linked trail/enduro bike made from proper 7005 aluminium the Spitfire is WW2 RAF naming convention retro done rather right. As an aside, the A-Line people are authentic bike persons too: this does not appear to be a drone like distribution business. I rode with them and they were so very stoked to be in Jonkershoek.

"I rode out in the Tygerberg area 4 weeks ago, and the trails are so groomed/dummed down Id call it a complete waste to ride anything more than 5'' on any of the trails we rode at Merendal, Hillcrest or Contermans, even Majik forest..(not talking about the HD track at contermans) There were no natural obsticles left to jump or push off, after the 50th switchback at merendal I was bored out my mind!! the only thing I enjoyed was the little flowing bit by the stream at the end. Trailbuilders PLEEEESE leave some gnarl or take the trails over some steeper stuff even for us with 95mm travel.. " If you venture to the Tygerberg network without riding the north facing bit of Hoogekraal, what is the point: really?

"Doesn't matter where you ride this time of the year in the Cape - the WIND will find you and HURT you!" - Not in Jonkershoek, which adds to its already substantial appeal...

"Seriously, can anyone enjoy riding up that HeartBreak Hill?" This is the most efficient way of getting back across to the Black Diamond drop-in point after finishing Neverending Story. ​If you need to rail a lot of trail in a shortish amount of time, it is an opportunity cost well worth paying.

Some moisture down earlier this week. Trails are in very railable condition. Trance, with appropriate tyre and damper pressures.

There is a pumptrack or two in Windhoek. A few downhill trails that run from the hills down to the border areas of the higher altitude suburbs. And some pretty radical freeriding stuff on the farm Liechtenstein, down south. cene is expanding as I understand it. Neat place to test your fatbike affinity, now Manie takes fatbikers into the Namib from time to time. Lovely snakes this time of year too.

The red and blue team edition Lau rides.

He certainly did appear to be paying attention, incentive boosted by some choice bits of parental provided candy. I was jealous of those WTB tyres on his bike. Hopefully an EWS 2027 campaigner in the making.

I'll be following this thread with curiosity.

“It is us withholding funds because we are not happy with branding going up at our expense.” Trailmansam, If you are not a commercial entity, how do you calculate the expense? If you are not a rival bike brand, how do you ascertain the concept of Scott’s branding being present at your expense? The lot of a principled volunteer is not one which sits easily in the commercial world. But as I said previously: if the issue here is credit, how should we justifiably apportion it? I have worked on projects, found crucial solutions, only to see a team leader take all the credit. If the project is delivered within scope and cost, on deadline, and I do not get a sticky star on my forehead come performance review time, well, it happens. Often. Solutions? Because the issue at hand would appear to an abstract one. I asked about build days or the Jonkershoek trial fund account number. And no answer, so one must assume the conflict is not about funding or manpower assistance, but rather credit. And that is not going to be easily solved when a commercial interest sits so close to a volunteer build organisation. If Mr.T does not remove the signs, are we going into a total impasse? Is this 1986?

There appear to be two points of contention: credit and assistance. If the issue is financial assistance. Let us open and publicise a private trail fund and contribute to it. Conversely, if the issue is mechanical assistance: make a call to action for volunteer build days, which I cannot ever remember being made. The work done there is of a very high standard and skill, perhaps volunteers would just be a hindrance, considering how pedantic Cape Pine appear to be about access, vehicles, equipment use. Keen amateurs could be destructive, despite good intentions. If the issue is credit, well, that is a point of true contention. How does one show benevolent appreciation for the work being done? Do we have a braai or a trail appreciation day (similar to the Red Bull opening of Full Nelson in Squamish?).

Trailmansam "Because of the lack of current maintenance the trails are in bad shape - not all, but some." The new line through the Slangpad section with the three jumps, which was closed and then reopened, very recently? Is this the last maintenance to have been done, or an indication that there is a discrepancy in the timeline or uniformity of the maintenance embargo? This is not a factious question. "Individuals are spending their own (key word) money and time to fund the building and maintenance of the trails that you ride in Jonkers." Institute a private trail fund account, which I do think does exist. I'll deposit. Many others too, I suspect. It will give those without the time and geographic proximity to Jonkershoek for spadework (like myself), and happen to use it often over weekends, a stake in the maintenance. "Cape Pine will close the trails FOR EVER if riders get injured and they try to recover medical expenses from Cape Pine because of no maintenance on the trails." They are not quite Sappi's Karkloof operation. Noted. One does not wish to go beyond the tipping-point. As a test case: has there been a closure at a very popular, high-use mountain bike venue in South Africa due to an injury claim compensation being instituted?

"Essentially that building is a Heritage / protected building just by its age alone. So, essentially, there should have been application to erect signage with the Heritage Department of the Western Cape Government, as well as the local authority... Did that happen? " Can you hear it? Oh wait, yes, I think that perhaps that is the sound of a digital penny dropping? Trailmansam, when in doubt, turn to the building code.

Trailmansam... "Specialized wants to remove their branding and has agreed that it should be a brand free zone." Then they are moving with the higher principle. Let us hope it has the desired consequence.

"is way out of character for the building and history of the area" - now that is the axiom of a proper argument Pain or Shine.

MTB_Roadie "I went to Jonkershoek and their trails is okish" - Not quite, which is why this pending issue is of most primary importance. Jonkershoek is the closest thing we have to proper Alpine riding preparation. Truthfully: the only way this Friday could get worse would be a WhatsApp confirming the in-laws have arrived for a surprise weekend visit in the Cape.

All told it is a most unfortunate state of affairs Matt, somehow I doubt he would have validated such an overly emotional and dramatic statement, especially one with a surfeit of exclamation marks and posted with relative anonymity on a very public forum. That said: in principle I have much sympathy for his position.and understand the frustration at what is seen as ambush marketing. Practically, though: how much time is spent and awareness absorbed at the gate as opposed to the shop a bit further down the road, or at the trail drop-in points? If we are going to qualify it in pure marketing value? I do enjoy the place muchly and do the Waterfront-to-JK-and-back commute three times a week just to ride there. Drastic action will be an undesirable for my riding and trail enjoyment. Logging is a fluid dynamic of JK and a variable there is little control over. There are similar issues in BC. One could only hope for some constructive engagement when it is done, though that is perhaps overly optimistic.

"WE ARE NOW PROCEEDING WITH THE PHYSICAL CLOSURE OF SOME OF THE TRAILS AS WE ARE NOT PREPARED TO FACE POSSIBLE LEGAL ACTION FOR INJURIES SUSTAINED BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF MAINTENANCE ON THE TRAILS Which trails are being closed? I assume Bobby was notified about this call to action and it therefore carries his full support?

Eraser: Lefty's are within the fold of their skill-set if I recall. Ample parking and easy in-and-out access off Eastern and the N2 too.

"He bust me pushing up the Double Black. lol." - But Omega showed excellent trail traffic awareness and allowed me through with a generous margin of maneuvering space, so full mountain karma to him. You can ride all the way from the top on a ridgid, but you need to drop the saddle, and know what is coming. Makes for a good trail reconnaissance opportunity, you scan terrain differently and notice technicalities, because you are going so much slower and need to be more aware. It does amp one and create some expectation for the next ride down such a trail, on the dual-sus, which should be back form the shop in time for this weekend. Joy.

Rear suspension travel? 140mm? SuperMax Lefty portside up front, it would appear.