Trail building and bike manufacturers

[stringbean]

I notice more and more bike manufacturers are getting involved in trail building and maintenance.Specialized has for a while been involved in Jonkershoek and recently I heard Rocky Mountain getting involved in Contermanskloof and a few other bike parks around SA.(not forgetting the local clubs as well as the guys of Table mnt doing great work).It's great that the bike manufacturers are putting money back into the sport in this way that is a benefit to all.A few weeks ago at Jonkershoek I noticed Scott also involved with the trails at Jonkershoek so a big up to all these guys.Carry on with the good work.

[Guest Omega Man]

Rocky are involved with the Garden Route Trail Park too.

[HLTGN]

I notice more and more bike manufacturers are getting involved in trail building and maintenance.Specialized has for a while been involved in Jonkershoek and recently I heard Rocky Mountain getting involved in Contermanskloof and a few other bike parks around SA.(not forgetting the local clubs as well as the guys of Table mnt doing great work).It's great that the bike manufacturers are putting money back into the sport in this way that is a benefit to all.A few weeks ago at Jonkershoek I noticed Scott also involved with the trails at Jonkershoek so a big up to all these guys.Carry on with the good work.

 

Just to clarify: Scott is only involved with the Jonkershoek Tea Garden at the gate and not the trails. Specialized is the only bike manufacturer that's involved with the trails in Jonkershoek.

[stringbean]

Oops sorry about that.You know what they say about presumption.I presumed when I was there last they were also involved in the trail building because of all the signage at the entrance.

[NickGM]

The more good trails there are, the more incentive there is to buy a bike. Or conversely, why would you buy a nice bike if there weren't good trails? So to me it is a commercial decision more than it is giving back to the cyclists. But as a person who was going to buy an expensive all-mountain bike anyway....it's a win.

[trailmansam]

The trails in Jonkershoek are about to be closed down!!!!!!!

 

Please read and help!!

 

This is a statement of fact!!!!! NO JOKE!!!!!!

 

Background:

When riding at Jonkershoek you pay at the gate for a day permit or you buy an annual permit. This permit gives you access to Jonkershoek and has NOTHING to do with the MTB trails. Not a single cent of this goes towards trail building and / or maintenance. NOT A SINGLE CENT!!!!! Cape Pine is not interested in the MTB trails and has no problem with shutting it down. The income derived from gate fees is accidental and does NOT form part of their business plan.

 

After the sorry state of the trails following the fires a few years ago a Trail Maintenance Movement (TMM) was created by a few concerning cyclist. They pumped huge amounts of their own money into the project. Specialized also contributed thousands and put signboards up to mark the various trails. On these boards they printed a very low key Specialized logo.

 

The movement is still strong and has a substantial slush fund available for trail maintenance.

Issues:

 

We as a group felt that there are people and businesses riding on the back of our effort without contributing a single cent towards the initiative.

 

The coffee shop owner was given a few bicycles by a local cycle shop at the beginning of 2014. They proceeded to brand the coffee shop and entrance to Jonkershoek with huge Scott branding, in effect ambushing the effort put in by the TMM. Jonkerhoek now looks like Scott Park and you might be forgiven for thinking that Scott diversified from bicycles into the growth of coffee beans and supply of roasted coffee.

 

Our request was simple: Please take down all branding or at the very least match the contribution of already branded contributors. The effort to set up meetings with the coffee shop owners was unsuccessful and Scott’s attitude is simply that they have a right to this, which they legally have but morally it stinks.

 

Their branding and attitude towards TMM resulted in a shutdown of all maintenance. This is clear from the sorry state of some of the trails.

 

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.

 

Our solution,

We feel that if you don’t contribute towards the effort you have no moral right to put your branding all over the entrance – if you match branded contributors’ efforts then you can. We are not prepared to pay towards corporate SA’s marketing efforts.

 

Specialized has agreed to make Jonkers a brand free zone – this is , and despite their huge contribution, our suggestion is to make this a brand free zone.

 

This will ensure that the much needed maintenance will go ahead and that the trails will remain open for a long time to come.

 

What you can do:

Put pressure on the people involved to remove all branding and request the owner of the coffee shop to attend the TMM meetings.

[stringbean]

I apologize again for the mention of scott.As said,the last time i rode there i saw all the branding and presumed they had something to do with Jonkershoek mtb trails.I am unaware of what is going on behind the scenes but it seems like some ambush marketing is doing some serious damage to the trails for everyone.Not cool on the part of Scott SA.If in deed what you are saying is true trailman there is going to be a lot of pissed off mtbikers out there.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I apologize again for the mention of scott.As said,the last time i rode there i saw all the branding and presumed they had something to do with Jonkershoek mtb trails.I am unaware of what is going on behind the scenes but it seems like some ambush marketing is doing some serious damage to the trails Someone's Ego. for everyone.Not cool on the part of Scott SA.If in deed what you are saying is true trailman there is going to be a lot of pissed off mtbikers out there.

 

Fixed.

 

I agree that it's ambush marketing, but there are other ways to go about remedying the situation than rampantly closing trails. In this case, it's not the MTBers behaving badly, which would be the only reason (apart from landowners decisions) to close trails on a plot where MTB has been central for ages, and so much work has been done.