New Zealand - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

[patham]

Just as a warning for Hayleyearth, this drowned Xenomorph from Aliens nearly gave me a heart attack when I saw it in a drainage pit in my backyard. I really, really, really never want to see a live one.

 

[patham]

On 6/24/2024 at 6:17 AM, patches said:

Dammit, I need to get out and about on the bike!

The other day I was shuffling things around in the garage and had to move the MTB's and dirt bike out. The levels of dust and cobwebs on them is unacceptable!

Beware of deterioration! Amazing how hydraulic brakes turn to sponge, sealant turns into gunk, chains turn into friction generators, and gear indexing falls apart when bikes are left alone too long. My one spare bike became an absolute health hazard and was unrideable after sitting for 1.5 years.

[patches]

54 minutes ago, patham said:

Beware of deterioration! Amazing how hydraulic brakes turn to sponge, sealant turns into gunk, chains turn into friction generators, and gear indexing falls apart when bikes are left alone too long. My one spare bike became an absolute health hazard and was unrideable after sitting for 1.5 years.

Tell me about it, the Hope M4's on my slopestyle bike are kaput! Also don't know who the Hope agents in NZ are and CRC went bust, so might be a pain getting a service kit.

But that's a problem for future me! Present me can't even find time to dream about riding 😅

[patham]

31 minutes ago, patches said:

Tell me about it, the Hope M4's on my slopestyle bike are kaput! Also don't know who the Hope agents in NZ are and CRC went bust, so might be a pain getting a service kit.

But that's a problem for future me! Present me can't even find time to dream about riding 😅

I see the CRC site is still up, I think they could be trading under administration or so. But they no longer have Hope as a searchable brand, so their ability to provide stuff in general might be much reduced from their heyday. Which was supported by vast proportions of my monthly salary back then. Titanium weight weenie QR skewers anyone?
 

As a rabbit hole I just checked if Torpedo 7 might have Hope stuff for you, and saw that business got sold off for $1.00 a few months ago, so it must also be struggling. When I came to Aus, their Aussie operation was the bomb.

[hayleyearth]

Riding looks a bit different these day than what it did on The Spruit....

10 points for the 1st one to recognize the old Spruit local

 

[hayleyearth]

On 6/25/2024 at 8:02 PM, patham said:

Beware of deterioration! Amazing how hydraulic brakes turn to sponge, sealant turns into gunk, chains turn into friction generators, and gear indexing falls apart when bikes are left alone too long. My one spare bike became an absolute health hazard and was unrideable after sitting for 1.5 years.

I have stripped my beloved bike this past weekend and taken the fork, shock and dropper in for a full service. The bearings in the suspension links are done! 

Going to be good riding again after this, thinking of booking in weekends already with Layla.

 

But I'm going to Japan from 1st Sep - end Nov (business), so will have to put that on hold a bit.

[hayleyearth]

On 6/25/2024 at 7:56 PM, patham said:

Just as a warning for Hayleyearth, this drowned Xenomorph from Aliens nearly gave me a heart attack when I saw it in a drainage pit in my backyard. I really, really, really never want to see a live one.

 

I'll actually be in Brisbane on 5th Aug, quick business trip (I'm employing someone there at the new Suntory factory in Swanbank).

[patham]

22 minutes ago, hayleyearth said:

I'll actually be in Brisbane on 5th Aug, quick business trip (I'm employing someone there at the new Suntory factory in Swanbank).

Swanbank- Ipswich. The Springs of Brisbane. Don’t judge us all like that please.

But as you drive there you might see my hills of my local trails on the right hand side of the M5 highway from the airport just as you exit the Legacy Way tunnel.

I’ll be in the vineyards outside Adelaide for a work conference that week, so I can’t offer a 1 hour tour….

[Stretched@Birth]

19 hours ago, hayleyearth said:

Riding looks a bit different these day than what it did on The Spruit....

10 points for the 1st one to recognize the old Spruit local

 

It’s Jay, glad to see he can still pedal a bicycle..: 🤪

[patches]

On 7/10/2024 at 3:55 PM, Stretched@Birth said:

It’s Jay, glad to see he can still pedal a bicycle..: 🤪

Boy can he ever!

I know when he first moved over he was commuting from Titirangi to Mt Wellington and back each day... and it's not a flat ride.

 

 

[Wayne Potgieter]

BUMP

How is everyone doing on this thread? Everyone ok?

[E1A104]

2 hours ago, Wayne Potgieter said:

BUMP

How is everyone doing on this thread? Everyone ok?

All good thanks, was a wet weekend in Wellington... why am I surpised?

[patches]

On 8/19/2024 at 8:57 AM, Wayne Potgieter said:

BUMP

How is everyone doing on this thread? Everyone ok?

Between the rubbish weather and the public holiday drought, this time of year is always a little bit of a slog. Labour day long weekend can't come soon enough!

 

[Wayne Potgieter]

4 minutes ago, patches said:

Between the rubbish weather and the public holiday drought, this time of year is always a little bit of a slog. Labour day long weekend can't come soon enough!

 

Absolutely agree. Any plans for the summer?

[patches]

2 hours ago, Wayne Potgieter said:

Absolutely agree. Any plans for the summer?

We're about 5 days away from going unconditional on a little place in Takapuna. Once that happens and we settle (planned for late October), we're going to be broke as, haha!

We have 1 last hurrah, 10 days in Sydney around labour weekend, but for a change we'll be doing Christmas the Auckland (with the in-laws possible coming over).

Plus I'm on call at the hospital over this year's Christmas break (I manage to avoid it most years by going away), so not shaping up to be a very exciting summer.

How about the Potgieter family? Anything fun planned?

[Wayne Potgieter]

WOW - Thats cool news about the house. Yeah, also trying to save some pennies so a quiet December is planned. Other than some runcations we are going to hang around. Orewa is gorgeous over summer, so we will enjoy all it has to offer.