Lourensford MTB membership @ R14,375 ?!?

[hansolo]

I wonder if that price gets you a mechanic that flies in to fix punctures with a barista to make coffee while you wait?

I wonder how many people will sign up for this “gracious” offer? I really hope some sanity prevails…

[bleedToWin]

Can guests ride without their sponsoring main member present?
Are guests fixed to a membership or is it up to 3 guests at any one time?

Trying to understand if it's a weird 4-person membership or truly single membership with a guest system to just remove admin of day-permits and foster exclusivity.

[PhilipV]

Lourensford is pretty much mostly everything that’s wrong with MTB right now. 
fortunately, we can still enjoy riding wether they are operating or not. 

 

 

[Shebeen]

11 hours ago, sirmoun10goat said:

I’m pretty sure it’s meant to be R4 375 and not R14 375.

 

The only way this makes sense if as reported earlier it is a group of 4x memberships, (which can't be bought individually).

Which also doesn't make sense.

 

The other factor is they are hosting 2.5 stages of the Cape Epic 2025 including the finish. Keep the riff raff out before the C suite come in end of march 

 

[mazambaan]

My only thought on this is that it is either for the mega wealthy (and many of them are very careful with cash so marginal) or a tax dodge whereby the company pays for the membership as a cost. Still big loot to me.

[Skubarra]

1 hour ago, bleedToWin said:

Can guests ride without their sponsoring main member present?
Are guests fixed to a membership or is it up to 3 guests at any one time?

Trying to understand if it's a weird 4-person membership or truly single membership with a guest system to just remove admin of day-permits and foster exclusivity.

Unless it changed a visitor can ride without a member, but you cant ride on your own, you need at least one other person riding with you.

 

[ChrisF]

4 hours ago, PhilipV said:

Lourensford is pretty much mostly everything that’s wrong with MTB right now. 
fortunately, we can still enjoy riding wether they are operating or not. 

 

 

 

Why ?

 

Sure, it is way outside my budget.

 

But it is their farm, their business model, their clients ... and let's not kid ourselves, there have and always will be an clientelle for an exclusive experience.

 

We have thousands of kilometers of other trails to enjoy in the Western Cape.

 

 

Other than the few people living outside Lourensford's gates, this is no skin off our noses ...

[dave303e]

50 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

Why ?

 

Sure, it is way outside my budget.

 

But it is their farm, their business model, their clients ... and let's not kid ourselves, there have and always will be an clientelle for an exclusive experience.

 

We have thousands of kilometers of other trails to enjoy in the Western Cape.

 

 

Other than the few people living outside Lourensford's gates, this is no skin off our noses ...

the issue comes when all the other riding venues can double their price and still be seen as 'cheap in comparison' and we as riders then end up forking out above inflationary amounts because of 'industry trends'

 

Remember then the most expensive bikes were 70k so most of us rode 10k bikes, 15 years later and you can easily drop over 250k on a top end bike so a 70k bike is seen as a well priced mid level bike...

 

You see it in production animal sales... Bunch of guys club together and spend a million at auction on a cow that they already own through some way or another. Boom it goes through media and the next week at auction stud bulls are selling for 30-40% more...

[PhilipV]

38 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

Why ?

 

Sure, it is way outside my budget.

 

But it is their farm, their business model, their clients ... and let's not kid ourselves, there have and always will be an clientelle for an exclusive experience.

 

We have thousands of kilometers of other trails to enjoy in the Western Cape.

 

 

Other than the few people living outside Lourensford's gates, this is no skin off our noses ...

I should rephrase that. 
not Lourensford the farm. 
The Clay Pigeon/MTBing on Lourensford at $$$$$ crowd is what’s wrong with mountain biking. 
It’s the school kids on S-Works, the C-Suite doing Epic. The illusion that MTB needs to be expensive to be fun. 

Maybe I’m just disillusioned by how crap the riding vibe has become, or maybe I’ve just become an acerbic old man who wants these kids to get off my lawn. 

Nevertheless, I’ll go back to riding my singlespeed around the corner from Lourensford, and enjoy the little oasis of trail running on the other side of the same mountain where a year permit is R200 and trails are built and maintained by volunteers. 

['Dale]

Ouens en Vrouens

What's the value offering here that justifies the price tag? [no sarcasm or gripe; real query].

Or is it the old marketing strategy of creating desirability-through-exclusivity, a bit like Luis Vutton or the Ferrari owners' club? [no sarcasm here, authentic question]

 

[Skubarra]

27 minutes ago, 'Dale said:

Ouens en Vrouens

What's the value offering here that justifies the price tag? [no sarcasm or gripe; real query].

Or is it the old marketing strategy of creating desirability-through-exclusivity, a bit like Luis Vutton or the Ferrari owners' club? [no sarcasm here, authentic question]

 

Subjectively I think there are some good trails on the farm. Looks to be safe. as everything is enclosed on a single property. Nice views. A restaurant and coffee shop at the start - that is about as far as I can praise the "value offering"

I get the vibe of lets make as much as possible money from a few riders then we don't have to go through the effort of managing the masses (more trail maintenance, people wondering off trails into areas they are not supposed to go, missing the 11h30 deadlines etc)

[Robbie Stewart]

6 hours ago, PhilipV said:

Lourensford is pretty much mostly everything that’s wrong with MTB right now. 
fortunately, we can still enjoy riding wether they are operating or not. 

 

 

And with Tygerberg hosting the start of Cape schlEpic next year does this mean they will follow suit and also start charging some stupid tariff to ride their trails - (only 2.5 of which are actually any fun, one of which they don't even maintain or build - I digress)?

[PjT]

That is crazy!!

Almost better to pay for the entry fee for Wines 2 Whales? You can ride the whooooole day, get food, and some goodies (top and bag) 

[Me rida my bicycle]

2 hours ago, 'Dale said:

Ouens en Vrouens

What's the value offering here that justifies the price tag? [no sarcasm or gripe; real query].

Or is it the old marketing strategy of creating desirability-through-exclusivity, a bit like Luis Vutton or the Ferrari owners' club? [no sarcasm here, authentic question]

 

Ek weet nie maar, as daar nie 'n mooi kaalgat girl jou bike was/service en 'n ander vir jou Blue Label bring en wat ookal ryk mense chow terwyl jy wag waar nog een jou koud waai nie, is ek ongelukkig uit. 🤣🤣 Die is my rede en nie oor ek 'n armgat is nie 🫣

[bespokes]

On 11/5/2024 at 10:02 AM, snakedoctor said:

Just had a gander at https://clayad.co.za/products/membership-mtb-adult for a membership of Loursensford MTB and noticed than an annual membership comes in at R14375 ... up from R3000 last year. I'm ..... stunned.

 

$@&? off - what a joke