Firepit Pump track

Build it and they will come, kept going through my mind as we drove out to meet with Damian Stones and check out the pump track he created in Ngatimoti, Motueka Valley (about 25minutes north of Motueka. http://www.firepit.co.nz/

My current experience with pump tracks is watching clips of Mark Weir, talking to a lot of people about Jackals and of course some great conversations with Damian about coming and seeing him.

The great thing about pump tracks is that you get the hang of them really quickly.........but it's not as easy as you think and you don't get to be as good as Weir or Lopes in an afternoon (bugger).

In my minds eye I was railing the top of the berms......but as the picture shows, not even close.

There are no pictures of Damian, because he makes us look silly.

And here is Mr Weir, making it look easy. So Mr. Weir can outclimb me, descend better than me and he's not shabby at this pump track thing.

Mark Weir's Pumptrack from Singletrack Magazine on Vimeo.

Distractions

Ok, I admit I'm a bit of a petrol head, Hello my name is Mike and I like performance cars, it's been two weeks since I revved the engine of my car for no apparent reason.

So I stumbled across this little movie clip on Vimeo (like YouTube, but cooler, YouTube is so last week).
A BMW 1 series Tii drag racing a new Jag, should be good........but NO, it's not the fast or the furious, more like the, sort of quick and the mildly annoyed.

Did I mention the soundtrack? Not sure what they were thinking there either.

Anyway, it distracted me, so you guy might as well be distracted too.
Long weekends are great.

BMW 130i tii from Daniel Michaelis on Vimeo.

My New Jackal

Long weekend ahead, my one goal for the day was the build my Jackal so I could check out the Firepit tomorrow.

Hmmm, 3pm and still no couriers. Single speed hub adaptor, pedals and a Fox fork travel reduction kit. Small things that stop you riding your bike.

I'm trying not to sweat the small stuff.

Really, not sweating the small stuff at all.

More new Santa Cruz frames proudly displayed on the Couch.

Medium Blur XC Carbon Frames now in stock, most of the silver ones have been spoke for, orange still available and you can get either a Fox RP23 or Rock Shox Monarch 3.3 rear shock.

These frames feel light and very stiff.....and look pretty good too.

Tim Wilding took his Blur XC Carbon to Wellington, you can read about it here;

Mike Ferrentino has got one too; he had this to say about his, click;

More Lime

Lime Green is my favourite colour.............. this week.

The good news is I can even match my new lime green Driver8.

Still not built up......my fault, staring at the box of parts will not get them to the courier.

Driver 8

My new Driver8, one of the few in the world. Fox RC4 rear shock, so nice.

It's sitting at Bike Culture in Rotorua at the moment. http://bikeculture.co.nz/

Go and see the guys there, they also have a new Jackal and some Carbon Blur XC's.....and of course the largest selection of Santa Cruz's in New Zealand.

More Driver8's coming soon.........

Holy Sheet, Peaty Wins at Lisboa (8th year in a row)

The video embedding won't work.....argh!.

Try here; http://lisboadowntown.sapo.pt/en/videos/

More news to hand, Hannar 2nd, Minnaar 3rd. http://lisboadowntown.sapo.pt/en/noticias/

Caleb goes riding with Tim Wilding (who has a new bike)

Caleb Smith caught up with Tim Wilding in Wellington. Well maybe Caleb just tried to 'keep up', not many people can actually catch the current NZ Single Speed Champ.
More here;

Nice bike, Tim

Distractions

Today is supposed to be head down, catch up on paper work day and not think about my new Driver 8 which is in Auckland and I am in Nelson.

It seems the distractions are everywhere. Isn't the internet supposed to make life easier?

There is a guy who made his own Wolverine claws, I wonder if you can cut soft cheese with them, that would be handy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giS2UAaKFK8

The guy who made his flat look like the inside of the star ship enterprise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U67CJqLUjA0

But really, I looking forward to the future, the Microsoft way....oh yeah, I'm not one of those Microsoft haters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0USn7eufXps

Breaking news: Peat victorious in Andorra

Picture thanks to Kathy Sessler

Steve Peat Wins his 17th World Cup DH, Greg Minnaar 3rd. So Syndicate Team hogging the podiums!

A little bit more info here; http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/breaking-news-peat-victorious-in-andorra-21645

Latest Spoke Out Now.

Rush out and get the latest issue of Spoke, not only is it a great read, BUT, you can see what Spoke think of the new Hammerschmidt on Caleb's Nomad and you can see pictures of Caleb with a beard.....and it's not even Mo'vember!

Aari Barrett in Andorra

Got this picture of the Andorra DH track from Aari Barrett.
So you think it's cold at your place at the moment, huh?

Santa Cruz have a Blog!

I don't know what you are talking about, I never said that 'Santa Cruz will never make a 29er', you must have me mistaken for someone else.

Mmmm, my hat is pretty tasty, no really, I love eating my hat.

Check out Santa Cruz's own blog for the inside word. You'll need Firefox or that Chrome stuff by google to read it.

http://www.santacruzbicycles.com/104bronson/?p=166

Nelson is going Pump Track Crazy

Pump Track Madness in an undisclosed backyard in Monaco, Nelson.

PEATY TAKES LA BRESSE

Distractions

OK, this is a NZ only joke...sorry for anyone outside of NZ not getting it.

Damian Stones thoughts on the new Santa Cruz Jackal

The top of the South Island seems to be the mecca for pump tracks, they are cropping up everywhere, the council and mtb clubs are looking at places to put them and people are now building them in their back yards.

Part of the reason has to be Damian Stones, Stones is passionate about pump tracks, so much so it has nearly taken over his life, check out http://www.firepit.co.nz/

So when a landed my first (very small) shipment of Jackals, he was the man I wanted to get an impression of what he thought of the new 09 version. Damian was currently running 'the ol humpy' version of the Jackal...until now.

Jackal 09 - PT / DJ bike initial impressions

The Santa Cruz Jackal 09 has arrived and I must say that after test riding it for a couple of days I'm most impressed. The bike seems to have gone back to its grass roots and simplified the concept of a pump track / jump bike. It has gone away from hydroform tubes to a simpler tube set, which makes for a cleaner looking bike.

It's also significantly lighter - about 2 pound lighter. The bike moves a lot more cleanly and has more acceleration through the corners because of the shorter back chainstays, and with the lower standover height it feels like riding a BMX, except you have a big 26" wheelset.
All of this means that the bike is like a rocketship on trail. At the moment I'm learning how to handle the bike, and control and pin it through the corners.

The integrated rear dropout/derailleur hanger to adjust the chain tension is fantastic - you don't have to use any guides which is great for simplicity - and the chain has no tight spots. So the pedalling experience is a lot smoother and more direct.

As for manualling, the bike is a demon in this area. You just have to have half a thought about manualling, and you pull back and rock back on your legs and the bike hits the sweet spot. I'm no king in this area but the bike feels a lot more solid than the previous model, and when hitting rollovers on the pump track it feels smoother and a lot more secure.

The quality of the bike's construction is amazing, and because of its cleaner simpler tube set the bike feels less bulky.

So those are my first impressions of the Jackal 09 and after I ride it for a month or so I'll do some follow-up posts.

Damian Stones

damian@bikeworks.co.nz
www.firepit.co.nz

NSMB test the new Driver8

This review has been floating around on NSMB for a while now, worth a read, click here;

Pictures for the 2009 Rest of the World Single Speed Champs

Thanks to Mike Vincent for these pictures of Tim Wilding and Annika Smail.