Fourcross world champion, Tomas Slavik and the king of urban downhill, Filip Polc spent a week in Bikepark Nevados de Chillan to train for first two races of CDWT in Santos and Valparaiso. The trails were super dusty after month without rain and the guys had a chance to train in conditions which are impossible to find close to home.
"It is always good to train with someone else, with someone who is as great as you are. If you train alone you never push it 100%“ - Tomas Slavik.
Video:
Fullface ProductionsPhoto:
Jan Kasl
MENTIONS: @fullface-productions @redbullbike
....and for those who didn't notice,the truck @ the beginning is a Ford Ranger, completely redesigned for 2014, but not sold in North America........everywhere else on the globe, just not sold in North America........because it might take a few sales away from the F150, on which the margins are mui bueno
nhts.ornl.gov/2009/pub/stt.pdf - see table 20
pickups are very useful vehicles because of the large flat bed with open top and sides. they are useful for private and commercial material transport and double as private transportation. much better than a bmw or mercedes or vw coupe. you know, the cars that almost every german drives.
When you look at German streets you hardly see any private Pick-Ups. Where I live there are very much american soldiers (I live near the Air Base Ramstein, if you ever heard of it) and over 75% of the Pick-Up's or heavy SUV's you see are american.
I mean, sure they are great and I don't want to be offensive to anybody. I just want to understand why there are way more Pick-Up's in the US than in Europe.
2011 in Germany, 13.358 Pick-Up's were sold in total, while there were over 3,6 million new registrated cars.
de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/200383/umfrage/zugelassene-pickups-in-deutschland
(Sorry for my bad english)
1) Unfortunately, fuel costs are cheaper in US than Europe. Americans just don't prioritize fuel cost and economy as much as other countries. That leads to auto purchase decisions that do not prioritize fuel economy and prioritize other things like utility.
2) US is huge and depending on the city, even the dense cities have more physical space set aside for autos than other countries. Having a large truck isn't necessarily an inconvenience in large cities.
3) Less sure about this but auto market is different in US than other countries (because of #1 and because of our auto "culture"). The portfolio of a given US auto maker has a higher proportion of trucks to cars than auto manufacturers in other countries. Given #1, this makes sense. But for undecided auto buyers, they may be influenced by larger variety of autos compared to other countries that may have a more "limited" selection.
Having a pick up is also necessary for a lot of people. Even though the US is famous for its metropolitan cities (NY, Chicago, LA, etc) a big part of the American Citizens live on the Country side or have at least land out in the woods or a boat to transport, so that's why it is necessary to have a Pick up, specially if they drive through snowed fireroads 4 months a year.
In Germany almost everything has some sort of paved access and when in need of transporting something big the supplier or the vendor will deliver the service.
I live in Mexico right now and here is a different story, there are still lots of unexplored areas which are not paved, so for MTBers is a must to have a pick up.
@jesusrendon Where have you lived in Europe, if you don't mind my asking?