New Zealand Riding/Riders/Rides, and General Discussion and etc

PB Forum :: Australia / New-Zealand
New Zealand Riding/Riders/Rides, and General Discussion and etc
Author Message
flag JNZ
Posted: Apr 11, 2021 at 13:24 Quote
Skootur wrote:

I haven’t ridden CAP but I’d easily rate Cardrona over Skyline even. Awesome trails that are well maintained (ie no massive season-long braking bumps etc like in other places) and the lift queues are short as, even on a busy day. Last time I went to Skyline I spent more time waiting on the Gondola than riding my bike or riding IN the gondola.

I agree, Cardrona is brilliant.
flag mtbtrekracer
Posted: Apr 11, 2021 at 13:43 Quote
damn you must've gone at a busy time, i probably spent max 10mins waiting each time.
Go to CAP, you get on the chairlift instantly as its never busy because the trails are crap lol
flag squintyfox
O+
Posted: Apr 11, 2021 at 15:11 Quote
All this chat about CAP being crap has me wondering about Christchurch as a place to live and ride...

I'm able to work remotely and want to buy somewhere. With house prices being as nuts as they are, Christchurch or Rotovegas have looked like the better options out there. I've spent heaps of time in Vegas, so know what I would be getting into there. But I've only ridden in Christchurch a few times over the years.

Is Christchurch a good option? I'll ride lots in Craigieburn and elsewhere within a few hours when I can, but want to be able to ride regularly where I live.. thoughts..
flag mtbtrekracer
Posted: Apr 11, 2021 at 16:07 Quote
In fairness to CAP, they lost all the good stuff in 2017 with the fires and now the council owns most of it.
You can still ride the trails from the road rather than lift access, getting to the more northern trails from the lift is a bit shit as its a fast blue tech trail everyone has to ride... so its beaten up bad.
If its hot theres so much dust, as in no BS 1inch ontop so alot dont go untill it's rained recently.

Theres alot of issues regarding trails being built by volunteers and then nobody looking after them.

The one good blue flow jump line has crators in the berms that are just pure dust for the top half, the bottom half is new but it's getting banged up, lips are disappearing and its more like dirt jumps for some of them.

This video showed in december and its atleast 10times worse now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh9husHdgXs&lc=z231uv3phnyjgfvdxacdp434vt0kqhlande3s1cysphw03c010c&ab_channel=KiwiMTB

But honestly, if you lived in christchurch, its doable as a everyday couple day thing but my bike over 3 days in the dust and crap i've felt the need to service my fresh fork and pivots, it's hard on the bike

Would I pay money again for the uplift? uhh no, not unless i was racing.
If we go there we shuttle to the road lol.

on the upside, they have a very good free skills area that alot of people use. its excellent.
flag JNZ
Posted: Apr 11, 2021 at 19:01 Quote
squintyfox wrote:
All this chat about CAP being crap has me wondering about Christchurch as a place to live and ride...

I'm able to work remotely and want to buy somewhere. With house prices being as nuts as they are, Christchurch or Rotovegas have looked like the better options out there. I've spent heaps of time in Vegas, so know what I would be getting into there. But I've only ridden in Christchurch a few times over the years.

Is Christchurch a good option? I'll ride lots in Craigieburn and elsewhere within a few hours when I can, but want to be able to ride regularly where I live.. thoughts..

Depends.. I live in Christchurch, there is PLENTY of fantastic riding on the port hills. CAP is free if you ride up (your only paying for the chairlift). So the trails within CAP are probably 25-30% of what the port hills have to offer. If you want to ride park all the time then it maybe a bit tiresome but if you want to go up and down then Christchurch is great.
flag squintyfox
O+
Posted: Apr 11, 2021 at 19:21 Quote
Some good feedback! Cheers guys. Some reassurance that there's still good riding outside of CAP is good to know. The chairlift isn't really a make or break for me, but would be a nice addition if the park was a go to, especially some decent tech riding in the trees. It's a real shame about the fires!
flag Skootur
Posted: Apr 12, 2021 at 1:08 Quote
squintyfox wrote:
All this chat about CAP being crap has me wondering about Christchurch as a place to live and ride...

I'm able to work remotely and want to buy somewhere. With house prices being as nuts as they are, Christchurch or Rotovegas have looked like the better options out there. I've spent heaps of time in Vegas, so know what I would be getting into there. But I've only ridden in Christchurch a few times over the years.

Is Christchurch a good option? I'll ride lots in Craigieburn and elsewhere within a few hours when I can, but want to be able to ride regularly where I live.. thoughts..

You could consider Dunedin...
There’s heaps of riding in & around the city. 3 Peaks Enduro should tell you how good the riding is. Also Alexandra, Wanaka & Q’town are all within a reasonable drive away.
flag squintyfox
O+
Posted: May 21, 2021 at 20:56 Quote
Lived in Dunedin for 5 years, and still have fam in Central Otago, so will be down there a bit anyway. Decided to go for Rotorua in the end.. cheers for the feedback.

Another question. Has anyone found any shops that sell Michelin Wild Enduros in NZ? Or even online retailers that we can access here in NZ? They may be suffering from the stock shortages too. I've ridden Minions for the last forever, and keen to test the waters elsewhere..
flag mooreoutdoors
Posted: May 22, 2021 at 14:52 Quote
squintyfox wrote:
Another question. Has anyone found any shops that sell Michelin Wild Enduros in NZ? Or even online retailers that we can access here in NZ? They may be suffering from the stock shortages too. I've ridden Minions for the last forever, and keen to test the waters elsewhere..

The importer of Michelin dropped that brand about 2 years ago.
They never stocked the wild enduro's sadly, I cleaned them out of the wild rockR's (long since sold).
They prioritized the roadie tires in NZ, just did the wild rockR's and a couple of the crappier MTB treads, never made much headway with the brand and just gave up as far as I can tell.
flag streetkvnt-kvlt
Posted: May 24, 2021 at 16:38 Quote
squintyfox wrote:
Lived in Dunedin for 5 years, and still have fam in Central Otago, so will be down there a bit anyway. Decided to go for Rotorua in the end.. cheers for the feedback.

Another question. Has anyone found any shops that sell Michelin Wild Enduros in NZ? Or even online retailers that we can access here in NZ? They may be suffering from the stock shortages too. I've ridden Minions for the last forever, and keen to test the waters elsewhere..

Trade Me man. There's an Australian online retailer selling them with reasonable shipping costs. Epic fail on the NZ importers part for that. Though from previous experience some importers/suppliers are stuck in the past when it comes to new tech.
flag mtbtrekracer
Posted: May 24, 2021 at 17:07 Quote
streetkvnt-kvlt wrote:
squintyfox wrote:
Lived in Dunedin for 5 years, and still have fam in Central Otago, so will be down there a bit anyway. Decided to go for Rotorua in the end.. cheers for the feedback.

Another question. Has anyone found any shops that sell Michelin Wild Enduros in NZ? Or even online retailers that we can access here in NZ? They may be suffering from the stock shortages too. I've ridden Minions for the last forever, and keen to test the waters elsewhere..

Trade Me man. There's an Australian online retailer selling them with reasonable shipping costs. Epic fail on the NZ importers part for that. Though from previous experience some importers/suppliers are stuck in the past when it comes to new tech.

most bike shops are still stuck in the past, if you open online and sneakly ship bikes.. especially t7 they would sell far more.
flag squintyfox
O+
Posted: Nov 22, 2021 at 16:02 Quote
Kia ora team. I'm heading down to Nelson in a few weeks for a holiday with my partner. She doesn't ride, but is happy for me to get out for a few rides while I'm there. I reckon I'll be doing well to squeeze in 3-4, three hour'ish rides while I'm there.

I've ridden there a few times and vaguely know the network, but looks like there's been a few additions in the last few years, and I'm sure some trails have had some more work than others too.

I like techy steeper stuff, but I'll mostly be riding by myself. Any loops, new trails that I should have a whirl on while I'm there?
flag Pennyrisk
Posted: Feb 7, 2022 at 17:54 Quote
@squintyfox, did you find your way around? The new butters track, named after much-loved guy who used to post in here, is really good.
flag squintyfox
O+
Posted: Feb 7, 2022 at 18:12 Quote
Kia ora PennyRisk.

I did manage to get down.. although I managed to time it with a week that continuously drizzled.

I was lucky enough to have worked and ridden with Bernard, so did a lap of Butters in his memory and squeezed in a lap of Te Ara Koa as well. Such good additions to the network! Looking forward to another trip down there to get some solid riding time in.
flag Pennyrisk
Posted: Feb 8, 2022 at 13:51 Quote
That's good to hear. I also made it down from Wellington for a couple of weeks, was great to finally ride it and honour the man. Pretty hard not having him around. However, his trail, the rere jump track and probably aorere were all highlights. Rebuilt firball was also pretty cool.

 


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