Rob Posing for a photo to send to the nice people at Da Kine
Sunday came and brought perfect weather for a Wildcard test session at Esher Shore..finally a chance to put the new Wildcard through a proper beat down....and no hills in sight to climb up which was a relief
We ran the WC in the 5" travel setting to get it to sit lower with a slacker head angle, and turned off the platform in fork and shock to make the bike nice and plush for riding the trails and stunts found at Esher Shore
Keith turned up just before lunch, and Esher trail crew member John "Jesus" Holme turned up on his Chaparral eager to check out the new Wildcard...he's had his eye on one for a while
I rode the Wildcard on all the trails across the park, and it took a little getting used to the light weight and increased chuckability compared to the old Chaparral, it was very easy to over rotate my hip airs as i found out several times...one kid said "thought you were going for a 360 there!"
Rob chucking the WC down the Stuntgod hip line
Keith then had a good session riding the Wildcard, the first proper ride he said he'd had in a long while, and came into the Freeborn shop next to the trails with a big grin on his face
John showing off his crazy trackstand skillz...
Keith and John spent the afternoon blasting round the trails, trying out all the different stunts, including some stunts that neither of them had tried before, not too many crashes thankfully!
Keith getting to grips with the brutal drops on the Stuntboy trail
I weighed the bike on some digital scales - 35.3lb spot on - so very light for a mid-travel slopestyle bike; Keith and I looked over the build and realised there was no where that any more weight could be shed without resorting to using carbon fibre, titanium or compromising the strength - and with the WC being a handful already, doubtful whether taking off more weight would be a good thing!
Rob dropping into "The Demo" trail pit of doom..watch out for the rabid badger!
As is usual on Sunday, it was a busy day at Esher Shore, and plenty of riders were curious about the new bike, and exactly what was going on with the cameras and Keith and John flinging themselves about the trails...
Apart from a crash at the bottom where some guy hurt his ankle, it was an awesome day and a long overdue reminder of how much fun riding at Esher Shore can be...check out http://www.eshershore.com/ for more information on the bike park
The Wildcard performed very well and was really fun to fling about, and coped very well with all the skinny technical stuff like "The Woodpile", "Rotor Wrecker" and "Skinny Jim", and seemed happy riding the faster trails like "Dirtboxing", "Stuntgod" and "Earthling" which are littered with all kinds of drops, berms, gaps and stunts
Next test will be going to Woburn Sands and flinging the Wildcard off some big drops and over some road gaps...I'll keep you updated
Rob C
