Airtime on Stromlo's vapour trail

DH'er_28

Likes Dirt
It's been a couple of years now since the full extension of Vapour Trail opened but I finally got around to making a quick edit - just in case there's anyone out there that still needs convincing to come down and check it out ;)

And yes, I still ride a 15 year old Intense M3.


 

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
First off - love the bike! The video is great too.

Now questions...I went to Canberra a few years ago. The vapour trail existed and it was fun to ride but! I found it to have a lot of rounded over launch ramps and generally chopped up terrain. I put this down to a lot of traffic and lack of maintenance. The place and trail seemed to be a bit of a noob magnet. Is the trail being better maintained? Is the place still over crowded with nongs that should know better than skid down trails they can't ride? It's a great spot but suffers from the same issues as anywhere good and accessible...morons. Crowds of morons.
 

DH'er_28

Likes Dirt
I can totally relate - it used to be a trail I would always avoid for those exact reasons.

However, a couple of years ago they embarked on a massive project to rebuild the existing top section and extend the trail all the way to the road gap (near the bottom of the hill). When they did this, they built it into four distinct sections - each section increases in size of jumps, making it perfect for progression. I find that the busiest area is still the top section where the jumps are smaller and the rest of it is generally pretty quiet.

Maintenance nowadays is also much better and it's never choppy or that worn out anymore. Case in point - just a couple weeks ago they built up some jumps and added a new hip jump. I think this change speaks for Stromlo as a whole - there was a period for a while there (kind of following the 2009 world champs) where trails would only get restored when they had reached the point of being almost unridable. Nowadays, they're doing much more maintenance and adding new features/trails more regularly which is awesome. For a long time, I considered those first few years from the park opening in 2006-2009 world champs as the 'glory days', but I think now it's so much better. Not to mention the pump track and post-ride beers at Handlebar cafe at the bottom ;)
 

fatboyonabike

Captain oblivious
First off - Is the place still over crowded with nongs and morons. Crowds of morons.
Yes, it is still famous for what Canberra is well known for, they even create "Jobs" in the public service to attract morons from other parts of the country just to bolster numbers..That is why I left!
P.S. sick vid on a sick bike, keep up the good work
 

DH'er_28

Likes Dirt
Awesome, bike is a beast!
Thanks, the frame has a pretty cool story - it was a one-off M3 from the 2005 World Cup team, so it has a couple of quirks compared to the factory model. It started its life racing burly tracks overseas and I just feel like that’s what it was born to do, I basically can’t bring myself to upgrade. I’ve had it since the late 2000’s and the more that time goes on, the more I want to keep it going. Even though my modern trail bike feels awesome, this thing is still what I turn to when I really want to have a rip.
 

r.ayres1

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Awesome jumping display on 26" wheels :) Sometimes I feel ashamed of myself with my 'must have the latest it must be better' problem :( .. Truth be known, I was more than happy with some of my old bikes.............................................
 

teK--

Eats Squid
It's been a couple of years now since the full extension of Vapour Trail opened but I finally got around to making a quick edit - just in case there's anyone out there that still needs convincing to come down and check it out ;)

And yes, I still ride a 15 year old Intense M3.


I was gonna say... That's bloody good video quality for 2005 lol
 
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