Why's that if you don't mind me asking?
There has been alot of hardwork put into it, surely if people are worried about it you could just modify it or make a new/safer kicker.
Chris
Main problem is legal liability.
Lets face it, anyone who builds a jump (no matter how big or small) runs the risk of being sued. However as most jumps are built by a number of often unknown people (trail fairies) and subsequently added onto by others in a fairly organic fashion there isn’t a clear & direct line of responsibility for someone to sue.
Thanks to this tread and the general interest in the jump most of the builders have been fairly clearly identified putting them at risk.
Also thanks to this thread the builders have received a very strong and clear warning from their fellow MTB peers that if ignored would be further proof of negligence.
The fact that most of the warnings have been completely ill informed wouldn’t matter in a court of law and we now have a situation that if someone walks past the jump & stubs their toe it will be a case of “I told you so”.
For those interested in the “real” facts about the jump as opposed to the emotional responses that have been posed I would offer the following comparison to the other steel jump after the ladder drop that hasn’t seen any of the same publicity.
Jump after ladder drop V New 747 jump
Kicker angle: 30 degree V 26 degree
Lander angle: 30 degree V 30 degree
Jump horizontal distance: 6 metres V 6 metres
Lander length: 4.1 metres V 4.6 metres
Vertical distance tip of kicker lander base (over shoot fall distance): 2.8 meters (approx) V 4 metres (approx)
Gap?: no V yes
As you can see from the above there isn’t a whole lot of difference between the two jumps other than a scary looking gap & a bit more height. Filling in the gap may make it a bit safer but also encourage a lot more people who shouldn’t really be hitting it to have a go. This would also be a significant cost in both time & money and still not address the legal liability issue.
There is no one more disappointed than the builders that the steel work has to be removed as there has been a lot of time a money invested in what was intended to be a great asset for the freeride community.
Anyone who enjoys riding freeride would understand the risk calculations that have to be done before hitting (or deciding not to hit) a new stunt so they can live to ride another day and I hope would appreciate that the risk analysis on the steel structures is now saying to cut our losses before we get owned by the things.
Cheers