As some of you may know, I have been riding a Jedi since last April, but for some reason, felt the need to get a fresh ‘09 for my trip to BC. The biggest question was “should I stick with the Roco that I know and love, or take a chance and try out an Elka?” The one thing that I really liked about the Roco was how lively it is. I’m constantly playing on the trail, looking for any rock or root to pop off of, as well as being on the constant lookout for a good jump to huck off of. I have ridden Jedi’s with DHX’s and always blew threw the travel just preloading off of jumps, (which is not very confidence inspiring). I have ridden my bro’s Jedi with a Cane Creek and wasn’t stoked with how dead the bike felt. Could the Elka be the answer???
I was fortunate enough to meet Patrick Tellier from Elka at the Mount Sainte Anne WC. He invited me to try a Stage 5 at Bromont the following weekend. After slapping it on my bike I was anxious to see if I would jump ship after riding Roco’s for 4 years.
I headed up to my favorite trail at Bromont, named Trail 20, and headed down trying to pin every corner in sight. The first thing that I noticed was how much smoother the rear of the bike felt through choppy sections. (HUGE BONUS!!!) The next thing that I noticed was the bike actually pumped better through the short turns on the trail, (this is why I love #20!!!) So far so good. The question is will the bike still pop off things when I start to play? Well, I almost overshot the alpine slide table at the bottom of the hill!!! SICK!!! I ran over to Patrick and he offered to take a few runs with me to really dial it in. Now, I generally have a good understanding on suspension setup, but this was such an amazing opportunity to learn from a Pro. As we rode sections of a trail, he would watch how both my bike and I reacted to different terrain. He would then tweak a few knobs and we would hit the section again. I was blown away that adjustments would actually work so you can actually feel a difference with a single click of the knob. By the end of the day, my Jedi was SO dialed that I forgot that I was riding my bike. It was just me, flowing down the trail.
Fast forward one month and I found myself on an EPIC three week BC vacation. We based ourselves out of Whistler with plans to ride as many other locations as possible. I had a few friends from back home with me, Pound and Bernard, as well as my amazing wife that sincerely enjoys a day of filming without ever getting bored.
We hit Whistler up a bunch, Sun Peaks in Kamloops, as well as a few of the other local goodies- oh man, they build stuff SO BIG out there. Then we finished the trip off with a few banging days with my bro Ian from Squamish. Ian is the tour guide of the century as he knows all the good secret spots!!!
All and all the trip was super RAD, and I am blown away with my new bike and it’s factory tuned Elka!!!
I just want to thank Chris, Lance, Patrick and of course my wife for making this all possible…
Well, enough of my babble. Here's a few goodies from my 2009 BC trip with tons of classic Whistler shots as well as a few sweet lines from the Collective Films. Just another sick vacation of shredding on my Canfield Brothers Jedi... ENJOY!!!
Vin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/icTpNZiKpx8&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/icTpNZiKpx8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
I was fortunate enough to meet Patrick Tellier from Elka at the Mount Sainte Anne WC. He invited me to try a Stage 5 at Bromont the following weekend. After slapping it on my bike I was anxious to see if I would jump ship after riding Roco’s for 4 years.
I headed up to my favorite trail at Bromont, named Trail 20, and headed down trying to pin every corner in sight. The first thing that I noticed was how much smoother the rear of the bike felt through choppy sections. (HUGE BONUS!!!) The next thing that I noticed was the bike actually pumped better through the short turns on the trail, (this is why I love #20!!!) So far so good. The question is will the bike still pop off things when I start to play? Well, I almost overshot the alpine slide table at the bottom of the hill!!! SICK!!! I ran over to Patrick and he offered to take a few runs with me to really dial it in. Now, I generally have a good understanding on suspension setup, but this was such an amazing opportunity to learn from a Pro. As we rode sections of a trail, he would watch how both my bike and I reacted to different terrain. He would then tweak a few knobs and we would hit the section again. I was blown away that adjustments would actually work so you can actually feel a difference with a single click of the knob. By the end of the day, my Jedi was SO dialed that I forgot that I was riding my bike. It was just me, flowing down the trail.
Fast forward one month and I found myself on an EPIC three week BC vacation. We based ourselves out of Whistler with plans to ride as many other locations as possible. I had a few friends from back home with me, Pound and Bernard, as well as my amazing wife that sincerely enjoys a day of filming without ever getting bored.
We hit Whistler up a bunch, Sun Peaks in Kamloops, as well as a few of the other local goodies- oh man, they build stuff SO BIG out there. Then we finished the trip off with a few banging days with my bro Ian from Squamish. Ian is the tour guide of the century as he knows all the good secret spots!!!
All and all the trip was super RAD, and I am blown away with my new bike and it’s factory tuned Elka!!!
I just want to thank Chris, Lance, Patrick and of course my wife for making this all possible…
Well, enough of my babble. Here's a few goodies from my 2009 BC trip with tons of classic Whistler shots as well as a few sweet lines from the Collective Films. Just another sick vacation of shredding on my Canfield Brothers Jedi... ENJOY!!!
Vin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/icTpNZiKpx8&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/icTpNZiKpx8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
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