DARKFEST 2021 - Building Continues and Testing the Shark Fins

Hello everyone. Welcome back to the DarkFest build, where as you can see, it has been raining quite a lot the last few days. So the course is actually a little bit too wet and to save wasting any time, I thought it's a perfect opportunity to build up my new NS Fuzz, all in black, looks super pimp. Then once that's done, maybe the course will be a bit dry and we can go up there and work on a few things. We can do a bit of handwork and start smoothing some things out because we needed a bit of rain. It helps the jump stick together. But right now, like I said, it's just a bit too wet. So let's build my bike. I have a few upgrades to this one. Got new handlebars, bit blacker and more stealthy and these new spank grips, which are brown and look quite cool, I think. So here is the beast, the DarkFest NS Fuzz. The reason we use downhill bikes at DarkFest is because they're big and strong and they've got 200 mil of travel. I've got a 700 pound spring on here to make it super stiff to help with those heavy landings and those big, strong compressions on the takeoff. Basically, the speeds are just a bit too high for anything other than a full downhill bike. We just make a few adjustments, like pumping the suspension up hard, pumping the tires up hard, and just got a single speed because we don't really need gears, so we don't need that extra weight hanging around. So there it is, my NS Fuzz downhill bike, perfect for DarkFest, perfect for big jumps as well. We're going to make the most of the dirt being perfect and build these top shark fins here. That's our job for this morning. Lucky for us, Duran and Justin from the Trails Crew, widely known as some of the best trail builders in South Africa, have come to help us out this morning. They brought along some tools and many hands make light work, as they say, and we've managed to blast this first shark fin. They brought along some pretty cool tools for us. Ryan's working on the next one. We're on the second shark fin already. Pretty mean, there's a bit of rain around, but it looks pretty cool up here and yeah, things are looking good. It's amazing to really shape something up. I think we might be able to even ride them later. I'm sharing this nice toy that you got that's pretty much as good for a trail builder as a Ferrari is for anyone else. It is a Ferrari of spades, isn't it? Look, long, strong handle, smooth bottom, flat surface. That's how you can really get that good finishing line. That can lube the lips up. Obviously, there's a bit of a layer that's weathered over the last year. First of all, we have to chop that up, mix up the dirt so that the new dirt's got something to stick on, and then we put on the new dirt on, slap it up, make it hard, and hopefully, then it's good to go. All the trails creature feature. I don't know what the **** it is, though. Looks like we've got a full rideable line from the top through the shark fins off of here. Amazing. Thanks to the trails crew boys, we really banged that out. I think we should make the most of the weather and maybe do a few more things like this. Because it's pretty difficult to get a digger up here onto the big hip landing, we have no choice but to do it by hand. The landing's looking pretty good because it's covered up, so we're just going to rake it all over, give it a resurface, and make it look very nice. We have a new award this year. This is the Hellfair Hip, and they are sponsoring the highest air award. Whoever can blast this hit the highest wins a special prize at the end of the week. We've been working on the hip landing, which as you can see, it's now super smooth, super steep, ready to accept the ultimate height of that hip there, which leads you down into this road gap takeoff. We've done that too. If you come look over here, this is almost ready to go. All we need to do is a bit of work on the step-up. Ike boys come to join us. We're basically going to rake out all the rocks from this landing because this is quite like a good trick jump. A lot of crashes go down on here. Then there's this nice soft pile of topsoil, which you might rake in, mix in with the dirt to make it better than ever for tricks. Jeez, they look good, don't they, Krim? It's now the next morning. Because it's such an amazing day, no wind, sun is out, and the shark fins look so good, we thought for a bit of fun, come check them out and test out my bike as well. Make sure the bolts are done up tight on the small warm-up shark fins before we hit all the big stuff later in the week. Sick. Here we go then. Shark fins test one. That is sick. The bush is so scary, actually. You can't see the landing at all on any of them, which makes it cool. Ike's turned up for a couple laps too. Yes, how scary is it just sat at the top? You know it's just the shark fins, but you also know what's further down. Oh, it's so scary running into this one, isn't it? Very soft in here from the rain the other day. Yes, hopefully it dries out in the next few days. That's so good. Sick. But I genuinely couldn't stop, so I was like, yes, I have to go. Hard to see now, isn't it? Where there's bushes everywhere, you can't actually see the landing on any of them, so you just have to remember from last year and guess. Yes, and it's butter. Buttery smooth. I'm going to follow you off the road now. Okay, cool. The shark fins are amazing, super smooth. Everyone did a great job. Now, we're going to go ride the flow trail down to the bottom. Oh, yes, butter smooth, baby. Right, go for it, boy. Oh, love that bit through the bush. Woo-hoo. Wow, I almost had a big one. I tried to jump onto the road, got completely barked and nose-gazed onto the road. I slipped my pedal here. Maybe that's enough biking for one day. Things are looking good out here. Shark fins already riding. Yes, stay tuned. Sea Dog arrives tomorrow, so things are going to get good. We're really going to shape up the big ones and rider's announcement coming soon, the final list. Make sure you keep an eye out. Thanks for watching along, guys. See you next time.