It was 1993 when Rotorua’s dirt gold was discovered by a trail builder – the perfect blend of top soil, ash and pumice – ideal for flowy, fast riding. With a humble spade beginning the work, over the next 27 years a love of mountain biking exploded into 180km of world-renowned trails in Whakarewarewa Forest.
A cornerstone of the riding community today, the Rotorua Trails Trust (established in 2014), maintains and rebuilds existing trails as well as creating new ones.
The lads and ladies who live and breathe this craftsmanship are masters of their tools.
They have eyes for a good line, calculations for the perfect jump and a feeling for the right gradient. However, they also know there are logistically better ways to do the job.
Trails Trust manager, Damian Clarke, says hauling up to 30kg of equipment into the forest for trail maintenance or builds can be a serious slog. “We’ve got to do the work and bring all the gear back.
"Driving people and gear around the forest is expensive, time-consuming and environmentally unfriendly."
In late 2019, Bosch eBike Systems sat down with the crew and discussed the challenges of building and maintaining the Whakarewarewa trail network.
The result: this partnership has led to the build of two purpose-built trailers for the Rotorua Trails Trust to use with their Trek eBikes epowered by Bosch.
One trailer is being built for trail building and another trailer is being developed for trail maintenance, both decked out with a new set of Bosch power tools required for the job.
Day-to-day, the Trails Trust team needs to carry a lot of gear in the forest - this can include a rock bucket for the digger, 10L of fuel, a leaf blower, rake, shovel, hedge trimmer, chainsaw, PPE, fire extinguisher, first aid kit, pest control items and lunch.
Jeffson Bikes owner, Jeff Anderson, is the craftsman in charge of the trailer design and build process utilising his 37 years of experience in frame building. Bosch NZ eBikes regional technical manager, Kieran Bennett, is throwing in technical know-how, including eBike battery capability and load capacity.
Over the past few months, as trail maintenance and building have cranked into high gear, Jeff and the team have refined the design to deliver a tailored solution to help productivity and workload out in the forest.
How will the trailers help the Trails Trust day-to-day? This is what the guys have to say:
“Some days I ride in to do trail maintenance with the massive leaf blower on my back and my lunch packed on top – it looks crazy, but at the moment it’s the only way to do it.”
“Our previous trailer bottomed out, wasn’t balanced and didn’t hold the tools well - having a trailer custom made to work with our day-to-day requirements will be a huge help.”
The trailers are due to be launched soon, so keep your eye out for them next time you’re enjoying the Whakarewarewa trails.