Bike Park Wales

[nappa]

Got me levo and love it, but it doesn't jump too well for me as I'm a lump too, want to go to bike park wales and was thinking of getting a dedicated bike for there.

The bike needs to be light and nimble with lots of travel so do I get a downhill or enduro bike?

Anyone got any suggestions.

thanks

 

[Doomanic]

[Gary]There's nothing wrong with the bike, you need to work on your technique.[/Gary]

I was at BPW yesterday. In the group were 2 Kenevos, 3 Levos and a lone Trek. All jump fine. Rider weight ranged from whippet to Clydesdale.

 

[Doomanic]

On the other hand, I do have a 2016 Nukeproof Mega 275 in my garage that I really ought to sell, so yes, your bike is shit for jumping and you need this;

 

[Dwazzer]

I agree with the above...better technique and maybe a look at your suspension settings! The Levo is a VERY capable bike ?

 

[nappa]

thanks, never said there was anything wrong with it, just asked a question... As I just want to do what's best for me that's all

 

[Dwazzer]

 

[nappa]

jesus christ, I give up

 

[Dwazzer]

jesus christ, I give up

Lol! In answer to your original question...an Enduro bike ?

 

[JPag]

Enduro bikes are great for BikePark. 150/160mm travel is more than enough for all the trails unless your looking at lapping 50 shades/enter the dragon where bikes take a bit of a beating. Best advice is to have a sit on a few and see what fits/feels best ? Definitely easy to be a bit overbiked in terms of suspension.

 

[Dax]

Tricky question. If it's pure Park, uplift only, I would go dh bike. I've ridden a lot of park miles on my enduro bike and quite a few on various dh bikes. Both work very well, arguably there isn't much in the UK that needs a full dh bike (expect @Gary will be along to correct me in a minute).

If you're only looking to uplift, I would probably buy a DH bike, the extra plushness in the suspension reduces hand fatigue and the extra travel gives you a bit of insurance if you get a landing wrong. If you ever want to pedal it anywhere, buy the enduro bike, the Transition Patrol is the most fun of the current crop, although the new bromad looks worth a ride.

I've ridden bpw on my enduro bike and on my dh bike. My jumping wasn't noticibly different on either. The only real standout memory of a difference is Terrys Belly is horrible on a DH bike

 

[Gary]

Got me levo and love it, but it doesn't jump too well for me

[Gary]There's nothing wrong with the bike, you need to work on your technique.[/Gary]

I've no idea if anything's wrong with his bike or it's set-up but i can say with confidence the levo is a perfectly capable bike to manage trail centre jumps on.

Tricky question. If it's pure Park, uplift only, I would go dh bike. I've ridden a lot of park miles on my enduro bike and quite a few on various dh bikes. Both work very well, arguably there isn't much in the UK that needs a full dh bike (expect @Gary will be along to correct me in a minute).

I've happily done full days uplifts on Ft William WC track on a 120mm bike. and full days at Dunkeld, Inners and Ae DH tracks on 100mm hardtails. Doesn't mean either were the best choice though.
Yes modern Enduro bikes are incredibly capable but on a track worthy of a DH race bike it is still the better choice. My DH bikes are both 35lb and pedal very very well.

I've no idea what a bike park is TBH. Bike park wales is just a trail centre in my eyes.

 

[Dax]

I've no idea what a bike park is TBH. Bike park wales is just a trail centre in my eyes.

I was discussing this with a mate while riding up BPW on friday, I’m not aware of a formal definition, but in my opinion these are the typical characteristics:

Bike Park:
- Focused on DH
- Uplift available
- Multiple official trails (8+)
- Pay to ride
- Privately owned
- Employed trail building/maintenance team
- Uphill trails are there to get to the top of the descent

Trail Center:
- Focused on trail loops
- Free to ride
- FC owned
- fewer official trails (2-4)
- Trails built with FC or grant money and no maintenance budget
- Volunteer trail builders

Maybe watch the video above and see if any of its familiar

 

[Gary]

Taking my local trail centres (GT/Inners) as an example

- Focused on multiple National/Int standard DH tracks and a 20+ yr history in DH racing
- Multiple unofficial (unsigned) routes used for XC/endurance events to national/Int level
- Official and unofficail enduro stages - Used for multiple National/International events
- Uplift & shuttle bus between venues available
- Multiple official signed trails (50+)
- Pay to ride park
- Privately FC owned[/s]
- Employed, contracted and volunter trail building/maintenance teams -Trails built with FC, local business, grants and outside funding
- Uphill trails are there to get to the top of the descent and also form graded trail loops
- Free to ride
- FC owned/managed in conjunctionwith private companies (Uplift/parking/Cafe/Bikeshop/Guiding/Coaching)
- Massive unofficial handbuilt trail network

The only part I've ever heard referred to as a park is the frerid area at Glentress, an area with 4 separate short DH trails comprising multiple jump lines, drops, skinnies and wall rides. and it's own car park at the bottom - No uplift as there's no point. it's a 5 min push/pedal back up to the start.

The vid made me cringe 5yrs+ ago in the same way everything Al Yankovich ever did does.. I doubt my opinion has changed. Apparently I'm weird for not enjoying cringeworthy musical parody/comedy.

At the end of the day it's all just wording and trend. in reality all the guys riding around on 160mm bikes with cute little uniforrms, fanny packs and goggles hunting out #Enduro strava segments are in actual fact still just riding XC exactly the same as we did in the early 90s when we weren't pushing a bike uphill to ride DH tracks. But XC wasn't seen as cool enough (and more importantly didn't sell enough bikes) Hence the terms AM/Trail/Enduro being thought up.

 

[Dax]

Sure there are places that cross over the boundaries, there are trail centres with DH, but I was answering your question about what a trail Center is. Sounds like what you’re talking about is a trail center, or maybe a forest where people go mountain biking

A quick look at the trail maps helps:

 

[Ledg]

Got me levo and love it, but it doesn't jump too well for me as I'm a lump too, want to go to bike park wales and was thinking of getting a dedicated bike for there.

The bike needs to be light and nimble with lots of travel so do I get a downhill or enduro bike?

Anyone got any suggestions.

thanks

Which levo have you got? I demoed a 2018 one in the alps and I was more then happy to send big gap jumps on it. On fast jumps it was just as easy as my enduro bike. Only time I found it harder was lower speed jumps where I would need to pull up hard to make them on my enduro bike and the extra weight made it harder. Sounds like you need to work on your jumping skills.

 

[Gary]

@Dax See those black lines north of the visitor centre on your BPW map? Back in 2000/01 I helped build some of those tracks. Many years before that I was also helping build DH tracks in the woods surrounding Inners.
It's cool to think what these places have evolved into and TBH I don't really care what folk call them.
Just please don't ask me to watch anymore "funny" parody songs.

 

[nappa]

I come from a motocross background jumping is not the issue, i just want to do it on a lighter bike

I have had my c2-7 fussed and just want to do it on a lighter bike

 

[Doomanic]

In that case I refer you to post #3.

It will do everything you want and be considerably lighter than your Levo.