Afan; What bike to use?

DFitz123

Going to Afan for a couple of days to cover all trails, haven't been before and am needing some advice on which bike to take? Have a Scott Scale 70 (hardtail) which is great for ascents but awful on descents and a Scott Nitrous 10 which is heavy and hard work for ascents but great as its designed on descents. Would the Nitrous outweigh the Scale on the majority?

Thanks in advance

P-Jay

Ether will do.

The HT will of course make the climbs easier, BUT......

There's is the sort of stuff there that will let you, let a big bike, like a Nitros off the lead.

Personally I'd take the Nitros every day of the week. Puff and pant to the top of Whites and smash down the Black run, Windy Point, Energy, Tombstone and back to the Drop-Off for Beans on Toast with a massive grin plastered all over your boat.

Langers

You would be fine on a hardtail, especially on the uphills, but you will feel a bit rattled going downwards again. I found my Epic was a good compromise (but then I do hate lugging heavy bikes up hills!)

junglist_matty

Afan is easy on a 100mm hardtail, you'll be fine... The full sus would be more fun on the DH sections, but hell on the uphills, especially if you do the ascent at whites level!!!

Itsari

What junglist_matty said. Though my mates marin was a bit sketchy on whites final descent - Penhydd on the other hand The Eldridgre eats that up.

Thewaylander

I got with full sus, my frinds boosts his spesh SX trail all over the place.

And its all about gnarly fun rather than girly speeding up the climbs and you know it lol

hangeron

I did the Skyline not long after it opened on a Raleigh Activator. My daughter has ridden a fair whack of the Skyline on a 8sp fully rigid Islabike.

Matt Page (wiggle pro rider) has ridden all 4 Afan/GC trails in one go at just under 6hrs....on a singlespeed.

It's not the bike that's important.

Thewaylander

Yup and riding afan on a rigid is a bit boring and battering.

Afan climbs are not really technical or anything, but the downs are fantastic fun (specially if your from the south england where you have no hills or midlands).

So you take the tool to take the best advantage of the fun sections of trail. That in this case i would say is a full susser no questions, as it allows you to carry massive speed on the rocky slippy downs.

Shaggy_Dog

I'd take the hardtail. Might be worth puchasing yourself a Stan' tubeless kit before you go if you don't want to be spending more time fixing pinch flats than riding.

All of the welsh trail centres can be ridden easily and enjoyably on a standard 80-100mm travel hardtail if you're reasonably experienced. I must admit I prefer riding a 29er or 120mm full suss at trail centres mostly down to the ridiculous speed that the trails can be ridden. 140mm or more is overkill.

Thewaylander

Hmmm i wouldn't say 140mm is overkill.. Just means you can go really really fast on the downs.. hehe

Shaggy_Dog

I timed myself on a variety of bikes on the Wall descent for a certain MTB website a few years ago. The fastest bikes to my surprise was a Santa Cruz Blur 4x and a Lefty equipped Cannondale Rush. They were also the easiest bikes to get to the top on. Sure, the bigger travel bikes were better through the graveyard section but were slower by the time I'd reached the bottom of the hill.

There is however a distinction between what IS fast and what FEELS fast. Of course there is absolutely nothing wrong with feeling like you're going fast. Genuinely going fast is actually quite a dull experience because you don't f*ck up or have any near death experiences. Hence, why I like short travel bikes, death may be just around the corner!

Choccy

I've ridden Afan loads of times on my Superlight with Fox F120's and have only ever been slowed down on the trail by people on full sussers with no skill or people on hardtails getting scared of the speed.

I have no doubt you can do all of the trails on a hardtail, just as you can do all of the trails on a DH rig but centre ground is the most fun as it makes the ups doable and the downs fun.

It's just a shame your bikes lie at either end of the scale (no pun).

Choccy...

Thewaylander

Shaggy_Dog wrote:

I timed myself on a variety of bikes on the Wall descent for a certain MTB website a few years ago. The fastest bikes to my surprise was a Santa Cruz Blur 4x and a Lefty equipped Cannondale Rush. They were also the easiest bikes to get to the top on. Sure, the bigger travel bikes were better through the graveyard section but were slower by the time I'd reached the bottom of the hill.

There is however a distinction between what IS fast and what FEELS fast. Of course there is absolutely nothing wrong with feeling like you're going fast. Genuinely going fast is actually quite a dull experience because you don't f*ck up or have any near death experiences. Hence, why I like short travel bikes, death may be just around the corner!

Ths is overall time. And to be hoenst when i ride i couldn't give a monkies if am faster or slower on the ups, as long as i'm enjoying the sections of the trail i enjoy most.. and thats the downs, and i find a bigger bike really adds fun there.

The fastest guy I have seen at afan ont he downs was riding an older SX trail and didn't care how fast he got up because he was grinning the most everywhere else

bigpaul

hi i am new in sheffield i have been mountain bikeing for years tho but most of that has been in the south so up here i dont no where i am at is there any mtb clubs that i could join or somethink

the_prophet

ive done it on both a prophet and a 100mm travel racey xc hardtail. as said, the hardtail was alot easier and faster on the whites level climb, and still pretty fast on the downhills after that but the prophet was even better. just let it do what it wants, instead of picking and choosing lines the hardtail wouldnt cope with.

its a very good trail on either imo so just take them both and do two laps

Shaggy_Dog

I only timed the descents

Pr][nCe

took my santa cruz cham HT with the forks on 120mm was superb on the HT nice to get up the hills but still plush enough to have plenty of fun on the way down with a little extra in the tank after the easy up. not much there to warent the full sus unless you like the ragged edge down hill parts but you tend to catch them up bouncing around, not tryed the heckler there yet as just built will let you know.

baba123

i'd say a adjustable travel hardcore hardtail would be great compromise,

Shaggy_Dog

or a twentyniner

Stuntman

I use to use a Yeti ASR 7, sold that to get an Spesh Enduro and then found that my Epic is the best. Kept up with a mate on his Tracer on the Descents and kick a$$ on the climbs.

stomith

hangeron wrote:

It's not the bike that's important.

For me, it is all about the bike as I have no personal ability at all!

HT = OK with caution
Full Sus = Fillings stay in...Speed increases.

I take Full-Sus...just so the uphill is challenging and the downhill is more rewarding.

jamie_79

I've riden my hard tail on The Wall. It was a blast, coped extremley well and i was just as quick as the full sussers on the decents

RealMan

I felt overbiked at afan with my saddle dropped and 140mm forks on my hardtail. Can't see the reason for riding a full sus there, unless you have back problems or something.

Thewaylander

Real with your overbiked thing lol.

mrlewis

i rode my scott scale round afan a month ago and would say that its more than capable of handling all that afan has to offer!

gotta love the scale!!

pastey_boy

id say you would be safe with a mountain bike IMO. a bmx would hrt your wrist and a road bike would struggle in the corners