What bike for Snowdonia

Noel PT

Off to Snowdonia for my birthday end of dec. Never been there, but very keen to make the most of it. I will be staying at budget Pontins in Prestayn.

Really interested to know what sort of riding to expect.

Should I take my XC bike or my All Mountain?

Would be interested to hear anyones point of view and any do's and don't's for the area.

Thanks in advance.

timpop

Take your Stump Jumper. The trails are great fun up there; I especially like Coed y Brennin. It's really intersting riding and takes an all mountain bike very well. It's nice to have all that suspension out there.
Have fun!

Noel PT

Cheers mate, I suppose I should have said.

Stumpy or Ransom?

Getting a Ransom for my birthday. Its a bit more of an All mountain than the Stumpy.

Ransoms gonna have 160mm vs the Stumpys 140mm.

I hear there is a curfew on the mountain? Do you know anything about this?

Googling it now actually.

sniper68

I would be more worrid about staying at Pontins...what a complete shithole it is.Did it once never again.We paid £38 on a Sun holiday and felt we were ripped off
Bikes,whatever you fancy.For the trail centres in N.Wales a HT or FS will do.I ride them on a FS but when my HT is built I'll probably use that.I can't comment on the natural stuff there as I haven't ridden any.
If you want to do Trail centre head for Coed-Y-Brenin,Penmachno or the Marin and LLandegla is close by.

Noel PT

I expected Pontins to be a budget stay. But to be fair its just a bed to lay my head, I don't expect much. And I dont plan on spending much time in the room. Cheers for the heads up.

Anyone got any info on the Curfew is it just March to Sept?

pilsburypie

Think you're right about snowdon unofficial riding ban. This time of year you can go up when you want

Noel PT

Glad to hear it! Now all I have to worry about, is loosing digits from frost bite.

timpop

Lucky. Nice birthday present. Take the Ransom then, you'll be jonesin to get out on it and I think you'll be fine, it'll rule the trails. Apparently they climb well so you might as well take it.
Have you already booked pontins? It'll be worth looking for somewhere nicer. There are loads of nicer places to stay.

Have fun though, it's the riding you're there for anyway.

Noel PT

Timpop, we all booked and done, unfortunately....!!! Had no idea it was so bad, until I started reading reviews after the fact! But will just have to focus on the riding.

I think it was always going to be the Ransom, unless somebody said it was tame and the climbs were crippling.

Wish I could take both!

dan shard

Have a go at Llandegla *black*. Its the most fun Ive ever had at a trail centre. Really fast and flowing with plenty of jumps, and there have been loads of mods recently to make it a little more tricky







*most people would classifiy it as a red not black*

dan shard

ps
140mm travel is more than enough for anything you'll encounter in wales imho.

Father Faff

How can you say 140mm is plenty for anything you will encounter in Wales? You have clealry never ridden down the slate quarries in a straight line!

pilsburypie

Or cwm Carn downhill!

ilovedirt

140mm is enough for most of the trails over here, i ride my hardtail on most things, though i would have my FS if it was my decision.

dan shard

Father Faff wrote:

How can you say 140mm is plenty for anything you will encounter in Wales? You have clealry never ridden down the slate quarries in a straight line!

Youre quite right...Ive also never jumped out of a plane on it either.

Let me rephrase

140mm travel is more than enough for anything you'll encounter in wales imho....unless you plan on going in a straight line down a quarry, trying downhilling, jump out of a plane on it, or ride off the summit of snowdon. In which case (which according to the OP you dont want to do) you should use the equipment designed for it

better?

Ive done the majority of major trail centes in wales on a 100mm FS and never seen anything that I thought was too much for for it, so to NEED more than an extra 40mm on something...Id say pretty doubtfull in wales

bluechair84

Having lived in Bangor, ridden the quarries, the trail centres, the DH scene and ridden Snowdon plenty - I'd say it can all be done on 140mm.

However, some people [rely on their suspension more than others / have more fun on a 160mm sledge / are just plain fancy-pants / are that much faster than me]. I'd take the Ransom just becuase I'd have a ransom There are always occasions for the big rig where ever you are (unless you live in Newark ) Take the Ransom but just be extra fast.

There is a summer time limit on Snowdon. I don't know the season off hand.

My sig is a dawn raid on Snowdon, taken at about 3am at halfway house. Got to the summit to watch the sunrise 8)

anjs

Likely to be snow and ice on the tops of most mountains at this time of year.

Thewaylander

ilovedirt wrote:

140mm is enough for most of the trails over here, i ride my hardtail on most things, though i would have my FS if it was my decision.

These comments are such crap.

140mm is more than enough for anywhere, not just here jeese. a few yars back pro DH was on Hard tails and so on.

Different amounts of travel allow you approach things differently, like my 120 could ride everything i tried in Wales, was it comfortable with the steep head angle.. not hugely where my 160 is due to the head angles. Travel means less than the angles. and i could ride all of Wales on a single speed Rigid, doesn't mean i will enjoy it(because I hate single speed)

But if i were you i would bring your Ransom as it's slacker so you can treat it like a little hoe in all the rocks. Big fun and if your lucky you may meet ncie locals who show the wicked steeep fun locals trails


And the cerfew, is don't ride between 9-5 in the summer I think not annoy the walkers. it's a gentlemans agreement but its rarely broken by anyone.

ddraver

I'd take the stumpjumper - i ve ridden almost all of N wales (save proper DH) on the hardtail,

I think you'd have more fun on the trail centers with the stumpy and the climb up Snowdon would be more fun

If you do Llanberris up and down, you definitely don't need the Ransom, if you do Llanberis up, Rangers nearly down and telegraph valley back to 'beris then you may benefit from the Ransom (but not much). The latter is what I'd recommend if you don't mind a smidgen of navigation...

(FAO yeeha - we ve previously agreed to disagree, let leave it at that )

Shaggy_Dog

Take the ransom, it's your new toy!