MTB New Zealand
Hi, i will ge gong to new zealand for a few months starding in jan. i will be traveling all over the place, does anybody who has been riding there before know any places that have good riding, and places to hire bikes (just for the day). i have heard that the downhill is epic arround queenstown. i am usually an xc rider but figure i might as well give dh a try while i am over there. any towns/ citys that are worth going out of the way to check out the rding possiblitys? - basically any info and or suggestions would be great! 
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Hi
I was over in NZ last year and there is plenty of riding on both the North and South islands. I spent most of my time there on the South and went to Queenstown for a few days. the place is awesome but does take a while to get there from Christchurch. There are a couple of bike shops there and one that does hire and uplifts (by helicopter as well). If you google it, the town is easy to find your way around. You also have the Port hills around Christchurch but i think the bike hire is a bit limited, whereas the shops in Queenstown are more set up for MTBing.
Good luck and enjoy your trip. ChCh is a pretty good place to base yourself and flights to and from both islands are pretty cheap.0 -
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skyline92 wrote:Hi, i will ge gong to new zealand for a few months starding in jan. i will be traveling all over the place, does anybody who has been riding there before know any places that have good riding, and places to hire bikes (just for the day). i have heard that the downhill is epic arround queenstown. i am usually an xc rider but figure i might as well give dh a try while i am over there. any towns/ citys that are worth going out of the way to check out the rding possiblitys? - basically any info and or suggestions would be great!
thanks
Hi skyline- I have an adventure company in the North Island, www.overthetopadventures.co.nz
im sure that I can help you with bike hire- support and advice on the local tracks of the Southern Coromandel.
check my website and then click on the face book links to go to a huge and constantly updated selection of our tours and adventures!0 -
thanks guys, will be sure to check these out!0
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I've just returned from a month in NZ for my honeymoon and fitted in a bit of biking.
We did half a day in Rotorua (Whakarewarewa Forest). Great trails (venue of 2010 Single Speed World Champs). We hired bikes from Planet Bike who are located in the forest car park. If I was doing it again I'd check out hire options in town as well as it's only a 15 min ride to the forest and the bikes from Planet Bikes were a touch on the clunky side (GT hardtails).
We also spent two days cycling the Queen Charlotte track. Arranged through these people; http://www.marlboroughsounds.co.nz/biking.php
Highly recommended. Worth upgrading to the full-suss. option for not a great deal more. (Bikes were 2008/2009 Spec. FSR xc's and Myka FSR's - Hardtails were Scott Scale 80's and Rockhoppers).
Finally I did a bit of biking with Vertigo bikes in Queenstown. Hire bikes in Queenstown are in a different league to anywhere else I saw, eg. at Vertigo you get 2011 Giant Reign's (Fox forks, 10 spd SLX etc.), they also hire out Anthems, Trances and Glorys (as well as hardtails). One afternoon I hired a bike and rode out to the the 7 mile bike park (about 40 min road ride to get there). The other day I did their heli-biking trip which I would highly recommend :twisted:
That's pretty brief but let me know if you want more details on anything.0 -
well its ben a while, but i just got back. the riding in new zealand is ecceptional! the trails were all of such a high quality! most are purpous built for mtb, so no/few fireroads there "easy" routes are more like easy reds and the blacks are mostly downhill speciffic! which is great fun! bike hire is mostly plentyfull and easy to find which is nice, though i found verry little places to hire in able tasman national park, which is a shame, as it had some killer trails!
in the end i did manage a fair bit of riding, and would reconmend all the places that i went! the best places in north island are arround Rotorua and Taupo the Whakarewarewa Forest was brilliant, containing over 100k of singeltrack! although all the trails are signposted, and maps are available from most shops (for arround 5 bucks) it is quite difficult to navigate in places. taupo has a great range of trails arround the huka falls, redwood forrest, and craters of the moon, that can be made into a days ride or just a few hours. the best part though is that the trails start and finish near a hot stream that is great for a post ride dip!
queenstown is the obvious place to ride in north island, and timmys is right in saying there is no shortage of places to hire from, or to ride on for that matter. i managed to hire myself a lovely yeti 575 which kicked ass on the trails, that start from the the skyline gondala (which for 40$ will take you to the top of the trails for as many runs as you can fit into a half a day- a full day may be a bit much on the old braking fingers and forearms)
there is also a trail centre 7k out of town allong lakeside singletrack, for those who dont want to pay for the gondala, or for those who have already done the gondola but still want to fit more mtb into there stay in queenstown. there are also pleanty of rides to do up in the mountains, but the best way to get to them is with the help of local knowlege an hellicopters to take you up (not the cheapest option in q town)
Wanaka is not far fron queenstown, just over the mountains in fact. it also has many miles of "sweet as" singletrack surrounding the shores of the lake. the trails are great there, and worth a look sor sure if you are in that area, even if it is just for the day, as it is a great way too to see the beautifull scenery of wanaka.
in able tasman there is the town of kaiteriteri, (a summertime holliday destination for kiwis) it has some of the hardest trails that i rode in nz. the only trouble with riding the kaiteriteri track is the lack of bike hire. one of the campsites in able tasman (old macdonalds farm) has some bikes to hire, albeit a bit bashed up ones. but the ride, and the spectacular vews made it all worth while. there is the option to hire decent mtb's in nelson, but it is a fair drive to kaiteriteri so it isan early start option.
nelson has its own impressive network of trails in the hills surrounding the town, which are also worth a look ar if you are in the north of the south island.
nz biking is the shiz, and it is quite popular over there, so there are plenty of easy find bike shops to quz about the best routs to ride.
hope this is of help to anyone else planning on getting some mtb in if they are in that part of the world.0
