Hi all,

I am new to the forum and have a question of you lovely folk!

I have recently moved to the area and having been out on a few exploratory rides I think my current bike (SC Heckler) is probably not best suited for the terrain around here and may be overkill.

Firstly; is that the case or am I just missing the bigger stuff?

Secondly; if I am going to change my bike (and I have a limited budget) I need to change it to something that is verstile to take on both my rides in Wales/the north as well as the local stuff.

Thirdly; what is everyone in the area riding for general trail type stuff

My thoughts had so far extended to swapping to a Cotic BFe, and have that as a one stop shop. Or get a £600 entry level 29er and keep the Heckler for the few times I get to go to Wales/the north; but that seems like a waste of an excellent bike!

thanks guys!

Park at the Swan, head down school then then look up that hill, and there are lots of trails up there.

Whereabouts have you moved to?

Anyway, you’ve made a great decision to come here. There’s plenty of bigger stuff around though depending on exactly where you are, you may find it worth having a more winterised bike for part (all!) of the year. Certainly in Bristol, before all the new trails were done, most people I rode with all had a rigid singlespeed just for local riding and to avoid trashing their ‘nice’ bikes…

thanks Rich,

is that in rowberrow? what sort of trails are up there? what do you ride?

cheers

Clubber,

I live near Midsomer Norton, so only about 15 – 20 minutes from the Mendips and about 30 minutes from Ashton Court; which I havent ridden but everyone seems to say its very smooth so full sus not required?

What new trails are there around bristol?

if my bike is suited to what I’m riding I tend to lose interest as its not as much fun!

You definitely don’t need a FS for AC 🙂 That said, plenty do and there are other trails around that are better suited. Best bet would be to find someone to show you round who’s into that sort of riding (not me I’m afraid, I’m far too jey for that 🙂 )

Welcome to Somerset!!

Ive been exploring in Rowberrow for over a year now, and am still finding some amazing trails. All over the Mendips there are great xc routes, you could easily link a few together and get a 30mile plus ride without a problem.
Thats before we get started on the Quantocks!!

I ride a hardtail, but sometimes wish i had a full sus for most of the trails in Rowberrow, and Triscombe on the Quantocks. For all the other xc, i find my hardtail well suited.

Get out and explore, you’ll have a great time.

Go and speak to the lads at Bad Ass Bikes at the bottom of Burrington Coombe – they’ll point you in the right direction. There are loads of different trails up on mendips – you’ll see people riding everything from rigid singlespeeds to Santa Cruz V10’s. I would have thought a Heckler would be ideal. I run an Intense Tracer and reckon its about perfect for most of the stuff up there. Take a look at Strava to find out where most of them are..

Welcome to the area

A solidly built HT or short-travel FS is the main weapon of choice. But a bigger bike can be useful on the more secretive and challenging trails scattered around Burrington, Rowberrow, Cheddar, Axbridge, Cross and Sandford. It will take you time to work out exactly where they are and how to link them productively.

Mendip trail conditions are quite poor/challenging at the moment. They start getting more fun from mid-March. Email in profile: contact me in the spring.

Watch that Buzz, he rides those mid sized wheels, he’ll lead you down all the footy, rocky, slippy descents on mendip and once you’ve done them he’ll then take you round the off piste stuff with me, mu hahahahaha

Whether you think a Heckler is overkill for the Mendips probably depends on where you came from before. Right now is definitely not the best time to discover the Mendips – all the easily found trails will be churned mud pits, whilst all the trails that see less use and thus roll better are quite difficult to find.

Do watch Buzz like David says. Being sat in the middle wheel size, he swings both ways!