Planning a tour of Welsh mountain biking and was wondering whether it’s worth including Bike Park Wales?

Really? It’s doable on a rigid ss 😉

You will die, you need at least 160mm and full sus. Anything less and you might as well have the air ambulance on speed dial.

The blues certainly are. I did them on an 80mm hard tail and I’m nothing special. In fact, the blues may be most fun on a short travel hard travel. I expect to be doing the reds on next visit.

the blue runs will be great, they are flowy compressed shale. the red runs will be do-able but you will be slower than the general traffic (maybe keep an ear out behind you) the blacks should be steered clear of. but thats only my opinion based on my own level of skill. maybe your much better than me

i think you could do everything @BPW on a hardtail tbh. Even the blacks aren’t that steep or rough tbh (obviously assuming you aren’t going to try to ride down them at world cup pace!)

I’m off to BPW on Friday and from extensive YouTube research it looks reasonably smooth on film. It seems to me that the higher the grade the faster and bigger the jumps get.

I could be way off the mark, and I hope I am, but there doesn’t look to be anything to rival the tech of the double black at Antur Stiniog. Somebody please tell me there is.

The you tube videos definitely “flatten” the gradient, although i would suggest the average gradient at BPW is “mildish”. A few steep bits exist, mainly the two black options of off Bonneville Red, and there a couple of larger (~3foot maybe) drops on the blacks. Due to the heavy usage, and wetter weather, i’d say most of the trails are not quite as smooth as some of the earlier videos show, which is a good thing imo!

Did red and blue on a rigid 29er single speed a few weeks ago and kept up with my full-sus mates.

I did have battered arms by the end of the day though, and the single speed wasn’t ideal for the climbs back up!

Could be wrong but the red route looks like tarmac in comparison to Gisburn (which I do on a hardtail) im sure you’ll be fine.

Only been to BPW once but the blues and red trails that we did were totally do able with 100mm hardtail. Yep you’ll be working harder than some people but its do able and you’ll still have fun.

They are similar to XC trails in difficulty maybe a bit harder its just the obstacles come at you thick and fast rather than being stretched out along a long XC descent.

Would probably be perfect. I took my 160mm freeride/dh bike last time and it was fun but a bit too much for most of the trails. Some of the rocky black bits are pretty rough but all the blues/reds should be fine on the HT. I’m going back in a few weeks and I’m taking my hardtail, reckon it’ll be more fun!

I regularly ride bpw on a hardtail although mine is 130mm. It’s definitely rougher than videos make it look especially after this wheather. It is easily doable but some of the trails are very rough so it can be hard going especially if your trying to keep up with guys on FS!

Tried it on a 150 ht on Friday, you’ll be fine. Pack some big tyres and have a crack at the blacks (maybe avoid the bigger drops).

Perhaps don’t do what I did and let a mate in full pressure suit on a Dh bike say ‘go on then, down the black, you first, I’ll film you’. Went off at ‘trying not to embarrass myself’ pace and then scared myself silly. Still, once you’ve done it once, several more times is easy, right? My trailing knee/rear shock is still not working properly!

Did the reds and blues on a 120mm 29er HT, would have been OK on 100mm I’m sure, it was probably more fun than on an FS. I’d have liked bigger tyres than my 2.25 Nics tho.

You’ll be fine, go rock it.