Anyone been biking there?
Been there boarding and checked out the website (bike circus) but still lots of questions as my German is practically non-existent!
When do the lifts close?
What's the best bike to take?
How much to hire for the week (is it Bike'n'Soul shop)?
what's the quality of the hire bikes?

etc, etc, etc…..

All info more than welcome and thanks in anticipation.

Went a few years ago with crystal holidays and stayed here
Kevin and Sarah were fantastic hosts and food was bloody good , did a few rides but was in a group of mixed riders so didn't see all the good bits !
The adidas park is up the road in Hinterglem or you can pop to the Kona bike park at leogang .
I really enjoyed it all and have been to Austria for 3 summer hols .

Email Kevin and i'm sure he'll answer more questions for you .

You're in luck – just got back from a week with the family in Hinterglemm which is just up the road from Saalbach. I'll answer your q's then add some other stuff.

Lifts as follows:

Schattberg X-Press (access to X-Line) 9 – 4.15
Reiterkogelbahn (access to adidas freeride / evil eye) 9 – 4.30

There are two others (one in Hinterglemm and the other in Saalbach) which can be accessed by bikers but do not have specific trails, and both are open 9 – 11.45 then 1 – 4.30.

There is also the lift in Leogang which accesses the downhill and freeride trails there – don't have times to hand.
Worth noting our hotel deal included the Joker card, which gives unlimited access to lifts (including a bike) in Saalbach / Hinterglemm, and one ride per day in Leogang.

What bike? This is a very tough question: I took my Intense Slopestyle running coil Totems and 2.4" Rubber Queens, which comes in at just under 35lbs. The X-Line is IMHO a pretty full-on downhill course, with a lot of steep rooty sections, some rocky bits and is very long (6km and 1000m descent). I rode it after rain and it was hard work – I would have felt seriously underbiked on anything else. Some of the jumps / ladders (all avoidable) are also big. The adidas freeride is similar but a lot shorter. I didn't ride the stuff in Leogang but saw it from the lift and would say it looks similar. In short, if all you want to do is ride these, then take the biggest / slackest bike you have, and all the protection you've got.
The flipside to this is there is some awesome natural stuff that whilst the lifts ease the pain, still requires some climbing. Here, the Slopestyle felt a little overbiked (but not by much). Having said this, this stuff is hidden away – we were lucky and had someone from Munich show us around. It was blinding stuff, and I may be able to give you directions to some of it if you fancied some more XC-orientated stuff, as it's not signposted, and they don't seem keen to publicise.
They advertise the "Big 5" as being an all-mountain challenge, but from what I could see, this just entailed riding all the downhill courses, and then some dull fireroads, so wouldn't bother with that myself.
My mate was riding his SX Trail with coil Lyrics which seemed similar in abilities on the trails to the Slopestyle, but again would have preferred something bigger for the downhill trails.

Bike'n'Soul has outlets in both Saalbach and Hinterglemm. The bikes are Rotweild so a little unknown to UK riders, but having seen them in the flesh are well-specced and in good condition. They are however v expensive at EUR 62 / day for the downhill or freeride bikes, and when I enquired by email they didn't seem too keen to offer a discount for the week.
The bike shop in Leogang hires Konas etc, but they seemed in less good condition judging by the bike one of our group had.

My main observation would be that if you just want to run the downhill courses then it's a good area, but I reckon the usual hotspots of Morzine / Les Gets offer much more choice of tracks. If it's great alpine riding you're after then it's there, but very hidden and not well advertised, and no-one seems to guide. The riding is akin to that in Verbier, but again I would say Verbier has more scope and more by way of guiding choices.

As a final thought, Austrian / German mountain biking seems odd – you either ride full-on downhill, or you are a flat-handlebar, 100mm+ stem rider who thrashes up and down the fireroads. There doesn't seem to be nothing inbetween – which is where most of us who fall into the "all-mountain" category sit! Also worth noting that this category is referred to freeride by the few Austrians / Germans who practice it!

PM me if you want anything further.

We were there as a family holiday with a 3 & 5yr old + wife, and as such, I grabbed the odd hour here and there on the downhill courses, and 6 hours with our man from Munich on Saturday. As such, it's a cracking place, but it wouldn't be my choice for a full-on biking holiday.

heihei……… wow, thanks you're a star!
As comprehensive a report as you could wish for.
Now if only everyone around here was that helpful! 😉

I'm thinking the lifts stay open until the 19th Sept?

Full on DH is my bag but i hate all this "north shore" stuff (cant ride it)! – just how much/gnarly is there?

X-Press open to 19th Sept, a few open longer, but if you're into the DH stuff, then this is the lift that matters. Worth noting you can access it at the halfway point (both on and off) so you can session it in 2 halves. Final thing to note is they are fussy about keeping the gondolas clean – if your bike is dirty they'll make you wash it before each use – no problem in the dry but a right faff in the wet, esp if it's busy.

TBH the shore is not major – a few banked corners and that's about it that you "need" to ride. There are a few ladder drops around, but again all avoidable. There's a rather cool see-saw that I was pretty pleased to clean (it's about 6' up and I'd never ridden one before). Leogang looks to have quite a bit more, esp in the Bikepark.

i live here…

and i ride freeride. its great!!!! and recommend it too everyone!

leogang is great, never been to the addidas center as of yet as ive never needed it.

if your into dh true dh then you have to check out Nordkette dh where the champs are on the 18th sept 😉

if you fancy meeting up, i will ride up leogang and nordkette if you want;)

but leogang is seriously great. like said before. we ride dh/freeride or road riding. we dont ride the kind of things my brother rides in the uk.

we have our lifts and we love them… 😉

will say one thing. the kona bikes at leogang are seriously ok. they are well maintained but you have to think how much they are used EVERYDAY! so some have battle wounds but ride perfectly. i rented one a few times before i got my freeride bike.

nick

I have to recommend kevin and Sarah still the best holiday I've had, and I'm booked in for a skiing Christmas week.