And yet lots of people also want to pay for the privilege of riding these self same trails?
Nobody's said that. For my part, my argument was basically about whether our right to ride around in the forest for free stretches to our right to ride around on purpose-built, well maintained trails* in the forest for free. If it doesn't, then money needs to come in.
* Before someone says that they're not, you get the point.
I'm pretty sure Foel, Hopton, Bringewood, Caersws, Rheola, Mynydd Du and even Moelfre etc didnt cost hundreds of thousands to 'build'. They also get more interesting as they wear meaning minimal repair costs. There may be a smaller market for advanced trails however the setup and maintanance costs are minimal.
I gladly pay many times the asking price of Welsh trail centers to ride these venues due to the quality of these 'budget' trails. even without uplifts. Add in a weekend of uplifts or racing for around £70 and you've got a sold out venue for the weekend.
I have deliberately left out Cwmcarn BMX track due to it bein designed to be maintainable to an easier standard that will attract a wider range of riders to make the full time uplift service viable.
What gets annoying is when decent trails at trail centers are blocked off, destroyed etc in the name of progress then you get asked to subsidise their tame replacements. I can understand the risk management aspect of these trail but I'm never going to agree with it.
Cheeky, I know I'm sounding like an apologist for the FC again, but if they had less income, surely they would just milk their existing sources of income harder (i.e. put up the car park charges and double the price of bacon sarnies) or worse still ditch ideas like gaining revenue from mountain bike trails and expand their forestry operations instead?
As I've said above, free trails are defintiely the way to go, but look at the purpose-built trails in the UK on private land - they seem to be mostly pay-to-ride and not the sort of places the value-conscious denizens of STW would bother with, unless they have specialist stuff like 'shore or DH tracks. Has it ocurred to you that free trails are so abundant in part because we subsidise the FC?
Doug, I'm speaking about XC trails here. But I know one of the chaps who used to help build at Foel and it sounds like if you costed up all volunteer time, it wouldn't be cheap.
Doug, I'm speaking about XC trails here. But I know one of the chaps who used to help build at Foel and it sounds like if you costed up all volunteer time, it wouldn't be cheap.
The same goes for black grade XC trails. One of the reasons given for the closure of the older trails at CyB is that they are unsustainable however after a year or two closure and a bit more rain erosion the old trails are running better and far more natural than they ever have. It's just a shame some of them got bulldozed to make way for the new trails.
However I am taken aback by how many people seem to think that they spring from nowhere and don't require any investment or maintenance.
I'm not sure that anyone has argued that. No-one on here can be as naiive to think that the trails would survive the high level of use without maintenance. That's not the same as disagreeing with a pay to ride funding model.
Some companies like Kona and Marin have chipped in but I'm not aware of any trails that have been funded entirely by the industry
...and the same goes for FC, who haven't solely funded trails to my (limited) knowledge. I'm only speaking for the trails in the Welsh valleys - but these were badged as community regeneration projects subject to EU grant aid: ie, to provide recreation facilities for local mtbers, and with visiting mtbers being drawn to the area, provide an economic stimulus to deprived areas.
"They also get more interesting as they wear"
I quite like the trails roughed up a bit - it is mountain biking after all. Spose blue trails need to be kept in tip top nick.
I'm not sure that anyone has argued that. No-one on here can be as naiive to think that the trails would survive the high level of use without maintenance.
Doug, fair enough, it's a workable model, just not the only one.
There are potential problems: you might not get as good a standard of trail if you're letting randoms build it, it's dependent on getting willing volunteers (I've seen DH and XC dig days that are swamped with volunteers, others that just have one or two people) and building in that way also reduces the options for, as Ian Warby put it at a conference I went to, "getting a digger in and knocking the hill about" - you have to work with the terrain and features you've got.
XC trails are even more difficult as they're a lot longer and do require maintenance (and to be fair even DH courses need a bit of a polish from time to time). And it's quite difficult to maintain enthusiasm for an all-abilities route, compared to you and your mates building a ridiculous gap jump or something. That's my experience, anyway.
If you don't maintain a trail it just gets harder and IMO more interesting.
Sorry but I disagree. DH tracks, maybe (although I don't think anyone comes back from Morzine raving about the braking bumps). XC trails, definitely not, some can soldier on happily for ages getting more and more challenging (e.g. the Wall at Afan) but others lose the qualities that make them fun to ride.
rkk01, I'm talking about the Pierre Joseph Proudhon types who think that paying to park at a trail centre is a ripoff.
If you look in the document I mentioned, the difference between INcome and revenue for both "Major Recreational Destinations" and "Other Recreation and Dedicate Public Access" (i've grouped these because I assume they could both cover Trails stuff) is c.£10.8M.
Where does this come from? Us as the taxpayers ultimately as it's our tax dollar the Govt uses to prop up FE.
Why then pay extra (yes, I'm cynical, I think of it as "extra") for the rpivilege of riding trails on our land when we're already doing so, indirectly, through taxation.
Mr A, I don't quite get your point, unless you're assuming I don't want to pay for anything? Fair play, pay for facilities (showers, car park etc) within reason but not to "ride on the trails". I think others have made that point, at times, earlier in this thread and better than me.
Hey, it'd never work anyway so a lot of this is navel gazing 
I'm talking about the Pierre Joseph Proudhon types who think that paying to park at a trail centre is a ripoff
it'd never work anyway so a lot of this is navel gazing
Swinley reckon they have something like a 95% uptake for their permits - not quite sure where they get that figure from.
Navel gazing indeed, but it's Friday afternoon, and I do think it's interesting - there seems to be a lot of resistance to paying for a purpose-built facility for a pretty specialist sport, from people who - generalising a tad here - probably wouldn't think anything of spunking fifty quid on a set of tyres. To be fair, when I've asked for donations to cover stuff like tools and insurance, the response has always been very good, but that's not going to pay for any new trails.
So it seems we're back at the beginning, looking for handouts via grants, or volunteers to give up their time, for a sport with no Olympic medal prospects, and which is mainly the preserve of well-to-do white people. 
I'll happily pay for such things as car parks, toll roads ( dalby), bike wash, showers etc etc providing I think the fee is fair.
BUT
Pay to ride the trails ... errrr NO... well maybe one ...
If you count the Gondola uplift fee at Nevis Range as paying to ride the trail then YES, I'd pay that sort of fee... but buy a permit to ride ... NO CHANCE....
But then again I do prefer getting my map out and creating my own routes and thats just what I'd revert 100% to doing
Having done some work for neath and port talbot council recently, I understand that mountain biking brings in as much revenue as the rally.
The FC have not built the trails for the sake of being nice to MTBers, someone at some time performed a business case for the benefit of the local community. The local community ARE benefitting from it and thats why the FC can't abandon the trails. If they need more revenue, they first need better and more trails. Its that easy really.
Some very thought provoking stuff.
Would I pay to ride a trail centre - yes and no. I'll happily pay to park at Llandegla but really objected to the £7 blanket cake hunting charge at dalby. It just wasnt good value for money. Paying for showers, bike washes - no problem.
I'm very much against permits to ride and access charges - its a step on the road to restriction. Given we are a society that likes to sue direct charges for access are riding could have implications regarding liability. Someone is going to try the well I bought this and it hasnt performed as expected.
Maintainance costs really shouldnt be an issue with bigger centres - if they have got their financial planning right. Cyb, Dalby, Llandegela, 7 stanes etc I would expect the repairs and maintainance to be funded from a proportion of the revenue generated by bike hire, bike wash, showers etc, bike shop franchise, cafe franchise, car park charges.
The solution to Penmachnos problem could be some form of national trail fund. Simillar to the one set up for Fix the Fells in the Lakes or the Access Fund in the States. Asking the village to pay for keeping the trail would probably take any additional money brought in straight out again. It may be a grosse simplication but I suspect most people who ride the trail dont spend any time let alone money in the village. Unfortunately if you build it they may come but you cant control where they spend and much of it is probably going into existing tourist businesses in Betws.
If a central fund was established it would need to be independant - a public or private land owner tie in would probably be seen as some form of subsidy on things the public think they should be delivering already. it doesnt mean work on those trails would be inelidgable. It just means it would be the volunteer groups that could apply. Yes there are already a lot of grants and funding sources out there but normally they dont fund ongoing maintainance.
So its taken me an hour to write that I'm still not happy with it but I'd say I'm in dont charge to ride do try and find a way of encouraging all who benifit - indviduals and businesses from local to multi national who benifit from the presence of trail centres to support.
Having read the responses I am pleased and surprised the way the thread has gone the mature and sometimes lighthearted debate, may be I maligned a few of you, and although there are a few chumps here with a significant lack of grasp of reality. I agree however with those touting the view most posters here will mostly enjoy mountain biking by seeking out their own routes, often out of developed sites and relying on themselves to organise the fun. That's fine and trail centres are increasingly realising that they are not as able to cater for your needs as they can those unable to make such choices from a broad breadth of personal knowledge or experience and so will not waste time trying.
I would even say if you pay to camp locally or B&B and ride into a 'Public' trail centrebypassing the parking charge you should not think of yourself as a freeloader. Almost certainly most trail centres are partly funded by local councils and enterprise agencies on the basis the investment will create increased economic activity in the region as a result and not just make the forestry commission fatter. You should however not that not all trails are 'Public' Coed Trallwm is developed by private individuals who bought one of the Forests that Thatcher was making the Forestry Commission sell off. Coed Llandegla's tenants are on a sliding scale and the more popular the place becomes the significantly more they need pay to the landlord who are not foresters but are in fact a multinational PLC the shareholders of which have sought to get greater economic activity from a forest that was becoming economically less productive because of the prevailing timber industry situation. The variable nature of our weather means our pines grow far too fast and eratically to produced the denser pine timber required for quality building materials. Most Welsh Pine makes fence posts or pulp for chip board as the paper industry is now 100% recycled paper at the local mills
Having read the responses I am pleased and surprised the way the thread has gone the mature and sometimes lighthearted debate, may be I maligned a few of you, and although there are a few chumps here with a significant lack of grasp of reality.
trail centres are increasingly realising that they are not as able to cater for your needs as they can those unable to make such choices from a broad breadth of personal knowledge or experience and so will not waste time trying.
Mr Agreeable - Member
... there seems to be a lot of resistance to paying for a purpose-built facility for a pretty specialist sport...
Play parks are fair enough for the guys who are on play bikes who are not looking to actually go anywhere and happy to ride loops in a forest. They are there for the thrill, speed, height, or whatever. Good fun it is too 
My big fear is that one day these specialised playgrounds will be used to ring fence our activity and we won't be able to actually go anywhere crosscountry. To me tracks that have been groomed for mountainbikes with berms, drop offs, hardening etc are boring.
On paying for access- yes the Forestery chaps maintain the forests (dont own it). Your not paying for access to the forest, you are paying for the UPKEEP of the trail itself. If you dont agree with that dont ride it. Simple.
I already pay to ride at certain places and don't mind. If the facilities are good, riding is awesome and varied, help on hand, food etc etc etc I would pay no problem.
I used to pay to go to the gym (recently cancelled my membership as I've not been for a year) I pay to go swimming so don't see if being any different.
It's certainly not free, as a regular at my local trail centre I think I already pay through my contributions to income tax, car park charges, and the on site café. However I realise that they could always do with more money and the best way in my opinion is through secondary sources of income. Policing a pay-to-ride scheme would be more trouble than it's worth in my opinion but like many museums in New York a donation based model can work by strongly encouraging riders to donate as much as they can afford.
Leregent
I think, from reading posts above, that's what already happens at Penmachno, they have an honesty box. I think the sign above the box specifies that all donations go back into the trail upkeep, yet not very many people donate.
Personally, I think car parking fees are the best way to raise cash for trail upkeep, it seems that fewer people conveniently forget. However, putting a parking meter in cost alot of money.
Epicyclo, I don't think pigeonholing people into trail centre n00bs and rugged outdoorsmen is very helpful. When I started mountain biking trail centres were a big encouragement to me as they meant I could go and have an enjoyable experience regardless of weather, overgrown bridleways, or rain-sodden maps. Now I'm a bit more of a confident cyclist I'm riding more on natural terrain and using the RoW network. I suspect that most people go through a similar development and very few riders end up ridng exclusively on RoW or at purpose-built trails.
I also think that the trail centres = mountain bike ghettos argument is unfounded. My experience of unofficial, "natural" trail closures is that they tend to take place where mountain bikers aren't welcome in the first place - there are a few places where an inferior "official" facility is provided instead but it's very dubious that this prompted the unofficial trails' closure.
penmachno -
most people who ride the trail dont spend any time let alone money in the village.
The two times I have ridden there I stayed at the The Eagles 4* bunkhouse above the pub. It's probably the only way to spend money in the village ATM.
I thoroughly recommend The Eagles BTW: convenient for Snowdon, Coed, Marin and Pen; friendly, snug, clean, well equipped, bike shed, good beer etc.
We also stayed at the campsite at the end of the road and ate/drank in The Eagles.
If you're asking if I pay when there is a fee, then yes I do (e.g. Swinley). If you're asking if more trail centres should move to a payment model, then no, no they shouldn't.
If the Forestry Commission have effectively been gifted large tracts of the country, then they should invest to allow others to enjoy the resource as well.
If the FC can't make as much money as needed then it needs to either make more money - perhaps charge for trail use or sell off the forest to large PLCs who may not even think of doing anything MTB related...
To be honest - from reading the posts here there seem to be a lot of people who expect something for nothing. Who is going to put the hardwork in to build and maintain the trails?? Ummpa lumpas??? I'm not sure what Mr Wonka pays them but he does pay them!
I know trail building does help keep the forest under FC control as they are fulfilling the social access part of their remit. Forests without the trails are more likely to be sold to private concerns.
Now here's the rub, it cost to put trails in so money has to come from somewhere, not likely to be the FC as they will already considering whether the forest is commercially viable. If the forests do get sold we'll lose all access to them.
To get better quality, more saleable timber, why don't they plant slower growing trees?
Mr Wonka saved them from having their natural habitat destroyed...he moved them and their natural habitat to the factory and as a thanks they work for him...
That's beautiful
surely a decent ride is worth at least 3 quid. You'd struggle to get into most tourist attractions for less than a tenner and given how much the average bike costs I'd have thought most of us can afford to pay when we go to a trail centre. if you go to five trailbuilding sessions at Glentress you get a free parking pass and I think they get extra funding for the work done by volounteers so the more there are the more money they get. most cafes are franchised out so the money spent there doesn't go into the trails.
Just got back from Llandegla. I'd pay not to ride at trail centres. Jeesuz, a McDonalds-style, Scalextracks ghetto for mountain bikers. Quite horrible
The only trail centre I often ride is Grizedale, and they can't charge for that as it's criss-crossed by numerous excellent bridleways
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