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Highland Wildcat Trails (Golspie) are planning to buy a new blower to help keep the trails clear. We already have a Mitox 760, which seems to be powerful enough - but is a little temperamental, and currently out of action. So, I'm looking for opinions on suitable machines. Should we just buy another Mitox (good price, only one machine to learn), or get something else. I've seen a few reviews of the Husqvarna 360, which is just within budget (<£500 inc VAT). Any real world experience on the forum, or ideas of other machines would be very welcome!
Is a rake not suitable?
I've never had to clear more than a garden of leaves, so have no real idea.
These trails are for mountain biking, yeah?
Leaves on the line causing train delays is a bad excuse but leaves on a trail causing problems for off road bicycles?
I’ve never heard of this problem before, surely the environmental impact of our sport is bad enough without adding pollution from leaf blowers?
Is it April already ?
A few unhelpful answers here, so:
No, a rake is not suitable. There few miles of trails to keep clear, and only a few of us to do so - unless you want to volunteer to help?
Yes, the trails are for mountain biking - Highland Wildcat Trails, Golspie. If you haven't ridden there, you should.
Leaves and pine needles collect on the trails, gradually covering them with a layer of mulch. Vegetation gradually grows in this, which makes the trails unrideable. A blower is the most efficient way of clearing this. We do not have unlimited volunteer hours to do it any other way. + we actually want to have the time to do some riding ourselves!
No, it's not April.
We (Ride Sheffield) have a Stihl BR600, which has been about right. Big enough to be punchy, the next one up apparently is too heavy. Battery isn’t (yet) a thing as they suck way too much current (fuel tank is best part of 2l on ours and it does about a hour). The council have gone to battery on most things (even a battery whacker plate) but not the blowers.
We’ve been blowing our trails in autumn/early winter for 7 or 8 years now. It’s drastically reduced the maintenance we have to do. It’s all about water management (like usual). Obvious one is that leaves get washed into and then block drains, leading to water running down the trail and stripping the surface off. More subtle is that leaves sitting on the trail hold water there (and shade it from the little sun we get), which softens the trail bed, and means that usage causes much more damage - ruts, foot and hoof prints all go deeper. You can see it as you blow. Immediately after blowing you can see the trail surface has a wet sheen to it. When you walk back up 20 minutes later it’s dried out hard again.
Also, while riding in dry crunchy leaves is lovely, thick wet slimy claggy leaves is not everyone’s cup of tea - especially the nervous/new/young rider and it also helps to give people a visible corridor to stick to rather than going where they feel, which, especially when wet creates trail spread or braiding.
it’s not for every trail and I’d never consider doing it for cheeky enduro trails in the woods, but maintained/managed stuff that needs to stick roughly to a grade, or that just gets really heavy traffic - it’s a necessary evil. Quite satisfying though - a bit like picking scabs.
Leaves on the line causing train delays is a bad excuse but leaves on a trail causing problems for off road bicycles?
I guess it depends on the trails/customers as JonEdwards suggests. On my local trails it can be an arse on some of the woods which have glades completely blanketed in leaves. Its okay once its walked/ridden(especially horses) in and you have ridden it recently but there are times where its "wait i know there is a wheel screwing hole/random log somewhere round here..."
Although given my loathing of blowers I think I would prefer just be cautious although this might be biased by knowing all my neighbours have pretty small gardens and so I am not quite sure why using a blower for an hour will help. However see target customers.
BR600 here. It’s a beast and great to use. Put Aspen fuel in it over the part of the season when it’s not used. It’s better to have too much power than not enough. The trigger isn’t just on/off so you can be subtle with it and it’s also got a “lock on” button for long stretches of full power requirements.
My initial reaction was to scoff, but actually I can see how clearing leaves can reduce other maintenance issues. Having spent a few sessions at Hicks Lodge clearing drains of leaves, a blower would have been a much better option!
Absolutely love a leaf blower - as posted, a real benefit to get wet mulch off the trails...it also works well if you are walking a new line as you can clear an obvious line between the flags (which can help some contractors who would prefer to go between each flag in the straightest (therefore shortest) line possible.
It was either a Husqvarna or Stihl model that I used, but it worked brilliantly for both scenarios.
"Isn't it amazing how people riding trails keeps them clear of leaves and branches?"
they don't: whether it's legal or not, if you're riding a trail that's clear and has good sightlines, the chances are a pixie has walked down there and raked, blown and trimmed it. You don't often see the pixies, but that's why they're called pixies.
Work in the parks department locally, its a stihl BR 600 we use, trigger isnt just on/off so can be really handy. Can shift a fair pile of leaves with it, if I was in the market for 1 this is what I would go for.
I lied. Mines a BR550 4 mix. Same opinion/experience applies :0) Got a BG86c as well but it’s not the same power and only used for smaller jobs.
Gorrick use one for clearing the trails prior to a race, if you get in touch I'm sure they'd discuss the pros & cons the various models https://gorrick.com/
Often wondered about some sort of Heath Robinson arrangement with leaf blowers attached to the front of the bike 🙂
battery blowers have gotten really good and are lighter, quieter and less temperamental than petrol ones. I've got the twin battery makita one and it's plenty powerful. They've just released a new 12amp hr battery which is surprisingly affordable compared to the standard 5amp ones - two of those should keep you busy all day
Another fan of the blower in certain circumstances - I do a bit of instruction work at an outdoor centre trail that runs through a wee broadleaved woodland.
The trails can be pretty hard to follow for a few weeks and the trails turn manky - so riders can follow the trail without me on the front and they also get back less dirty. The bikes need less cleaning time and I don't have to rake the a couple of km of trails manually a few times in autumn.
Often wondered about some sort of Heath Robinson arrangement with leaf blowers attached to the front of the bike
Stick 'em on the front pointing forwards and you'd just go backwards...
The rangers at Glentress have a stihl 36v handheld blower and it's the best thing ever. Powerful enough to shift the top surface of wet soil that forms onto hardpack trails that usually you have to scrape off, it flies off in scabs, brilliant. Though it can also be outright damaging, ripping up grass edges if you're not careful. A wee bit tiring to use- it's heavy and the sheer force of the thing fights you, you have to always be "pushing" it. But that's the sort of thing I'd want.
(I have a makita 18v which tbh is absolutely fine for "normal" leafblowing but it doesn't shift heavy stuff like this, or throw stones off down the trail)