Just bought a car and need to go to Edinburgh to pick it up on Saturday. Going to fly up with bike as I thought it gives me an opportunity to ride glentress, been once before a few years ago and rode the red, I can’t remember it that well so I am wondering if it would be better on the ht or the 575, also is the black worth the extra effort over the red?

ht for me.

I much prefer the black route over the red, Spooky wood is worth a visit though. Hardtail is better if you are doing the red but a FS makes the black a bit easier on the rocky sections.

i’ve ridden it on both. its quite rewarding on the hardtail but a little tiring towards the end? for a bit of fun i’d go on the 575.

as for the red or black i’d say yes the black is worth it, some awesome bits over the back near the TV mast. a really nice loop.

Looked on you tube for vids of glenress the other night, you could ride it on full rigid and still be comfortable!!

ht for either really, all depends on what fun factor you fancy on the day

I quite hapily ride my old Bonty on the black when I don`t feel like lugging my full bouce around.

what wors says

err…… no you couldn’t like? its a good loop thats worth the trip on either bike pal.

Both will be good, HT or FS. There’s nothing (really nothing) requiring a FS but I took my gemini with a set of lyrics round the black today and enjoyed it. Just a different way of approaching the trail.

The red is good but it’s a bit short. If you have a full day then the black in the morning would be the main ride of the day, some lunch then the red in the afternoon when you’re a bit tired is a good schedule.

Garry_Lager is bang on the money

Ride the Black and the Red.

If you pick up / look at a map from the Hub shop (it’s free), you can do most of the black routes climbing, to the radio mast, then duck over to the top of spooky wood descent; nearly the best of both worlds. The red does seem short on its own, so this makes it a little more interesting. Black can be grim, red always fun, just see how the weather is and enjoy.

I did the red a few weeks back on one of the alpitude hire bikes after years of doing it full suss, the hardtail was hard work and i was pretty beat by the end of it, it was my first time on the bike in a few months but still it was harder work on the hardtail.

HT for GT

ht for a good work out
fs for a bit fun
can go wrong either way

Either, whichever you happen to prefer at the moment of packing your bike bag. It’s all doable on any HT.

depnds on your fitness and whether your forte is climing or descending,also the distance you intend doing,if climbing is your thing then hardtail wins,no descents that you cant,do on hardtail,if descending then obviousely full susser,unless you are doingsomething like double black then you may want the susser to take some of the punishment rather than your body

sorry that ment to say cant go wrong either way
mind you it could go wrong either way 😳

HT. More fun.

FS is fine too but not really a necessity and not as fun.

I’d say HT cos presumably its not worth as much as the 575 and I wouldn’t want to risk damage to the 575 on the plane.

I usually ride FS at Glentress but occasionally HT. A few of the berms have developed some pretty nasty braking bumps in front of them and the FS takes the worst of them out.

Black is worth the effort if you’ve not done it before, more remote and quieter than Red. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend a rigid HT for the Black (I certainly didn’t think that was "comfortable", quite the opposite probably!) but other than that, the main thing would be to have a bike you’re happy to climb on.

I generally prefer FS on the Black (took my Prophet MX round most of the Black on Friday which was awesome fun on the Boundary Trail and Deliverance) and HT for the Red, but despite the impression you may get from people on here, there’s no byelaws on what bike is permitted on what trail.

It’s all good fun.