Is it worth paying a visit to on a hard tail?

Ta.

Yeah.

As long as it’s fully rigid / singlespeed / fixed / preferably Unicycle.

It’s ti, I’ll make sure it’s niche enough don’t you worry.

fancy a blast on that myself sometime this summer. by the time i got my act in gear last summer it was winter.

Tougher than yer average red trail. Don’t expect it to ride like Afan 😆

Don’t expect it to ride like Afan

Wouldn’t really be worth it if it did 😉

Scottish grading seems tougher than Welsh generally.

Scottish folk seem tougher than Welsh generally

😀

Scottish grading seems tougher than Welsh generally.

It’s a red DH not a red XC, is that not the reason?

It’s fab… If you had to ride to the top you might criticise the way it wastes altitude a bit, mind, but that doesn’t apply. First time I went I had my Soul, and it worked a charm, second time I had the Hemlock and that was great too, just rode differently. Lots of line choices and variety, and options of how you approach it. Though you’ll have to like rocks and be at least openminded about planks.

But yep it’s a very dark red, like cola. Not quite as tricky now, there were a couple of bits that were a bit unfinished, but still high consequence stuff, lots of places where if you screw up you drop onto rocks the size of a house 😉 Proper riding.

Also, if you enjoy it and don’t find it too testing, take a look at the world cup route, you’d expect it to be pretty deadly from its reputation but it’s not bad at all. Physically tough but riding-wise any good rider with a level head should be OK. Not sure if the changes to the worldcup route will affect this but it used to be that you could ride the red down to the wallride then chop over into the lower forest section of Offbeat, which is mint on a little bike. Then down the motorway, if you like jumps.

Oh- the “red DH” thing, no it isn’t. Ask Nevis Range- “Grading – Red XC”

Cheers Northwind. Sounds like a be as happy as a pig in s… then 🙂

timmys – it’s actually listed as the xc red I believe. A further point relating to why I started this thread… if I knew what it was like to compare it to any other trail… well, I wouldn’t have had to start the thread would I??

It’s the hardest red I’ve ever seen… I guess a good comparison would be if you took Coed y Brenin and tipped it at an angle 😉 but I’m not sure what else to compare it to.

Me and the wife rode it 3 times. If it was anywhere else but Scotland it would be graded Black.

By the third trip the wife rode every bit (with a few squeals!). I thought it was superb and though I don’t ride DH I think it’s XC. The World Cup route on the other hand…

I would happily ride it on my hardtail.

What about comparing it to a black? If it’s 5km of the black short cuts at Dalbeattie then I’m not so keen on the idea… if it’s comparable to the Cwm Carn Black DH then it’ll be a right laugh 🙂

depends how you ride it and what bike IMO.
I’ve only ever ridden it for a break from the wc track on a dh bike which is a right laugh apart from the small climbs. when ridden flat out it’s actually fairly brutal in places.
dalbeattie black sections are kinda slow and very tech in their own way but the nevis red is much more enjoyable

Don’t underestimate it I found it a lot tougher than any other red I have done

Is that the one with loads of that boardwalk nonsense? Sounds like my worst nightmare hate that stuff.

seosamh77 – Member

Is that the one with loads of that boardwalk nonsense? Sounds like my worst nightmare hate that stuff.

It’s their equivalent of fireroad/link trails… There’s a wee bit of interest on it, some fun wee corners, jumps, steps etc but mainly it’s to get you from the lift to the rocks. I quite like it, but the real attraction is the hard stuff- the planks are just a means to an end.

It’s their equivalent of fireroad/link trails… There’s a wee bit of interest on it, some fun wee corners, jumps, steps etc but mainly it’s to get you from the lift to the rocks. I quite like it, but the real attraction is the hard stuff- the planks are just a means to an end.

fair enough, just mind seeing a video a while ago and it seemed like it went on for miles! each to their own mind!

Most people I know reckon it’s more black than red but it’s a good run down. Some of the rock sections go on for ages, so you’re constantly thinking and moving to get the bike through. People can do it on hardtails, not me though!, so it can be done. If you’ve got a full face, think about using it at least on your first run, I did see a few falls when I was there.

timmys – Member

It’s a red DH not a red XC, is that not the reason?

Correct

me and some friends did it last year, one of my friends was on a specialized hardrock (ie a hardtail) and he made it down fine.

But it is a tough trail, fairly technical, steep in places, and at times if you were to fall badly you could do yourself a serious injury. Its pretty much the only place where I’ve felt I should have been wearing some sort of pads.

We also did the worldcup downhill (so did mate on the hardrock), and to be honest its not that much more technical than the red in the main, there are a couple of big drops (that we walked), and big jumps (that we went around)

Loads of people ride it on hardtails, and all of it can be ridden quite conservatively (which is a very good idea on your 1st run). More sustained steep technical rocks than any other red I’ve ridden, and some fairly high consequence sections. Pads felt very appropriate.

All that said, after your 1st run you know exactly what to expect, and by the end of the day youll wonder what the fuss is about.

I did it on a DH weekend and didn’t really find it too enjoyable. Not sure if it was because I was geared up for the WC course so the red felt a bit tame or it was the wet boardwalk (it was still very grippy) but it just didn’t really make me smile. Was a good break from the big course to allow my body to recover a bit!

If you are looking for uplifty style riding I’d suggest that Laggan and the Landrover uplift would be more rewarding and give you a much better variety of riding for a full day. Each uplift is £2 if I remember right.

If you are heading to Nevis Red I’d suggest you don’t go this weekend if you want to get on it!

Lots of people ride it on hardtails. The trail definitely gets more fun the more you ride it, so take your first run easy. Pads a good idea if you’ve got them.

I’m thinking of riding it after a day at Golspie and a day at Laggan.
Might chuck a lap of the WC xc loop and the 10 under loop too.

Just thought that if I’m in the area might as well tick off a couple of runs on it too before heading back south. I got into mtb through DH, but Welsh and Pearce stuff… not Scottish.

All dependant on a wrist healing in the next week. Thanks for the replies so far… sounds like it should be a blast 🙂

If you can fit it in, a ride around Balblair would be well worth it, especially if you like rocky trails.

Seriously surprised me how grippy the rocks were. It’s a fairly short trail but worth a quick spin round if you have spare time. There’s one it’s kind of paired up with across the other side of the loch, can’t remember it’s name, but wouldn’t bother with it – very easy and a bit of a non-event. Two laps of Balblair would be much more rewarding.

Definitely pick up a Golspie trail map, it’s a very easy one to navigate but some of the shortcuts mean you can session bits and pieces.

Sorry can’t let this one slide – ride learnie red rock on the black isle. The blue is fantastic, the black is great, there are hidden (but obvious)downhill tracks, it’s massively under ridden and under rated, and it’s always sunny.

The ferry we tried to get should be running from cromarty to nig, so it’s an easy link to golspie with some good seafood by the harbour if you want it.

In a trip with laggan, golspie, balblair and learnie, learnie was added in as a bonus, turned out to be the best of the trip. Perhaps not as fun as laggan black, but longer, and it has no hype, so we weren’t expecting much.

Since been back and it was quite possibly even better. And theres also loads of fruit for the picking. And lets not forget the black isle beer.

I wish I wasn’t working.

I agree with pigyn. I head up to Golspie quite a bit, as my folks are up there, and you could make a great trip by hitting wildcat trails, balbain, learnie and laggan. Learnie black is super-tough – had to walk alot of it. Golspie is a classic. Balbain a bit like a mini Kirroughtree, with scaled down mcmoab sections. Laggan is great – scare yourself on the black then spend the rest of the day enjoying yourself on the reds. I was over in fort bill last year with the intention of riding the red, but the winds were too high. Was advised against it, but was told that the wc course wasn’t much tougher and not as affected by the wind. I got down the wc course ok, taking it cautious and walking the obviuosly scary bits. the other XC trails at fort bill are good for a spin round, though not too challenging.

i rode it in september on my swift with 80mm forks.
my mate Bob was on a p7 fitted with a single rear pannier.

The Southern Yeti – Member

and the 10 under loop too.

Nooo! The actual 10UTB race route is pretty good, but the nevis range waymarked 10UTB trail is pish unfortunately- keeps all the fire road, cuts out the fun bits! You can ride the first bit of singletrack out of the car park down to the auction mart then come back along the road, then do Nessie right at the other end as part of the Witches loop, that’s literally all there is that’s good and everything else is either fireroad or dull as ditchwater.

bruneep – Member

Correct

Or not. See up page, it’s a red graded XC trail NOT a DH trail.

I’ve got to say the red Nevis range route is a downhill route. Regardless of whether it is red DH or black XC graded, there is very little up on it. All the height is gained on the gondola.

I do agree it is harder than most red graded routes though and if you’re used to going hell-for-leather on an unknown red you may want to ease off a touch. That said, my brakes weren’t working very well when I did it last year

I’ve ridden the world cup course on a hardtail xc bike, a bit slower than on my stinky but just as much fun. I was followed down by a dutch bloke on fully rigid old ATB with panniers on 😯

Take some knee pads as a minimum though and enjoy!

i pushed up it at the weekend then rode down it. a few tips

#1 don’t push up it (the lift was shut so we had no option), its a long push
#2 don’t ride it if its really windy – the shore at the top isn’t much fun
#3 the bottom isn’t great, it crosses a fireroad then it goes a bit average

that’s it really, its a fun trail, but not overly hard, but a bit of a mish for XCers. its probably more tech than the bits of the xc that they *do* rate as black at fort bill (which I personally didn’t rate as tricky at all). there’s a lot of boardwalk which isn’t my cuppa tea, but none of the wood is techie

eta : if you’re in that neck of the woods, laggan wolftrax is excellent, and the black xc decent there is a whole world of fun

5lab – Member

#3 the bottom isn’t great, it crosses a fireroad then it goes a bit average

It used to stop at the wallride… There’s a new bit which is supposed to be suitable for 4-wheeler disabled offroad bikes. I hope you can still join the worldcup route at the bottom…

Planning on giving it a shot tomorrow morning weather permitting.

Planning on giving it a shot tomorrow morning weather permitting.

You’ll be lucky, isn’t the track closed for the WC?

Red should be open?

It’ll all be shut.

As for the riding, the red is pretty tough for someone who doesn’t really do DH much, and IMO it’s really really hard to get any of it to flow. Tell you what really makes it.. The scenery on a nice day. Best scenery of ANY trail in the UK i think.

But it was 1.5 years since i was there last doing the red, and you can scare yourself on the boardwalks. Worth a couple of goes, but if you can get down the red, you can get down the DH, and the DH is much more fun!

chrisdb – Member
Red should be open?
POSTED 7 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Nope, all shut. The red and black crossover plus only competitors are allowed to take bikes up in the gondola this weekend

What about comparing it to a black? If it’s 5km of the black short cuts at Dalbeattie then I’m not so keen on the idea…

I’m too chicken to do the qualifier, Slab or Terrible Twins at Dalbeattie but I enjoyed my day riding the Fort Bill red. It’s challenging but there’s nothing that looks as intimidating as Dalbeattie’s slabs do.