Has anyone taken young kids there, is it suitable?

how young ?,I suppose its trail centre so you can run up & down the fire roads with young kids etc,but I personally wouldn’t take a kid unless they were early teens & could habdle a bike,on the main trails..its a bit too rocky & stuff for beginers,imao..

you wont be using them tail gator jobbies either..only on the fire roads etc.

It really is a case of how confident on bike more than age. Stainburn short but a riot of feature after feature, and while great for practice not somewhere to learn the basics. It’s either up or down there’s virtually nothing flat easy going. I would ride it first yourself before making a decision to take anyone.

I’d say it’s pretty much the most unsuitable trail centre I can think of for young kids. Mostly technical, not flowy, steep in places, lots of pointy rocks. Cruising around the Norwood fireroads would be alright though.

No
It has no green route and its pretty tough for an adult IMHO – its not even a place to take noobs nor even intermediate
Its big , committed and steep

There are some easy trails at Swinsty Reservoir next door. Fire road, a bit of easy ‘red’ singletrack – good for beginners and there are loos and often ice cream vans in the car park.

I almost spat my tea out when I saw the title of this thread.

I’ll take that as a no then! I will go and play on my own.

As MartinH, take them to the Swinsty/Timble trails. I included it in a bigger ride on Sunday specifically for the reason of checking it out for kids suitability. Def a thumbs up from me.

http://www.hedgehogcycling.co.uk/fewston-beecroft-timble-woods-swinsty-bike-trail.html

It’s worth pointing out that the section A, A1, B should be ridden in that direction, downhill. However, the section C, C1, C2, D appeared to me as tho it should have been ridden in the opposite direction to what the map implies.

Depends on your kids. There are a bunch of regulars who ride with their kids on the reds.

If your kids are able to deal with rough terrain then its all rollable if you avoid the black options stay on the reds. And its short, so plenty of opportunities to head back to the car for snacks/refreshment.

But its not a blue. I’d have a nosey if your kids are able riders, you can always just do the red and then bob down the road to Swinsty.

However, the section C, C1, C2, D appeared to me as tho it should have been ridden in the opposite direction to what the map implies.

Definately.

Motley Crew were there one aft and this Dad asked if his lad could follow us down, he had the cheapest looking market stall mtb you ever saw, I was dead against but the others said why not, anyway he sailed around the red, loved it, turned out he was the UK motocross champion for his age and had borrowed his sister’s bike….otherwise I would say stainburn def not for the faint hearted.

To be fair, the top sections of the reds in the trees* are pretty easy with nothing that can’t be rolled, even the big jump on the red loop. It’s only when you get out of the trees that it gets rough. You wouldn’t get the benefit of the place though if you went with kids and only played on those bits.

Those trails at swinsty etc look good though, I might have to take the kids up there this weekend.

*I’m talking about car park side not norwood trails.

Stainburn… yes I fall off a lot

[video]https://vimeo.com/10976671[/video]

[video]https://vimeo.com/19009166[/video]

[video]https://vimeo.com/18890285[/video]

Swinsty it is then thanks for the advice!

hanchurch – Member
Swinsty it is then thanks for the advice!

Ok, section A, A1, B was a fairly steep descent and pretty muddy last weekend, after all the rain. A 13yo(ish) would be ok down it, a 6yo(ish) would be walking down most of it. Section C, C1, C2, D (should be done in reverse as said above) is solid man made trail and has lots of man made obstacles, but everything is built with passing places and would therefore be ok for any age, older kids will have fun attempting some/all of the obstacles. All the rest is forest road or similar and therefore OK for all. As well as those trails in the Swinsty/Timble forest you could also ride around swinsty res which is mostly all flat surfaced trail.

We had a great time playing at Swinsty today, thanks for the ideas.

What time were you down there? We popped over after lunch to try out my daughter’s upgraded bike.

PS you chickened out of the steps! 🙂

We were there between 2pm and about 5pm, I did go down both sets of steps, just not on camera! Honestly!

Must have seen you there – we were there about 3-4.30. Busy, wasn’t it?

We were the ones with the 8 year old girl trying to jump EVERYTHING on her 20″ wheel kona!