which bike for glentress?

going for a long weekend and was wondering which bike to take
only planning on 2 half days riding as mrs gooner is coming and does nt ride
was thinking of red on day 1 and black on day 2 so which bike;

1. Pace rc305 hardtail
2. Heckler

thanks

Either

Either.

Both.

29r……..wanna borrow one…. 😉

Whichever you feel happiest posing with outside the cafe 😉

With which do you usually have most fun on ?

Neither, demo one.

ime, the HT is far superior at GT.
there’s notalotta rock, zero big square edgers, no mega descents and singletrack so groomed, the HT is more direct, hence more fun.

ton, i’d need to grow about 3 feet to ride that thing!

the_lecht_rocks – Member

ime, the HT is far superior at GT.
there’s notalotta rock, zero big square edgers, no mega descents and singletrack so groomed, the HT is more direct, hence more fun

Echo. GT was mega boring on a Heckler for me.

its just that the 7stane centres are so well groomed.
FS is simply ridiculous.
imo.

Interesting comments – I only have a hardtauil but a couple of weeks ago I was chasing a mate down the red ( dunno which bit) and I was getting shaken to bits over braking bumps trying to keep up. I couldn’t go as fast into the turns as he could ‘cos the back wheel was kicking everywhere

Could just be lack of skill tho

I’ve ridden GT on my 06 Enduro, a Cove Stiffee and a Genesis Alpitude, the hardtail will beat you up way more, anyone that says full sus is ridiculous is being ridiculous themsleves.

tj – lack of skill
rs – lack of skill

end of thread 🙂

could be TJ 😆

the_lecht_rocks – not enough balls to go fast enough to maximise the potential of an FS 🙂

restart of thread 🙄 Did i say you needed a full sus, no! I said a hardtail will beat you up way more, not saying the hardtail isn’t fun but if you can’t also have fun there on a heckler your doing something wrong!

that’s me the artist.

i keep the Nicolai Helius for photo opportunities only… LOL.

Dont forget your t shirt….

A rigid hybrid bike with 90psi in the slick tyres, well that’s what a mate of mine rode round Cwncarn, wasn’t that far behind me either (I was on a 456), hmmmm.

wtf – bang on the money, LOL 🙂

fwiw, the reason you’d take your FS to GT is to pose ootside the cafe.
there is no other reason to have a FS at GT.

if you want to ride rock, gimme a shout – i live in NE Scotland where there’s real rock and real mountains.

You can get a lot out of GT with a big bike, no question that the Heckler would be a lot of fun. I think, though, with two half days penciled in and the missus maybe waiting for you that the HT is in order. Blasting round the red route will be good but maybe a little short – take the 7S map with you so that you can repeat / link stuff up. Circuit of the black will be a good ride for a half day on its own.

The occasion I mention above is the only time on the solo that my speed has been limited by getting kicked around over bumps rather than by fear or lack of skill – ‘cos it is so groomed generally you can go faster so what bumps there are / when you hit them they hurt more – or something.

Anyone who claims Glentress is smooth and groomed is going to a different Glentress to the one I know.

Hardtail for shits and giggles, full suspension for outright speed on the downs and “coming back the next day reasonably freshness”.

Mast to Deliverance gets my money’s worth out of the Prophet; fair enough, it’s not as rough and rocky as a lot of the realmountain(TM) trails in Scotland or Spain but if you rode it with a cup of water on your crossbar you’d definitely spill it all within seconds. SCIENCE FACT.

OMTFU..

TJ : dont grip the bars, get loose and let it hang out.
unless it’s loose already and hanging oot regardless 🙂

if you want to ride rock, gimme a shout – i live in NE Scotland where there’s real rock and real mountains.

Laughing here mate. You’ve not really got the username to be throwing out comments on real mountains 🙂

the hub bikeshop has some good bikes to hire – lapierre etc. next time i’ll probably just do that~!

garry – ever heard of IRONY ?

fwiw, the Lecht opens it’s chair lift assist this Summer, reportedly 🙂

HT use in the ALPS with great success, and you need a FS for GT ???

linky to HT in the ALPS with success 🙂

You can steam it round GT on either bike and still have fun no matter what all the I’m too good for GT couch freeriders say.

If you can squeeze another 2 hrs while your Mrs reads a book then do Innerleithen too, well worth a visit, waymarked and about the same distance and grade to GT red route.

Take whichever bike isn’t out of service at the time 🙂

cheers but i have done inners loads – uplift days on the d/h bike – don’t think i would want to do any of the d/h stuff on my ht due to my lack of skill

i have ridden parts of gt before but only when doing a lesson with chris ball

i could actually have 2 full days but to be fair i was planning to do the red 1 day and black the other unless someone recommends something else

i may take both and do red on the ht and black on the heckler?

I recommend going to Innerleithen instead.

The inners I rode was way harder than GT red

Takes the same time as GT red for me, just maybe a few more technical rocky bits in there but some nice jumps and drop offs

I need FS for Glentress otherwise my L4/L5 disc will collapse and travelling that distance for one day out would be ludicrous. Having ridden HT in the flatlands of East Anglia and just about knackered myself I wouldn’t try it on proper terrain (yes I’ve ridden natural trails around Peebles too).

Glentress doesn’t warrant a full suss bike but lot’s of people favour them all the same. Personally I think the Pace will be fantastic there as it’s all very flowing and smooth with very few features to arouse a Yorkshire hardtail.

You’d be fine with either of them. Do you “need” a full sus bike at Glentress? No. Can a full sus bike at Glentress be fun? Yes, but so can a hardtail.

I suspect that when I take my FS to Glentress I’ll be a bit faster on the descents than when I take my hardtail there. Even on relatively smooth trails I still find it easier to keep up my speed and to keep pedalling when I’m on a FS bike. Then again, absolute speed isn’t the main factor in deciding whether I’ll have fun on a ride, and I enjoy riding my HT at Glentress too.

An RC305 and a Heckler will be equally suitable for Glentress, take whichever one, when all other factors are equal, you prefer riding. If that’s the Heckler then take it and ignore all the “you can’t call yourself a proper mountain biker if you need more than a wonky unicycle with 90psi in its tyre to ride at Glentress” types who seem to validate their existence by being superior on Internet forums. 😉