It’s not worth it, there are no savings to be had and you will lose any unused credits. They don’t last forever in France.

You need one of these:

[/url]
045[/url] by ianvincent[/url], on Flickr

Not mine 🙁

Personally I think tyres are overrated. Just ride on the rims you will get much better “trail response”, especially if you ride those pseudo bmx tracks called trail centres.

If you do chose to put those skill compensators on your steed, make sure its a really expensive one and buy some different tyres. Everyone knows the Highroller should be a 60a and the Ardent a Super Tacky.

I asked about PAYG charges in France. The call charges worked out higher than if I used my UK phone (50c per minute or something like that) and the top ups have a very limited time span.

Best option is to go into McDonalds, Decathlon or Flunch and use their free WIFI if you need internet access.

The troy lee spring/summer collection looks nice

Locations look like: MTB = St Ives, Harden Moor. Bouldering = Shipley Glen and Earl Crags (just an assumption, could be friggin anywhere). Motorbike: no idea, but looks like Southern Dales somewhere.

Bouldering is Earl and Shipley Glen, the Moto stuff is Hawkswick Cote (I think)

Andorra, la Molina, les angles, ax les thermes- pyranees
Orcieres, Pra loup, Val d’allos , montgenevres- southern alps

Tignes is definitely worth a look, maybe in combination with a few days in the beaufortaine (les saisie, areches)

Deux alpes/Alpe d’huez/vaujany/os en oisans

Loads of riding and very little pedalling.

But I agree with a previous poster, it isn’t where you are from or where you live – but how you see life.

That’s a bit philosophical for an 8yr old when he asks “are we in the north yet dad?” 😕

“Son it doesn’t matter, you have Yorkshire blood running through your veins, you will always be in the North even though we are currently stuck in a traffic jam on the M25” 🙂

Best, Lfo at the orbit, morley.
Worst, kraftwerk, tribal gathering, they were so f…ing dull.

@mainmonkey king. Have a look at Andorra (Valnord/grandvalira) excellent weather usually and top bike parks. In the alps, there are some good southern ones like orcieres.

And the lifts are free at tignes!

@ mainmonkey king. It doesn’t, somewhere like tignes or Deux alpes would be better.

Zebrugge would better but more expensive. Either way, the best route through France is Lille, Reims, Dijon, Bourg en Bresse etc.

If cost was not a factor I would always go via Zebrugge, in the off season there is not much in it once you have factored in fuel. In the high season though it is much more expensive, although if you intend to stay in a hotel somewhere this evens it out a fair bit.

I’d say anything south of a line roughly drawn between Scarborough and the top end of Morecambe Bay counts as the start of the midlands.

So Bradford and Leeds are in the Midlands. 😥

For more gravity stuff, this site is useful.

http://www.downhill911.com/trails/carte-spots.php?p=France&d=11-aude

http://www.downhill911.com/trails/carte-spots.php?p=France&d=66-pyrenees-orientales

Quillan is good for XC (FFC centre vtt Aude en Pyranees), 30 mins further on over the col d’axat is the Capacir (les Angles, Formiguere), great area with lifts as well as XC. 30 min further gets you to La Molina bike park in spain, good stuff there.

There is also some good riding to the north east of Narbonne (Nevian, 30 mins), Fontfroide and Clape near Narbonne (30 mins) , inland from Perpignan (Agly, Ile sur tet, Cabanes de corbiers, Balesta) (1.30 ish), some stuff above fitou (45mins). There is a centre FFC vtt in the montagne noire just east of carcassone as well but its a bit crap.

http://www.utagawavtt.com/ Search under aude and pyranees orientale and you will find loads of stuff.

If you are down during the summer hols, do not try to go to any of these places on a saturday though. The 45 mins fitou to Carcassone took me 3 hours when I forgot this.

No matter what you think the fact is that for kids owing their masses, the weight of the bike is going to be a real issue. That and tailoring the route so that it fits your kid.

My son (8) has a big hit grom, pretty heavy bike, but I find tailoring routes pretty easy really. I look here:

http://www.26in.fr/bike-parks/
http://www.bigbike-magazine.com/station-vtt

As people keep pointing out, the FS will not be the only bike a kid is likely to have. It will be a second bike for gravity type stuff.

…doesn’t the avarage bmx weigh a ton too as they are made to withstand adult sized teenagers doing god-knows-what on?

Yes, but they are singlespeed and rigid so they tick all the STW boxes for a perfect downhill bike.

Anyway, cheers for the bike Ian, Seth loves it!

Good to hear, glad its got a good home 😀

Better not mention the fact it has suspension forks or it will kick up another s++tstorm 😉

Off course it will, like the 20″ wheels are going to roll so well above the rocks in the alps.

Kid on 20″ wheels looking totally out of his depth in among some rocks. 🙄

All the comments about BMX, Singlespeed, fully rigid etc. etc. miss the point about who and where a bike like that is designed for. A kid with one of these will most likely have (at least) a bmx as well but no one in their right mind would consider riding a bmx through a rock garden for enjoyment.

PMSL. Off course it will, like the 20″ wheels are going to roll so well above the rocks in the alps. Sometimes you guys are geniuses.

So is a good kid banned from riding bike parks because he/she cant fit a 24/26″ bike?

I suspect they’re targeting the very small number of kids whose skills go way beyond what most kid’s bike could cope with.

Exactly! That FS would be perfect for a young ripper in the alps.

Because obvioulsy you think a kid that small is going to have all the power to drag the weight of that uphill.

I don’t think they are aimed at the Isla bike market.

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Jackson-Goldstone-Woodward-Spring-camp-video-2012.html

Cyclo do a universal kit, crc sell them. Mph are one of the brands quoted as being compatible.

Who are these brain dead people?!… Whoever they are, they seem to have the ear of the authorities.

FE College middle managers for the most part.

Should we be dedicating large public resource to this minority?

Its probably cheaper to educate than for the NHS to pay for the fallout in terms of poor health and obesity.

Sad but true, I was at a training course at work where some people were implying that putting your kid in a position where he/she might potentially hurt themselves could be construed as child abuse.

Clearing up bo**ocks like that would be useful as I am sure that many people keep their kids away from anything remotely dangerous out of fear of a call from the social services.

Other thoughts are the Drome and Ardeche, any one ridden there?

Think the Vosges/Valais will be too unpredictable in terms of weather so they are out of the running.

The figures showed that 59% of fathers and 42% of mothers were so busy that they had fewer than five hours a week to play with their children.

I suspect this is the big issue.

The last 3 William Gibson books were really good: Pattern Recognition, Spook country and Zero history

Also Sean Cregan: The Levels, Devils Gate (sort of cyber punk without the technology)

No one ? 😕

Anyone know what the weather in the Vosges is like at that time?
Anyone used the lift/train network in the Valais? would May be too early?
Anyone ridden in the Tarn or around St Remo/Finale?

Motor-home definitely. I bought a cheap one (bongo so not exactly a proper one) last year and it has been great. You get loads of independence, you don’t need to pay for camp sites and accommodation, you can break off journeys and crash out if you are tired etc etc. France in particular is very motor-home friendly. My son loves it and we spent 6 weeks travelling round the Alps last summer sleeping pretty much every night in it.

Insurance is not that bad and ferries are pretty reasonable. I pay £39 each way for the bongo and some people I met recently only paid £45 for a full on 6+ m one. An £8000 one wont depreciate that fast and you will save loads of money on you future holidays.

Deffo go for a conversion though as s*itting in the woods and washing once a week wont be too popular with the ladies 😀

Sospel is a pretty good all mountain trail centre. A bit far for the weekend though.

[/url]
008[/url] by ianvincent[/url], on Flickr

http://www.geoportail.fr/ ??

Thats it, thanks

les angles is a good place, it has a bike park, a marked out trail network and loads of stuff to do with kids.

I have a spes hot rock 20 that needs a bit of work on the drive train ( new cassette / chain, or maybe just a few links from the chain removed). It’s seen some use so not cosmetically pristine. £50 picked up Bradford if you are interested.

I went with my son to the pave at Ahrenberg yesterday. At that point Boonen wasn’t in the lead and I was surprised to hear he won. He must have legged it after Hasnon.

This guy was leading where we were:

[/url]
010[/url] by ianvincent[/url], on Flickr

It looked brutal and I really felt for the guys at the back, they looked knackered.

Last rider, pretty much (face says it all!):

[/url]
IMG_3197[/url] by ianvincent[/url], on Flickr

I was plated last year and was riding tow paths after 3 or 4 weeks and riding in the alps after about 8 ( pretty conservatively at first mind). Get out of the sling asap or it will take ages to get any strength back.