XC Query - Wicklow

ironclaw

Hi Folks,

Recent injury means I'm trying to cut down on my running and the natural progression is to cycling. I was pretty involved in Downhill years ago but its been many years since I was in the saddle. I find road cycling incredibly boring (Sorry if I offend!) and given I live on the cusp of Wicklow, I was hoping to get into some Cross Country or trail riding (Hard tail type stuff)

So, two questions:

- Are there any regular meets to have a look at some bikes and make an informed selection? And on that note, who is the current best supplier in Ireland? Back when I was involved the major names were Giant, Kona, Cannondale and Turner but I'm sure its all moved on.

- Within Wicklow, are there any restrictions on where one can pedal? Or 'good' trails to follow? I'm fairly fit so getting to the top of a mountain here is the goal and to do it on two wheels would be awesome.

Thanks!

jmrc

Check out Epic, IMBRC Mad cycling, most of these have guy's that are into the XC.
any good mountain bike shop will advise on a decent XC bike.

Loads of fireroads and tails in Wicklow, plenty of back roads to link them together. Strava can be a good resource also.

C3PO

Where do you live?

smacl

jmrc wrote: »

Loads of fireroads and tails in Wicklow, plenty of back roads to link them together. Strava can be a good resource also.

Loads of fireroads ok, though many of the Coilte ones have no mountain biking signs and are as often as not dead ends. To be fair, must people myself included ignore the signs, but be prepared to chuck your bike over gates and do a fair bit of back tracking. One nice longer ones around Glendalough which was grand on the CX bike here The approach I often use is to look at the sattelite view on google maps for a possible trail, put it onto the Garmin 810, and ride out and try my luck. If you're not using sattelite view, OpenStreetMaps is often better than google maps for trail topography.

steamsey

Hi. I've never heard of any clubs getting together to check out bikes, at least not to non club members. In terms of suppliers - there is a lot of choice these days.

The only brand I would say to avoid are LaPierres - have seen some really light crashes cause catastrophic frame damage to those things. Stick with the big brands and you can't go too far wrong.

For a decent XC bike - I would be looking at the following - 27.5" wheels - or even go nuts and get 29". 29ers fly over everything but are not as nimble which usually isn't an issue for XC. 120mm travel minimum. Can get away with 100mm on 29er I'd say. Probably would not get a full suss XC bike - leaving out the rear shock means less € on both the bike itself and also one less thing to service. But with that said, I have a full suss XC bike and love it on the rare occasions I use it. I'd look for Rock Shox of Fox up front - as a must. Brake discs of course, and groupsets from either Shimano or Sram - stay away from the entry level stuff - you want Shimano XT (or equivalent) level stuff on a decent XC bike. Dropper posts are incredibly useful and for XC too.

In terms of gearing - triple rings up front are old hat - a single or double with the right gearing at the back is the way to go. A single up front means no front mech or shifter = less weight, cost and servicing but I'd prob still want double up front for XC - but that might be just me.

I'd probably go second hand to be honest - to get a really nice rig. Not sure on your knowledge level but just make sure that if you're doing XC only - you get an XC bike and not a trail / enduro bike which will be great still, but heavy and probably not geared correctly for XC. (Of course you could get trail / enduro bike and spend € getting it set up correctly for XC but to do that right you have to know what you're doing). If you want to post some potential bikes here I'm sure people can give you honest feedback.

In terms of trails - Wicklow is a good place to be. Ballinastoe is an offical trail centre and has plenty of uphill and you can get advice at the Biking.ie hut. They also rent bike there - might be an idea to rent a few before you buy. Technically - you can only MTB on official trails - Ballinastoe, Ticknock, Ballyhoura, etc. However - there are plenty of other well worn trails in these places. One of my favourites is the climb from Ballinastoe up to Djouce - then down the Hulk.

As someone said, clubs like Epic are good at XC - if you can handle clubs. Otherwise - head out on a nice day and ask people. No one wants to post too much info on the unofficial trails online so searching online is not very productive - you really need to talk to people or go on a few club spins.

Biking.ie has the Biking Blitz's starting next March-ish - good way to get into the sport, albeit only on official trail centres but thoroughly enjoyable.

ironclaw

Thanks everyone. Great info there!

C3PO

C3PO wrote: »

Where do you live?

The reason I asked this is that I think your location will have a significant bearing on your choice of bike. I live in Shankill and almost never put my mountain bike in the car choosing instead to cycle from home to my offroad area of choice. In my case a 29er hardtail with 120mm of travel is the obvious bike to use. If on the other hand you are going to transport your bike by car then a full suspension might make more sense.
I would suggest dropping into Alfie Wallace and Robin Seymour in Expert Cycles in Rathfarnham (two current National XC Champions) and ask their advice!

ironclaw

Thanks C3PO. I'm much closer to Wicklow that yourself, I'd say I could be in the car park of Sugar Loaf by cycle in less than 15 mins from my house. I think a hard tail is the way to go as I'd say I'll be 60:40 road to off road.

C3PO

ironclaw wrote: »

Thanks C3PO. I'm much closer to Wicklow that yourself, I'd say I could be in the car park of Sugar Loaf by cycle in less than 15 mins from my house. I think a hard tail is the way to go as I'd say I'll be 60:40 road to off road.

In that case you're within easy cycling distance of Glen of the Downs, Kindlestown, Djouce and Ballinastoe, all of which have nice trails to ease yourself back into mtbing! I would definitely recommend a 29er hardtail as a good starting point. I have a couple but as an all round bike you can't beat the Cotic Solaris which the lads in Expert can sort you out with!

MacAttackJ

Hi OP,

In a similar situation to yourself. Regular runner but sidelined by injury. I live near the hills so would often go for runs up there. I don’t have a mountain bike but I took my cyclocross bike up for a jaunt over the weekend. Had a glorious spin up from Kilmashoghue over past three rock to come out just North of Johnnie Foxes. Then take a right at the crossroads, down the WW and up the fire roads. Left the WW early on to follow fire roads, coming out on the road just South of the devils elbow. Took the road back but could have gone back over Three Rock on trails South of the Blue Light pub. There are some brand new forest roads by the by on the East flank of Prince Williams Seat.

iwillhtfu

C3PO wrote: »

In that case you're within easy cycling distance of Glen of the Downs, Kindlestown, Djouce and Ballinastoe, all of which have nice trails to ease yourself back into mtbing! I would definitely recommend a 29er hardtail as a good starting point. I have a couple but as an all round bike you can't beat the Cotic Solaris which the lads in Expert can sort you out with!

Don't listen to this madness 27.5" full suss ftw and then find the nearest mountain to throw yourself off of

It's what all the cool kids are doing these days

C3PO

iwillhtfu wrote: »

Don't listen to this madness 27.5" full suss ftw and then find the nearest mountain to throw yourself off of

It's what all the cool kids are doing these days

... when they're not in plaster!! :rolleyes:

iwillhtfu

C3PO wrote: »

... when they're not in plaster!! :rolleyes:

Chicks dig scars :pac:

Enduro

Nothing better than joining a club to be shown where the best trails whilst having tons of fun. Renegade, EPIC, MAD, IMBRC etc are all good. Practically infinite choice on bikes. There's no absolute right and wrong answer. If you get into you'll probably by 2 or 3 at least

Peterx

You really can't go wrong with a modern second hand hardtail 29" with 120mm travel. (I don't even have a bike like this myself but would like one, it's perfect for long days out on the hills with some access tarmac to get to the hills)

Nearly as good would be a CX bike with hydraulic discs.
If you miss the buzz of racing than a cyclocross bike might be the answer as (at this time of year) there are hour long races every weekend till January and you can also take them out on the fireroads and the easier Coillte trails.

Pop down to biking.ie in Ballinastoe or Ticknock and chat to the lads there for info, you could rent a hardtail one day and a full sus the next?
http://www.biking.ie/index.php/bike-rental/mountain-bike-rental
http://www.coillteoutdoors.ie/index.php?id=173&rec_site=103&trail=135

xxyyzz

steamsey wrote: »

Hi. I've never heard of any clubs getting together to check out bikes, at least not to non club members. In terms of suppliers - there is a lot of choice these days.

The only brand I would say to avoid are LaPierres - have seen some really light crashes cause catastrophic frame damage to those things. Stick with the big brands and you can't go too far wrong.

For a decent XC bike - I would be looking at the following - 27.5" wheels - or even go nuts and get 29". 29ers fly over everything but are not as nimble which usually isn't an issue for XC. 120mm travel minimum. Can get away with 100mm on 29er I'd say. Probably would not get a full suss XC bike - leaving out the rear shock means less € on both the bike itself and also one less thing to service. But with that said, I have a full suss XC bike and love it on the rare occasions I use it. I'd look for Rock Shox of Fox up front - as a must. Brake discs of course, and groupsets from either Shimano or Sram - stay away from the entry level stuff - you want Shimano XT (or equivalent) level stuff on a decent XC bike. Dropper posts are incredibly useful and for XC too.

In terms of gearing - triple rings up front are old hat - a single or double with the right gearing at the back is the way to go. A single up front means no front mech or shifter = less weight, cost and servicing but I'd prob still want double up front for XC - but that might be just me.

I'd probably go second hand to be honest - to get a really nice rig. Not sure on your knowledge level but just make sure that if you're doing XC only - you get an XC bike and not a trail / enduro bike which will be great still, but heavy and probably not geared correctly for XC. (Of course you could get trail / enduro bike and spend € getting it set up correctly for XC but to do that right you have to know what you're doing). If you want to post some potential bikes here I'm sure people can give you honest feedback.

In terms of trails - Wicklow is a good place to be. Ballinastoe is an offical trail centre and has plenty of uphill and you can get advice at the Biking.ie hut. They also rent bike there - might be an idea to rent a few before you buy. Technically - you can only MTB on official trails - Ballinastoe, Ticknock, Ballyhoura, etc. However - there are plenty of other well worn trails in these places. One of my favourites is the climb from Ballinastoe up to Djouce - then down the Hulk.

As someone said, clubs like Epic are good at XC - if you can handle clubs. Otherwise - head out on a nice day and ask people. No one wants to post too much info on the unofficial trails online so searching online is not very productive - you really need to talk to people or go on a few club spins.

Biking.ie has the Biking Blitz's starting next March-ish - good way to get into the sport, albeit only on official trail centres but thoroughly enjoyable.

Everything he said

Your plan to start on a hardtail is a good one, a full-suss will let you away with stuff that the hardtail won't so you'll be forced to learn the basics and good technique on the hardtail. When you get better after a year or so and want to tackle more technical trails then start looking around at full-suss bikes. Definitely head out with a few experienced heads though to show you the ropes, you'll progress much quicker although if you have a DH background you probably know the score already.

ADW1

My recommendation would be to buy a 29er hardtail. These are very versatile bikes and can cover great distance on and off road. I have a 2013 Canyon which I ride regularly in the Ballyhouras. I have done 200km road spins to long distance off road spins and the bike has been faultless. It is important to clean the bike regularly after each spin, this will prolong the life of the drive train and fork. I would recommend to get a bike with a decent fork (Rockshox reba minimum) and Shimano double SLX or XT groupset. A lot will depend on your budget. Keep an eye on done deal/Adverts as good deals come up regularly. There was a Canyon with fox fork and full XT group set for sale recently on donedeal which would be a good buy, it was a large. I have a full sus with 1x11 also, but it rarely get used as the 29er is my preference to the type of riding I do (XC/Trail)