BikePark Wales: Four Seasons - Video

54 Comments

23 1

sellcrackcocainetofundhobby (Jan 4, 2017 at 12:07)

if this doesnt make you want to remortgage your house, pimp next doors cat out and shell out grands on a fat downhill rig to head to bike park wales then your names jeffrey and you listen to the archers whilst being pussy whipped into washing pots by your middle aged menapausal wife ethel.

14 0

unleash (Jan 4, 2017 at 15:12)

@sellcrackcocainetofundhobby my names Jeffrey and I listen to the archers ,you leave my wife out of it or ill smash.....gotta go ethel has summoned me...

16 3

PDub11 (Jan 4, 2017 at 7:35)

You'll have to wait 3 month to get on the uplift, which is nearly summer anyway.

Cefn (Jan 4, 2017 at 8:02)

As it stands you can ride in a couple of days, so long as you ride in the week, at the weekend its mid February. But I agree with your sentiment you should just be able to turn up and get on. Any day or time of year

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dirtjumpingmonkey (Jan 4, 2017 at 8:17)

@Cefn: You can turn up any day, any time but you just have to pedal up... Without BPW having unlimited resources the only fair way is to have a booking system.

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ThePriory1978 (Jan 4, 2017 at 8:29)

Ride up in the morn, join the pay as you go queue in the afternoon. Uplifter's always start dropping out mid-afternoon.

Garpur44 (Jan 4, 2017 at 8:56)

beat me to it, then have to queue for equally as long to get your band

swansejack22 (Jan 4, 2017 at 9:58)

Have been to BPW over ten times and have only ever booked the uplift twice. All other times we've just turned up and bought 4 or 5 uplifts, and have never had to wait more then ten minutes for an uplift.

subwaypanda FL (Jan 4, 2017 at 23:38)

Still, BPW is the best bike park in the Uk if you have a mix ability group, the 15 odd times Ive been there, with and without uplift it's a pretty slick set up. They seems pretty commited to expanding the Trails too.

Garpur44 (Jan 5, 2017 at 1:57)

@Kickmehard Best bike park in the UK is a bit of a push but I guess it depends on how you measure the quality. If it's by number of visitors then yes BPW but the reason for this is that the trails are fairly mellow and best on trail bikes. This makes them far more accessible to more riders as you don't need full on DH rig to have fun.

That said on a full DH bike BPW is not so much fun they are just too pedaly and not enough Gnar.

I'd take a day at BMCC or Revo any day of the week over BPW and rank the trails as far more progressive than BPW. I'm not saying that BPW isn't fun it's just best enjoyed on a trail bike and is far from the best bike park in the UK.

subwaypanda FL (Jan 5, 2017 at 3:46)

@Garpur44: nah, I said it was the best if you have a mixed ability group, Ive got a few mates who are comfortable at bmcc and revolutions but a lot of my friends are only at a red BPW level. I agree It cant quite match the other two as a DH venue but it's a great stepping stone for going From Trail central to proper DH venues.

Garpur44 (Jan 5, 2017 at 4:37)

@Kickmehard: ahh, see what you saying. Yes for a group of mixed ability I would agree with that

owenpmtb (Jan 4, 2017 at 8:36)

Bmmc is on another level to bpw

owenpmtb (Jan 4, 2017 at 8:36)

*bmcc

Garpur44 (Jan 4, 2017 at 8:56)

@owenpmtb: Dam right but it's not so great in the wet

FatBoyFreeride (Jan 4, 2017 at 11:30)

@Garpur44: 100% favourite place to ride and the guys who run it aren't purely about business!

owenpmtb (Jan 4, 2017 at 11:44)

@FatBoyFreeride: @Garpur44 very true and yes they're very genuine guys

Garpur44 (Jan 4, 2017 at 12:53)

@owenpmtb: @fatboyfreeride haven the got a single bad word to say about the place, love it! Tidy darts into full moto is the most full you can have on 2 wheels.

And as you've said ran by and dug by top blokes!

benjagg FL (Jan 4, 2017 at 13:59)

I spoke to one of the drivers last year about a chair lift, it has been looked into and would be about £3m installed (consider choppering in pylons etc). I like the place but hate the uplift.

unleash (Jan 5, 2017 at 3:07)

All tge arguments about which uk bike park is best are subjective,if you love jumps but aint so keen on tech black Mountain is best, if you like man made trails and have beginner to intermediate skills bpw is best(fifty shades of black excluded,really enjoyed that one)and if you like steep and tech revolution is best, but let's not forget gawton which pretty damned good.

Asgardeh (Jan 4, 2017 at 8:32)

Going in Feb with 10 of the lads. Praying for good weather.
I'm pretty sure you can get one off uplift for £5 but riders with booked uplift get priority. I might be wrong?

ADT80 (Jan 4, 2017 at 10:03)

yep - 2 lines. 1 for pre paid passes and the other for bought on the day / single uplift. Priority given to pre paid all day pass. Once this queue is all gone, the other riders can load up

David84 (Jan 5, 2017 at 2:11)

To be honest, the place almost rides better in the wet

Cefn (Jan 4, 2017 at 7:59)

I wish there was a bike park north Wales. As big as this and happy for you to skip the uplift. Or even better on a big mountain with a chairlift. Are chairlifts really that pricey to build that unless you have a ski resort it won't make the money back?

samdaman1 FL (Jan 4, 2017 at 8:28)

Researched costs, look like they tend to cost around 300k so it wouldn't be the most economical investment, and I reckon, if they get about £15 profit from each rider and have 3 16 seaters running every day for a year they could install one after 2 years, but to be honest, more trails would be preferred by many rather than a lift.

11 1

oldmanDan (Jan 4, 2017 at 9:00)

Bike park north Wales!

have you not heard of revolution or antur stiniog?

DC1988 (Jan 4, 2017 at 9:31)

@oldmanDan:
But you can't really compare Revolution to BPW!

Allaboutthehardtails (Jan 4, 2017 at 10:00)

Cefn this has to be the next step for bpw!although a chairlift is expensive initially it will easily pay for itself and would have alot of happy riders willing to use the chairlift over the slow uplift.have the minibuses as a back up or a cheaper ticket

kes2903 (Jan 4, 2017 at 10:44)

@DC1988: because Revolution is really really good and BPW, errrm, isn't...?

rpinney206 (Jan 4, 2017 at 11:26)

@oldmanDan: how does revolution compare to bpw? very interested to go but a long journey from London

oldmanDan (Jan 4, 2017 at 12:55)

@rpinney206:

Bpw is OK, revolution has big boys stuff!
Think 'send it'.

DC1988 (Jan 4, 2017 at 12:56)

@kes2903:
I wouldn't necessarily say either is better but Revolution is definitely aimed at more advanced riders

delcol (Jan 4, 2017 at 13:51)

@rpinney206: being from the USA you probably drive further to get groceries or get a latte

Our small shitty island in comparison should around 200 mile.

Thewootts (Jan 4, 2017 at 14:10)

@rpinney206: Revolution is brilliant, there is a few other places like antor steniog to ride up those parts so you could make a weekend of it. Revo rides well all weather and the uplift is super efficient, never more than 80 riders on site (i think) it is defo worth the trip. Ive not been up since maybe September and it looks like they have been busy digging some more bike parky style lines.

DC1988 (Jan 4, 2017 at 14:29)

@Thewootts:
I agree Revolution is fantastic but where at BPW I'm quite happy on my enduro bike I would have much preferred a dh bike at Revolution, it's pretty gnarly in the wet!

teedubya (Jan 4, 2017 at 14:40)

@DC1988: Gnarly in the wet. Which is pretty much all the time. Awesome place to ride though.

rpinney206 (Jan 5, 2017 at 3:32)

yea but i don't have a car over here, gotta train it 4hrs from London, but Its good to here that its a bit more gnarley, having ridden at Whistler a bunch BPW is rather easy

Cefn (Jan 5, 2017 at 13:37)

@oldmanDan: yeah cuz they are both as popular and large as bpw..

Cefn (Jan 5, 2017 at 13:39)

@samdaman1: it would be nice to not sit in a mouldy van though and I guess if anyone's got the cash they'd own the first chairlifted bike park in wales. And think how much easier trail building is when you only ever have to walk downhill

Cefn (Jan 5, 2017 at 13:42)

@Allaboutthehardtails: to me it seemed like an obvious step. The UK MTB community would turn up. People drive for hours to ride Cannock chase ffs.

samdaman1 FL (Jan 5, 2017 at 13:42)

@Cefn: good point, having a lift would probably increase the amount of people booking on to ride, and they could mire runs in, but that would mean more need for trail maintenance and a need for more trails to prevent traffic. To be honest a lift would be nice either way and whether they have one or not, people are still going to want to ride there.

Cefn (Jan 5, 2017 at 13:49)

@samdaman1: yeah I agree I just watch MTB videos and its American and Canadian chair lifted dh trails that take longer than 4 minutes to descend. Then I look at wales and see a manky van or people powering it uphill

samdaman1 FL (Jan 5, 2017 at 13:55)

@Cefn: yeah, more than just fort William would be nice and anything where you don't have to pedal up is good, but I must admit, considering how many hills we have, we don't use nearly enough of it for uplifted bike trails, and the more varied riding spots we have, the more the sport will grow. Basically we just need more funding.

ronanwhitts (Jan 12, 2017 at 14:11)

@samdaman1: and glencoe... most underrated trails in the uk by far, super gnar and fast uplift ith no ques whats not to like?

robert-smith FL (Jan 4, 2017 at 14:14)

all filmed on go pro?

That Phantom drone doesn't have a go pro attached does it?

jamesdippy (Jan 4, 2017 at 13:46)

Funny I only know one season whenever I go to Wales Wet season !

subwaypanda FL (Jan 4, 2017 at 23:32)

To be fair they have 4 distinct seasons 1. wet 2.wet and cold 3.really wet and cold. 4.bit less wet.

jamesdippy (Jan 5, 2017 at 0:53)

@Kickmehard: hehehehe!!!

binks (Jan 4, 2017 at 10:48)

how long does it take to cycle up ?

lukachadwick (Jan 4, 2017 at 11:08)

If ride up the push hill it's easier rather than riding the trail that goes up. If you're fit you could do it in 20 minutes, if you take it leisurely and spin up, maybe 40 minutes. I did a day back in the summer where we got 5 full runs in without uplift and it wasn't too tiring that it affected us going down

dynebaruk (Jan 4, 2017 at 11:09)

20-25 minutes

willaasss FL (Jan 4, 2017 at 11:49)

Fair play boys, quickest run down is between 3-5 minutes if you can get up there in 20 you both deserve medals! Ha

oldmanDan (Jan 4, 2017 at 12:57)

@willaasss:

You can push it in just over 20 mins if you know the way

PDub11 (Jan 5, 2017 at 0:42)

About 5-10 minutes longer than the bus. From bus queue to hut at the top its probably the same time when you factor in loading and unloading. Obviously sitting on a bus is better. Says a lot when the bus ride up is about the same as the pedal up.