[Closed] Coed Y Brenin for a day which trail(s)

Doable on a hardtail? - Yes
Worth taking my ebike? - Yes
Gravel stuff? - Yes

I hate climbing, but I really enjoyed The Beast. Still feels quite wild around the back, and some of the descents are lovely.

Definitely doable on a hardtail, but I think it would be much more fun on a full suss.

oldfart
Full Member

Staying in the area in July ,is CYB doable on a hardtail

It's old- think of the bikes people had when it was first built. I know a lot of folk consider it hard work on a hardtail compared to full suss but I prefer it on a ht for sure.

I did the MBR and Tawr Du back to back in a day on a 170f / 160r enduro bike and felt absolutely battered by the end of it. Would I ride those blacks on my hardtail - I don’t think so. Maybe the reds might be less harsh and rocky.

On the same trip I rode Antur Stiniog and Snowdon and I’d rather do either of those on a hardtail than Coed Y Brenin

😳

First time I went to Coedy I did Dragons Back then Tarw in a day....09 I think, so on my 26 inch Rockhopper hardtail with 100mm travel.

Been back since on my Trance 29er....felt like overkill if I'm honest. Certainly more fun on a hardtail.

TBH, I was underwhelmed by the Beast; seemed like a very high fire road to fun trail ratio.

There's a shortcut to miss the pointless fireroad loop out

I know that now...

Unfortunately, I didn't then. 🙁

I rode CyB as a noob in 2000 as my first ever trail centre, on a Cannondale F500 with a 65mm undamped headshock and youth and stupidity on my side.

That was before it was armoured. Most of the singletrack was pretty natural and it had nothing like the formalised brutal rock network it has now, and it keeps evolving. The MBR now is way better than when it was first put in for example.

It's certainly possible to ride a hardtail there, but if you want to push on/get the most from the descents you will get battered.

I took my HT round Tawr Ddu and MBR last june and by the end my quads were spent from sucking up the constant hits, and my toes were bruised from being shunted forward in my shoes by said same hits.

That said I was trying to hang with my FS buddy at the time. It is possible to ride with more conservatism and not batter oneself quite as much.

Lots of good info thanks everyone. Just deciding as a day out of a holiday whether to do Dragons Back, MBR or The Beast? I'm leaning towards Dragons Back? 🤔

My kids have done Dragons Back and Red Bull on 24" hardtails ( missing out the PFoPs of course)
The little one did Red Bull on 20" Beinn, so I think a grown adult should have no particular issues.

Having said which it'd be comfier and faster on a full suss.

Lots of good info thanks everyone. Just deciding as a day out of a holiday whether to do Dragons Back, MBR or The Beast? I’m leaning towards Dragons Back?

Worst option IMHO. Clearly the Beast is the best of those three since it includes almost all of MBR and Dragons. But if th...

Oh, can't be arsed typing this all in again. It was fully covered in last week's CyB thread. Here you go....
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/first-time-at-coed-y-brenin-which-trail-route/#post-11881434

😃

the generalist thanks for the link I missed that 🙄

Hit the Beast.

I take my hardtail mostly. Sometimes my enduro bike. Have lots of fun on both. Don't feel particularly battered by either. Enduro bike is probably faster, hardtail feels faster.

To the guy who says his toes were bruised by his feet being punted forward with the big hits - your shoes are too small. Your toes should never smack the ends of your shoes.

Just watched a vid of the Beast , I’ve got it sorted in my head now . Full Suss for my knackered back 🙄 but just happens to be Electric 🙄 , that’s the fun / sensible option and cut out that fire road loop . How easy is that to do ?

How easy is that to do ?

It's pretty straightforward, The end of the descent called "Herman" pops you out onto a road, the official trail then bears right at post 118, instead go straight on, up a "stern" road climb, after 1/2 mile or so, look out for a fire-road to your right (you'll know it's the correct one as there'll be quite a few tyre tracks) keep climbing up this for a couple hundred yards until until you rejoin the trial at marker post 123 which should be the start to a fun downhill called Gomez. If you download the Map of the Black routes at CYB you can see it's pretty easy

EDIT, the road climb is hurty, I reserve it for solo trips and if the weather looks a bit iffy. The official route, although a bit dull, is much easier, and on a nice day, much more pleasant, and the views aren't bad either.

To the guy who says his toes were bruised by his feet being punted forward with the big hits – your shoes are too small. Your toes should never smack the ends of your shoes.

Actually, to accommodate the width of my feet, my shoes are a size too large.

Thanks nickc hope for a nice day then , on an E Bike it will be fine to take in the views 😎

I took my hardtail there last September and did the beast but skipped the long out and back fireroad bit. It was a great day and I actually had to pick my lines to get down a few bits smoothly unlike on my full suss. It's more fun for me to be underbiked than overbiked.

EDIT, the road climb is hurty,

If you carry on to post 119, you can turn left and contour around on more fire road and avoid the tarmac terror altogether. This always feels pretty easy in comparison.

As for a HT, it's fine, although I preferred missing out Badger/Pinderosa (which seem designed to weed out people who haven't set up their suspension properly), and start with the first couple of sections of Minotawr as a fun warm-up, then turn back up the road to rejoin.

It’s more fun for me to be underbiked than overbiked.

I don't disagree with this, but have found the fun tails off a bit when you crash at speed onto some of the many, many rocks.