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Planning a trip to Glen Coe in a couple of weeks.
Firstly wondered are the tracks good?
How do they compare?
Are they rideable on a HT?
Thanks in advance,
Alan.
They are good but they are very tough. They will beat you and your bike up. I personally wouldn't fancy it on a HT but it's not beyond the capabilities of a burly HT as long as it's not beyond your capabilities.
I'd been thinking of going and taking my cotic soul. It all looks doable but perhaps not at the speed of the guy in whatnobeers video link. I thought there were different grades of trail, I assume that's a black but isn't there a red option too? If so what's that like?
The black run scared the living **** out of me when I went a couple of years ago, easily the hardest/techiest DH track I've ridden in the UK. I was on a dh monster, shudder to think what riding a ht would be like.
Have fun!
That was the black in the vid. Not done the red so can't comment but the black is about hard as it gets in the UK. Harder than Fort William WC in my opinion.
Wow! - That boy on the vid is fast - or was it speeded up.....
Certainly won't be going that quick.
Might stick to the red, wouldn't mind bike & I in one piece at the end.
Cheers all.
Alan 🙂
If you do go please let us know what the red is like. It's a lot closer than Fort William for me so could be a good option for the odd downhill day. Cheers.
The red is ok. They did quite a bit of work to get it ready for the SDA round they had to run on it. Nothing too steep on it but it is very, very rough and it's very fast. With a lack of technical features on it to slow you down it's a pretty fast run down a mega rough track. I reckon it would kill a hardtail and the rider after a few runs at a decent speed.
The black is just insane.
Put it this way, I've done fort william on a hardtail but I continue to shite it off glencoe on a downhill bike 🙂 The red's been changed a lot since I rode it so not sure where it's at now, it was good fun but not worth a trip (I did 5 runs at the sda round last year and was getting to be fairly over it) Perhaps that's changed.
Also, i don't like to be so harsh but the uplift was very poor. Hard to get bikes loaded (and especially unloaded) with the speed of the thing and the basic bike mounts- saw a bike damaged by that. And the staff were terrible, not just unhelpful but downright rude.
Have you been up to nevis range before? If not, go there.
"Track" is pushing the description. Great big sections of rock, wheel grabbing holes, rough sections...nasty.
I wouldn't ride the black on a HT.
I rode the red when it just opened for the ride in day and it was pretty rough but didnt have many features - soundslike they've updated that. The black was SUPER technical and really would have been better walking it first, its an awful lot harder than fort bill. However spoke to a chap the other day that said the winter wrecked the black and it needed a lot of work on it. Best checking the conditions before you go....the best views from a downhill course ever though:)
If you ride a Cotic Soul, there are far better things to ride around Glen Coe than the DH runs. e.g. Try the WHW in either direction.
what nobeer's link actually shoes some of the easier sections of the track...
totally rideable on a hardtail if you are used to downhilly stuff.
Raced a Karate Monkey rigid on v-brakes, nearly died a few times due to v-brakes and trying to overtake orange 5's in rocky bits, scared some big hit DH bike riders as well.
Had immense fun and aimed to do it this year but upgrade to disc brakes.
It's down to the confidence and ability of the rider more than the bike being ridden.
The black has a couple hundred meters that are very steep and rocky wheelgrabbing holes, the top section is loose rubble and fairly flat, when you drop down into the shored up corners, thats the scary part, lower 1/3 is fast and furious. Oh and many consider it instant death if it's wet and mud is dragged all over the steep rocky bits, fair few photo's of racing in those conditions on the net.
Of course pre-walking the track so you know where the big holes and blind drops are will help 🙂 doing blind runs on DH tracks can get interesting on the first go 🙂
The red is a lot more mellow and easier going, they have done a stack of work since i was there last year, i was hoping for more swoopy bermed corners and little jumps, going on the photo's on the FB page thats what it has.
If you need a big bike take one, if your happy you can get down on a hardtail, take one.... or take both just to be sure.