Adventure Bike Rider Forum

.

quite a few good lanes in mid wales .. great views ... Trail Riding Rhyadr do a lot of outings, but you pay .. i used to just look at the OS maps, and go on my own .. just take care.

South wales is more contentious, with loads of illegal offroading, spoiling it for others, with a high police presence, at times ... but there are plenty ther .. you just have to travel a lot, ... and be prepared for the occassional confrontation .. but if you legal ... stuff em .. just do your thing ...

I aiways used OS map, but a lot join the trf, who know how to read thise digital screen theings.



edit .. like JB says. theres a lot of it about .. probably made worse by this covid shiiit.

Daithelimp wrote: ↑Sat Apr 10, 2021 5:50 pm Hi, im looking to dip my toes into some off road riding (green lane/TET type stuff appeals) .

I've been been riding road bikes/track days for years but not so keen on that anymore but the reducing amount of places to ride is really concerning and putting me off getting a bike.

Interested in off road years, did a little bit as a kid and done the dave Thorpe enduro day but no other experience off road (apart from mountain biking).

Is it really getting that difficult to ride legally these days? I don't want yo buy a bike then get it confiscated. Especially interested in the South/mid Wales areas

Hello clearly there is legal trail riding out there, the oppotunities are reducing all the time, TET is not helping, maybe that is selfish of me, but that is my point of view on that. It is possible to go out and ride all day for a trailride but there will be a lot of tarmac that is the way it is in this country. Some are happy to go out and ride 3 or 4 trails joined together by some nice rural roads and thats great, others like a bit more non tarmac action, this is where local knowledge and experience come in to it. I have ridden 2 strokers, 450/600 thumpers, and the GS12 on the trails in a lot of ways the bigger bikes are better for modern trails which are often farm track stuff where a 300 race bike is overkill, that is obviously a generalization and my opinion. you dont say what type of bike you may see yourself on. It really depends what your expectation is, the days of bog busting over the mountains and through the forests and coal dust spraying over the old tips have largely gone, so they tell me, I would know nothing about it. I am not so far from you, look through my posts for a few pics some are very local to you. Probably going out on the trails tomorrow, if I were going on a historicaly known to me route I could probably get in 40-50 trails in a long day just south of 200 miles, thats enough for me, but I love exploring and that always costs time. In Spain you would get a lot more trail mileage, you could argue Welsh mileage is better though. PM me if you like and I will send you my phone number, you could ring or arrange a Meet or look for me around the West End Cafe early or later on a Sunday, the bike is pretty much always the dirtiest most used looking GS in the vicinity. Good luck which ever way you go. Paul.

Thanks for the fast replies. Yes growing up and still living in the valleys, unfortunately I'm all too aware of the moronic total disregard for the rules regarding off road riding which is destroying the hobby which is why I'm a little reluctant to splash the cash so to speak but have a severe itch that needs to be scratched (I've had cream for it).
Done quite a few tours of Ireland, Scotland and UK, and also work as a paramedic at the IOM TT but wanting to do less and less on the roads all the time.
After riding sports and then a hypermotard I currently ride a R1200R on the road but nowhere near experienced enough to take something like a GS off road. I was thinking maybe something like a crf250 to get started even though a lot say they won't pull the skin off a rice pudding I know also not to run before I can walk. Eventually I really fancy something like a husqvarna 701, I have no interest in blasting accross farmland or coal tips, maybe a bit of camping and just chilling really (really want to do a vietnam tour too but not on my bike).

(Paul, is that photo taken above Cwmavon overlooking Port Talbot).

Regards

Mark

The 250 is a good bike, not perfect, the biggest flaw for me was the fact at low speeds it struggled to pull 2nd gear when I really wanted it, in standard gearing at least, did'nt like the clutch much either. The new 300 may have just enough extra to make all the difference as a trail bike. Outside of that the difficulty for me is that it has zero fun factor as a bike to ride, trailriding in itself is enjoyable enough most of the time, but just now and again where suitable its nice to have enough kick to spin the rear wheel up a bit. IMO The 701 family then is overkill in performance and prep and running costs, Buy a CRF and ride it, there was a reasonably active TRF group based around Carmarthen you could try. Your Geography is pretty close without looking back at a map dont quite remember exactly.

Excellent, thank you. So much to think about. May catch you up the west end one day

Asgard wrote: ↑Thu Dec 10, 2020 9:49 am

Richard Simpson Mark II wrote: ↑Wed Dec 09, 2020 6:06 pm I had the Welsh Finance Minister and the policeman in charge of 'off-roading' in the BBNPA both agree the TRO signs were not legally placed.
The finance minister wrote to the BBNPA on my behalf asking that the signs be removed.
They fobbed her off, saying they could do what they liked.
I still have copies of the letters, if anyone is interested...the TRF appear not to be and ran a white flag up on this some time ago.

Id like a copy please

Yeah so would I actually.... Thanks

I'll dig it out of my files and copy it to you both...sorry it's taken so long.

PM me your emails