Swinley forest a no go for ebikes?

[Allysnell]

I've just been looking up swinley forest as a place to go this Friday however......
On looking closely at various blue and red trails and clicking the link it takes you to a trail forks page below.

Swinley Forest
Blue 16 Details

• Riding area
  Swinley Forest
  Bracknell
• Difficulty rating
  Blue rate
• Trail type
  Singletrack
• Bike type
  AM, XC
• Trail Usage
  Biking Only
• Direction
  One Direction
  Popular direction shown
• eBike Allowed
  No
• Global Ranking

And the anovenis what you get. Now if you click on bow it comes up with some bs about why certain trails don't allow evokes how they are destroying some trails etc. Can anyone enlighten me on the truth of all this, it looks like it might be quite recent.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Have been riding my Levo there fine. No issues at all.

 

[Allysnell]

Have been riding my Levo there fine. No issues at all.

Whether your personal opinions about ebikes is positive or negative, they are becoming more popular and educating riders on where they can ride these new bikes is a crucial part of the puzzle.
Many opponents of e-mountain bikes are concerned about the trails, possibly increased wear and potential complications with land owners and advocacy. But a crucial step is to educate responsible ebike owners where they can and cannot ride their ebikes. Trailforks makes this possible by allowing trails to be classified as ebike allowed, NOT allowed, or unknown status. Ebike owners can then filter the Trailforks map on the website or mobile app to show trails they can ride on.
So we encourage local trail associations to update the trails in their region with the ebike status once they know their local land managers policy. For some larger national land owners like BLM, we've automatically populated the ebike info.

The above is taken directly from the trail forks site! Do you reckon it's just that site trying to stir things up? Seems a bit odd to classify the trails as non e bike as let's face it we all pretty much have a max downhill speed which is governed by the terrain and a desire to stay alive.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Whether your personal opinions about ebikes is positive or negative, they are becoming more popular and educating riders on where they can ride these new bikes is a crucial part of the puzzle.
Many opponents of e-mountain bikes are concerned about the trails, possibly increased wear and potential complications with land owners and advocacy. But a crucial step is to educate responsible ebike owners where they can and cannot ride their ebikes. Trailforks makes this possible by allowing trails to be classified as ebike allowed, NOT allowed, or unknown status. Ebike owners can then filter the Trailforks map on the website or mobile app to show trails they can ride on.
So we encourage local trail associations to update the trails in their region with the ebike status once they know their local land managers policy. For some larger national land owners like BLM, we've automatically populated the ebike info.

The above is taken directly from the trail forks site! Do you reckon it's just that site trying to stir things up? Seems a bit odd to classify the trails as non e bike as let's face it we all pretty much have a max downhill speed which is governed by the terrain and a desire to stay alive.

It’s 100% ebike friendly. Even the shop do ebike coaching. ?

 

[Superlukey]

Err I seem to remember one of Rob's vids showing him having a coaching session with the guy at the bike shop there and he was on a Kenevo so would be a little odd if it was not allowed...

 

[Superlukey]

Rob just beat me to it with his post

 

[Allysnell]

Ok that's cool, but it does beg the question why sites that a lot of people use would put stuff like this out there. I hope ts stays ok for ebikes as I too want to get some coaching. Once the bikes repaired!

 

[Superlukey]

I'm planning on going on Sat so fingers crossed.

 

[Allysnell]

I'm planning on going on Sat so fingers crossed.

If you get chased out by people with torches and pitchforks let me know lol. I was hoping to get down Friday morning.

 

[Superlukey]

Seems like you are going before me so let me know if you make out alive!

 

[Allysnell]

Lol will do, if I remember I'll have a chat with the guys at the bike hub.

 

[Gary]

Trail forks?
Oh.. the App I've never used that enables me to keep meeting muppets on my regular rides? Generally staring at their phone while lost and attempting to find trails that are way above their skill level?

I wish Zwift would hurry up and release the mtb version so these folk didn't have to leave the safety of their house.

 

[mymodel6]

Ok that's cool, but it does beg the question why sites that a lot of people use would put stuff like this out there. I hope ts stays ok for ebikes as I too want to get some coaching. Once the bikes repaired!

Go to Pinkbike and read some comments sections and you'll see why...

 

[Slowroller]

Trailforks data is open source and updated by ordinary Joes who are approved by TF, so unless whoever then moderates it at Trailforks checks, I don't know how you'd know anything is accurate on there.

 

[galaga187]

If you get chased out by people with torches and pitchforks let me know lol. I was hoping to get down Friday morning.

My mate had loads of problems when he visited

 

[MarkH]

I've been going twice a week for the last 7 months and always see a number of levos and kenevos when im there. Will be going tomorrow in fact.

 

[HKP57]

Trail forks?
Oh.. the App I've never used that enables me to keep meeting muppets on my regular rides? Generally staring at their phone while lost and attempting to find trails that are way above their skill level

How are people like me supposed to improve their skill levels without going on the more challenging trails, should we just stay on the fire roads and keep out of your way?????

 

[Al Boneta]

Trail forks?
Oh.. the App I've never used that enables me to keep meeting muppets on my regular rides? Generally staring at their phone while lost and attempting to find trails that are way above their skill level?

I wish Zwift would hurry up and release the mtb version so these folk didn't have to leave the safety of their house.

So they should just stay lost because you find their cell phone use annoying. When I started out I would have killed for the Technology we have now to find more trails or become more familiar trails the cool kids wouldn’t show me. Should these riders never try to progress and improve their skill set, because you feel inconvenienced by their mere presence? I am sure most of us were not expert level riders our first years of riding either.
Of course I was, but I am the exception to the rule.

 

[mymodel6]

Uh oh, butt-hurt snowflake time...

 

[SquireRides]

Gotta be better than carrying 2-3 1:25k OS Maps, like back in the day.

"Dammit this trail crosses in to the Telford and Wrekin map, we cant go that way..."

 

[Allysnell]

Hi Rob it may be time to close this post as we've now moved off topic and the original question has been answered. Thanks

 

[Gary]

How are people like me supposed to improve their skill levels without going on the more challenging trails, should we just stay on the fire roads and keep out of your way?????

No. Talk to other riders out on the trails, get to know other riders, ride with other riders.
If you really want to progress your skills fast start racing and digging challenging trails, you'll meet a whole new group of riders faster and more skilled than yourself willing to share their experience on the hill doing either of these things.

You seem to have missed my point. It's the electronic society I'm not a fan of. Not society. I fucking love people and am one of the most friendly helpful guys you'll ever bump into on a trail. Electronics/Apps dumb people down and kill their social skills IMO. and worse still can give people a fucked up sense of entitlement. Do you even dig bro?
There is definitely a darker side to Socialmedia/Trailforks/strava/youtube usage and pre-it's use for finding trails there used to be very good reasons a lot of trails were not widely shared.

Ps. Don't take everything I say so seriously... I have a darker sense of humour than most and love taking the piss/having a laugh about stuff. both IRL and electronically (eg. here) [/IRONY]

So they should just stay lost because you find their cell phone use annoying. When I started out I would have killed for the Technology we have now to find more trails or become more familiar trails the cool kids wouldn’t show me. Should these riders never try to progress and improve their skill set, because you feel inconvenienced by their mere presence? I am sure most of us were not expert level riders our first years of riding either.
Of course I was, but I am the exception to the rule.

See the above reply also.

 

[Al Boneta]

Uh oh, butt-hurt snowflake time...

It was sarcasm. It’s the typical answer those riders give.

Ps. Don't take everything I say so seriously... I have a darker sense of humour than most and love taking the piss/having a laugh about stuff.



See the above reply also.

He doesn’t know us well enough to appreciate our back and forth banter

 

[MattyB]

Back on the original topic, it is a bit weird that they set this ebike parameter as a “No” default but not made it an editable field for most users. How is it supposed to be updated? I couldn’t find anything in the help pages...

 

[Krisj]

This was posted today and I’m sure it says Ebikes can ride anywhere a normal bike can go ?
Electric bikes: licensing, tax and insurance

It’s the law ?
Or is it the a law who decides ?
Total load of BS in my option , a less skilled rider would cause more damage to trails but we wouldn’t dream of using that as an excuse to bar people (more wear on trails my arse )
Why can’t people just let others enjoy things in life with out all the controversy
Just enjoy riding where ever you are ,what ever you ride. ??

 

[estoril]

that's a great reference to have to hand if ever stopped

"
Where you can ride
If a bike meets the EAPC requirements it’s classed as a normal pedal bike. This means you can ride it on cycle paths and anywhere else pedal bikes are allowed.
"
thanks @Krisj

 

[Gary]

Uh oh, butt-hurt snowflake time...

TBF I'm pretty sure Al only grew his hair long so I'd have something to hold onto

We're both big boys and can take just as well as we give. We should all meet up in real life, 3-way and see who flakes first really.

 

[mymodel6]

TBF I'm pretty sure Al only grew his hair long so I'd have something to hold onto

We're both big boys and can take just as well as we give. We should all meet up in real life, 3-way and see who flakes first really.

I didn't mean that kind of butt-hurt Jesus!

 

[Gary]

flaked at just the thought of it... I iz disapoint!

 

[Lazy Biker 84]

It really does annoy me when people talk about ebikes ruining trails, its so narrow minded. In my opinion its just relics that refuse to acknowledge e-bikes and in their jealous rages try to prevent us having fun.