Afan: The best 4x track in the UK?

Author: | 15 April 2010 | 30

Share


Chris Roberts has just posted a short iphone video about the WC standard 4x track being built at Afan, South Wales.
The Phil Saxena designed track should be nearly finished by the end of April. A Dig day is planned for May 8th/9th with free uplift in the afternoon and a bbq plus I think there is a licensed bar there too.

For more info check here.


More Mountain Biking >>

Tags: ,

30 Responses to “Afan: The best 4x track in the UK?”

  1. Looks sweet, and the rock garden will be cool. A good rough track is what UK 4X needs.

  2. Looks mint. Good work with the track and the updates Chris!

  3. 11 corners? That’s the more than the number of corners of all the other UK 4X tracks combined! :)
    Can’t wait to go ride there.
    But does UK 4X really need a rough WC track? Think I’ve got a topic for a future article right here.

  4. tht looks soo fun, but can we get some in scotland?? there are NONE bar Ft Bill

  5. All over this, looks really good. Nicely done Chris.

  6. cool looking track man , its about time we got a ‘proper’ 4x track we are riding mountain bikes after all seems silly to me to be riding smooth tracks when we have all this suspension tech to be using , if you want smooth 4x tracks get in to BMX :)

  7. wow that looks really good.
    I spoke to the guys in skyline cycles the other week and they knew very little about the track. talking about possibly being a member to ride there etc?
    anyone know any details on that side of things?

  8. Oh does this mean that there will be an nps4x race north of bedford?

  9. oh no im mistaken

  10. Morgan if you think you’ve got a topic for a future article think again! Just because you can’t control your bike down rocks with skinny bars doesnt mean theres no place for a proper 4x track in the uk.

  11. Haha 2wheels, don’t get me started early! It’s ok, I run wide bars for 4X, so I’l be fine on the rocks I’m sure. But please, indulge me….
    (In your own opinion) what is a proper 4X track?

  12. a proper 4x track is one that actually justifys spending hundrends of pounds on a good fork for racing and using it on terrain other than smooth tracks

  13. *hundreds

  14. A proper 4X track is one that reflects the tracks on a World Cup to get our riders practised for competing and seeing what 4X is like on a World stage.

  15. But does uk downhill need rougher worldcup style tracks?
    But does uk dirtjumping need bigger jumps?

  16. Are they building one at Llandegla aswell?

  17. I’m trying to arrange a meeting there tomorrow to do a risk assessment and finalise details for 2 rounds of a new Welsh 4X Championship. For more details on this, go to WDMBA.co.uk from next week.
    Sweeeeeeeeet!

  18. i went up to Llandegla yesterday and saw what they’re building, dont think its gonna be a proper 4x track, looks more like a one man track…its no where near wide enough to hold 4 people. Afan track looks sick tho, lovin the rock garden!!!

  19. When I was at llandegla in February they were working on some gnarly lines the other side of the pump track. They were test riding sections they’d built and the jumps looked like 7-10M doubles from where I was standing. Some sweet berms into what looked like a nice step-down under construction too. (they might not have put the base material in lower down though, and I’m just assuming it’s going to be a step-down)

  20. I would say a ‘proper’ 4x track should still resemble mountainous terrain , they should be fairly steep , rough but not over kill even chuck some off cambers into it , anything so that it’s not so much about about the hole shot as there is enough technical terrain after the 1st straight to nullify a good start.

  21. What is this? Surely the skill is in flat corners, cambers and bar to bar snare ups in hairpins? World cup size my arse, who the hell decides what World Bloody Cup size is? 10m is that really it? Good god man, thats hardly worth getting the digger in for. World Cup races have had 50ft jumps in previously. Come on Philip lets take things forwards here. Cork screw….what the hell, you can think of more imaginative stuff than that. You’ll be having dark tunnels and snake pits in there next. Whats the start like? 20 ft drop in or err let me guess…a bank maybe. “Best track in Uk”….cant wait

  22. C.J, the track is much closer in size and shape to that of a WC than any of the UK 4X tracks except Harthill, Cheshire. Sure, there have been bigger jumps at WC events but at this track, the size is right. They are definitely not small. They may well be 12 or 13m – I didn’t measure them. Yes, the corkscrew is a gimmick but where’s the problem? It’s fun to ride and surely that’s the point? Flat corners? Afan 4X has that too. One has a step up into it, so riders are unweighted and forced into drifting.

    It’ll be fun to ride and will give good racing with lots of passing. With correct flag placement, plenty of argy bargy possible to, if you must.

    Come along to Afan on the 8th May and we can have a chat over a pot of tea. Otherwise send me an email or give me a call anytime.

    M. Buchannon

    (aka Phil S)

  23. jonathan walters aka nojzilla!
    April 18th, 2010 at 10:35 am

    absolutly brilliant YES the uk needs more of the same! i’d love to make the dig day but im too far away :(

  24. NICE work phil! look forward to riding it

  25. Where is the uplift picking up from? a trek up the hill with biking gear etc for the afternoon and a spade for the morning doesn’t sound much fun?

  26. hey
    this track looks gnarly does anyone know when itl be finished?

  27. Just to let you know the boys and I spent a night at the lodge this track is built above on the farmers land – we had a few drinks with him on saturday after a day rifding the wall – he told us about the track and that the designer was a top trail builder – as we were packing our downhill gear ready for a day at cwm carn the next morning we got up early and decided to shred the virgin track which still had diggers and dumper trucks half way down it!
    Muddy and sketchy as hell but all three of us had big big grins on our chops by the bottom – it was a random morning but just goes to show if a strange little welsh man offers you a beer – you should take it as the rewards can be great! The only thing lacking was our own skill set, but the track is going to be mega once it is finished an bedded in – Welsh champs are gonna be awesome! Well worth a stay at the lodge – the owner is well sound, google lodge at the wall and go stay, can’t recomend it enough – properly kitted for riders with secure bike store and bike wash etc – all with a full english every morning!

  28. [...] out these links to the Dirt Website on the track build here & [...]

  29. [...] out these links to the Dirt Website on the track build here & [...]

  30. [...] out these links to the Dirt Website on the track build here & [...]

Tell us what you think