New to Melbourne...where can I ride my MTB?

[adamlovick]

Hey all,

I'm new to Melbourne, fresh from a year in NZ and a summer of pedalling my Giant Trance around the trails of Wellington and beyond.

I boxed up my bike to bring with me (in a manufacturer box like new) but don't have the necessary specific tools for rebuilding my love and so I figured I'd reach out to the community...

I could pay for a LBS to rebuild the bike, but am keen to meet some local riders and hopefully find some people to ride with this winter. Are there any local community workshops around that work on a donation basis? Or does anyone have a full tool box and is keen to make a new friend/ride buddy and I could donate a 6 pack instead?

I'm an intermediate/advanced trail/enduro rider (and confident DH'er but without a DH rig) with a good engine and keen to get out of the city on weekends to explore. Will also be investing in some good lights soon enough for the night rides over winter.

Settled in St Kilda for the winter, and keen to meet new people. Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Adam

 

[The Reverend]

First off. Welcome!

The good news is that there are loads of places to get your MTB fix here in Melbourne, granted they might not all be as #enduro as you might be used to but you'll be able to test your rig comfortably here.

It does depend on how you travel about, if you've got a car / driver then you're in luck. If not then you're considerably more restricted.

I've only been a few places (and there are LOADS I don't know about) but....

Buxton - trail and XC. There are some nice jumps to be had there too as well as just decent XC loops.
You Yangs - Everything you could want, from XC, Trail, DH
Lysterfield - Mainly XC / light trail (easy to reach by train too!)

Others in the XC trail space are Redhill, Forrest, Bendigo.

There are some awesome alpine resorts too but they'll be closed for winter IIRC.
Bright, Mt Beauty, Mt Buller, Lake Mountain.

More will jump on I'm sure but it's a decent place to ride, and winter isn't that horrible. Good luck!

 

[Knuckles]

Ballarat, castlemaine, Maldon, Yarra trails, Blackwood......fuck it: bancoora.com is your first port of call.

Plenty of bros here more than capable of helping you reassemble your bike, unless you need a ring spanner, then you're #shitouttaluck

#hashtag

 

[gcouyant]

I'm new to Melbourne, fresh from a year in NZ and a summer of pedalling my Giant Trance around the trails of Wellington and beyond.

Now that you're in Melbourne you'll be able to give the lungs a bit of a rest after a year in Wellington. Welcome. A good source of inspiration for MTB trails in the country is here:

http://www.singletracks.com/mountain-bike/best_trails.php?new_state_id=443 Just don't filter by state because many of the Vic trails haven't been tagged with Vic. Trust the Yanks to know more about our trails than we do.....

Candlebark is our home turf. We work with Parks and made Candlebark trails legal and now managed by MTB enthusiasts so sing out if you're out this way.

 

[adamlovick]

That's all good to know guys, thanks.

I guess I'm gonna be a little limited for now since I don't intend to buy a car anytime soon, but maybe I'll find someone who has space on their bike rack and a seat in the car for me for some of those rides that are a little further out of the city!

Does anyone know of any groups who have regular day-rides on the weekends that I could maybe link up with? Always good to go with people who know the areas first!

 

[mtb101]

adam settling in st kilda means you're in roadie territory, beach 'road' rides are very common and the city crits - that's your best bet to get some group rides going in local area. most mornings there's early am rides to Mordiallic and back. no dirt only bitumen; will get you fit and its a beautiful beach view going up and back. its all good training for mtb either-way.

beyond that from st kilda you could mtb solo out along the main yarra trail (get onto it from fed square in city) and eventually you'll hit the kew boulevard, plenty of single track around the river just keep going up river past the pipe bridge, chandler highway, basically following the yarra river.

my choice would be to try and keep your riding local, there's definitely good single track out beyond kew boulie, training wise you can't beat the roadie in your area.

 

[dynamitedread]

Public transport

Hi Adam don't give up on public transport. I use to get to the trails, just takes a bit longer. As your in St Kilda you'll prob have to ride to the city but once there options open up. You Yangs is a 30/45 mins train from Southern cross to little river then about 8km ride from station. Plenty gorge is train to Greensbourgh then 10 min to Kariboo grove in Greensbourgh. Studley park(Southern Yarra trails) is a close ride from town. Lysterfield is also train friendly I think.
Hope that helps out. Chris

 

[gcouyant]

adam settling in st kilda means you're in roadie territory,

Yes, St Kilda is an MTB wasteland *but* a heap of beach fat biking to be had. Winter is excellent with few people and the sand more forgiving. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't already a secret group of fatness out there already.

 

[hifiandmtb]

And on that note - shameless plug

Sinbao XD 4.0 fatbike, hardtail, medium, white, Rockshox Bluto fork, XT/Raceface

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...&share_tid=302523&share_fid=1708&share_type=t

 

[The Duckmeister]

That's all good to know guys, thanks.

I guess I'm gonna be a little limited for now since I don't intend to buy a car anytime soon, but maybe I'll find someone who has space on their bike rack and a seat in the car for me for some of those rides that are a little further out of the city!

Does anyone know of any groups who have regular day-rides on the weekends that I could maybe link up with? Always good to go with people who know the areas first!

Welcome!

Red Hill Riders have a religiously regular Sunday morning group ride covering a reasonable range of trails. It's basically XC, but does nudge up to AM-ish at times if you get the right people on a given day. Getting there without a car is a bit of a mission 'cos it's about 40km beyond the end of the rail line at Frankston, but if you can tee up a lift it's worth a trip.

 

[shake_rattle_and_ roll]

Welcome Adam.

Tune into the Yarra Trails thread to get the run down on your humble 'neighbourhood' network. For your local fix the Yarra Trails are an extensive network that starts in Abbotsford (15min roll from the city center) & heads northwards- you can comfortably put together an 80km loop of singletrack all under your own steam. It's largely your typical XC riding but there's plenty of gems to be ridden as you explore the largely unseen side of Melbourne. There are a number of bike shops local to the area (The Ride Cycles- Kew, Summit Cycles- Fitzroy, Velo Cycles- North Fitz to name a few) that do social rides on Tues-Thurs nights & Sundays etc so maybe get in touch & feel them out & tag along. Don't (entirely) despair, while indeed the cream of the riding requires a vehicle, there's still a number of pretty cool options accessible to you by both public transport & bike, locally.

Maybe load up you pack on Saturday & go explore what the Yarra Trails has to offer. You could easily cover 4+hrs of singletrack & get a rad fill of your new local. It's no Mt Vic or Makara, but it's still a fun network of 'local' trail that yields plenty of decent riding.

I'd throw you the space & tools to assemble your bike but alas I'm off to Qld for a couple of weeks. If you want (presuming you've got the bike back together by then), feel free to PM me after the 14th & if the timing works I'll take you out for a bit of a guided local tour.

 

[The Duckmeister]

Hi Adam don't give up on public transport. I use to get to the trails, just takes a bit longer... (snip).... Lysterfield is also train friendly I think.
Hope that helps out. Chris

Yes, Lysterfield is fairly train-accessible. Take a Pakenham train from Southern Cross or Flinders St, jump off at Hallam, turn left out of the station & it's about 5km up - basically just keep going straight until you hit the park. When you get up to the water tank the main road veers left but the side road keeps straight - follow that & you're only another few hundred metres from the park.

 

[adamlovick]

All of this is great to know to get me stated, thanks everyone....this is why I love the MTB community!

A generous chap brought his toolbox round to my place today to help get the rig reassembled...so I'm all set for exploring now! Enjoyed a 90min city spin this afternoon, but found myself zigzagging between the palms on the grass down the side of the main roads, rather than on the tarmac...I just can't help myself!

It seems that the first port of call should be to check out the Yarra network along the river, I think that's where I'll head on the weekend. After that I'll definitely look into public transport accessible trails that are a little further out, Listerfield and the You Yangs. And hopefully within all this time I will encounter some of you in person and be able to find some new riding buddies!

Keep it coming if you have any more advice, I'm all ears!

 

[Ideate]

Enjoyed a 90min city spin this afternoon, but found myself zigzagging between the palms on the grass down the side of the main roads, rather than on the tarmac...I just can't help myself!

You'll love the Youies then. I can give you a lift from the station if you like. Sunday shuttles are on. Hopefully it's not raining!

 

[Big Tim]

Try Wombat as well. Train line not far from and a great half day of riding from there.

Definitely Yarra trails for your close regular rides. Lots of hidden gems through there and you can string together a big ride if you want. Yarra will be a bog hole this weekend (i didnt go out) but it usually drains fast and you can get some nice long rides in.

Welcome aboard.

 

[The Duckmeister]

^^ Tiger snakes there will be fairly inactive this time of year..... :wink: