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Swinley Forest Mountain Bike Centre
Avg 3.92
Grin Factor
Trail Variety
Skills
Trail Quality
General Setup
Number of Reviews (64)

*You can claim this trail if you are the trail owner

  • Information:
  • Type: Purpose Built Centre
  • Grades: Green,Blue,Red,Black,Ungraded,Forest Road
  • Riding: Cross Country,Downhill,Wild Trails,Skills Area,Bike Park
  • Facilities: Car Park,Toilets,Visitors Centre,Cafe,Bike Wash,Bike Hire,Bike Shop
  • Distance(s): Under 5km, 5-10km, 11-20km, 21- 30km
  • Country: England
  • County: Berkshire
  • Website: Swinley Forest
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Trail Network & Rider Segments

Trail network status from Trailforks and recent rider segments from Strava (see full mapped routes and details in the Tracks tab).

Trail Status

status via Trailforks.com

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Description

Swinley Forest Mountain Bike Centre is in Bracknell, England and consists of red, blue and green XC trails, a skills area, and a few Downhill tracks. Swinley Forest is quite sandy so holds dry well in the winter and rainy months. All trail maintenance, design and construction at Swinley is Managed by Earthworx Trail Co in conjunction with The Crown Estate 

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Blue Loop

  • The Blue moderately graded route is 10.1km long. The Blue is built for novices and its aim is to inspire confidence. You leave the Lookout past the trig point on Gravel Hill. You then descend to a bermed, single-track section then through a pine forest and finish through Windsor Ride to New England Hill. Incorporates "Full Nine Yards", "Devils Highway" and "Stickler". Around The Stickler point, you have the choice of continuing the blue back or taking on the Red. 

Red Loop

  • The Red graded loop is 13km long and connects sections such as Seagull, Tank Traps, Whole Nine Yards, Deerstalker and Labyrinth into a loop.
  • The route continues from the Blue as described above. You enter Tank Traps and then on to Crowthorne Reservoir. On to Satan's Grotto with its tight twisty single track and then crossing Devils Highway onto Seagull. Follows the forest road to Surrey Hill Reservoir down the "F1" descent into the forest then up the tough Boardwalk climb. Down to Deerstalker, through the Labyrinth out onto the forest ride. Some more Forest Road sections till you hit Cobblers before returning on the blue trail back. 
  • For clarity, the Red starts at pretty much the midpoint of the Blue and returns at its end again along the Blue.
  • Along the red route you can diverge onto a neat jump line (splits into two options to step it up a gear). This line(s) can be sessioned over and over to improve those skills.

Green Loop 

  • The Green graded Loop is for families and beginners and is 1.2km long. It has gentle dips and rises on a wide track. 

Downhill Area’s 

  • There are a few short downhill runs dotted along the way off the red route at the mid way point.
  • In the downhill area (around Red Route marker 10) you will find the rebuilt red graded line that replaces the old Bikini Line, running straight from top to bottom with features all the way down and no mid trail pull outs or cut ins.
  • Babymaker is a separate red graded jump line with berms and tabletops that can be sessioned from the same push up.
  • The same small hillside also includes a handful of other short red descents and jump lines, including, Berminator and Deer Stalker, giving a compact cluster of gravity focused options beside the main red route.

The Summit - Skills Area 

  • The Summit is a purpose-built skills area with trails and features ranging from green to black. It’s designed for riders of all abilities to build confidence, work on technique, and progress at their own pace. The Summit is run by Swinley Bike Hub (shop found on trail centre) 
  • Day access is available through single-session passes (£10 adult / £7 under 18), along with 5-credit passes and monthly memberships for regular riders
  • The area is open via bookable sessions, with online registration and a signed waiver required. Sessions are staffed by first-aid-trained managers, and riders are responsible for choosing features within their ability level. Includes:
    • Berms and rollers
    • Tabletops and gap jumps
    • Wooden drops
    • Flow trails
    • Tech trails
    • Graded progression from green to black

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  • If you have ridden the mountain bike trails at Swinley Forest then please share your experiences and post your reviews, pictures and videos to this listing. 
Andy:
Avg 5.00
Grin Factor
Trail Variety
Skills
Trail Quality
General Setup

128 mile round trip, still the best local off road ride.

For me Swinley is perfect. I ride Afan, BPW, FOD and Sherwood Pines, BUT Swinley offers everything needed for off road riding. Shame I'm not more local to ride there more regularly. But the 128 mile round trip is WELL WORTH IT.

What do you like?

Variety of trails. Only £4 to park and ride ALL day. Fast Flowing Berms. Some steep climbs to get you warmed up on cold days. Good drainage. Size of the place, dispite busy car park the trails are NOT crowded. Great FB Page for friendly banta, Tips, Advise. Tea, Coffee and CAKE.

What could be improved?

Get there early at weekends, Go Ape Centre gets busy for parking.

Would you recommend?

*Yes*

Date written:

29/12/2014 - about 11 years ago

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0
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kier:
Avg 3.90
Grin Factor
Trail Variety
Skills
Trail Quality
General Setup

Swinley

Great place in the south for riding. we travel 80 miles to get there from kent. Lots better than our local bedgebury

What do you like?

Excellent trail centre some good fast sections

What could be improved?

No showers New section is a bit flat and lifeless with bumps for the sake of it.

Would you recommend?

*Yes*

Date written:

28/12/2014 - about 11 years ago

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0
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Paul Viljoen:
Avg 3.87
Grin Factor
Trail Variety
Skills
Trail Quality
General Setup

December ride

Recommend

What do you like?

Great ride close to South London A bit samey at times, but offers reasonable variety given location's topography Trail was in good condition given December and it has rained night before, except for fire roads

What could be improved?

Presume v busy on nice days on weekend

Would you recommend?

*Yes*

Date written:

28/12/2014 - about 11 years ago

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0
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unreal1066:
Avg 2.35
Grin Factor
Trail Variety
Skills
Trail Quality
General Setup

Tedious Trails

This was my third ride here and I haven't enjoyed any of them. 1st was with other people after a heavy night out drinking, so I thought that was why I didn't enjoy it. Second time I took an all mountain full suspension and got a bit lost and didn't really enjoy it. Yesterday I wanted all weather trails as it is November and my trails are deep with mud. It takes ages to get to the red route on the blue which is pretty tedious. The red has been bermed to shit, too many berms. The terrain is fairly flat so there isn't scope to get long sweeping berms in a few places. Sometimes a long straight with one long corner is better that 10 not very high berms. This time I rode an aggressive hardtail Whyte 905 the right bike for most places. I went down one or two from the surrey hill but didn't really enjoy them, the chutes are too narrow and eroded so I was worried about pedal strikes.

What do you like?

Red route marker 15 to 17. High speed, bigger changes in height and longer sweeping berms. witches lair, a few other bits but not many. Easy access from the M3 Good maps for the trails

What could be improved?

Takes ages to get to the red route Tedious, Too many small, rubbish berms Too flat Eroded trails with high sides

Would you recommend?

*No*

Date written:

23/11/2014 - about 11 years ago

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4
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Chri12345:
Avg 3.51
Grin Factor
Trail Variety
Skills
Trail Quality
General Setup

Swinley, family friendly and not to much climbing!

Easy access from south and southwest London. Other family attracting nearby. Probably accessible by train too?

What do you like?

Very easy access from M3 and good parking. The car park can be full but you still get a feeling of being away from it all. You can manage fine on a basic hard tail and there was nothing too scary, I was taking a nine year old and eleven year old round. Flat in general with no climbs over 100m ascent, a good training ground for xc whippets.

What could be improved?

Surface broken up in places. No real long descents. Leave your dh sled at home! If you are an xc whippet in training you might want to arrive late in the day to avoid crowds.

Would you recommend?

*Yes*

Date written:

11/11/2014 - about 11 years ago

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1
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Rúben Figueira:
Avg 5.00
Grin Factor
Trail Variety
Skills
Trail Quality
General Setup

awesome trail

What do you like?

Awesome mixed trail been here twice and will go more for sure! Enjoyed it every inch of the several trail options in My Boardman TXC 650b 2014

What could be improved?

There is only 2 bad points.....it's too far from My house...1:30h and i think the facilities would be perfect with some paid pressure wash machine for the customers to Wash their bikes....the 1pound option TAP e hose wash is not strong enough to remove the dirt....

Would you recommend?

*Yes*

Date written:

10/11/2014 - about 11 years ago

Was this review helpful to you?

0
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