about us

Our Mission

"To bring you the sweetest riding on earth".

Bikefax; proudly producing quality mountain bike guidebooks since 2005.
We aim to bring mountain bikers a fully integrated trail information service. Buy your guidebooks and maps in our on-line shop, download individual routes, get updates, print waterproof durable maps or pick'n mix your own route selections from our on-line library.

Based in the heart of prime mountain biking territory, Bikefax aims to put together the best maps and information on mountain biking available. We started things off with a guide to Snowdonia, then we thought North East Wales deserved a guidebook too. Before we knew it we were packing ourselves off to the Alps and writing a guide to Morzine & Portes du Soleil.Then we went up north, to write 'Southern Scotland & the 7stanes, and most lately off to Spain for our very latest edition to the Bikefax factory, 'Mountain Bike Southern Spain'. No rest for the wicked, eh?

Who is Bikefax

As are so many good ideas, Bikefax was born on a rainy day in a café in North Wales. Berating the lack of quality information for mountain bikers in the UK, Sue bravely took on the task of writing a guide for her home patch of North Wales. Before long insanity had overtaken all of us and we had committed ourselves to setting up a company to provide clear dedicated trail information for the whole of the UK and abroad.

The founders

Jim Savege
12 years ago, when it was suggested he went mountain biking, Jim's words were something like, '... watching…. paint…. and ….drying….'. We managed to convert him though and these days as the proud owner of not one, not two not three, but four bikes, you can barely prize Jim out of the saddle.

Sue Savege
Sue's been riding practically since mountain bikes were invented. Pawning her car for a mountain bike way back when, she hasn't looked back since. Since then Sue has taken her bike down the ‘anti-gravity trail' in Bolivia, got horribly lost in Nepal, crossed mountains on the high Himalaya of India, ridden XC in Spain, DH in France and just carried on exploring around the world.

Dafydd Davis
Dafydd's name is well known on the mountain bike circuit. Recently receiving an MBE for his work in Recreation and Trail Building, Dafydd has been responsible for a whole host of trails across Wales and the UK. An ex-racer with the Welsh team and all time font of all mtb knowledge Dafydd keeps us all topped up with his boundless enthusiasm.

Philippa Poland
Philippa is living proof that even accountants can be adventurous!. For many a year Philippa has avoided the mud and put in the miles on her road bike. She got to know Sue & Jim Savege through climbing, and it is they who have persuaded Philippa to turn to the dark side that is Mountain Biking.

‘Welly & Madog'
Llewelyn, better known as ‘Welly' to his friends, and Mad dog, Madog, are the team's personal fitness trainers. Not for us the luxury of sitting in front of the telly with a bag of crisps and a beer on those wet winter weekends. No, Welly and Mads always insists on dragging us out for a full 25 k before being allowed our pint. Addicted to mountain biking since first being initiated at the age of 5 months, they now seem to know the trails in the Gwydyr and Coed y Brenin better than any of us.

Authors & contributors

'We believe that the best people to write our guidebooks are the people who live and ride in the area, so we've recruited, coerced and bribed some of the finest around'.

Paul Barbier
Based in Llanberis, as his next step on from organising and racing in Triathlons, Paul took the brave step of setting up the ‘Energy Cycles' shop and club in the heart of the village. An inspiration to us all, and font of all biking knowledge for area, Paul has put together the varied and testing Llanberis section in 'The best mountain bike trails in Snowdonia'.

Tony Griffiths
Growing up on the Wirral, the hills of the Clwydians were a natural stomping ground for avid rider, Tony. Having run his own guiding business in Llangollen and now working as the Mountain Biker Ranger for the Forestry Commision in North Wales, Tony has all the local knowledge for an excellent guide to riding in North East Wales. Tony is co-author of ‘The Best Mountain Bike Trails in Denbighshire and the Borders' and now responsible for all those great trails at Coed y Brenin

DH Lazenby Chris Lazenby
'Freeride Chris' seems to spend most of his time in the air, perfecting his jumps and racing downhill. After spending his summers working as a guide in Morzine, Chris used his intimate knowledge of the area to hand pick the maddest descents and the sweetest singletrack for ‘The Best Mountain Bike routes in Morzine and the Portes du Soleil'. Chris is now working a new bikefax guide, 'Downhill Britain', featuring all of the DH and freeride tracks in the UK.

Kate Long
Bit of demon on the downhill scene, Kate spends most of her spare time in Morzine sampling trails like the Mont Cherie. Teaming up with Chris Lazenby, Kate used her knowledge of the area to seek out the best XC around Morzine with rides for us to dream of and aspire to back in the rainy UK. Kate is co-author of 'The best mountain bike trails in Morzine & the Portes du Soleil.

Iain Withers
Iain grew up on Scotland's trails, before, he says, they invented berms and drop-offs (and shortly after they invented trees). After a long stint as a bike courier in Edinburgh, Iain set up his own mountain bike company MB7 with the aim of giving ‘more people, more fun’ on bikes. Iain is co-author of 'Southern Scotland 7 the 7stanes'.

Jim Debank
Forsaking the rain of Aviemore over 5 years ago, Jim moved over to Malaga to start his own mountain bike business, Seasonally Unadjusted. As such Jim is the man in the know for mountain bike trails in Andalucia. Jim is co-author of 'Mountain Bike Southern Spain'.

about us

Who is Bikefax

The founders

Authors & contributors

Sponsored riders