Mountain bike and cycle with care

Queensland’s parks and forests offer a range of purpose-built mountain-bike trails and shared trails, catering for a wide range of riders from beginners and families to advanced competitors.

    Know your limits

    Survive your ride—be realistic about your skill level and the sturdiness of your bike.

    Mountain bike and cycle grades

    Very easy Cycling - very easy grade

    Wide trail with a gentle gradient, smooth surface and no obstacles. Suitable for beginner cyclists with basic bike skills, and most bikes.

    Easy Cycling - easy grade

    Wide trail with gentle gradient and smooth surface. Some obstacles such as roots, logs and rocks. Suitable for beginner mountain bikers with basic mountain-bike skills and off-road bikes.

    Intermediate Cycling - intermediate grade

    Trail with moderate gradients, variable surface and obstacles. May include steep sections. Suitable for skilled mountain bikers with mountain bikes.

    Difficult Cycling - difficult grade

    Suitable for experienced mountain bikers, used to physically demanding routes. Navigation and personal survival skills are highly desirable. Expect large, dangerous and unavoidable obstacles and features. Challenging and variable with long steep climbs or descents and loose surfaces. Some sections will be easier to walk.

    Extreme Cycling - extreme grade

    Suitable for highly experienced mountain bikers, used to physically demanding routes. Navigation and personal survival skills are highly desirable. Severe constructed trails and/or natural features—all sections are challenging. Includes extreme levels of exposure and/or risk. Expect large and unavoidable obstacles and features. Some sections will be easier to walk.

    Stay safe

    • Always wear the right safety gear.
    • Before you head off, check if any park alerts affect the park you intend to visit.
    • Don’t turn your trip into tragedy—avoid skidding and sliding around turns and down slopes, which can cause collisions.
    • Always be alert to vehicles.

    Rules you need to know

    • Bikes are not permitted on walking tracks.
    • Bikes are only allowed on some roads, tracks and trails.
    • Closed means closed—never enter areas that are closed.
    • Read and heed safety information and obey signs.

    Code of conduct

    • Help stop erosion:
      • Avoid riding on soft, wet and muddy tracks.
      • Stay on marked trails and roads.
      • Don’t shortcut or form new tracks.
    • Come in clean—remove seeds and wash soil and mud from your clothes and shoes, your bike and particularly its tyres.

    The give-way code

    • Be careful and courteous—walkers, horseriders and cyclists often share the same tracks.
      • Cyclists must give-way to walkers and horseriders, and alert others when approaching them.
      • Walkers must give-way to horses.
      • Alert others when approaching.
      • To safely alert horses and not spook them, slow down and talk—hearing a human voice can help horses stay calm when a bike suddenly appears.
    • Everyone must slow down and go around wildlife.

    Want to know more?