Just wanted to conclude the thread with a big thank you (and highly recommended) to Mike at Dialled Bikes for the excellent customer service in organising a crash replacement for my broken Prince Albert.

The new frame has arrived 😀

Going up – Glenridding and up Kepple Cove, or head up through Dockray, onto the Coach Road, and up over Great Dodd (which will be at it’s driest at the moment). Coming down – Lower Man, Raise, Sticks Pass (towards Glenridding).

sure was dry, the lake seems low as well, soon be a hose pipe ban on it’s way gents

Ha ha if only – this is usually the only bit of a summer we get in Keswick. Normal service will be resumed shortly 😀

The drop onto the road through the woods before you get to Rosthwaite is bloody brill !!!

Right through the gate just after Birkett’s Leap (your fourth pic) ? That’s Frith Wood – it’s a nice alternative to the faster descent, quite greasy 99% of the time but dry as a bone at the moment 🙂

Carlside’s a good / techie / quicker alternative to Ullock Dave (although it’s an after 5pm route like Ullock, once the walkers have all gone home).

Thanks Munqe-chick, thanks Mudmonster – seems fine !

Ta 🙂

OK – Why is it doing that?

I guess you’ve got the chain trying to pull the drive side of the wheel towards the front of the bike, with the chain and seat stays there to brace against that.

Ah okay…it’s breaking inwards, towards the wheel.

I have a Mk1 frame that I am thinking of selling and if you are near Bristol

thanks for the offer richc but I’m up north (Cumbria).

You’re ignoring the main force that goes through that area.

Thanks Brant – can you give me a idea of the force(s)…and wouldn’t a weld be more prone to weakness than the tube itself ?

Cheers chaps – I’ve no mechanical engineering experience but I would have logically thought the stresses would have been in the other direction…as in…your weight is coming down onto the pedals / bottom bracket, and let’s say the weld between your BB and chainstay went, wouldn’t the two come apart ‘towards the ground’ (does that make sense ? sorry…bad explanation).

That’s reassuring – cheers BigJohn. I’ve not snapped a frame since I trashed my Tomahawk back in 1979 🙂

Very good – £180 (with the frame returned). I’m just too skint this month 🙁

No unfortunately not – it’s about three years old (is that a MKII maybe ?). Mike at Dialled has kindly offered a replacement at trade price – I’m wondering whether a mate and his welder might suffice.

I’d have to be necking a lot of pies to crack a steel frame through weight alone 😯

+1 for Smudge and his customer service – replaced a battery for me recently in double quick time.

Isn’t that a normal Saturday night out in Bury ?

up birkside and down the sticks

I’d turn that around – it’s much better going up sticks and down birkside (although the section with the steps rattles your fillings a bit).

He’ll probably be okay heading up from Threlkeld – it’s a land rover track that turns into singletrack for the final mile and a half / two miles. Nothing too technical and it’s not so bad if you end up pushing a bit. I’d maybe avoid heading towards Mosedale though – it’s very boggy at the moment and he might find it frustrating; it’s not a rock garden but it’s tricky if you’re a newbie.

You could head out to Dash Falls and come back around Skiddaw, although that gives you quite a bit of tarmac (and the Carlisle Road isn’t the nicest to ride down during the day).

no fun at all

Come on Gav, it’s only a bit of mud 😉

As Gav says though, it’s a long drag over to Watendlath – the road will get you back to town in about 30 minutes, going over the tops by the tarn or High Tove probably takes around 90 minutes (depending on how squishy it is up there). Another option if you end up at Wythop Church – United Utilities have joined up the forest roads in the woods on that side of Thirlmere. Stop at the ice cream van once you hit the main road, then take a right into St Johns in the Vale and you can pick up the old road through the quarries.

That’s true Simon, coming over Blea Tarn will be very boggy, but it’s more fun than the road 😉

I wouldn’t go down Sticks Pass unless you are a nutter, and I wouldn’t go up it unless you like very steep hike-a-bike..ing.

It’s not too bad a carry, and it’s a fun descent, although I prefer the descent down to Glenridding – but getting back to Keswick via Dockray and the Coach Road is a bit of a drag.

Birk Side descent to the church is good, then you could cross the valley and head by Blea Tarn to Watendlath, over to Birkett’s leap (which you’re doing on Friday), Firth Wood, then up the Borrowdale Road back to Keswick.

from Esk Hause to styhead and then stockley bridge is simply sublime.

🙂

You’d also pop out at the bottom of Honister pass – you could stay off road by heading down the back of Castle Crag to Grange, around to the terrace on the side of Catbells, through Portinscale, and into Keswick that way (basically the second half of the Borrowdale Bash).

One alternative on Day 2 if you don’t mind a carry – cut right from the Coach Road after Threlkeld Knotts, up White Pike, onto the top of Clough Head and head over to Great Dodd from there. Less of a ride than Bruts Moss but an alternative suggestion. Birkside / Comb Crags is a good descent at the other end.

Ordered a chain and cassette on Wednesday – just arrived.

What are their delivery times like ?

+1 for both. Cheers Trout.

If you take the fp up the right side of the valley half way that’s totally rideable. Then you cross onto the bridleway

…it’s much more fun that side, and you just cross the beck when you get to the bridge. Another 100 metres and you’re at the foot of the pass.

Hardest trail I’ve done is the one form stonethwaite fell to the bottom of stake pass (not a downhill), bloody awful, absolute nightmare.

I quite like that section Donk – on the right hand side of the beck ?

😀

North Lakes – from the tarn below Dale Head down to the valley bottom (Goldscope mine). Unridable pain in the butt.

A ‘preview’ compiled from various sources:

http://soundcloud.com/onethirtybpm/sets/radiohead-the-king-of-limbs/

Depends where you’re kissed 😉

I cleared Skiddaw twice last year

We keep telling him it’s bad putting all that strain on his chain 😉

We’ve had a bit of light snow this afternoon – from about 350 metres up

The secret for Stoney (off-of here) is to have a gang of girls walking down Jenkin Hill as you’re riding up 😉

…polite and amenable…

Agreed. Most walkers you meet on the tops here are genuinely interested in where you’re heading, where you’ve been, and if you’ve got a screw loose.

Too slow

😀

If Great Wood was made bridleway you could get offroad(legally) from keswick to Ashness bridge.

They’d also have to change the status of the path across the front of Falcon Crag to connect to Ashness, which is quite technical (and lots of fun).

Is that path the one through Great wood.

Anc…it might be the short section over at Manesty; from the road up to the four bar gate where it then becomes a bridleway (and heads up towards the terrace on Catbells or Hause Gate). The Pink Welly Man (as he’s become known locally 🙂 ) objected to the previous application but Max (ex-manager at KMB) made sure as many bikers were aware of the re-application as possible.

I think Gav(Gas) did a couple of times last Summer fergal – he’s usually online more in the evenings.