Whats with all the non-love for Chapel Gate? Are you sure you're riding the right descent? Maybe if you ride down the grass to the side of the mess of rocks it would be fast a dull, but if you get stuck into the rock it's awesome. Mind you I don't remember there being any peat to ride through from the top either.

Are you sure you don't want to miss Mam Tor and waz down Chapel Gate?

If you buy August's MBR it'll send you to the wrong end of Jacobs Ladder for a start!

I don't like that last one.

For clarity, I don't read ST and I wouldn't say I read MBR either, it was just what they had at the train station. No inherrent bias or anti-xx magazine stuff from me. In fact I was surprised when a few people pointed out that MBR have a reputation for not riding their routes, I don't know how true that is though. Still, it's odd that they have the start grid reference as the Hayfield side, but the pics are fromt he Edale side and there isn't any pictures of them riding the really hard bits, which are the obvious bits to photograph.

I still ride my 1999 GT I-Drive, love it, it's bloody brilliant. The i-drive design is largely the same as is used now.

I doubt there is a most technical trail, I assume you wouldn't count something that was so teechnical it was unrideable? Eg, the run off Grisedale Pike down to Braithwaite is pretty technical at the top. So technical that I expect you'd die if you tried it.

The hardest trail I've ever ridden is the descent off Causey Pike in the Lakes, once you've lowered your bikes downt he cliffs from the summit it's very steep and very rocky, but a healthy mix of loose rock you can slide through and death rock that will kill you.

18mm pistons they are, both are the same size and I know one is an E4, so I guess the other is too.

Whats the route?

Just looked, the Mono M4 has two different sized pistons, does the E4 use the smaller or the larger piston diameter?

Thanks, I was hoping they'd use the same ones on some of their other brakes. I thought the E4 and M4 had different sized pistons? I suppose I can measure them when I split the other caliper. Are the pistons the same as well then and the pads? Don't suppose you know about seals for a Hope C2 as well, are they the same size as any of the modern brakes?

I also have a hope lever that needs new piston seals. It's one of the open levers that has the cylindrical reservoir, if anyone knows what the name of these levers was (Pro?) and what the seals I need are?

Cheers

And the shop might have VAT issues with taking the payment?

Whiteside I steep, I've not tried it but I would expect less than half of it to be rideable?

Which way off Grasmoor did you go, the only route down to Crummock I've done is via Wandope and Whiteless Pike, those are two briliant descents, but they can be very tricky if its windy as you get a gusty cross wind that makes it very difficult to pick your line.

Did you ride off via Lad Hows? Looks like that could have some potential, but ti's one of those that is difficult to justify, if you already know a cracking route off so I've never done it. You know what I mean, you spend an hour and a half slogging up Gasgale Gill and you don't want to risk the effort on something that might only be 50% rideable, so you go safe. Let me know what its like if you did it!

I think they seems pretty decent value for money considering what Lapierre etc are charging. Whats the rough weight on one of these, I am considering my options.

Cheers

Cool, cheers. I used to use the forest tracks to get up on tot he ridge below Grisedale Pike, then ride a bit, then push onto the summit, then down the wall, was about an hour, which is good value for a craking descent. Now you've got the trail tere, jump on the South Loop and you can pedal even more of the climb. Will be giving that route down Hobcarton a blast next time!

But the descents are always a race, everyone knows that!

I've never seen the route do that loop around the Lake, I think the rest is bridleway or road though. Love the descent out of Watendlath!

The summit you're on is Grasmoor isn't it?

It's Crummock Water in the bottom, the top picture shows Skiddaw from Coledale Hause. I claim my prize.

Which descent have you done, I hope you did Wandope and Whiteless Pike to get back down? Unfortunately you're not the first to ride those mountains, sorry! I grew up in that sunset in your last picture.

I see, I've never bothered with the loop around Derwent Water and I've always carried on a lot further up Honister Pass and ridden that trail to the North of the road that drops into the BT route. Love that descent into Grange!

It's a C2 and an M4, the replacement for the E4 that was actually identical. What your'e saying is the closed lever won't push enough fluid for the M4?

I don't think running the front brake open lever on the back brake will work because the Open system is almost impossible to get all the air out of the reservoir. If it's upside down the air will rise to the top and be pumped through the system.

I got to the bottom of the problem now, at least one piston seal is blown, but also the lever isn't pumping fluid at all. I'm ok sorting the calipers and I think I know how to disassemble the lever, but could do with advice on whats wrong with the master cylinder and what I need to replace to get it working again?

Cheers

What's the bogtrotters variation, just roughly, I know the area well enough to work it out forma few references?

Round the Back of Skiddaw might be a good route to try as well, Latrigg and Holme Woods and the bit over towards Blencathra, but hard to make a loop of it without going on the road. Not a bad out and back though.

There must be someone out there that knows? I ahve an open and closed lever available, but would have to run the open one upside-down as its for a front brake.

Peachos, it was more hairy without the lights and when my rear pads went and my front caliper half dropped off it started to get very interesting!

I didn't think it was all that wet really, few random bogs to catch the sleepy, but not much. Enjoy!

Odd that I've never done that before, and that you say that it's better than the wall. The wall is bloddy brilliant, so I must be missing out on something special.

I grew up riding from my parents house about 6 miles west of Whinlatter, without a car the trail centre would have been a god send for me if it had been doen before I moved to Manchester. I was just commenting on the area specifically around Whinlatter, if I was travelling up from here I probably wouldn't go past the South Lakes unless I wanted Big Mountain Death, but as trail centres go I think it is very good, despite it's lack of length. I've done both trails in 70 minutes, but it's a very fun-dense 70 mins! I'm lucky that I can ride South Lakes when I travel up to ride and can ride Whinlatter when I visit my parents.

There isn't actually all that much in the Keswick area of the Lakes, compared with the South Lakes, thats a similar sort of ride to Whinlatter. Theres lots of very good but very extreme mountains you can carry to the top of and race Death Himself off, which isn't the same, and there's lots of short sections of good stuff linked by roads, which isn't the same. It definitely serves a purpose and it is a really good blast.

Hobcarton, do you mean along the ridge to Hobcarton End and off down Black Crag?

You can get to Whinlatter in 2 hours form Manchester comfortably and it's very rare that there are speed cameras on the M6 or the A66.

What I would do is North Loop, South Loop, then climb the South Loop again. When you get to the top, look to your right. You see that big hill up there? Get to the top of that and there's an absolutely mental descent along the side of the wall back into the Forest. You can pedal a fair bit of the last climb, but you'll have to carry/push onto the summit.

But disc brakes only need stronger frames if you want to slow down faster, which you don't as we've already agreed that normal calipers are powerful enough for the required rates of retardation. There's an apt word for this thread!

So you'd be designing discs with smaller rotors that would exert the same force, or bigger rotors that require less force on the bars. Where does this idea that riders pull on the brakes as hard as they can and are only saved from certain death by the poor performance of their brakes come from?

Climachx is an awesome trail! But I know plenty that rode it with me that didn't enjoy it, apart from the descent at the end. I think if you're fit and into climbing then you'll really enjoy it, it's a very fun climb, but if you're plodding it would grate a fair bit I expect.

The descent is brilliant, apart from that cheeky corner that is far tighter than sensible bearing in mind the speed you can carry into it. Or maybe I should have been paying more attention on my first run??