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2nd August 2004

It's been a long time coming (on a ship somewhere) but finally my son's new frame has arrived.

Yes, you guessed correctly, it's a Prince_Albert that just so happens to be in a large size so I can ride it too.

You will have all read the thread's on various site's about the geometry, handling what forks, what tyres etc. so here's some pictures or you instead.

Expect to see future updates here as I build it up.

head tube badge

sexy view

the brace between the top tube and the down tube

sideways on

Reynolds 520 tubing

Want to read more about mountain_biking?

7th August 2004

Finished building the prince_albert this week. For those that are interested the final spec is:

It's very much built on a tight budget e.g. I chose the Identiti seat clamp because it was only £6-99 from Wiggle - a bargain in any language. Thanks to Huey for the loan of the stem and stem stackers.

For the weight weenies amongst you I did weigh each piece of kit as it went on.

Now if I can just find that piece of paper I wrote all the details on I will update this page for you...

Total weight 13.4 kg (that's 29.54 pounds to you).

Not particularly light (don't forget, it's a large frame too) but that's because it's not meant to be a raceweight XC machine, it's built to take me around the stuff I ride week in, week out. Still, it's all about how it rides, not what it weighs, and the ride is good.

15th August 2004 Richard and Mark - Pitch_Hill

I haven't seen Mark for a while so decided to hook up with him for an afternoon blast around Pitch_Hill.

This is the first outing for the prince_albert and as with any new bike it takes a little getting used to.

It's overcast but really humid and within less than 400 yards I am slick with sweat. Rain the previous night has made the ground soft underfoot (or undertyre, oh whatever) and as we head through Sleepy Hollow the front wheel slides right and jams at the base of one of those narrow trees that are there, flipping the back of the bike up and me over the handlebars. Luckily, I manage to grab the offending tree with my right hand as I am launched into the air and land feet first with only my ego bruised.

We then head over to Winterfold Woods to explore some of the singletrack action going on there. My legs feel heavy and it's only while pausing for a chat at the bottom of a fast descent that I realise my earlier crash has bent the rear rotor causing it to rub permanently on the brake pads. We take the shortcut back to the cars having managed to complete about 15 miles.

I am using Z5 bombers up front and the 100mm travel really doesn't do the frame justice so I have started looking round for some replacements. Maybe some of the new Fox Vanilla 130R's (5mm extra travel for 05) would be nice but do you think I'm made of money?!

Richard

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dialled_bikes prince_albert

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testing it out on Barry_Knows_Best

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Richard

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22nd August 2004 Richard and Adrian - Holmbury_Hill

I haven't seen Adrian since the days when I only used to venture as far as Epsom_Downs. He has finally got rid of the fully rigid late 80's Raleigh and bought an ex demo model '04 Stumpjumper.

It's his first visit to the Surrey_Hills and I decide to take him on a tour of some of the delights.

Starting at Holmbury YHA, we head up to the viewpoint at the top and then down via the yoghurt_pots and some of the hidden singletrack then via Barry_Knows_Best to Peaslake.

We head up Pitch_Hill but just as I cross the small wooden bridge between the two car parks my left hand crank arm falls off. The bolt has loosened and is lost somewhere on them thar hills. As I start to look for the bolt two riders pass and ask if I need help. After explaining the problem they advise they probably have one in their car just a few hundred metres up the hill. They did too but unfortunately it was the wrong size so I limped back to Holmbury but I still managed to take in the yoghurt_pots for a second time and Telegraph_Road though!

Thanks to the guys at Freeborn (it was them that offered to assist) - hope I can do the same for you some day.

29th August 2004 Richard and Sam - Holmbury_Hill

Now there are some doubters around (Mark) but I really did buy the Prince Albert for my son. So I took him out for a spin around some of my favourite_trails.

Only trouble is that now I have stripped the brakes, gears, wheels and forks off the old enduro, I ain't got nuthin' to ride.

So lacking any shame at all, I ring up dialled_mike and ask him if he has a spare bike I can borrow. Hence there were two black Prince Alberts smoking around Pitch Hill and Holmbury Hill this morning.

Aside from getting some interested glances at Peaslake Stores we did Parklife, Barry Knows Best and Telegraph Road as well as some other little bits over on Pitch Hill.

The best part was when Sam cleaned both drops on Barry's - the short but fairly steep roll-in at the start and the longer one at the end. Needless to say, I was chuffed and look forward to more great riding with him.

By the way, thanks to unknown guy at Cycle Surgery in Spitalfields for giving me a free crank bolt to get me back on the trails again.

Click to see the build spec for the Prince_Albert

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