Air Italia.......

Scapin (www.scapin.com) is one of the most prestigious Italian brands ever, together with DeRosa, Pinarello and Colnago. In fact: the Scapin bikes are the sole mountain bikes ever to win the COMPASSO D’ORO, the most prestigious Italian Design Award.  The 2017 Scapin Kalibra recently bagged a Tech Award at the CosmoBike Show in Verona.

Founded in 1957 by Umberto Scapin, a former pro rider, the brand has become renown through time, for the peculiar craftsmanship, high quality and technological excellence of its creations.The Fontana family, owners of the Olympia brand, bought Scapin in 2005 and started investing in R&D, guided by the experience of the firm’s historical designer: Stefano Scapin.

Picked up the newest disc equipped carbon sled for Scapin called the Kalibra.  Looking forward to some good long rides and to share my thoughts soon.

Santa Cruz Tallboy on the Rocks...

A little late to post this pic but one of my favorite from AZ 2014

Hooked on Phonix...

Cytoe Industries - The small company you need to know...

O.K. you spent north of $2K on your Tallboy and now you're ready to shred. The bike is built to ride and ride fast but it's carbon, and the linkage hangs low, so now what ?  Enter Ron and his company Cytoe Industries from Fort Collins Co.   Cytoe designs and hand crafts rock protection plates for select mountain bike frames.  Ron started off by making a guard for a Niner Rip 9 and due to the overwhelming response from posts on mtbr and local clubs, he branched out to cover off Santa Cruz.

I can tell you after an inaugural 50 hours of the rockiest trails Arizona has thrown out, the plate has done what it was designed to do, and well.  Santa Cruz is shipping the new Tallboy 2C's with a built in rubber frame guard, but it only protects the lower portion of the down tube.  All you need to do is poke out the 2 water bottle holes and the Cytoe rock guard screws on over the built in SC rubber.

The ultra guard costs $40 usd and shipping is fast and secure.  It's a small price to pay for the piece of mind that follows install.  Ron's mtbr link can be found here CYTOE.  Shoot him a email you'll be glad you did.

Browns Ranch

This is far from technical but what it lacks it makes up for in flow and scenery.  A good break for the constant barrage of rocky trails.  Did a 35 km loop with a climb up Browns Mountain from both sides for the view / descent.  Did not see any scorpions or rattlesnakes but the trail signs seemed to indicate they were around.  Another killer 80 + day in the saddle.

This area reminds me of Hartman Rocks in Gunnison CO with huge rocks and loops

Trail 100 Options

It's hard pressed to load up the car and venture out to ride when this is literally 2 min away.  Over the past 3 rides tried to cover off some new options.  The spin off trails are abundant and the climbs up and around the buttes are tough.  The more you ride the chunks the more you get some flow happening.  This is so drastically different that any trail back home it certainly keeps you focused.

Scuse me while I kiss the sky..

This is the view from Trail 100 right before the switchbacks heading under the hwy.  I am not sure what the green haze that visibly hangs on downtown Phoenix but I'm guessing it's not good.

This is day 2 on the trail and went to the Dreamy Draw Lot from the 7th st entrance.  Had a chance to see the group that were building the new singletrack up around Cave Creek.  They're the American Service Corps and are a federally funded program that lets them earn money for their college education.  The program is essentially community service on a large scale.  It was tough work clearing rock and churning up dirt in 80 degree heat so we can shred on it later.  Hats off to them.  It was a good loop too.

Trail 100 is pretty neat and it snakes up around buttes and around some pretty sweet homes perched on the rock and sees quite a bit of use like running, hiking, horseback riding and dog walking.
Everyone I ran into was nice which is a welcome change on a multi-use trail system.  The trail is not particularly tough, 2 + hours yesterday covered 27km and 690 m ascent.  There is a lot more stuff in here to explore on the non driving days coming up.  A good local haunt !

McDowell Mountain take 3..

I think I understand why night riding is so popular down here.  It is 80 degrees in February and its hot.  I can't imagine this would be the case in mid August when it is consistently 100f +

Can't get sick of looking at this....

Views from McDowell Mountain Race Loops ( Long Loop )

Mc Dowell Mountain Race Loops

This is a section of trail in Scottsdale that used to be the home of the now defunct Cactus Cup.  This was the classic desert race that used to grace the covers of MBA with the legends of the dirt Johnny T, Ned O and others.

Now it is a series of 3 loops set 100% aside for Mountain biking.  Trails were good and did 2 of the long loops.  That crash on Sunday was hard.  This was a welcome change and good recovery trail.

Rode the Tallboy 2C today.

Going to have lots to say about this in the weeks to come down here but in the meantime here are some pictures.

Can't say enough good things about the SRAM XX1 kit other than this is the place to see if the chain stays on and it does along with shifting perfection and a nice single ring range.  32 when I am back home but the 30 is good enough for me.

Rock Shox Sid.  Immediate difference felt over last years Fox.  This for besides being light is very plush and maybe it was the fact I had the Talas I am really impressed.

This is a XL frame that came in at 25.1 lbs with Thomson, AM wheels, Bonty / Salsa cockpit and Schwable 2.4 / 2.2's.

The pedal strikes are a bit unnerving on these rock strewn trails but that will pass.  Sedona ( specifically Oak Creek ) seems to be the go to place for industry product testing or launches and that makes a ton of sense given the make up of their trail systems.  If the bike and set up can perform here is is good to go anywhere else you may end up.  These trails EAT bike parts.  The 2014 Fox CTD rear shock is smooth once you set up the sag properly.  Have not really played around with the different pedaling platforms as its kind of hard to take your hands off the bar to reach down and I found the trail setting to be a good all rounder on the trails covered today.  Lastly if your unsure of sizing go up.  I am just over  6'1" and that out me in between the L and XL.  The L would have been too small.

Even a SoHo Tranny Needs Some Protection.

We just finished building up the IBIS Tranny and after a few warranty issues with the rigid fork route enter the Sram XX Sid World Cup.  In a fork market that is dominated by tapered steerer tubes, through axles and the latest " new " industry standard, it was a good find to grab a OEM 2013 take off with a straight carbon steerer, no added race lip, and no through axle.

Back to the bike.  I will be waiting until I get the ride report but I dropped it on the scale and its under 21 lbs built up with the SID.  With the Pro or Ritchey WCS fork it would be 19 lbs give or take a few grams.