Closing with this shot...

One of my favorite trails.  This is Cedar Rock which is basically east coast slick rock on Cedar Mountain in Dupont State Forest NC.  See you in the spring NC.  Bring on the Assault on the Carolina's.

A few more pictures from the Fall in the Carolinas Road Trip...

Roads Like These...

This was one of those times I really wished we had road bikes with us.  S bends and mountain roads go hand in hand,

A few shots from the trails in and around Pisgah National Forest

Have Bike Will Travel...

Whats old is new again...

Well I am not as DIY talented as some but I can certainly find those that are to help with restore projects like this.

Enter Serge.  I met Serge when I got a few interior areas covered in Alcantara for my Subaru. 

When I asked him for help he did not dissapoint.  In fact I did not think the saddles in question would look this good again and in the case of the Fisik better than new.

I color matched the yellow on my Rocky Mountain Altitude and recovered this original Selle Italia Flite 1990. 

The Fizik was for the Scapin and I went with a faux carbon and matte leather.  I think they turned out great. So if you have a old saddle kicking around and want to spruce things up a bit in a cost effective way this is a great way to add some custom color bike.

The 6ix - Urban Playground Explored

Toronto really does have a pretty diverse cycling scene.  From great technical trails in the Don Valley to Gravel roads and routes in and around the portlands to several road clubs running early am rides pretty much every day of the week and oh of course  ' The Donut ' still reigns strong on the weekends.  So no matter what wheel size your running The 6ix has you covered.

Scapin Kalibra

This summer I spent way more time on the dirt & gravel than the roads in and around the GTA.  However it was enough to really enjoy the new bike build and road discs.  I cant wait to get back down to NC / SC and test this on actual mountain descents.

Mini Marathon Monday's

First " proper " MTB ride of the year.  As always the trails in Uxbridge were in mint condition.  It seems that people really payed attention and did not give into temptation before the trails thawed out properly.  DMBA gave the go ahead for all the tracts on the 14th so after a few hard days on the road bike a nice jaunt through the woods was just the ticket.  50 km and 3600' of climbing later and the inaugural ride was over.

Dagnar MTB Trails 

Nothing to see here folks, move along.....

Ok another question I get is why Mavic ? Why not Enve, or Lightweight or any of the other exotic hoops on the market ?  I guess when it somes down to it am a Mavic fan boy.  I do really like their wheels and apart from the Crossmax mtb line of old have never had any issues and I have also had stellar customer service from Mavic Canada on my other Kysrium's.   The one wheel that had me close to changing though was the Xentis Squad disc but it was a tubular and well..... no thanks.

Looking forward to testing these out and setting them up tubeless but for now they are wrapped in Vittoria Corsa 28's.  The Kalibra has clearance for 30C easily as well.   I am also going to de-badge them as I think they look a little different from all the matte UD carbon you see everywhere else...Stay tuned.

Mavic Ksyrium Pro Carbon SL Disc Wheelset

Scapin Kalibra Build Up

Just a few build pics of the new rig. XL Scapin Kalibra, ENVE cockpit, Shimano Ultegra Disc Group with Dura Ace crankset, Wheels Manufacturing Bottom Bracket, 40mm rotors.  Total build weight without pedals and a seat swap to the Fizik Aliante Carbon comes in at 17.1 lbs  Not that I am chasing a weight weenie build but all in all you can't complain with that number for the size of the bike.   Why no di2 ?  Not there yet I guess.  I know its the choice of many but here's what I am hoping for.  A Campy wireless electronic group WITH hydro brakes.  Mic drop !!

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.

October in the 6ix...

Canadian Slickrock

" The Knoll "

Don Days of Spring..

Mowtown Trail Heading North in the Don Valley

Shimano XT 1x11

Decided to go the 1 x 11 route that I have set up on the Santa Cruz without dropping the coin on the SRAM group.

Enter Shimano and the workhorse group in their line up.  The trusted XT.  They have since released pricing on the XT Di2 but honestly can't see the need for electronic shifting on any of my bikes so far.

The parts I put on are the XT crank with a 32 ring, the 11/46 cassette, XT rear der and shifter and the e13 xcx chain guide.

I was concerned about the chainline and rubbing as this seems to be the complaint for people running guides.  e13's mounts between the frame and bb and comes with spacers to shim if needed.  Mine went on with the 3 mm spacer and on either end of the cassette there is more than enough clearance.

Have about 6 rides on it so far and I am liking it a lot.  The only place I think I will miss the rings is on the road  or on long downhills as you will spin out but the flip side of that is getting up the hills and I was fine on any trail so far.   One thing to note if your running bar lockout or levers the shifter has a gear indicator window that is quite big and there is a replacement dummy plate that will be released in a few weeks by Shimano for a few bucks.  I guess people realized bar real estate is key.

Shots from the trail...

Colnago C60 Disc Courtesy of Glory Cycles.

Glory Glory Hallelujah... It wont be long now before the annual NC / SC pilgrimage and while we may not be able to do the Assault on the Carolina's this year we have other things to look forward to courtesy of Clive & company......

Photo credit: Glory Cycles

NAHBS is next month in Sacremento. Steve Potts is confirmed.

Full show info and exhibitor list can be found here.