It’s been a hectic two weeks. Between getting ready for the Toronto International Bike show and putting the final touches on our latest project, we have been burning the candle at both ends.  With lots of help from our friends and distributors, we were able to get the parts we needed and the help required for everything to come together. Thanks to those who stopped by the booth and checked out our latest bikes.

Many people were quite interested in the touring, road, mountain and box bikes on display. That’s right, Box Bikes! There were a couple of teasers on the blog in the past few posts and at he bike show we finally unveiled our new bikes. These bikes are a collaboration between True North Cycles and Wike Trailers.

I promise to create a new page on the website and upload a bunch of photos to our forthcoming flicker site in the very near future, but suffice to say we are pretty excited about this little venture. This cargo bike is much lighter then similar bikes found in Europe, splits into two for easy transport and allows for various Wike Trailers to plug right into the front. Very cool  and tons of fun to ride.

I know Josh at Outdoor Gear Canada, the Canadian Mavic distributor probably wonders what i do with all the closeout Mavic rims i order from him. Well, thanks to our new powdercoating capabilities, i make them any colour i see fit.

A little bit of prep and 15 minutes in the oven and magically the parts are transformed. It’s pretty exciting for us as now rims (disc and fixed only; powdercoat doesn’t make for the best braking surface), handlebars, racks, fenders, etc, can all be all be colour matched for a more complete looking bike.

A lot of people commented on the amount of touring bikes in the booth this year. It wasn’t really planned that way, it just so happened that over the past few weeks that was what we were building, so that is what we brought.

Pete’s was quite popular. Expedition touring, Rohloff 14 speed internal Hub and a really nice army green paint job to top it all off.

Paul’s bike was quite popular. The XTR cranks will be arriving soon and then it is off for a Trans-Canada tour.

Brad and Paula’s 650b Mixte Tandem could be also be considered a touring bike. It was quite popular all weekend and even served as the location for an on-the-bike TV interview.

We also had a few Mountain bikes on display. Vlad lent us his recently completed singlespeed for the weekend. A really nice bike with little touches that really make this bike shine.

Like a set of custom painted fork lowers to match his frame.

Ron’s bike was a big hit with a few people drooling over his DT XMC 80 29er forks. They are the only set in Canada thus far this year.

Paul’s Bike was front and centre in the booth all weekend. An SandS coupling equipped time trial bike with 7900 Dura Ace and Zipp 1080s does wonders to draw the people into the booth.

John’s Sport touring bike was a popular bike at the show. The long reach brakes allow for a little extra clearance to enable the use of fenders and slightly larger tires.  John can equip the bike with fenders, racks and panniers or he can strip it all down and contest a local road race; the choice is his.

David’s bike was another SandS coupling equipped bike at the show.

The ability to break the bike into two and travel with it is something that people really found exciting.

I’m a big fan of the bar tape on this bike. Octto makes sweet bar tape and the pattern on this tape is great; it goes well with both Antique brown and Honey coloured Brooks saddles. You should go out and buy 10 rolls right now.

After a long weekend of exalting the virtues of custom built bikes, we are back at the shop and back to work.

I’ll leave you with one final parting shot of the booth.