Submitted by
jason
a Cross Country Rider
from littlerock
Date Reviewed: February 27, 2007
Strengths: salsaa- sounds cool
Weaknesses: clumsy, auckward, over-priced
Bottom Line:
Light, but doesnt feel right. Too long, feels bigger than it is. Skidish at times. Duke sucks too- lock out doesnt work leaked after a couple of weeks. Ive ridden bikes that cost half as much, and ride twice as good. I feel burned.
Submitted by
Jaz
a Cross Country Rider
from England
Date Reviewed: October 26, 2004
Strengths: Frame is so nice, great paintjob, very light, nice details & welds, very quick & responsive, great understated look in all black. Hard tails rule !
Weaknesses: Erm nothing major really stands out as a weakness, maybe the fact I couldnt buy it as a complete bike but just frame only.
Bottom Line:
Very pleased I went for this frame after my last bike (1999 Coyote HT3) was destroyed in a car acccident, insurance gave me money to replace it so I put a bit towards it & specced the Salsa & parts I wanted & built it myself. This bike inspires confidence in me as its so easy to flick it about so you can pick lines with ease. Its easy to pull up hills & I really notice the 5lb weight saving compared to my last bike, the Salsa build I settled on weighs in at a sensibly light 23lb. It doesnt feel as stiff at the rear as my previous frame which had box section tubing but I prefer the slightly less harsh feel tbh & even though the acceleration isnt quite as instant as the Coyote was its still awesome quick & the reduced harshness is a very worthwhile trade off. The geometry is perfect with the Fox 80mm fork & the Hope disks are a revelation for me, my riding has improved a lot since I bought it, I can now do tricks I couldnt seem to perfect on my old bike but I dont think my previous bike is fair to compare as this is in a different class. I thought the frame was a bit expensive (£620) but its really well made & if you want quality you have to pay for it. If you like Hard Tail's then this has to be one of the best out there for XC.
Strengths: Light, fast, great climber, single track riding has greatly improved. Perfect geometry for singltrack
Weaknesses: None yet
Bottom Line:
If you like stiff, fast frames this is it. No better bike for midwest singletrack riding. My friends have noticed my singletrack skill improve and climbing just from this bike. Other bikes in comparison are $200-300 more.
Bike Setup: Sram components, XT cranks, XTR brake set up, Salsa seat, seatpost, rings, bars, grips. Panaracer fire xc pro, RPM lite wheels.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Ben Probsy
a Racer
from St. Louis, Mo, 63116
Date Reviewed: August 29, 2004
Strengths: bike is unreal, super light, super fast, suprisingly forgiving for an al. frame, high quality finish for a bike at its price.
Weaknesses: none that i have found but havent been riding it long
Bottom Line:
bike is all around killer, one of the faster bikes i have ridden, almost as smooth as my moots and seven, lighter than my orbea (21.2 pounds), and not nearly as expensive, climbs amazingly well, tracks beautifully, might i ad it is damn good looking.(black and red 03, not orange and ugly) if you can get ahold of one of these frames, be it as a race bike or city tourer) go for it, 10 times more on my seven and i was not half as happy.
Similar Products Used: moots, seven, surly, gunnar, orbea
Bike Setup: 04 xtr through out, king hubs and headset, thomson post, deda newton stem, deda biggin bar, zipp 515 rims, revolution spokes, salsa ti flip offs, sid world cup platinum, hutchison, selle italia.
Strengths: very light 2.7 lbs for the 16" frame, race geometry, climbs like a billy goat, corners like Indy car, flys like a jet plane. price, complete Scandium tubset, nice weilds.
Weaknesses: none this far.
Bottom Line:
I bought this frame to build a light weight racer. This frame kicks ASS, bike weight is 23 lbs. Blows the bikes I tested. best buy I give 5 chilis all the way around
