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GnatBikes said:
I need to chime in here. The La Cruz is a cross bike designed for 700c's. Keep that in mind if you set it up with 650b's. All I see in that set up is a disaster. Paint rub and a voided warranty when you ride it like a mtn bike and something breaks.

Just don't do it.

Jason
Salsa Crew
Come on J, if you said that about the Casseroll I'd be with you, but this is the La Cruz we are talking about, the bike you always recommend when people ask you if they can take their Casseroll off-road. Aside from paint rub issues, which I agree are highly likely to occur with the 650B setup I referenced above, are you really concerned about anything besides CYA? I don't think anyone intends to "ride it like a mtn bike" just because they have a higher volume tire on it than you may have intended.

I have a 650B front wheel hanging un-used in my garage which I intend to put a Quasi-Moto on and try it 650B fat-front/700c rear, sort of like my fat front Jones. I think it will be a cool experiment. Mike of Black Mountain Cycles in Pt Reyes CA has a whole bit on his blog about interchanging wheels on a Rawland, and I think the La Cruz can handle it too. And if it breaks, no worries, I'll assume the risk ;) :thumbsup: !

Brian
 
I'd say that 650b isn't needed to ride the La Cruz like a mtn bike ;-) but I definitely have to pick different lines than when on my El Rey.

It isn't a cushy ride, but my La Cruz is really fun to ride on easy XC trails with 700x40 Ritchey Speedmax tires. I'm running them tubeless at 65psi on Stan's Flow rims (my lightest tubeless wheelset.)

As far as durability goes, who knows, but the trails I'm talking about (Marshall Mesa, Eagle Trail, and Teller Farm in Boulder, CO) have about a 50-50 mix of cross and mtb bikes on them in the winter so it is a fairly common thing to abuse cross bikes thusly around here.
 
tamjam said:
Come on J, if you said that about the Casseroll I'd be with you, but this is the La Cruz we are talking about, the bike you always recommend when people ask you if they can take their Casseroll off-road. Aside from paint rub issues, which I agree are highly likely to occur with the 650B setup I referenced above, are you really concerned about anything besides CYA? I don't think anyone intends to "ride it like a mtn bike" just because they have a higher volume tire on it than you may have intended.

I have a 650B front wheel hanging un-used in my garage which I intend to put a Quasi-Moto on and try it 650B fat-front/700c rear, sort of like my fat front Jones. I think it will be a cool experiment. Mike of Black Mountain Cycles in Pt Reyes CA has a whole bit on his blog about interchanging wheels on a Rawland, and I think the La Cruz can handle it too. And if it breaks, no worries, I'll assume the risk ;) :thumbsup: !

Brian
I am simply stating there is a difference between riding off road with cross tires and off road with a big fat mtn tire. You do things differently in how you ride your bike off road.

With the La Cruz, yes I've ridden my La Cruz off road (no stunts, drops, etc). This has been done with cross tires that have a specific volume, width, etc. The volume, width, traction put limits on what I can and can't do with my La Cruz off road.

If someone puts fat 650b tires and now rides that bike like a true mtn bike, you are going to have problems because you will ride the bike differently as the bike would have more off road capability than with a traditional cross tire.

That is why I don't recommend it. The La Cruz is a cross bike designed for 700c wheels. It is not a mtn bike.

Make sense?

Jason
Salsa Crew
 
GnatBikes said:
I am simply stating there is a difference between riding off road with cross tires and off road with a big fat mtn tire. You do things differently in how you ride your bike off road.

That is why I don't recommend it. The La Cruz is a cross bike designed for 700c wheels. It is not a mtn bike.

Make sense?

Jason
Salsa Crew
I understand what you're saying Jason, don't worry. I think it's safe to say though that a 2.0 MTB tire isn't big nor fat enough to inspire anyone to go bombing through rock gardens or start taking 3' drops. That's what our mountain bikes are for. :p All I see it doing for me is providing a little more cush on the rocky fire roads around my house the La Cruz is perfect for. :D
 
I think you just need one of these.

tamjam said:
I understand what you're saying Jason, don't worry. I think it's safe to say though that a 2.0 MTB tire isn't big nor fat enough to inspire anyone to go bombing through rock gardens or start taking 3' drops. That's what our mountain bikes are for. :p All I see it doing for me is providing a little more cush on the rocky fire roads around my house the La Cruz is perfect for. :D
Ha!
 

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Salsa Cycles said:
Ha, you're a funny guy Jason. Must be that frozen tundra of a state you call home causing your senses to go numb! As much as I like the Fargo, I think my La Cruz is just about the perfect bike for needs...ok a bit more tire clearance would be nice...and the ability to have fenders AND racks would be nice too...uh, ok, I think I see where you're going with this now...:nono: :D ;)
 
One from Brisbane

When researching how to build up my La Cruz I found the information from you highly informed and highly obsessional people quite invaluable ;) so I thought I'd post the finished article for everyone to see!
Basically I wanted a bike that would do everything and go everywhere: commuting, touring, occasional off road, trailer dragging, roadie bashing etc etc...
I reckon the final spec is pretty much perfect. Triple chainset non-compact xt up front with 12-27 9 speed rear and 10 speed campag record ergos all indexing perfectly courtesy of Jtek Engineering shiftmate ( http://www.jtekengineering.com/shiftmate.htm ) (a wee widget that allows you to magically mix and match groupsets). Avid bb7s are surprisingly good - was worried about their power compared to hydraulics - and work very well with the record levers. I'm currently running 28c road tyres for the daily commute but can't wait to try out something wider and knobblier and go and scare myself on some singletrack.
For size I went for the 51 - I agree with Carnifex here - I am 5'11'' with longish 34" inside leg. To ride it feels fantastic, fast and agile but very solid and planted - it would need to be ridden very fast to feel unstable on the road. It is a fair bit stiffer than I expected - some of which is down to the fork and 90psi tyres - but is not harsh, rather it seems to gain momentum and not lose it through the bumps. Very involving and very fun!
 

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Add me to the list of people who have just finished their La Cruz build. Some parts I had laying around from other bikes, or some bargains found locally or on ebay.



A very special La Cruz frame
BB7 w 160mm rotors
Salsa Semi 29er Disc rims w Chris King hubs
Dura Ace rear mech
Ultegra front mech
Stronglight Pulsion carbon crank
FSA Platinum Pro Ti BB
Chris King solto voce headset
Thompson Elite seatpost
Specialized Rival SL seat
Specialized bars and stem
105 brifters (slate black)
Still waiting for the real tires to show up (Schwalbe Marathon Extreme 40mm)

Took it out for a short 3 mile ride tonight after moving the tires from my Specialized Singlecross over to it. It accelerates like a scalded ape. I'm looking forward to getting some miles on it this weekend and next week and then racing it next Saturday.
 
I'm confused. I see some La Cruz frames with full-length cable guides and some with interrupted top tube routing. Also some with frame pump studs on the headtube, and some not.

Mine came with interrupted routing and no pump stud. I'm a bit sad. :(
 
Must....have.....more.

I can't tell you how many times I've typed "salsa la cruz" into google just to see if there were any new builds up. Could someone please relieve me? I'm in the process of gathering parts for a build and I'm so damn excited. So, if you have updated your bike, recently built up a La Cruz or you just want to share a newer picture of your ride, please do. I need it. :)
 
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