Theres a balance many riders try to find between the three and paying attention to tire clearance helps find your zone. Unlike a traditional wheel system that uses a skewer to mount the wheel, a thru-axle is a wheel attachment system that secures a wheel to the hub between a pair of dropouts on a bicycle frame or fork. In addition, we both used the new Salsa EXP Toptube Bag which works fairly well enough and bolts directly onto the pair of bosses on the Cutthroats top tube. Multiple wheel sizes, "futureproofing" via thru-axles, ability to run 1x or 2x, dropper routing, suspension fork options, etc. Cutthroat is Salsa's ultra-endurance mixed surface bike inspired by the Tour Divide. Copyright 2023 Treeline Review LLC. Any thoughts. Lots of carbon out there on single track these days. Not to mention, they are prone to damaging easily. A cassette is the cluster of sprockets located on the rear hub of your bike, slotting onto a freehub body and held firmly in place with a threaded cassette lockring. Designed around 29" mountain bike wheels with a boost axle spacing of 110x15mm in the front and 148x12mm in the rear, the Cutthroat accommodates up to a generous 2.4" tyre size. Im not saying aluminum is bad, and steel is the only way to go. 2021 Salsa Cutthroat 54cm. The Cutthroat is Salsa Cycles carbon drop bar mountain bike which is aimed at bike-packing and long rides in remote territory, ala Tour Divide. Some bikepacking bikes, such as the Surly Bridge Club, offer 700c wheel options. 1 spare set brake pads 15ish years of road, cross, gravel, enduro, xc, randonneuring, touring, bikepacking, etc. Some bikes are sold completely built with better components than others. The Journeyman Claris comes in two types that Salsa describes as: the fast and efficient (700 c) or comfortable (650). This is why focusing on stack and reach is important. Your PBH determines your stand over clearance, which is how much room you have in relation to how tall the bike is when standing over it. This approach allows me to keep my seat pack and handlebar bags as light as possible, thus lowering the bikes center of gravity. We review 18 bike seat packs and bicycle saddle bags to find the best for bikepacking, road cycling, gravel biking, mountain bike riding, and commuting by bike. Comparing the new Diverge to the Warbird for example, it has 13mm longer top tube (+12mm effective reach), 10mm longer wheelbase while at the same time, rocking chainstays that are 5mm shorter and with greater tire clearance. Its also highly water resistant, and huge! The small Salsa Fargo Apex 1 frame has a reach of 364 mm, while the medium frame has a reach of 368 mm. 2L Platy bottle in backpack. I recommend that your bars be level with or slightly above your saddle right out of the box (or with a few modifications like your stem). Although it has fewer attachment points than the ECR (nearly every bike has fewer attachment points than the ECR) it can easily be fitted with all the bags, racks, or panniers you need for bikepacking adventures or city commutes. Our route threw as many curve balls as Cuba has baseball fields, including descents deserving of a 160mm travel full-suspension rig, bogs and sand fit for a fat bike, and technical trails where a solid, plus-tire hardtail would be best to pick through the rubble. Ti Spork Now you may be worried that the size medium would still feel too large and that perhaps a size small with a longer stem would be a good option. And, at its core lies the groundwork for tons of space to carry everything you need on a long adventure. For the price and durability factor, we dont recommend getting a carbon frame as your first bikepacking bike. Modern mountain bikes often feature a 1x11, 1x12, 2x9 or 2x10 drivetrain (i.e., one gear at the pedals and 11 sprockets in the form of a cassette attached to your rear wheel). Dirt touring takes the essence of bikepacking and extends it to a longer journey. I got into long-distance backpacking when I section hiked the PCT in 2016 while working with brands such as Leki, Osprey, and Nemo Equipment. The Salsa Fargo Apex 1 is a burly steel frame gravel bike. The Karate Monkey has Surlys rugged Chromoly steel frame. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. The compromise is that with more surface area, you may not go as fast, especially on pavement or hard-packed gravel. Generally speaking, the Force 1x Cutthroat is a solid spec without much room to quibble over necessary upgrades. For more information, please see our We review top-rated bike bags to find the best mountain bike frame bag, best for gravel bikes and road bikes, and top tube bags for all kinds of bikes and riders. This bike is a custom build over the stock options that Salsa offers with i9 wheels, Shimano XT 11sp, SRAM carbon levers . Reproduction without permission is prohibited. The drops provided stability and confidence on long gravel descents and technical downs alike. The Surly ECR and Surly Krampus at camp. Titanium is not always stronger than steel. You may not be too worried about the widest tires your bike can fit, but having enough room if you choose to go wider can help. 8oz sealant for initial setup VRS is basically Salsas stay design also found on the Warbird made up of thin seat stays and wide, rectangular chainstays. The flex, for lack of an accurate term, isnt something that can really be forced or simulated when off the bike. In hindsight, our most accurate description, albeit a modest one, is that Cuba doesnt give up its goods easily. The Surly Bridge Club also comes in a more pavement-oriented build kit (700c) for $100 less that would be a great city commuter bike with the ability to take on dirt tracks when needed. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. At Treeline, we want you to buy right the first time. That being said, there are frame differences between gravel bikes, singletrack mountain bikes, and dirt or all-terrain touring bikes. Read more. Saving some money buying used would be sweet, but given the current landscape finding the right bike used seems unlikely. In June 2015, the first Salsa Cutthroat was then presented. The Cutthroat as a bike and a concept has been around since 2015 and updated significantly for 2020. Plus, straight gauge spokes are easier to service even though we completely forgot to bring spares on this trip! To this end, I've been looking at the $2,700 Apex build which isn't my drivetrain preference but will be fine to ride as-is for a year or so and upgrade the groupset to something else later to keep initial costs below my maximum budget of 3k for a complete bike. Privacy Policy. Carbon frame with VRS rear-end + a stable and comfortable geometry + 2.1 tires = a bike that's comfortable and perfectly dialed in for long and rough rides. Thru-axles are more common on mountain bikes. Helmet Beginning our route from the east side of the island, the plan was to make 300+ hard miles in just a few days to meet a fourth riding compadre who flew into Camaguey. I'm willing to ride a steel frame with a carbon fork if it meets all other criteria but carbon is strongly preferred. Considering the price to potential damage ratio, this makes sense. You can start learning about a bikes stack, or the vertical distance from the center of the bottom bracket to the head tube, and how it relates to the bikes reach, or the horizontal distance from the bikes bottom bracket to the head tube. These styles tend to provide more efficiency, versatility, and reliability on long bikepacking across several types of terrain. Tire lever Immodium salsa cutthroat alternative salsa cutthroat alternative. Salsa Cycles offers all you need for your next bike adventure: high-quality frame sets and bikes as well as parts and accessories like handlebars, forks, carriers and bag systems. Photo by Mike Unger. So at this point you might be wondering who the Salsa Cutthroat is for aside from Tour Dividers or Trans America Trail racers. For protection against abrasions, I recommend a product called Shelter by Cantitoe Road. Preamble: I'd call myself very experienced, if not a bit out of shape at the moment. The Corner Bar has a 25.4mm clamp area that requires a shim for most modern mountain bike stems. Although some routes may be more comfortable with a suspension mountain bike, we think most folks getting into bikepacking will be happy with hardtail and rigid mountain bikes. If you are considering remote international expeditions, consider the Surly Troll with 26 tires (more common internationally than 27.5 or 29 tires) with rim brakes. The cassette is a cluster of sprockets. In spite of our planning, we misjudged the terrain. The Surly ECR is the quintessential bikepacking rig if you plan on tackling hundreds or thousands of miles on a single trip. The Apex 1 model comes in your choice of three colorways for $2899. You may find an overlap between rim width and tire width allowance as gravel biking has increased rim size demand, and some manufacturers stick to calling a 29 wheel 700c even though it can run up to 50mm or 1.8 wide tires. Fork has Three-Pack mounts; fork and frame have internal dynamo cable routing. Where we anticipated meandering dirt roads in the mountains, we found primitive, chunky, rutted, and beastly tracks. The Salsa Timberjack is the best singletrack mountain be found within the budget. Big Agnes inflatable pillow Sign up with your email address to be the first to know when we release new gear reviews! theoretically, the asymmetrical rim design coupled with straight gauge spokes should make for a stiff and strong wheel. More here. Rohloff Hubs, on average, run about $1,600. Our Surly ECR in camp. Like new Salsa Cutthroat (size 54) for sale. After hunting all last year, finally found a size 56 Cutthroat in stock. Gravel bikes are similar to typical road bikes with rigid frames and drop bars for more hand position options. Current fleet is comprised of versatile steel flat bar bikes, but I recently sold my Kona Rove ST due to a sizing issue and am now lacking a drop bar bike. Additionally, the 292.1 Schwalbe Thunderburts didnt disappoint. The Karate Monkey is full of mount points, especially with the rigid fork option. There is a Rival 2x edition as well for $3k. It can be well-groomed or full of rocks and roots. The aluminum frame also helps keep the costs down. 1 pair boxers While titanium is certainly rad (its pretty much space metal after all), the frame alone costs an extra $1,800. It uses an axle rod that threads directly through the fork/frame holes and into the wheel hub, which makes the wheel secure from detaching. Ive been working in the outdoor industry for the past eight years. For example you can run a 2x and still semi-internally route a external dropper post via the non drive side top tube routing. It is rugged, reliable, and excellent on muddy dirt tracks, fast-rolling gravel roads, and the occasional technical singletrack. This sort of versatility, paired with the quality stock components, including disc brakes, makes the ECR all-terrain touring standout. In addition, the stock components are not as good as the Fargo Apexs stock set. The Bridge Club has Surlys rugged Chromoly steel frame and comes with 27.5 x 2.4 tires. Patch Kit 1000 mile review of my Salsa Cutthroat Apex 1 (2020)How does the #salsa #cutthroat hold up after a 760 km #bikepacking #race across the Czech Republic and lo. And with two of us jackhammering these bikes for 20 days straight, I think I can attest to their durability. We test. A well sized bike will feel more comfortable. The Salsa Fargo Apex 1 is a burly steel frame gravel bike. Click here to login, or start an account if youre not yet a member of the Bikepacking Collective. The Surly Bridge Club fully loaded with bikepacking bags. The Cutthroat fork can clear 29 x 3.0 tires, but the rear is limited to 29 x 2.4 according to Salsa, so in practice most riders will be limited to 29 x 2.4 on the Cutthroat. Photo by Naomi Hudetz. 11sp quicklinks x 2 The Surly Troll has 26 tires, which are more commonly available in remote international locations than the ECRs 27.5 or 29 tires. Salsa Cutthroat C GRX 810 - Frameset. However, those whove watched the Tour Divide and other similar races know that this is becoming something of a race standard, along side an aero-bar for those long stretches where headwinds and aerodynamics are the biggest contender. But the short answer is that its a great option for anyone interested in long mixed terrain rides who puts a premium on comfort as well as the possibility of tackling trails that veer on and off the gravel roads. The world of cycling and bikepacking can be confusing. Ive heard good things about the Salsa Cutthroat, an ~$5,000 carbon fiber bikepacking rig. Make sure you select the correct bike size. The Journeyman is a great entry-level gravel bikepacking option. The drops are higher, the fork is very compliant, the geometry is nothing like a road bike (69 head angle, 70mm bb drop) it descends well, especially with a dropper, which it's routed internally for! Tums For questions & technical support, please email us at: support@salsacycles.com or call 1-877-668-6223. Photo by Mike Unger. Surly will not say what ECR stands for. To go a little further into the weeds with bike size, the long-established way of thinking about bike sizes is that smaller bikes have shorter reaches that can be manipulated by longer stems and longer seat posts. The Registry has teamed up with 529 Garage to create a North American database of bikes. Plus-size tires are sized between a traditional mountain biking tire and a fat tire. Bike shops and law enforcement can use the database to find and return stolen bikes. Find the full GRX 600 build over at SalsaCycles.com. When the ground was too wet to ride trail, one of my regular winter out and backs from home took me to the top of Buckhorn Gap. The Bikepacking Journal is our biannual printed publication. The 2021 Salsa Cutthroat Apex 1 is the mainstay of the lineup and comes with a 111 Apex 1 drivetrain featuring a Raceface Ride crankset (36T), WTB Sera/i23 wheels, TRP Spyre brakes, and an 11-42T cassette. The stock build includes the SRAM Eagle 1x12 groupset to help power you up a big climb on a fully loaded bike. After hearing feedback, I was anticipating a pretty smooth ride so the aforementioned traits didnt come as a great shock to me. Find the full GRX 810 build over at SalsaCycles.com. That's a lot for a rigid mountain bike! It's much more than a drop-bar gravel bike, or a fast mountain bike. Even with the vertical give of the VRS, the bike itself is laterally stiff and equally as responsive when pedaling. 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