The "Thick" & The "Thin" Of It

Today I want to introduce you all to two new, and vastly different, bikes we just got in at Europa Cycle & Ski recently. The "thick" one is Origin 8's "Crawler" fat bike and the "thin" bike is Salsa Cycles new "Warbird" model. Let's take a look at the Crawler first...

Origin 8's Crawler fat bike

The Crawler is a bike I am somewhat familiar with having ridden the previous pre-production version two years ago at Interbike and the final version you see here last year at Interbike. The Crawler is in the"fat bike" class of bike, sporting 26" X 4" wide rubber, but it diverts from the Surly/Salsa type fat bikes you may be familiar with from that point on. This is a very unique bike, even without the ginormous tires and wheels. I'll detail ot all the nuances for you now..

Note the derailleur hangar

This bike's drivetrain is very unique for a fat bike. It has a NuVinci 360 hub that features Constantly Varying Transmission, (CVT), for a wide range of drive ratios. Notice that I didn't say the word "gears" here. That's because the NuVinci transmission doesn't have "gears" inside it. It also gives the rider a very different sensation at the pedals.

Without going into deep technical jargon, the deal here is that you have the ability to vary your ratio without "steps" that a traditional drive train would feature. Even internal geared hubs have "stepped ratios" and you feel this as a change to your cadence/pedal pressure as you change gears. With a CVT, you have no such "steps", only a smooth change from "easy" to "hard" and anywhere in between.

Massive tire clearances

The other distinguishing factor here is that the Crawler is not a "symmetrical" rear triangle frame, although it uses a 135OLD spacing, like a traditional MTB. It is also not as offset as a Pugsley by Surly is. It is offset very slightly to the drive side to optimize the chain line with the 100mm bottom bracket/crank set fitted to the bike. All this allows plenty of clearance by the tire.

The hydro-formed aluminum frame is also designed with plenty of rear tire clearances, so while I do not know that bigger than 4.0" tires would work, it looks like they may with the 80mm rims the bike comes with. Also, more versatility is offered with the provided rear derailleur hangar, which with a traditional geared set up and rear hub, may allow for a truncated drive train and therefore a slightly lighter set up. Obviously, single speed set ups are supported as well.

Clearances at the chain stay

The frame also has rack mounts on the rear and on the CroMoly steel fork up front for load bearing duties. Braking is handled by the ever reliable Avid BB-7 mechanical disc brakes, and the Origin 8 Devast8er fat tires are a good all-around snow/sand/mud/dirt tire for year round fat biking. Of course, Surly tires in the 3.8" range or Big Fat Larrys will be okay here. The larger Bud and Lou are unknown fits at this time.

Finally, the icing on this fat cake is that the retail price for owning this unique 20" framed monster is less than anything currently available in fat bikes. MSRP $1400.00 is over $300.00 cheaper than anything else out there. Check it out! These Crawler's are hard to get right now and we expect this one examnple will be all we'll see until Fall. Don't wait! Check this out now.

Salsa Cycles Warbird 2

I've talked a lot already about the next "thin" bike for this post. It is the racing gravel grinder bike by Salsa Cycles: The aluminum Warbird 2.

The Warbird 2 is a disc brake bike bred to deal with the rigors of rough gravel and go really fast doing it. It features a hydro-formed, lightweight aluminum frame that has been tweaked to allow maximum front triangle space so a frame bag and water bottles will all fit there with no problems.

Carbon fork

The Warbird 2 also features an Enve Composites carbon fork with tapered carbon steer tube. Yes- it is super-light! The tapered head tube hides an inset sealed bearing head set from the harsh elements. Braking duties on this bad bird are handled by Avid Road specific calipers and rotors are 160mm front, 140mm rear to help keep the weight in check.

You'll note that all cables run under the top tube in full run housings. This is done to beat inclement weather, mud, and dust while you enjoy perfect shifting and braking despite the conditions.

Frame fitments are sparse, as Salsa believes that a top tube type frame bag and a seat bag are how most garvel racers will carry the goods they need. There are three water bottle mounting points: One on the seat tube, down tube inner triangle, and one underneath the down tube.

Geometry is slightly relaxed for stability on loose surfaces like gravel and dirt. Tires are the excellent Clement USH, which features a smooth center tread strip allowing for fast pavement riding, yet has some aggressive "diamond file tread" on the sides for stability and purchase in dirt and loose gravel. These tires are 35mm wide, but the Warbird 2 can swallow up to 38mm rubber if necessary.

Nice orange ano appointments

The Warbird 2's drivetrain features a 2 X 10 set up with Tiagra "brifters mated to a rear derailleur from Shimano's excellent 105 group. Hubs are Formula for Salsa and anodized a nice orange hue to match the bike.

The tubing on this frame is shaped for some comfort to the rider and for maximum mud and tire clearances. The bottom bracket is a PF-30 type and it allows the FSA Gossamer 46T/36T crank set to spin freely. This sort of gearing is really great on gravel roads.

So- is this only for gravel grinding? Oh no! This is a lightweight, disc brake equipped rig that will go on any road, fast and efficiently, with nary a blink at bad weather, mud, dirt, dust, or whatever you can throw at it. Commute, use it as an "all road", all weather bike, or just as your hard core road rat rig. Whatever you want, really. I think of the Warbird 2 as the road bike that fears no road or weather.

This one is a 58cm, and we also have a 56cm on hand. Either will run you $2499.00 and are available now at Europa to scope out and take home. Hit the road on a Warbird 2......any road!

Stainless Steel & Rubber

2013 Vaya Travel

Hey folks out there in the inner-web-o-sphere! It's been awhile, but we've been busy here at the shop. We have received a pretty cool specimen that is now on display.

Last year Salsa decided to drop the titanium Vaya. However; they replaced it with what is arguably a far better rig- the stainless steel Vaya Travel.

Stainless steel? Yes! Stainless steel has some similar properties to titanium.  It is somewhat lighter than traditional steel alloys, and it doesn't corrode, so it doesn't have to be painted. However; it is somewhat stiffer than titanium, which can be a great idea for a touring bike.

The "travel" in the name of this model refers to the S&S couplers which are brazed in between sections of the top tube and down tube. These are collets which can be unscrewed to break down the Vaya Travel into two halves. A customer can purchase a separate case which then can be filled with this bicycle and transported via air or by truck to any point in the world for far less money than it would be to ship a traditional bike case or box. Travel bikes like this can be checked as baggage with most airlines as well, saving hundreds of dollars on shipping a bike to have with you on vacations, or for a big tour.

Alternator Drop Outs

In a first for the Vaya models, the Vaya Travel also features a swinging drop out Salsa calls the "Alternator". This allows the owner of the Vaya to simplify the drivetrain down to a single speed, increasing the ease of taking the bike on trips, since there would be less re-tuning involved without a traditional derailleur drivetrain. Or maybe you just do not like gears!

Another neat thing about this would be the option to roll on in single speed mode should a rider get into trouble by shearing off a rear derailleur. Or looking at it another way, one could fine tune the handling of the Vaya Travel by adjusting the wheel base. Options. We like those in our bikes!

Even the decals are special!

Salsa even thought about the future and the Vaya Travel owner. Lets say that you take advantage of the "travel" part of the Vaya Travel's name and you break down the bike, ship it all over for rides, and get yourself into several adventures replete with bumps, bangs, and various scrapes. (We highly encourage this sort of behavior, by the way!)

Well, an ordinary painted bike frame might get scratched, dull, and biffed. With the Vaya Travel, and its no-paint finish, you can simply buff out those biffs and scratches with a bit of Scotchbrite or steel wool. But what about scratched up decals? Well, Salsa Cycles thought about that too.

Along with the bike, Salsa sends along a stack of frame decals in a couple different colors so you can restore the look of those decals, or simply change the look of your bike by changing decal colors. The stock decals are not under any clear coat, so you can even run the Vaya Travel sans decals at all, if you so choose.

29 Plus!

Rubbery Goodness:

Surly Bikes shook up the mtb world late last summer when they sprung the latest creation from their twisted minds onto the world, the Krampus. It is a bike that has as its main focus  the tires and wheels.  

These wheels and tires are dubbed "29+" by Surly. We just think they are loads of fun with tons of possibilities. We got a set of the tires, called Knard, in at the shop and would love to set you up with one or both of them.

What would one do with Knard 29 x 3.0" tires? Well, you can set these up on wider 29"er rims as is, but optimally, these would work best with Velocity's 35mm Blunts, or with the rims they were designed for, the Surly Rabbit Hole rims. (Don't even try to figure out where the names come from- It will make your brain explode.)

Yes- 3 inches wide.

You'll probably only shoe horn these in up front on most 29"ers, and that only on rigid forks without mods. (Sus forks are a no-no for now without voiding warranties and what not.)

You folks with Mukluks equipped with Alternator drop outs are in luck though. Lace a set of Rabbit Holes up to some fat bike hubs and Knard 29 X 3.0 tires will fit front and rear.

Knard 29 X 3.0 tires measure out at 30 + inches in diameter when aired up, and they make your rig, (or a Krampus), ride amazingly smoother with great traction. Here is a great review on the Krampus from some German riders, and here is my own take on the bike after a short demo ride at Interbike last year. These should give you a great idea about how the Knard 29+ tires can revolutionize your ride.

Vaya Travel or Knard tires- come and check both of these great new cycling products out now at the shop. Plus- we have a ton of new and used bikes now to check out with more arriving daily. Stop in and say hey soon. And don't be shy about hitting up the mechanics with a sixer!

Carbon Beargrease

The Beargrease carbon will come in two versions

Well, you've heard by now, (unless you live under a rock), about the fantastic new Carbon Beargrease fat bike from Salsa Cycles for 2014. (But if you do live under a rock, here is the story.)

Salsa Cycles will be working with us this week to determine how many of these fantastic bikes we order for our shop. If you are a small, or a XL kinda guy or gal, and were thinking this is a super cool rig, you'd better tell us you are interested. We probably will not order those sizes unless we have a customer.

So- you figure you'll just wait till fall to order. You won't likely get one for next Winter. These will likely sell out in pre-order. Yes- the pressure is on a bit, but you have six months to figure it out, or more, and we can find another buyer if you bail, no problem. But if you want your name on one, you'd better get in line and put your claim in now. These bikes will be in high demand, and they are the best, lightest, and most cutting edge fat bikes in existence now.

Prices should start at $3499.99 for the 2 X 10 version. The high zoot, XX-1 will be significantly more, but will be the lightest, with a Medium going right at 24-24.5 lbs. That is a full 4lbs lighter than an aluminum Beargrease.

Salsa Cycles has yet to introduce the 2014 fat bike line up other than this- publicly- but we will also be bringing in Muk 3's, Muk 2's, and aluminum Beargrease bikes. So, if any of those trips your trigger and you want to plant your claim now, tell us.

This pre-order goes in later this week, so do not delay. If we do not get any names on the Carbon Beargrease bikes, our current thoughts are to bring in two of them in a medium and a large. They will sell to someone, we're sure of that, so do not wait too long to lay a claim on one. Just call the shop or reply to this post if you are interested.

Mondays With Mark

Monday's With Mark is going to happen this coming Monday at 6:30pm and will be held at the shop. The subject for this one will be about tubeless tires.

Tubeless tires; are they right for you? How do they work? All that and more this Monday. Then after this one, there will be one more MWM the following week. It will be about what I saw at Frostbike. There will be more about trends, and in a special for the folks attending, there will be a private showing of the movie short, "300 Miles Of Gravel", which is the documentary of Trans Iowa V7 by Jeff Frings.

MWM is free of charge, so just stop on down to Europa Cycle and Ski before 6:30pm, grab a seat, and listen to me gab about tubeless tires and all manner of cycling stuff.

Hope to see ya there.

Special Project: Finished! Ti Fargo

Well, all the parts finally got sorted and showed up to complete the titanium Fargo for Mike. I must say, it is a stunning bicycle.

Orange/Mango is the theme here, obviously, and several parts came together to give this bike some real "eye candy" besides just being an awesome titanium framed, drop bar mountain bike.

The old steel Fargo had some of the parts in Mango already, such as the titanium Eriksen Sweet Post and orange wrap on the bars of the bike.

Mike also had these outstanding King/Enve wheels with Mango Chris King hubs laced to Enve carbon hoops which were mounted just before it was picked up. The new titanium Fargo frames also have a new 44mm head tube, so we fitted a new Mango Chris King Inset 8 1 1/8th head set to allow the use of the standard steel straight steer tube Fargo fork here.

We also got a new seat collar in an orange anodized hue, a Salsa Lip Loc. The standard seat collar provided is a pewter anodized Lip Loc, by the way. Finally, the orange highlights flow around the frame tubes in the form of a Jagwire cable housing kit. You can see how we routed the cables to keep them out of the way of Mike's planned use of a handle bar harness/bag set up for Tour Divide. Plus it just looks neater with a bar end shifter set up to route the cables in this manner, besides keeping everything off the head tube.

In this view I want to draw your attention to the way I routed the front brake cable. I learned this from former Salsa Cycles GM, Jason Boucher, and I call it the "Boucher Route". It not only routes the cable in a more "out of the way" manner, but the bend coming down out of the handle bar is less severe, and the cable does not touch the head tube. For suspension fork use, it can easily accommodate the length of the axle to crown without replacing the cable.

The handle bar is the unique and somewhat rare Ragley "Luxy" Bar. It has a super shallow drop, short reach, and radically swept drop section that Mike finds super comfy. Unique to this bar is that the top section is a 31.8mm diameter from the stem all the way to where the bar starts to bend to the drops.

The bike turned out fantastic, and it is significantly lighter than with the steel frame. Plus, it should be more comfortable, with an easy to care for finish that looks killer. If you are interested in a titanium frame for yourself, Salsa has Fargos, El Mariachi 29"ers, titanium Warbird gravel grinder bikes, and titanium Colossal long distance roadie rigs too. We're happy to chat with you about any of those or the other fine Salsa Cycles offerings anytime.

See ya soon!

Special Project: Titanium Fargo

Here at Europa we love special project bikes. We often are putting things together on the side of our own, and often times in the winter we get to do this for customers.

2013 Fargo Titanium Frame

This time we have the privilege to assemble what should be a fantastic bike for one of our customers named Mike. This bicycle will be used in a very unique way, as well, so this gives the project an even higher level of excitement, (if that is even possible when building up a titanium frame!), for us as we put the pieces together.

Mike has been a Salsa Cycles rider for some time now. He already has a few really nice examples of Salsa's rigs, including a steel Fargo, which is being broken down for the parts to put onto this project. This new Fargo will be that "notch higher" kind of ride that the frame material gives the owner.

Subtle graphics, tidy welds, and a 44mm head tube.

In fact, this titanium Fargo is all new for 2013. It features a new frame tubing set, which is butted, and which adds a 44mm type head tube to the party. This is a good thing because it allows the owner of a Titanium Fargo to use a traditional 1 1/8th fork, or a tapered steer tube fork, with only the swapping of the bottom headset cup.

Further refinement comes in the cable routing. The steel Fargo had down tube routed cables for the derailleur. The 2013 Fargo Ti moves those to run underneath the top tube, along with the brake cable to the rear, and all housings are now full length, which combats contamination better.

Tight seat cluster welds. Every frame comes with a seat collar.

The Titanium Fargo features all the great braze on options you've come to expect from Fargos in the past. Two water bottle mounts, one on the seat tube, one on the down tube, and one underneath the down tube to raise the total to three. Add in two more mounts, one on each Fargo fork leg, and you can have up to five water bottles. Or, the fork mounts and upper down tube mount can be used as Anything Cage mounts with the extra third braze on at each location noted.

Not only that, but Salsa has Revelate Design frame bags to festoon on this bike, especially designed to fit a Fargo. Frame bags are a "rackless" option to traditional rack and pannier touring, and has become the smarter way to bag a bike. Especially for off road adventures.

Note the rack mounts and fender mount.

However, Salsa realizes that many folks are already heavily invested into traditional touring gear. Never fear! The Fargo has rack mounts as well. Not only that, but any Fargo can be set up with fenders to keep the rain and mud off of you.

The Fargo that Mike is building has a special purpose, as we mentioned earlier. Mike is building this up to tackle Tour Divide. This is a 2745 mile route that folks tackle which starts in Banf, Canada and ends at the U.S./Mexico border at Antelope Wells, New Mexico. All this is off road on the Great Divide Route.

The Fargo is tailor made for such an adventure, and the titanium version even more so. The great ride of titanium, and its toughness should serve Mike well as he attempts this monster of a ride later this coming summer.

Chain stay mounted disc brake caliper mount.

The Fargo is a mountain bike, and as such, you can mount a suspension fork, or use the included steel Fargo Fork. Tires up to 2.3" should clear these chain stays with plenty of mud clearance. Or, you can easily run tires in the 42-50mm range for paved roads, or for gravel riding. This frame design is intended to be set up with drop bras, but certain flat bar options can work well with a Fargo too. Mike will be fitting his with the Ragley Luxy Bar. Wide, short/shallow drops, and a big swept drop extension for torquing the climbs or for comfortable cruising.

Traditional threaded bottom bracket.

Well, this is an honor and a thrill for us to assemble for Mike, and we'll feel a little bit like part of us is on that Tour Divide attempt. The final build will feature a little "pop" of a certain color, and will have some nice touches. So, stay tuned and we will pop up a picture of the final build when we get there.

In the meantime, you could own one of these fine frame sets yourself, or pick up our 2012 Fargo steel bike for a song. Just pop on in anytime and take a look.

We like talking about how far you can go on a Fargo. And we like coffee. Stop on in for a cup sometime.....

Colossal!

Colossal: In The Flesh!

In the last post here I mentioned that we had received a Salsa Cycles Colossal and that I had assembled it for stock. Well, we actually have two in.

This is what it came out looking like, and I dare say it is a sight better than the pre-production images and bikes we saw.

The Enve fork is painted to match, (a nice touch), and the bar tape is white to match the brake hoods. (Not orange, as in previous images shown here and elsewhere.)

We have this 55cm and a 58cm on the floor now. I wanted to comment on the sizing, since I have previously mentioned that the Warbird, (Salsa's gravel road specific race bike), runs a bit big. Well, thankfully I can say that the Colossal is true to size. A 58cm fits like a 58cm, (which happens to be my size), and there is nothing "weird" going on in terms of that. Salsa has done a great job of keeping the top tube fairly level here as well, so a Tangle Bag, Gas Tank bag, or other frame bags will fit really well. (Note: The Colossal is a "rackless" frame bike.)

The clearances are generous with the Clement 28mm tires. I am curious, and I think I may try a 30mm tire in there just to see if it'll go. I think it may.

Oooo! That's a pretty red!

Then we received a trio of Vaya 3's. I have to reiterate- The Vaya 3 has the best looking red color on a bicycle I've seen in a long time. Just gorgeous!

And it isn't just me either. Customers that have seen it love it as much as I do. But beauty is only skin deep, as they say. Good thing that the Vaya delivers on performance and versatility then!

I know Salsa Cycles bills this as their touring/adventure bike, but this is really an "all-road" bike that can do some mild "off-road" too. You can do so many things with this one bike it is crazy. Ride and complete Trans Iowa, (a 300 + mile gravel road race)? Yes- Vaya riders have done this. Ride RAGBRAI and carry whatever you want on a rack? Yes- Vaya riders have done that too. Ride a fully loaded, self supported tour around the Great Lakes? Yes- A Vaya rider we sold a Vaya to has also done that.

Need one, really good, versatile, comfortable bike that happens to have killer good looks? Go no further than the Vaya. We've got four Vaya 3's on the floor in a range of sizes, and one cute little Vaya from 2012 just waiting for the perfect pint-sized rider to pick it up. (At a killer close-out price!)

Stop by and check it out. It's gonna snow anyway, and what else are ya gonna do?