Salsa Cycles 2016

The all new Drop Bar Marrakesh

Here at Europa Cycle & Ski we are always excited for mid-July and the announcement of Salsa Cycles line up for the coming year. We were no less excited this time, but we were taken a bit by surprise by a couple of developments within the line. Here I will make some comments concerning the Salsa line up as it pertains to the shop, and explain why the shop is doing a few things differently this time around with the Salsa line.

First up, we weren't at all ready to see a new model aimed squarely at touring/gravel road/commuter cyclists, but we are the most excited about the bike Salsa is bringing out for these cyclists. It's called "Marrakesh" and Salsa defines it as their "World Tourer" as far as its capabilities. It is certainly all that and more. The Marrakesh has an impressive feature list-

• Steel frame and fork for durability and good ride feel. Made with new Cobra-Kai steel spec'ed by Salsa engineers for heavy duty use.
• Touring Geometry: Low bottom bracket for stability, longer chain stays for stability, slacker angles for comfort and stability.
• Room for up to 29 X 2" tires without fenders. 40mm with fenders. You can keep your definition of "road" pretty broad here! 
• The Alternator Low Deck 135 Rear Rack comes stock
• Alternator Drop Out: Can adjust wheel base, turn the Marrakesh into a single speed in an emergency, or utilize IGH type drive trains. 
• Brooks B-17 saddle stock 
• Disc brakes for ultimate power in stopping a fully loaded touring bike.
• Three bottle braze ons for frame, two for the fork, or utilize the Three Pack bosses for an Anything HD Cage for more capacity in carrying stuff. Low Rider mounts are also there as an option for those who use front panniers. 
• Spare Spoke carrier on chain stay.
• Kickstand plate on chain stays behind the bottom bracket to mount a traditional kickstand. 

So, as you can see, the Marrakesh isn't a "pretend touring bike", it is the real deal. All for $1599.00 and we will have these on the sales floor late Fall.

Don't like drop bar bikes? Don't like "bending over too much" when you are seated on a bike? How about a Marrakesh specifically designed for flat bars? Yep! Same basic spec only with a flat bar specific geometry.

The Marrakesh Flat Bar in Creme

We will also be stocking the flat bar version as well. We are excited about these bikes because they are bikes you can use on our bike paths, on county roads, on our single track dirt trails, (remember- it can handle bigger tires), and an all-year round commuter bike. Or use it for touring, of course. The Marrakesh would also be a fine gravel road bike, should your roads take you that direction.

To compliment the Marrakesh, we will also be restocking Salsa's venerable Vaya. The Vaya sees a color change, some spec upgrade, and a move to a 44mm diameter head tube. This is important because now you can get a carbon fork on a Vaya to save more weight. The Vaya is Salsa's "all round" road" bike that our customers have used as a fast tourer, RAGBRAI bike, gravel road bike, and as a more comfortable road bike than the traditional road race bike. Look for those to show up in late Fall as well.

Waebird Carbon

We will also be bringing in the Carbon Warbird and the Warbird Tiagra to compliment the Warbird 105 model we already stock. The Carbon Warbird Carbon is a fantastic bike that can go on any road, paved, chip seal, or gravel, and comes spec'ed with SRAM Rival 22 which features hydraulic disc brakes. The entire bike weighs in at under 20lbs, and features Salsas VRS Class 5 Vibration Reduction System which yeilds a significantly smoother ride. Maybe you just want a bike for the road with a smooth ride? This is your bike. Featuring three bottle bosses, you can go a long way and be very comfortable on a lightweight bike that is any road capable.

The Tiagra Warbird features the same aluminum frame as the 105 Warbird we already stock, but spec'ed with Tiagra for a lower price point. These bikes should show up late in the year.

Now for a word on the situation as we sit on currently in stock Salsa bicycles. As you all may know, Winter was a bust last year, and as a result, we are sitting on a pretty healthy amount of 2015 Salsa and Trek fat bikes. We have slashed prices on these bikes to make them more attractive to customers. So, if you are looking for that elusive "deal" on a fat bike, now is the time. We will not be restocking on our fat bike line until we clear out the current inventory, so we have no plans on bringing in any 2016 fat bikes unless they are special ordered.

Salsa Fargo bicycles are another area where we have a fair amount of current stock and, as a result, deals for customers. Again- we want to clear out that inventory before we make any future commitments to pull in more Fargo bikes. These are fantastic, versatile machines, so we hope to be able to bring in more in the future.

27.5+ is a big deal now, and Salsa Cycles has responded with the Pony Rustler 27.5+ bike line up. We do not plan on bringing any of those in, however; because we are really not in an area where this bike makes sense for our clientele. That said, if you'd like to special order on, better get on the bus! These are going to be really hard to get. 

Stay tuned. More coming soon!

2014 Fargo & Vaya Overview

The 2014's Salsa Cycles Vaya and Fargo models are in and built up at Europa Cycle & Ski now. Let's take a look at the shiny new goodness and see just what Salsa Cycles has packaged into these venerable adventure cycling machines.........

Salsa Cycles 2014 Vaya 2 model.

The first rig up is the 2014 Vaya 2. The Vaya series has been about exploring your roads, be they paved, gravel, or dirt. The Vaya 2 for 2014 refines the idea of adventure cycling further with great spec and a killer look.

The new look includes refreshed, subtler graphics, nice, now key component accents and a nice touch of anodization to give the bike some pop. Overall, I believe this is the best looking Vaya graphics package we've seen yet. 

The heart of any bike is the drive train, and Salsa spec'ed a great choice here with the triple crank 105 gruppo with Avid BB7 brakes in a special all black livery. 10 speed STI levers do the initiating of gear changes with the long cage 105 derailleur and triple compatible front derailleur finishing off the job. It's a smart, durable, reliable spec.

The gearing range is super for fast paced road riding all the way through to grinding up a gravel road climb or to making that loaded down Vaya go up that mountain pass. Triples may be passe' these days, but they still are the best for wide range gearing and keeping your momentum up when you are loaded down touring. Take note RAGBRAI folks- the Vaya is the perfect bike for RAGBRAI. Steel frame, disc brakes that stop you in wet or dry conditions, and stable handling to keep you out of trouble in the pack.

The Vaya comes shod with excellent Schwalbe touring tires with reflective stripes for safety. These tires also have Schwalbe's highest level of puncture protection for peace of mind while you while away the miles.

Wheels are made up of Salsa by Formula hubs in a complimentary blue ano and these are laced to Sun Ringle' Inferno 23 rims. Solid wheels for touring.

The Vaya fork has mid-blade eyelets for low rider mounts, further enhancing its touring capabilities. Of course there are rack mounts, and fenders are also possible with the Vaya's fender eyelets.

Salsa Cycles Vaya 3 for 2014

We also are carrying the Salsa Cycles Vaya 3, which features the same frame and fork but with a more price conscious spec. Here we have the new Shimano Sora 9 speed STI group. The new Sora levers drop the stubby thumb lever for true STI paddles and the hood shape is reminiscent of last year's Tiagra levers. So you get familiar shifting with a wide ranging triple crank, wide range cassette, and Shimano's easy shifting feel. 

Salsa Cycles 2014 Fargo 3

The Fargo is the ultimate touring machine for off road and with a swap to smoother rubber, it can also be a heavy duty loaded touring companion. Or set it up with frame bags and do "rackless" adventuring. Or use it as your primary mountain bike. You can even use a 100mm front suspension fork. Sounds like a bike that can do a lot, no? Well, there's still more!

The Alternator Drop Out

Now Salsa Cycles has added the Alternator Drop Out to the Fargo, which allows for using an internal hub gear, (like the excellent Rohloff 14 speed hub), or you could go single speed.

I like the Alternator because one of the main points behind the Fargo from my point of view is its ability to "bushwhack" through deer trails, backcountry, and the like. Whenever you do that, you run the risk of whacking your rear derailleur. (I've seen it done on a Fargo, and had it happen to me.)

So the Alternator may be your savior. It allows for a field conversion to single speed to bail your self out of a failed derailleur episode. I once had to help push a fellow Fargo rider 8 miles back to the cars once when we couldn't convert his crippled Fargo to a single speed. Sure wish we would have had Alternator drop outs then!

Up front we have the new from last year's model, 44mm head tube, which allows for a tapered steer tube fork, if desired, or a straight 1 1/8th steer tube fork, as shown here. The Fargo 3 comes with the new Fargo steel fork which is longer to account for 100mm suspension forks. (Last year's was only 80mm suspension corrected.) You can also see the new, forward facing braze ons for water bottle cages or Salsa Cycles Anything Cages, (which require 3 mounts a piece.) The new forward facing mounts are said to better withstand impact forces to the front wheel and creates a sturdier way to carry water bottles or light gear. By the way, you can still easily reach a water bottle from a front mounted cage, so that is not a concern whatsoever.

The Fargo 3 is spec'ed with a SRAM Apex brifter, SRAM X-7 rear derailleur, and a 2X 10 drivetrain for great off road performance. Schwalbe Rapid Rob's, (the original Racing Ralph tread pattern, by the way), and Sun Inferno 25 rims with sealed bearing hubs make for a sturdy and high performing wheel set.

We'll have fat bikes arriving late September/early October, so stay tuned for those, but come in now to see these fine adventuring bikes which are super versatile, high performing bicycles unlike anything else out there.

2014 Updates

Farley Complete & frame only option

Europa Cycle & Ski will be receiving a Size Large Farley this Fall which should be pretty exciting to see. The Farley features a few nice things that will set it apart from other fat bikes, and some things that are proven components as well.

Farley will be aluminum in its construction, both the frame and the fork. This bike will feature suspension corrected geometry, a tight rear triangle for better dry weather handling, and a super low standover height, important when the conditions are softer.

The bike will also feature Trek's rear through axle design which should really stiffen up the rear end and better handle the higher traction/leverage inducing rear wheels of fat bikes. Internal cable routing will not only clean up the overall look of the Farley, but it will also protect the cables from the mucky-muck that fat bikers like to ride in. That should also play well with frame bags.

Farley will come with proven, industry leading Surly rims and tires. The tires will be the fast, grippy 3.8 Knards, but if you need something grippier than that, a 3.8" Nate will slot in there perfectly. Farley will be a 170mm rear/135mm front design and can handle up to 4" tires on the 82mm rims with ease. (We'll have to do some checking on Big Fat Larrys when our rig lands at the shop.)  The really monstrous Bud and Lou will likely be a no go here, but Farley is about fast fat biking, not the ultimate snow/sand/bog biking.

UPDATED: I got a hold of some specs. The Farley will have dropper post routing and a 31.6mm seat post, (standard dropper post size), plus the spec sheet is listing Husker Du 4.0" tires. We'll see what shows up on the bike. Every image I've seen, (including the dealer preview), has shown Knards.  Hubs are Salsa hubs, but I do not know if they are the Level 2 or 3. Brakes are listed as Avid "DB3" hydraulic brakes. (A new brake from Avid?) The frame set option lists the black as well as the Powder Blue shown. Framesets come with an FSA head set, Closed Convert drop outs, and take a low, direct mount derailleur.

I'll post more on this exciting new rig when we get ours in, likely in October sometime.

 Fargo 3: 

Our shipment of Fargo 3's arrived already, and next week we should see them out on the sales floor. This is an all new Fargo and will be the best Fargo yet.

The big changes here are found at the front and the rear of the new Fargo frame. Still made from Salsa Cycles' own custom designed CroMoly tubing, the Fargo now comes with Alternator drop outs. This is a big deal, since that Alternator opens up more options to the rider such as single speed set ups, hub gearing options, and a way to bail your self out in case of a derailleur damaging accident. (Don't brush that one off, I've seen it happen a couple times myself!)

At the front, you have the new, 100mm suspension corrected steel Fargo fork with new, front facing bosses for water bottle cages or Salsa's "Anything Cages". The longer fork matches up with current XC suspension fork lengths, so if you want the Fargo to be your mountain bike with suspension, it's a snap to swap in any straight or tapered steer tube suspension fork. The front mounted bosses are there because they are going to resist load inertia better than the old, rear facing cage mounts and they still are easily reached while riding. It's an improvement over the old design, showing that Salsa isn't going to rest on their laurels, but they are looking to refine the bikes to be the best that they can make them.

The component spec has been improved as well, but I'll put up another post soon with actual spec and actual bike images next week. Stay tuned for that and for the Vaya 3 images and spec as well.

2013 Specials: We have a couple Warbird 2's and Colossal 2's at amazing prices right now. Check in with Europa Cycle & Ski and see the deals, or e-mail the shop for pricing on these great road bikes from Salsa Cycles. We need to move these on out the door, so the prices are attractive and you get one of the best gravel rigs, (Warbird), or long haul road bikes,( Colossal), that you can find anywhere.

We also have some 2013 Vaya 3's and a Vaya Travel at great prices as well, so be sure to not miss these deals on some fantastic road/gravel/touring bikes from Salsa Cycles.

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.....