Salsa debuts 5-inch fatty, carbon 29ers

OGDEN, Utah (BRAIN) — Salsa Cycles is beefing up its fat-bike lineup and upscaling its 29er offerings with new carbon iterations of its Spearfish and Horsethief models unveiled this week at Quality Bicycle Products' annual SaddleDrive dealer event at the Snowbasin resort in Utah.

The Blackborow "expedition fat bike" is Salsa's first designed around 5-inch-wide tires, to deliver greater flotation on soft surfaces than 4-inch tires. The 6066 alloy frame has 196-millimeter symmetrical rear spacing, 136-millimeter bottom bracket spacing and Surly OD crankset to create a proper mountain bike chainline around the massive 5-inch treads. Its Alternator Dropouts allow for geared or single-speed drivetrains.

The frame is a completely new design with different geometry from Salsa's 4-inch-tired Mukluk and Beargrease hardtail fatties. Despite the ¾-inch height difference between 4- and 5-inch tires, the Blackborow has the lowest standover height among Salsa's fat-bike offerings, said Mike Riemer, Salsa's marketing manager.

Blackborow comes complete as a fully geared 2x10 with a SRAM X7/X9 mix for $2,799 or a single-speed with 26/30T chainrings and 18/22T cogs for $2,299. It's also available as a frameset for $950.

Salsa's 80-millimeter-travel Spearfish endurance 29er 120-millimeter-travel Horsethief trail wagon-wheeler gets new carbon versions for 2015. Both models carry over Dave Weagle's Split-Pivot rear-suspension design. They also continue to be offered in lower-priced aluminum iterations.

The Spearfish Carbon RS1 comes spec'd with RockShox's RS1 100-millimeter-travel inverted fork, RockShox Monarch RT3 rear shock, SRAM XX1/X01 11-speed drivetrain and SRAM Guide RSC brakes for $6,899, while the Carbon 1 model is dressed with a Fox F29 CTD Performance fork, Float CTD Performance shock with Boost Valve, Shimano XT/SLX 2x10 drivetrain and XT brakes for $4,899.

The Horsethief Carbon XTR has a 130-millimeter Fox F29 Factory FIT fork with Kashima coating, Fox CTD Factory Adjust rear shock with Boost Valve and Kashima coat, full XTR 11-speed drivetrain and XTR Trail brakes with Ice Tech rotors at $6,899. The Horsethief Carbon 1 gets a Rock Revelation RCT3 fork, Monarch RT3 shock, SRAM X1/X01 drivetrain and SRAM Guide brakes for $4,899.