Andy spent a few days out West at QBP's Ogden, UT headquarters to take a look at the latest from Salsa Cycles. Along with the rest of the line, he spent some time on the newly re-designed full suspension mountain bike, the Salsa Spearfish. Here's what he had to say:
For 2014 Salsa has upped their game to compete with the big boys in the mountain bike market. Gone are the outdated single pivot designs of the past and in comes a split pivot design by one of the sports true gurus, Dave Weigle. The split pivot makes for a much more active and supple ride than that of the previous generation models from Salsa. With the split pivot separating brake forces from the suspension movement the suspension can move freely through its travel without hindrance, allowing the rider to keep the tires on the ground and maintaining traction even when the going gets rough.
Salsa has also made the bikes look wholly different from previous versions by hiring new graphic designers to make the bikes really stand out from the other manufacturers. Salsa has 100% succeeded on that front. The paint this year is unreal and everyone will be blown away by how different they look.
After having the chance to get out on a long ride on the new Spearfish that included 2000 feet of elevation gain, I can definitely recommend the bike to the Columbia crowd. There isn’t too much travel to make the bike a burden uphill, but there is just enough to keep the bike fun and add comfort to all day rides. The bike makes short work of rough descents but allows for an agile ride when the climbs get steep. Salsa has wisely included Fox Racing Shox’s new CTD suspension that really lets you dial in what you need the bike to do in a given terrain.
All in all I for one can’t wait for the bikes to get into the store so everyone can see the big gains Salsa has made for 2014.
