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Monday, June 23, 2008
Our goal for the Salsa Sol Sessions was to create an experience that folks would always remember and associate with Salsa. We created an event that we thought would give participants a real life example of our beloved Salsa brand. Our plan was simple. Connect media from around the globe and key dealers from the USA with our products, our people and our places. Sounds simple when you write it down that way. It was far from easy, but with a lot of help from a lot of individuals, we did manage to pull it all off with a genuineness that is sometimes lacking in promotional events. With that, I'll share a few photos that I think represent the spirit of the week. This is by no means conclusive, but should give you a great idea of how the week went. It was the best week of work I've had in my 20 years in the bike industry. Do I really need to go back to work in the office? That's a wrap folks. Already planning next year. Posted by Butcher : 9:24 PM 13 comments | permalink 
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Check out their amazing stories, pictures and times here: Team Website Team Blog RAAM Website Special thanks to Gran Fondo Bike shop in Nashville, TN for supporting Salsa and hooking Salsa up with Jeff, Kevin and the Gran Fondo Fixies. Simply amazing. Congrats. Posted by Butcher : 7:59 PM 4 comments | permalink
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
The story behind these bikes is that we really wanted to design and build the best all day riding trail bikes we could. These two model represent what Salsa believes is industry leading in performance, reliability, durability and attention to detail. That says something, but the reality is that these are bikes we wanted to build because we ourselves wanted to ride them. Frankly, for me personally, these bikes have allowed me to ride more, ride faster and ride longer without straining my lower back. In the end, we think we've built 2 very cool bikes that have some very unique and innovative thinking designed into them. Here's a visual history and few words discussing some of the earlier prototypes and cool features. Please don't take my words as complete or as if I designed these bikes. While I was certainly involved in the end result and rode these bikes a lot, these words and pictures are just my experiences and thoughts. These bikes challenged us. Our whole team should be given credit for these great new products.  V1 is a fun bike. We wanted to try a few things with this bike that we hadn't done on our previous suspension bikes, the El Santo and Cabellero. With this prototype, we tested a forward pivot location and some hydroformed tubing. As I said already, this bike is fun...going downhill! With a forward pivot location, this bikes handles bumps really well. The long pivot arm (distance from front pivot to wheel axle) just feels like it gobbles up bumps. Unfortunately, we didn't like the way this bike climbed. I rode this bike quite a bit anyway because it was so darn comfy and fun. I also took this bike to Fruita with a short riser stem and big tires. I had a blast until I crashed and broke my shifter. The bike is currently being rebuilt as a "play" bike. The build includes a new Shimano SLX group, a prototype 120mm Reba, and Salsa Gordo rims with big tires. It will also be the test sled for our prototype Maxle rear drop outs. Sweet bike.  I've ridden this bike in MN, IA, CO & CA. I love this bike. It is closer to our final product in several ways. It has the correct rear lower BB pivot point. It also has our custom, round drawn tubes. Every tube on this bike is custom drawn Scandium. Of all the prototypes, this is the bike I've ridden the most. I got it last July. I've had it set up light with my XTR group, DT 240s wheels with Semi rims, and fast 2.0 tires. I've also had it set up burly to serve as a borderline All Mountain bike with Gordo 35mm rims and 2.35 tires. Currently, I'm testing a FOX F29 120mm fork on it as this prototype has a slightly modified geometry that works really well with the longer axle to crown of the F29120mm. I also set the rear end up with a bit more sag. It is what I'd call my training or everyday bike. My body loves the plush 120mm. However, it is clearly not as dialed nor as fast as Version 3. If I am riding with my fast friends, I always pick V3.  This bike is very, very close to final production bike. Everything about this bike is refined quite a bit from the previous 2 versions. Geometry is optimized for longer offset 29er forks. Our new seat tube is so much cleaner and stronger with fewer welds. It has a 31.6 seat post if you want to run a height adjust post. It also uses our 1 piece forged link, as opposed to 2 piece on V1 & V2. Speaking of forgings, every part on this bike that isn't a tube, a bolt or a bearing is forged. Forging is stronger and on average 10% lighter than an identical CNC'd part. One other big difference is the upper pivot location on the seat tube. We changed this slightly to tune the flex of the rear seat stays. The result is amazing. This bike's been ridden a lot and currently is my main ride for our Tuesday night group rides. I made a special trip to California in Feb to ride this bike. I rode it in Malibu, Orange (San Juan), and in San Diego. In fact, the bike survived a long 6 hour day in Noble Canyon while I did not.  It's hard to pick a favorite part of this bike. Every part is really well thought out. We pained over little details, even the cable routing. All 3 prototypes above have different cable routing. In the end, we ended up having size specific cable routing. Every bike size is optimized to have the straightest and cleanest routing. I'd like to share some close up visuals and details of the rear end. There are some very unique and cool things going on here.  The post mount disc brake mount is quite possibly the most innovative part of this bike. Do you think there is a reason why all the fork manufacturers are switching to post mounts? Post mounts are stronger. They are simple. They remove the sheer forces on the bolts. Totally cool. Do you think there is a reason no one has done them on the rear end yet? It's hard. It's costly. They have to be forged. It requires all new tooling and quality control. We did it anyway. One note, if you want to run bigger rotors, all you have to do is buy post mount fork adapters for your specific brand of brake. In addition to the post mounts, the drop outs themselves are pretty well thought out too. Forged. Strong. Removable. Replaceable. Giant weld surfaces. Standard and durable chain ring bolt hardware. We are also testing prototype Maxle dropouts. Sweet.  As I said earlier, every tube on these bikes is custom drawn Scandium. The custom seat stays are tuned into the ride. They actually enhance the ride and are one of the reasons this bikes bobs so little and climbs so well. They are darn sexy too! Salsa has been pushing and innovating with the flat Scandium stays for several years and these are a work of art. For those folks wondering just how much flex is in the stays, the answer is 8mm of flex on the El Kaboing and 5mm of flex on the Big Mama. Not much. The custom drawn chain stays are pretty notable as well. Notice the swooping nature of the stays. This reduces chain slap and optimizes welding surface at the drop out. In the end, we are really proud of these bikes. They ride so great. You can ride them all day. That said, we know not everyone will like them. Oh well, you can't please everyone. But even if you don't like like them, we think you can probably appreciate some of the finer details or design elements we put into these bikes. Again, these are just a few pictures and notes from the prototypes. For all the other details on the final version, please take a look at the frame and bike pages at http://www.salsacycles.com/. Also look at the various animations of the suspension movement and the slide presentation. These bikes are dialed. Now it's time to go ride them with some important industry people. They've come from as far as Japan and the UK. We are off to spend 3 days in the woods riding, camping and having fun. We'll be back in the office on Friday to answer questions. El Kaboing and Big Mama. Two new bikes. Too much fun. Ride & Smile! Posted by Butcher : 10:00 AM 21 comments | permalink
Thursday, June 12, 2008
So....Just exactly how are the next few days going to play out? Sunday, June 15th - Media from around the globe arrive. So much for Father's Day. Monday, June 16th - Media day in our office. Meetings. Tours. Dinner. Evening product launch. Tuesday, June 17th- New Salsa website. Make sure to check back. You'll probably see some coverage on various internet media sites as well. Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, June 17-19th - These days are still a bit of a mystery, but I will say this. Many of the Salsa crew will not be in the office. We'll have a few great folks here in the office to assist in urgent and dire situations. Just please be aware that we are running on limited staff during these days. Friday - We'll be back in the office to answer questions on our new products. Heck, maybe we can even take a few orders. It is a business after all and we've got to pay for the previous 4 days! Anyway, I was hoping to give you one more sneak peak here today, but truthfully, if we show you anything else, it shows too much. You'll just have to wait until Tuesday, June 17th. Check back here. We can't wait. Posted by Butcher : 3:20 PM 2 comments | permalink
Monday, June 09, 2008
As I sat on the start line of the 2008 Dirty Kanza 200 mile gravel grinder conversing with eventual race winner, Cameron Chambers of Team 360, the promoters contemplated postponing the race start to allow a strong thunderstorm to the southwest of Emporia, Kansas to move through the area. But instead, seemingly in an instant, the racers were deemed not to be in danger and the decision was made to go ahead with the planned 6am departure. So, just a few minutes behind schedule, after a brief rider's meeting, 67 racers rolled through town behind a neutral start to the Emporia city limit. And over the next 13 hours and 58 minutes (the time it took me to complete 203 miles and change), I saw a lot of old friends, met several new friends, nearly lost lunch a couple times, but in the end, rode waaaay faster over 200 miles than I thought possible just a week ago.  Image credit: Cornbread Matt Wills and I were talking about our DK200 experiences earlier tonight, and we both agreed that the 'Kanza has less of a "death march" factor than Trans Iowa. Perhaps it's the fact that it's more than a hundred miles shorter. Or that it comes a month later in the year. Whatever it is, the DK200 was a distinctly more attainable goal for me than T.I. was this year.  Image credit: Cornbread That said, I almost went out hard enough to ruin my own chances of finishing the DK200. I was feeling good in the early miles and the pace didn't feel hard at all, though looking at my computer told me that our average speed was in the 18.5mph range -- pretty fast. We pulled into the first checkpoint in a little over two hours, and were in and out quickly. The lead group was down to six at that point. We were fifty miles into the race. Cornbread and I felt like Cameron Chambers looked the strongest by far. 2007 Kanza winner, Dan Hughes, looked strong, but clearly could not match the more lithe Chambers at the crucial moments. The one person who did have the power to match Chambers' massive out-of-the-saddle accelerations was Corey "Cornbread" Godfrey. Cornbread, known as such for his penchant for bringing panloads of cornbread to races, was helping Chambers put time on Hughes. An alliance was born. Or so it seemed for a while... until the flat tires started. Eight of them, exactly. I gave him the tube to fix number nine if he needed to do it, but it never happened. Thank God.  Image credit: JoelDyke You might think that eight flat tires would ruin a guy's performance. Not Cornbread. He still finished in seventh place overall. What a stud! He did it on a Michelin tire being held together by duct tape! Incredible... He's one of those guys that's an unsung hero sitting just below the radar screen of the major teams today. We'll see what tomorrow brings. The boy's good, and man, if he could focus on training, it'd be amazing to think of how good he could be... Cornbread and I actually hooked up late in the race, after the sleepy town of Americus. I had taken a pass on the Casey's convenience store in town, and paid the price. When Corey rode up on me, I was sitting in a ditch, basically emptying the contents of every sugary food I had in my bag into my mouth. It worked. I somehow was able to come back around and have a great last 20 miles of the race. Unfortunately, Cornbread had some leg cramps and was forced to stop and stretch his calves out near the finish. As a result, he lost a couple of positions near the finish. Was he bummed? Naaaaah... Corey took it all in stride with his trademark smile. He had a blast. And why not? He spent the day on his bike. It certainly could have been worse. But that said, there are a lot of "racer types" who forget the joy of riding bikes all too easily. Cornbread proves that not all talented racers ride to race. Some simply love to ride bikes, and if you know what to look for, it's easy to tell who those cyclists are.  Photo credit: JoelDyke DK200 promoter, Jim Cummins, is one of those people, though. He finished in fourth place overall, just ahead of me. What an awesome cyclist to put on the event and compete in such a challenging race. Amazing!! My new friend Jason Gaikowski is another rider I'd put into that category. A former Minnesota resident now living in Kansas City, at the exit of the final checkpoint, Gaikowski took a wrong turn and ended up 20 miles away from the finish in Emporia, in the town of Madison, putting an end to a stellar ride that very well might have seen him ride into the top-three overall by the race end, had he stayed on-course. But he handled it like a champ, and even bummed a ride back to Emporia in the truck of a fellow cyclist that had been out on a road ride, so while he definitely got his 200 miles in, he didn't have to get 220 miles getting back to Emporia (and nobody had to go get him). I'd like to thank Jim, Craig, Joel and all of the Heartland Racing crew for putting on the Dirty Kanza 200. It was an awesome event, and I'm already looking forward to the fourth version of the race in 2009. Visit the Heartland Racing Website for more information about the Dirty Kanza 200, or any of the races in the Heartland Racing Series.  Image credit: MG My Salsa La Cruz Complete was the perfect ride for the DK200, as the abusive flint rock roads would have made me queasy on a super light steed. Steel's the real deal on that stuff, as far as I'm concerned. So are disc brakes -- 100 percent. There were times where I'd be braking hard and rocks would get kicked up against the rims and I'd think how lucky I was to have discs on-board. They're the ticket all the time -- road and mountain. The future, mark my words. The fork on the La Cruz is a work of art -- approaching perfection. I don't know how you guys tuned that thing to ride so incredibly, but kudos. Jesse P and I were talking earlier tonight about how incredibly they handle, feel and soak up bumps, and on the flint rock in Kansas, you could see as well as feel it working. It was awesome! And in switching to the La Cruz 'cross bike from the mountain bike I used last year helped me shave a full three hours, one minute and 33 seconds off my time, and improve my finish placing from ninth to fifth. Thanks Salsa, for making the La Cruz such an awesome bike for these types of rides and races. It was perfect for the Kanza. Posted by Butcher : 8:47 AM 7 comments | permalink
Sunday, June 01, 2008
 The Sol Session starts with a product launch on the evening of June 16th. At this time, we are keeping the plans of that week to ourselves. I'm betting a few people reading this blog will think they know the details of this week. You might know parts, but we are asking you to keep what you know quiet. This is important Amigo's, so please keep quiet if you know any details. Thank you. I'm betting that there will be coverage of our product launch somewhere on the internet the evening of June 16th. If for some odd reason, coverage isn't posted on the 16th, for sure something will be up by the 17th. We are also updating our website that week. My point is that you should have plenty of places to view and gather information on these 2 new exciting products.  And it gets even better. If you are lucky enough to be going to the Big Wheel Ballyhoo, you will get a chance to not only see, but ride these 2 new bikes. That's right, we are taking our bikes directly from the Sol Sessions to the Big Wheel Ballyhoo for 2 days of riding fun. The challenging Decorah, Iowa trails should be a great proving ground for these bikes. We'll also bring some of our other great models like the Dos Niner, Mamasita, and El Mariachi. Stop by to test ride our bikes, meet the crew and have some fun. We can't wait. Well, there you go. I said it. We aren't saying any more right now. More details to come. Stay tuned. Two new bikes. Too much fun. Posted by Butcher : 8:38 PM 24 comments | permalink
Thursday, May 29, 2008
 JT8500 = Small JT8502 = Medium JT8504 = Large JT8506 = X-Large JT8508 = XX-Large MSRP = $75  JT8510 = Small JT8512 = Medium JT8514 = Large JT8516 = X-Large JT8518 = XX-Large MSRP = $88 Both feature 3 pockets on the back with one small rastafied Salsa Pepper Globe on the middle pocket. One note on the long sleeve. The fabric isn't the heavier fabric we use for our long sleeve Pepper Power jersey. It is the same lighter weight fabric used on all our short sleeve jerseys. We wanted a lighter weight long sleeve jersey for those cool, but not cold, rides. Both models and all sizes are in stock. You should buy one of each! Ask your local bike shop to order one with the part numbers listed above. Or, if you don't have a local shop and are looking for a place to buy these fine products, please check our Salsa dealer page and contact one of our great Salsa dealers. Ride & Smile! Posted by Butcher : 6:12 AM 10 comments | permalink |
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