Entries for Topic: VAYA
Friday August 6th, 2010
| | Gnat
Today we start with a little sneak peek. This one is a bit more revealing than previous sneek peaks yet only represents a small part of the end product. This product will be on display at Eurobike. Keen eyes may see one or more of the Salsa crew out and about rambling around with this product before that.
We also thought we'd also take this time to chat a bit about our Salsa racks we showed as prototypes back in late February and wrote about here back in March.
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The good news is both racks shown above on the Vaya are officially moving to production. Here are the details. At the moment, we estimate they will be here sometime in November. Yes, that is an estimate and this is disappointing as we were expecting to be selling them already. Here are the details.
Wanderlust Rack (rear)
- Light and durable tubular aluminum alloy
- Black or Silver
- Extra long deck. It's slighly cupped to assist in holding bags, sleeping pads or whatever you strap to the top deck.
- Extra long struts for mounting, even to small frames and small rear triangles
- Universal mounting system allowing movement of struts in any direction
- Two threaded barrels for light and reflector mounting
- $100 MSRPWanderlust Rack (rear)
Down Under (front low rider)
- Light and durable tubular aluminum alloy
- Black or Silver
- No wheel hoop so they work with fat 29" wheels or even 4" Surly Endomorphs
- Mounts to mid blade eyelets and fork/drop out eyelet. Note: Requires mid blade eyelets on both the inside & outside of fork blade
- Retains full use of Fargo fork leg mounted water bottle positions
- Has a threaded boss on the top of the hoop to attach the strut from our Minimalist front rack, making a really functional and strong front rack system
- Designed to work well with disc brakes, meaning they mount easily on bikes with disc brakes and are forward positioned to allow full access to the front brake
- MSRP $70
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We also showed this Fargo with very cool, Light weight, and functional mini racks. The only update we have here is that we have officially named them the Minimalist rack. These products are still in testing. We will post and update once they pass the tests.
So...There you go. Sneak Peak Friday and new Salsa Rack update.
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This post filed under the topic(s): new product , VAYA , Gnat , Fargo , Sneak Peek
Monday May 31st, 2010
| | PK
For my first attempt at the DK200 I will be riding a Vaya. The Vaya project started about a year and a half ago. Salsa knew it wanted to offer a road-based adventure frame to compliment the Fargo (the off-road adventure offering). Salsa also needed a replacement for the exiting La Cruz. We set about collecting feedback from dealers and customers.
The most common feedback we received was that the La Cruz was more popular with commuters and the emerging gravel crowd, than it was in the 'cross scene. Our purpose for the Vaya then became clear; Make a road-based adventure frame with the pedigree of the La Cruz, that caters to commuters, gravel grinders, and people looking to load up their bike and go find an adventure down the country side.
Early accounts seem to suggest the Vaya is fitting this role well. My frame is a 57cm prototype. It differs from the production Vaya in that it has a slightly heavier gauge tubeset and the older style post mount brackets. Feedback from the crew during the test ride process resulted in the production using a lighter gauge tubeset. This intent being to ensure the Vaya maintained the lighter, sporty feel of the La Cruz, but also enough strength to not turn to mush when loaded up with panniers or run down a rough gravel road.
Salsa designer Mark Rane whipped up some new brackets for the Vaya that not only look trick, but make welding and alignment easier for our manufacturers. In short, my bike is sweet, but the production frames are even better.
This past winter I commited to riding the DK200. Immediately there was no doubt in my mind that the Vaya would be my frame of choice for navigating 200 miles of Kansas gravel. The proven angles of the La Cruz, low BB, fine-tuned sizing scheme, disc brake allotment, & ample tire clearance all make the Vaya a great choice to be set up for all-day-comfort and handling over a variety of road surfaces.
Being it was winter here in Minnesota, I had lots of free time to mentally plan and re-plan my component choices and set up. Conveniently, I sit across from Mr. Meiser here at Salsa HQ. It wasn't hard to get solid advice on what constitutes a good set up for long hauls in the saddle. Getting as much weight off my body and onto the bike was the advice I got. In February I set about crafting frame bags, custom fit to my Vaya frame. A trip to a local fabric outlet, and some pointer from Mrs. PK and I was well on my way to crafting a half-frame bag and a 'gas-tank' while I watched Team USA fall in OT to the Team Canada.
The frame bags have gotten lots of use this spring, and the Almanzo 100 served as a good dress rehersal. I can fit a 100oz water bladder with room to spare in the frame bag, and the tank up top is divided into two compartments, one dedicated for my camera, and one for peanut butter cups. I run the bladder hose loop up along the headtube under the tank strap where it sits nicely, ready to pull out for a quick sip.
I ran the Almanzo self-supported with 1 bottle of Cyto-Max, 1 bottle of diluted Red Bull cola, and 100oz of water. Since the DK200 has 3 check points to refuel, I plan to run less water in the bladder and roll through 2 bottles and the bladder contents for each of the four legs. Food will go in my jersey pocket and gas tank. The extra room in the frame bag will likely be used for layers depending on the weather forecast, or the tubes, pump, and tool currently in my saddle bag.
For components, I'm running a set of 42cm Woodchipper bars, 45/34T Salsa chainrings on a 10-speed Rival drivetrain, and Cane Creek Thudbuster ST post. I like the ergonomics that the angle of the hoods up top on the 'chippers offer. I'm also a fan of the control and confidence the drops provide for descending fast and loose stuff (I topped out at 45.6mph during the Almanzo). The tighter 11T jump in the front rings seems to work for my riding style, and if I can't climb it with the 34t, it ain't worth pedaling up to begin with. The Thudbuster is rad, and well worth the extra weight for saving my lower back. For wheels, I've got a set of DT 240 hubs laced with DT SuperComp spokes to ZTR Arch rims. I have also procured a 36t star-ratchet for the rear hub. Sah-weet! Currently these wheels are set up tubless with 42 Continental SpeedCross tires and I plan on keeping them that way. These things are fast and light!
For training I've been doing my regular 21-mile commute to work and back. That's 42 miles a day, 3 to 5 times a week. Friday's I usually meet the crew for breakfast, so I end up getting in 50 miles, and I've been out on a few 50 to 60-milers on the weekend. Other than that, I've been riding an Alternator Ala Carte at the local XC trails quite a bit, and also hitting up the dirt jumps. No sense killing my motivation to ride by pedaling myself into the ground on long weekend training rides when I get 120-200 miles in on the weekdays.
So that's my Vaya and my plan for the DK200. My goal is just to finish. 200 miles will be the longest pull I've ever taken in one sitting. I'm really looking forward to the adventure it is sure to be, and also to meet and ride with some new folks. Thanks for reading this far. I'll leave you with this parting thought and shot (taken during a shake down ride on my Vaya earlier this spring).
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This post filed under the topic(s): Dirty Kanza 200 , VAYA , Gravel , Pete Koski
Thursday March 4th, 2010
| | Gnat
We like to carry stuff on our bikes. From what we hear and see, so do a lot of other folks. Sometimes it's a lot of stuff. Other times it's not so much stuff. We also get a lot of questions about what racks work on the Fargo and the Vaya? While lot's of racks can work, we set out to build our own racks that ideally work with our bikes and retain all the features we built into both the Fargo and Vaya. Our new racks are versatile and lightweight for their respective categories and they are designed to be an integrated or scalable system.
Before I get too far, let me remind you that these are prototypes and works in progress. We are looking for a mid summer in stock date....And yes, we know some of you want them sooner than that. We are sorry. We just want to make them right.
The racks above shown on the Fargo don't have a name yet. They are small racks with some very unique features. Check out these features.
- Light and durable tubular aluminum alloy
- Front or rear use
- Optional custom Salsa Lip Lock seat clamp with integrated rack mount for seat tube mounting (look closely at the Fargo pic above)
- Black or Silver
- The deck is cupped ever so slightly to perfectly fit and hold a dry bag or compression sack
- Two strap tie down loops to securely hold your cargo
- Struts can also go upward making mounting to other things such as bars, saddle or seat post
- Has 2 little threaded barrels on the end of the deck for attaching things. We plan to make a light bracket here but the DIY folks will likely come up with lots of things to do with these.
- Estimated 5 Kilo (11lbs) weight limit. In the pick above I put my sleeping bag and pad in the rear stuff sack and my overnight clothes in the front.
- $75 MSRP
Next up is our new front lorider. It does not have a name yet either. Check out the features.
- Light and durable tubular aluminum alloy
- Black or Silver
- No wheel hoop so they work with fat 29" wheels or even 4" Surly Endomorphs
- Mounts to mid blade eyelets and fork/drop out eyelet. Note: Requires mid blade eyelets on both the inside & outside of fork blade
- Retains full use of Fargo fork leg mounted water bottle positions
- Has a threaded boss on the top of the hoop to attach the strut from the above front rack, making a really functional and strong front rack system
- Designed to work well with disc brakes, meaning they mount easily on bikes with disc brakes and are forward positioned to allow full access to the front brake
- The two threaded barrels at the bottom will likely be removed. Most front loriders have little pegs there to hold the lower pannier hook in place. We may just switch to 2 smaller posts.
- $65 MSRP
Last but not least is our new rear rack shown here on our Vaya. Again, no name yet. Check out it's features.
- Light and durable tubular aluminum alloy
- Black or Silver
- Extra long deck. It's slighly cupped to assist in holding bags, sleeping pads or whatever you strap to the top deck.
- Extra long struts for mounting, even to small frames and small rear triangles
- Universal mounting system allowing movement of struts in any direction
- Depending on pannier size, brand and attachment method, you may be able to use a lower mounting position to further lower your center of gravity
- Two threaded barrels for light and reflector mounting
- $100 MSRP
Wow, that's a lot of rack talk. I'm sure I missed something. Let us know what you think? We are still tinkering with these. Again, these are prototypes with an anticipated mid summer in stock date.
37 Comments | Permalink
This post filed under the topic(s): new product , VAYA , Fargo
Wednesday February 3rd, 2010
| | Kid Riemer
Vaya Framesets and Complete Bikes are close to becoming available. Our new website is two weeks away so we are providing this information now to help those considering the Vaya. Hope this helps. -Kid
50 & 52cm sizes use 26" wheels (Geometry is shown using a 654mm diameter tire)
54,55,56,57,58,60cm sizes use 700c wheels (Geometry is shown using a 709mm diameter tire)
Seat Tube Length
50CM 450
52CM 470
54CM 490
55CM 520
56CM 530
57CM 540
58CM 550
60CM 570
Top Tube Effective
50CM 500
52CM 525
54CM 540
55CM 550
56CM 560
57CM 570
58CM 585
60CM 600
Head Tube Angle
50CM 70.0
52CM 70.0
54CM 71.0
55CM 71.5
56CM 71.5
57CM 71.5
58CM 72.0
60CM 72.0
Seat Tube Angle
50CM 74.5
52CM 74.0
54CM 73.5
55CM 73.0
56CM 73.0
57CM 72.5
58CM 72.5
60CM 72.0
BB Drop
50CM 50
52CM 50
54CM 75
55CM 75
56CM 75
57CM 75
58CM 75
60CM 75
Chainstay Length
50CM 440
52CM 440
54CM 450
55CM 450
56CM 450
57CM 450
58CM 450
60CM 450
Head Tube Length
50CM 120
52CM 135
54CM 150
55CM 165
56CM 175
57CM 185
58CM 200
60CM 215
Fork Length
50CM 380
52CM 380
54CM 405
55CM 405
56CM 405
57CM 405
58CM 405
60CM 405
Fork Offset
50CM 50
52CM 50
54CM 50
55CM 50
56CM 50
57CM 50
58CM 45
60CM 45
Wheelbase
50CM 1016.5
52CM 1037.8
54CM 1039.3
55CM 1038.9
56CM 1049.2
57CM 1053.5
58CM 1057.9
60CM 1066.7
Stack
50CM 511.9
52CM 526.0
54CM 592.9
55CM 609.1
56CM 618.6
57CM 628.0
58CM 646.5
60CM 660.7
Reach
50CM 358.1
52CM 374.2
54CM 364.4
55CM 363.8
56CM 370.9
57CM 372.0
58CM 381.2
60CM 385.3
Standover
50CM 694.4
52CM 711.9
54CM 749.0
55CM 775.5
56CM 784.9
57CM 794.8
58CM 806.5
60CM 824.3
Labels: VAYA
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This post filed under the topic(s): VAYA
Wednesday February 3rd, 2010
| | Kid Riemer
As we've got a new website being built for launch in two weeks, we won't have the Vaya on our regular site pages until then. But frames and bikes are soon to become available so we want to get some of the details out to folks that might be interested in them. -Kid
Below you'll find the specs for the Vaya complete bike.
Frame Vaya, Road Adventure, Salsa Classico CroMoly
Fork Vaya, Salsa Classico CroMoly, 1-1/8", Disc Only
Headset FSA Orbit DL Alloy, 1-1/8", Silver
Handlebar Salsa Moto Ace Bell Lap, 26.0mm, Silver, 50/52cm=42cm, 54/55/56/57cm=44cm, 58/60cm=46cm
Stem Kalloy AS-009, 26.0mm, 50/52/54cm=80mm, 55/56cm=90mm, 57/58cm=100mm, 60cm=110mm
Handlebar Tape Salsa Gel Cork, Dark Brown
Front Brake SRAM BB5 Road, 160mm Rotor, 6-Bolt
Rear Brake SRAM BB5 Road, 160mm Rotor, 6-Bolt
Brake Levers Shimano Tiagra STI
Crankset Shimano FC-4550-S, 50cm=165mm, 52,54,55,56cm=170mm, 57,58,60cm= 175mm, Silver
Chainring Shimano 34/50T, Compact Double, Silver
Bottom Bracket Shimano Tiagra Hollowtech II BB
Chain Shimano HG-53
Front Hub Formula, 32H, 6-Bolt, Silver
Rear Hub Formula, 32H, 6-Bolt, Silver
Quick Release Formula
Cassette Shimano CS-HG61, 9-Speed, 11-32T
Spokes DT Swiss Competition, Double-Butted, 2.0/1.8mm, Silver
Nipples DT Swiss Brass, Black
Rims 50/52cm=DT Swiss X430, 26", 32H, Black. 54,55,56,57,58,60cm=DT Swiss X470, 700c, 32H, Black
Tires 50/52cm=Continental Town Ride, 26x1.75" Wire Bead, Black. 54/55/56/57/58/60cm=Continental Tour Ride, 700c x1.6" Wire Bead, Black
Front Derailleur Shimano Tiagra, Silver
Rear Derailleur Shimano LX, Long Cage, Silver
Front Shifter Shimano Tiagra Double STI
Rear Shifter Shimano Tiagra 9-Speed STI
Seatpost Kalloy Radiused Top, 27.2 x 350mm, Silver
Seatpost Clamp Salsa Lip-Lock, 30.0mm, Silver
Saddle Velo w/ Salsa Embroidery, Brown
Chainstay Protector Salsa Leather
Color Upside Brown
Labels: VAYA
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This post filed under the topic(s): VAYA
Tuesday February 2nd, 2010
| | Tim
Today's post comes from Tim Krueger, Salsa product manager. -Kid
A double on the Vaya? What the $#&@?
It has been asked what we were thinking when we decided to use a double crankset as a spec on a bike intended for recreational riding and touring.
To put it simply, we were thinking! Double cranksets and modern drivetrains have come a long way since the triple was the standard for those pursuits.
Triple front cranks were intended to create a larger gear range when cassettes (or freewheels!) could only reasonably have a range of 12-28 without large jumps in ratios, or making for poor shifting. Over time, technology and engineering have allowed more gears to be placed in the same space, allowing smoother shifting over a greater range of gears. As this technology plods forward, we will eventually see less of a need for additional front chainrings.
For example, the triple used to be the standard for mountain bikes. Now we are seeing compact doubles take their place on high-end mountain bikes with the advent of SRAM XX and FSA 386 technology, when paired with large range cassettes such as SRAM's 11-36 XX cassette. These drivetrains still yield an equivalent range to a standard triple drivetrain, yet are lighter and simpler.
This is the idea with the Vaya. We took a close look at the overall ratios involved with a road-based triple drivetrain. Take our Casseroll Triple for example. With a 30-39-50 front combination, and a 12-25 rear, it has a low gear inch measurement of 32.4. For those unfamiliar with this measurement, it means that in this lowest gear, the bike will travel 32.4 inches forward with every revolution of the pedals.
On the Vaya, this measurement in the lowest gear is 29.0 inches. So while on the surface, the Vaya's double appears to have less of a climbing gear than a road triple, in practice, it actually has a slightly lower gear than a standard road triple drivetrain. Even the traditional road triple with a 12-27 on the back still only has a 30.4 inch low gear.
Now, one could argue that even though this is true, the Vaya is still not as low as a touring setup such as a Sugino XD600 crankset paired with an 11-34 rear cassette, which yields a 20.9 inch low gear. And to that, you would be correct. However, we didn't design the Vaya to be a bike solely for touring. We designed the Vaya to be more of an 'all around' bike, one good for a variety of purposes. The Vaya is our road adventure bike. If you truly want that low of gearing, consider basing your build on a Vaya frameset and choose the gearing that you prefer, or start with a Vaya complete bike and change out your crankset.
Keep your eyes open, because in the near future you will begin to see a trend in cycling towards double cranksets. Because the Vaya may be among the first, but definitely not the last to be sporting the 34-50 and 11-32 combo to give the recreational cyclist the greatest all-around experience.
Thanks to SheldonBrown.com for the gear calculations.
-Tim
Labels: adventuring, Tim Krueger, touring, VAYA
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This post filed under the topic(s): Tim Krueger , VAYA , adventuring , touring
Monday January 25th, 2010
| | Gnat
Introducing Vaya, our new road adventure bike. How do you say Vaya? Say Veye-Ahhh.... What does it mean? Go! What's does road adventure mean? Well, that is where you come in.
The Vaya is go anywhere do anything steel road bike. Go for a long road ride. Go on a asphalt road tour. Ride that limestone rails to trails route you've always wanted to do. Heck, do it all and throw in a gravel road or two in between. The Vaya will get you there. Make your road own adventure.
This bike came about for many reasons. The biggest reason is that we repeatedly saw dealers and consumers taking our disc specific La Cruz cross bike and making it into an all around road warrior. We heard this feedback and improved this function by tweaking the tubing, improving the geometry, and improving the rack & fender mounting. We did a bunch of other stuff too.
One of the other reasons we brought out the Vaya is that Tim, our Product Manager wanted a dedicated tour bike in our line up. Tim's not happy if he can't carry A LOT of stuff on his rides. Some might say what about the Fargo, can't that carry A LOT of stuff. While true, the Fargo is our off road adventure bike capable of single track and off road adventure. Lot's of adventurous souls, Tim included, wanted a more road focused product so we gave it to them. If this fits your persona, the Vaya just may be your perfect bike.
The Vaya will be available as a frameset ($540 MSRP) and as a complete bike ($1550 MSRP). Frameset includes frame, fork and Lip Lock seat clamp. Complete bikes feature a mostly Tiagra 9speed STI group, a wide ratio cassette with a 34-50 crankset. All good stuff.
Sizing - We are introducing a new sizing scheme with this bike. The top tube size is the frame size. We've got 8 sizes ranging from 50 to 60. The two smallest sizes use 26" wheels making fit and stand over even better for folks that sizes. So....If you have a bike that you currently fit and like, simply take the effective TT length and compare to our sizing info. It's a good starting point to discuss with your dealer. Pretty slick and easy.
One might ask why we don't have this info on our website if we are writing about it and showing it here on the blog? Good question. We are building a new website and will be launching it mid February. We'll follow up this post later this week with a bike spec and sizing chart. Look for that in a couple of days.
Now....Here is the other good news. These bikes and frames are completed and in transit. We expect to ship them to our Salsa dealers by the end of February! Initial order is limited. Our Salsa dealers have the info and are already taking orders.
Labels: VAYA
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This post filed under the topic(s): VAYA
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