Salsa Cycles at Frostbike 2018

Salsa is entering the grom's market with two new models - a 20-inch and 24-inch Timberjack. Retailing for $549 and $559, respectively, the 6061-T6 aluminum frames house 3-inch wide tires, stop with Promax mechanical 160mm/140mm disc brakes, and go with a Shimano drivetrain. WTB ST rims are tubeless ready, but the stock Chao Yang tires would need to be swapped out for tubeless tires to validate the setup.

While only the 24-inch version has bottle bosses on the downtube, both models have an abundance of fork mounting options for bottle cages, or even Salsa Anything cages, so the kids can carry their own drinks and whatnot. Rumor has it that mounting a set of water bottles on the fork also makes for great safety bumpers, at least for the things being hit. The stock forks are suspension corrected and Boost spaced, so they can be upgraded down the road without negatively affecting handling. Claimed weight for both models is in the 27-pound range.





For the bigger boys and girls, Salsa is offering an alloy version of the Deadwood, Pony Rustler, and Redpoint for 2018, which drops entry price to their full suspension trail bikes by about $1000 by comparison of last year's least expensive carbon version of each model. The Timberjack and Woodsmoke see new colors for 2018, but otherwise remain unchanged. Salsa Spearfish, Horsethief and Bucksaw all remain unchanged for 2018, though there was hint of 2019 versions being released later this year.

The 150mm travel, 27.5-inch Redpoint is now available in an aluminum version, which brings the retail price down to $2899 with a SRAM NX drivetrain, Rockshox Recon RL 150mm travel fork, and Maxxis Minion DHF 2.5's front and rear. Pictured above is the $5099 Carbon GX Eagle version with Rockshox Pike RC 160mm, Monarch RT3 rear shock, SRAM Guide R brakes, and as one would guess by the name, a SRAM GX Eagle drivetrain. Somewhere in the upper middle of the two is the Carbon SLX 1x11 version which retails for $4099.



Salsa's 91mm 29+ Deadwood gets a 120mm fork and a new set of slimmer rubber for 2018. The 2.6-inch Maxxis Rekon tires should shed a little bit of weight where it counts and provide a livelier ride out on the trail by comparison to last year's 3.0's. The top tier Carbon Deadwood GX Eagle retails for $5099, Carbon SLX 1x11 comes in at $4099, and the new aluminum NX is $2799.



Feedback on last year's Pony Rustler was to leave it be, so the 27-plus, 130/120mm travel bike remains unchanged, execpt for the aluminum NX addition, of course. Pricing and naming remains consistent with the Carbon GX Eagle at $5099, the Carbon SLX 1x11 at $4099, and NX at $2799.



Several new cockpit options are available from Salsa for 2018, including the Rustler bars. Available in either 800mm or 750mm widths, the 11-degree backsweep, 6-degree upsweep bar comes in carbon, Deluxe 7050-T6 alloy, and standard 6061-T6 versions. In addition to the deep backsweep, the Rustler bars also set themselves apart from the norm with a very wide 140mm cradle, which allows better compatibility with lights, bags, and arm bars. Pricing is $140 for carbon with its 15mm rise, $69 for the Deluxe with its 20mm rise, and $39 for the base model Rustler with a 20mm rise. Each version is will be available with either a 31.8mm or 35mm clamp size.

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