Four Seasons with the Salsa Blackborow – Jarrod Bunk

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Four Seasons with the Salsa Blackborow – Jarrod Bunk

Four Seasons with the Salsa Blackborow
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk

It started over a 2 years ago, when I was riding my current fatbike – a Surly Moonlander – for much more than just winter riding. It was slowly becoming my everything bike, and eventually that Moonlander replaced my carbon Cannondale Scalpel. Looking back, that piqued my interest in a more aggressive geometry bike, that could handle some sort of suspension fork.

There were a handful of manufacturers with tapered head tubes to allow for a Rock Shox Bluto or other fork. Simply put my next bike had to have the ability to run suspension, fat 5” tires, and through axles. Of the handful of bikes out at the time this wasn’t possible. Along comes a Blackborow. It has checked all of my boxes, and even some that I didn’t know I needed checking. THAT FOREST SERVICE GREEN, I had to have it. Things fell into place and a few months after waiting my dinglespeed build showed up. I have a tendency to build my bikes custom, so I stripped the bike down and rebuilt it with some stuff that I prefer to use. Industry 9 Hubs, dropper post, RaceFace NEXT SL cranks and the cockpit from Chromag.

The Radavist’s Top Ten and Then Some Beautiful Bicycles of 2015

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The Radavist’s Top Ten and Then Some Beautiful Bicycles of 2015

2015 was an amazing year for the Radavist. Not only in terms of traffic, or stats, but in terms of content. We take pride in the site, the rides we record, products we feature and yes, the bicycles we document. This year was huge in terms of the places we traveled to and the people we met along the way. With people and places come Beautiful Bicycles and a lot of work!

Without rambling on too much, here’s a list of the Top 10 of 2015 ranked by traffic and social media chatter, from highest down…

New Growth on the Salsa Deadwood

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New Growth on the Salsa Deadwood

In the forest, dying trees bring about new growth. Bigger is better, when it comes to ride cushioning and traction. The drop bar MTB world is growing, thanks to Salsa.

This week is SaddleDrive, the QBP open house that goes down each year in Ogden, Utah. That means a whole lotta new stuff rolling through the Q brand’s lineups, including Salsa. With the success of the Cutthroat launch, I wouldn’t have expected a bike to immediately speak to me from Salsa for a while yet here we are, staring down a even gnarlier drop-bar dirt tourer / MTB: the Deadwood.

Granted, it ain’t carbon and it ain’t designed with racing in mind but that wouldn’t keep this 29+ from getting plenty rowdy on the trails. Check out more info on the Deadwood at Salsa, see the full 2016 lineup while you’re at it and see these bikes in person at dealers in October.

Hunter Cycles Hip Shooters Slingshots

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Hunter Cycles Hip Shooters Slingshots

Rick Hunter is onto something. I’m telling you. Slingshots are hip as hell right now. From bikepacking to shootin’ beer cans, these childhood relics were in need of a facelift. A 4130 facelift. My skillz are dialed and yours can be too with these made in Santa Cruz Slingers.

$100 is a lot to drop on something like this, but hey, they’re steel, painted in house and will awe men and women alike. Just don’t let your friends “borrow” one for too long!

In stock now at Hunter Cycles.

Shaking it Down: 2015 Salsa Cutthroat Review

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Shaking it Down: 2015 Salsa Cutthroat Review

There’s nothing like taking a brand-new bike and throwing it into the proverbial fire.

Bikes like this are not meant to be babied, nurtured, wiped down with a microfiber cloth, and sprayed with chemicals to make them look shiny. They’re meant to be abused, smashed, shredded, and put to the test straight out of the gate. Especially bikes specifically designed for arguably one of the most intense endurance races in the Continental United States.

The Salsa Cutthroat is what I would call a first for the company, in the sense that it’s a bike designed for a specific event: the Tour Divide Race.

Three Days on the Tour Divide with the Salsa Cutthroat

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Three Days on the Tour Divide with the Salsa Cutthroat

Stories. We all have to have stories to coincide with photos right? Nowadays, someone has to get lost, or their life threatened, or lose a battle to nature’s mood swings. Catastrophe, calamity and someone’s a casualty of what everyone seems to be dubbing “adventure.”

Truth is, a bike ride is hardly ever an “adventure.” Much less a bike launch. I don’t like that word: “adventure.” It tends to envelop so much of our day-to-day lives, especially those of us who spend a great deal of time outdoors. Was it an adventure? No, it was a hike. Or we went swimming. Or we got lost for an hour. “Adventure.” It’s been watered down, branded, packaged and delivered to us in a freeze-dried, waterproof pouch. We share our curated lives exposed through meticulously VSCO’d / Photoshopped vignettes on Instagram.

While this may seem cynical, I can assure you it’s far from that. It’s more of an explanation, or a primer if you will and here comes to the top coat: while the word adventure’s definition is subjective, the spirit of conquest is the thing that ties all facets of that word together. For some people, conquest lies in what others might deem an obtainable task. For others, it’s something so far-fetched that it’s more of an impossibility than a probability… Whatever it is, “adventure” means different things to different people, but we should all be more creative in how we define it. According to my opinion anyway.

Salsa: 5 Trails 5 States 5 Days

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Salsa: 5 Trails 5 States 5 Days

Man, talk about a rad trip! Justin wrote this awesome piece on the Salsa blog about a trip that he took with a friend and a photographer. As you guessed, it spanned 5 trail systems in 5 different states over the course of 5 days, all while driving from each system on their motos, fit with 2-by-2 racks.

Head over to Salsa to catch the rest of this story!

Salsa Unleashes the Bucksaw Carbon

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Salsa Unleashes the Bucksaw Carbon

Last year, when Salsa introduced the Bucksaw full suspension fatbike, it caused quite a stir. It did, in fact, feature the then brand-new Rock Shox Bluto fork, which in itself was a catalyst for heated internet discussion.

Yesterday Salsa poured it on with the announcement of the Bucksaw Carbon. A full-suspension fatbike with a carbon front triangle, seat stay and an aluminum chainstay. This sheds 300 grams off the total frame weight.

If this is your kinda thing, and how can it not be, then head over to Salsa to see more!

The Salsa Bucksaw Full Suspension Fat Bike

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The Salsa Bucksaw Full Suspension Fat Bike

Well, this morning we saw the Rock Shox Bluto fat bike suspension fork, with its tapered steerer and ample clearance. Problem is, a lot of the available fat bikes have traditional 1 1/8″ steerers. Although, over the past year, a lot of the fat bike offerings have converted to tapered steerers but the Salsa Bucksaw is the first to be designed around the Bluto. To add to the radness, they’ve added a rear shock too. That makes it the first full suspension – using Salsa’s Split Pivot™ system – fat bike in production.

Wow.

Available in the fall of 2014, the Bucksaw 1 will be $4,999 and Bucksaw 2 will be $3,999, and both will come with the RockShox Bluto fork.

See more at Salsa and make sure you read the Developing Buchsaw post!

Josh and His Salsa Vaya Tourer

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Josh and His Salsa Vaya Tourer

Ever since my Geekhouse got stolen (R.I.P.), I’ve been on a commuter and touring bike kick. Austin has a ton of great builds rolling around and when I can, I stop to admire them. My riding buddy Josh has a great Salsa Vaya that he picked up not too long ago. When I bumped into him yesterday, I had to take some photos of it. It’s nothing special by any means but it’s a great build and his OG Chrome bag shows lots of use, so I met him at the bar where he works, the Liberty and shot some portraits.

Click on the above photo to launch the gallery, or here to open in a new tab.

Beautiful Bicycle: Liam’s Copper-Plated Samurai Cycles Track Bike

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Beautiful Bicycle: Liam’s Copper-Plated Samurai Cycles Track Bike

Liam’s Samurai Cycles track frame was at the 2011 NAHBS and somehow I missed it. How do you miss a copper-plated track frame at NAHBS? I have no idea but I did. Samurai is run by Koh Annouraa, a 17-year pro Keirin racer and he’s based in Houston Texas. Which is where Liam rode his track bike from to Austin for SxSW. The trip was about 182 miles and he did it in 19 hours, including a 3-hour power nap. Madness!

I met up with Liam and took some photos of his copper-plated Samurai Cycles track bike. Check out more photos below!

Initial Reaction: Colossi Cycles’ Double Dog Stem

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Initial Reaction: Colossi Cycles’ Double Dog Stem

When I first saw the Colossi Cycles Double Dog stem, I salivated, even though I was unsure of the structural stability of its design. Sure, I’ve seen similar stems before, but always with the slot at the top of the stem, never on the sides. A few days after I posted it up, I got an email from Colossi asking me if I’d like to try one out. Not knowing immediately what I’d use it for, I asked for a quill stem. Then a few days later, a new project came up so I specified a 110mm 1 /8″ threadless at 73°, the classic angle used by Cinelli for their 1a road stems*.

Check out more photos below!