If a law were to come in that said we could only have one bike, we’d be tempted to dispose of all our other bikes and just have one of these. Head to the Salsa Blog to see more details. Also, its saddle makes you comfortable, regardless of the position you maintain. We analyzed over a dozen professional reviews and field-tested for 1000s of miles to find the best touring bike for 2020 including Trek 520, Surly Disc Trucker, Surly Long Haul Trucker, Salsa bikes, and Fuji bikes. Salsa Vaya frameset (carbon fork) 54. A few days later, brown … For 2020, it gets lighter, more compliant, and more cargo capacity to do both even better. ... Salsa Cycles therefore strongly encourages warranty registration at salsacycles.com. Salsa’s Vaya is designed as a cyclocross/commuter/touring hybrid. Climbing mountains is a … With a sloping, mountain bike style top tube, the Vaya’s geometry gives an upright riding position. By entering your details, you are agreeing to BikeRadar terms and conditions and privacy policy. At just US $1099, the Salsa Vaya Claris is the cheapest Vaya ever! ... Salsa Vaya 2. Billed as a “road adventure bike,” it sounded like a perfect match for my one-bike-fits-all quest. long rambling blog about how I came to make my decision to purchase a Salsa Vaya, 2019 Biking Year in Review – Second Runnings. Featuring a new color and new Teravail Sparwood 29×2.2″ tubeless tires, the Fargo Apex 1 continues as Salsa’s steel gravel and bikepacking dropbar mountain bike. Do-it-all big wheeler Our rating . Which one is for you? Already have an account with us? If you tour with heavy loads – LHT. A road descent on the edge of a wood? 105 shifters, RD, FD. Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Conclusion. Hi all, I'm hoping you guys might have some suggestions for me. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Since then, it has continued to supply Salsa Cycles, with bicycle parts and other accessories to meet its cycling demands. |, The Vaya is designed to be all the bike you’ll ever need, Clever Fargo-style rear dropouts make fitting a rack easy, even with a disc brake, Big volume 38mm Continental Tour Ride tyres give huge amounts of cushioning, With a sloping, mountain bike style top-tube, the Vaya’s geometry gives an upright riding position, It feels both nimble and stable, riding qualities that are enhanced by the super wide Salsa Moto Ace Bell Lap handlebar, How to ride your first century, double century or longer ride in 2021, Adidas’s new road shoes, a squashy sleeping mat, hard-wearing overshoes and a charming book. When I was bike packing this past weekend, I needed a good spot for my tent poles, and the down tube is probably a good option. It’s a road adventure and light touring bike built around a vibration-damping Kung Fu chromoly steel frame and gravel-loving, thru-axle carbon fork with room for up to 50mm tires all around. It’s adventure time, all the time, on this straight-up, solid touring bike By bicycling editors. Because the cables route down along the bottom of the down tube, it’s not feasible to mount anything there. I feel that this bike will be a solid investment for many years to come, and I can’t wait to rack up the miles in the saddle. Cons:-more spendy than LHT-a little flexier at heavier loads-disc brakes can squeal like crazy. My own interest in 650B conversions centered around increasing the off-road capabilities of my 700C-wheeled Salsa Vaya. Prime Road race disc wheelset (de-stickered with the missus hairdryer) Panracer Gravelking 43c (tubeless) TRP Spyre-C brakes. I love this bike. I’m torn between this one and the Salsa Fargo. Why go down that back road when there’s a bridleway we could be following? The Vaya is Salsa's any-road, light-touring machine. Second opinion: Salsa Fargo review. Whether you're on a fast tour or just taking your time, the Salsa Vaya 105 bike is a versatile machine for all-road adventures and light touring. Sign in to manage your newsletter preferences. The Vaya was first introduced in 2009 and has continued to develop as the brand’s steel framed do-it-all drop bar bike. The returns on investments were not enough to sustain it and in 1997, Quality Bicycle Products (QBP) obtained full ownership of the company. ( Log Out /  In this vid, I take the newly converted 650b Vaya out for a spin and try to turn it into a better and more supple gravel bike! Even though Salsa Fargo Rival 1 is $500 more expensive than Salsa Fargo GX, the latter is not giving in that easily. Steel All Road Bike. Overall, there’s really nothing I’ve found that I truly dislike about this bike. I’ve now got nearly 200 miles on the bike, and it’s about time to put pen to paper and talk about how the Salsa Vaya has been treating me. ... Salsa Cycles therefore strongly encourages warranty registration at salsacycles.com. This looks like a lovely bike. First impressions of the Vaya are of a bike that's easy to get on with. ( Log Out /  Salsa Vaya 4,000 Mile Review. Don't miss out on MBUK – get your next 3 issues for just £5, Get the next 3 issues of the UK's number one cycling magazine for just £5, Conquers commutes, countries and continents with added fun, GBP £1,349.00 RRP There’s a few key things that really make this bike amazing for me. Learn more here. Over the past month and 200 miles I’ve had the opportunity to ride the Vaya on city streets during my commute, as well as a couple of gravel-ish rides. If you tour with light to mid-weight loads – Vaya. I even recently did a short bikepacking trip with a friend and learned a lot about how to best pack this bike. But now I have made peace with the idea that there is … Its large tires add a cushioning effect during riding. I heart my Salsa Vaya Now granted I'm probably the perfect consumer for this bike: daily loaded commuter (mostly the bike is loaded) in a hilly wet city with awful pavement, recreational weekends linking roads and fireroads, occassional tourer who keeps it relatively light. I test rode plenty of bikes before deciding the Vaya was mine. We found ourselves always looking for the path least travelled. However, I need to strap them to the top of the down tube, which means moving my water bottle cage. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. The combination of a compact 34/50T Shimano Tiagra chainset and 11-32T LX mountain bike rear cassette means flat-out speed isn’t overly compromised and the Vaya has the climbing ability of a mountain goat. Loads of mounting points for bags and racks, and the Velo Orange Crazy Bars let you get creative and comfortable with your hand positions. The only other thing that I had to give up with the steel frame was internal cable routing. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. This isn’t a big deal, but I need to think a little harder about where things go, compared with an aluminium, internal routed, frame. I bought a Salsa Vaya 3 from Freeze Thaw Cycles in May of 2015. The sheer enjoyment of its beautifully balanced handling makes every ride an event. ( Log Out /  Clever Fargo-style rear dropouts make fitting a rack easy, even with a disc brake, and we loaded up the Vaya with a set of rear panniers to see how it affected the ride. Tire choices include 27.5+, 29″, and even 29+. The bar also provides plenty of different hand holds. Vaya receives a big upgrade with the addition of the new Waxwing carbon fork. The Cutthroat has always been built to haul ass and a lot of stuff. The Six-Month Test: Salsa Vaya Travel For travelers and adventurers, this cross between a road bike and an ATV might just be the perfect all-in-one solution. The Vaya is as at home being trundled on back roads and towpaths at a sedate pace as it is being thrown through singletrack and down fire roads. The steel frame is supple and surprisingly light weight. Change ). Designed to get the most out of light touring and any road adventures, the versatile Salsa Vaya GRX 600 bike features a durable steel frame, lightweight … Built to take on both road and gravel the bike is designed to ridden loaded for overnight epics or unloaded while retaining steels lively ride. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. I studied the geometry/fit chart on Salsa’s website, and decided on the 57cm size in the charcoal color. Salsa’s vaya is designed as a cyclocross commuter touring hybrid. Box-stock, the Vaya has clearance for 700×42 tires (1.9″ on 26″-wheeled models), but I found myself wanting a little more meat for steep, rocky terrain. Salsa Vaya Pros:-great at light/mid-weight touring-FUN to ride unloaded-great multi-use bike for commuting/event ride/touring-disc brakes…woohoo. Both bikes have a mixture of features that would make any rider fall in love with off-road riding and mountain biking. My main takeaway from my experiences so far is that this bike is perfect for the way that I ride, and it feels and moves better than anything I’ve ever owned. Salsa Cycles started out as a company based in California that specialized in designing and engineering mountain bikes. Did you consider the Fargo and if so, why did you prefer the Vaya? It feels both nimble and stable – riding qualities that are enhanced by the super-wide Salsa Moto Ace Bell Lap handlebar. 2020 Salsa Cutthroat Review If you take away one thing from this review, it should be this: The new Cutthroat feels even more like a mountain bike. I just recently did a bikepacking weekend, and was able to load up 22lbs of gear on the Vaya and the bike took it in stride. I've used it primarily for commuting (off-road) but also have taken it for recreational rides on road, gravel, dirt, etc, totally about 4,000 miles. I posted a long rambling blog about how I came to make my decision to purchase a Salsa Vaya gravel bike, but I also promised a review at a later date. Touring bikes make great commuting bicycles, too! Big-volume 38mm Continental Tour Ride tyres give huge amounts of cushioning, as does the well shaped and padded Salsa Pepper Globe saddle. I knew I wanted something in the gravel bike territory, but I didn’t want to go full on touring style. Like its big brother the Fargo, a heavyweight expedition bike, it has provision for large-volume tyres, three bottle mounts, mudguards, racks and disc brakes, but in a lighter package with a specially designed steel tubeset. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! It’s rare for a bike to have the ability to make you smile every time you swing a leg over it, but the Vaya does just that. The bar also provides plenty of different hand holds. From rugged bikepacking to all-road touring and bikepacking, these models are staples in the Salsa lineup, with their limitations being how long you can take off work for a tour. I just recently did a bikepacking weekend, and was able to load up 22lbs of gear on the Vaya and the bike took it in stride. You can unsubscribe at any time. Gravel racers and riders were attracted straight away to the Vaya’s steel frame and versatile braze on attachment points for racks, fenders, and an extra water bottle under the down tube. The Vaya seemed like a really nice compromise between the two. Nah, let’s just go through the trees. The 48/32t front cog gives just that slight bit of extra oomph that makes the bike feel completely comfortable under load. So why are folks drawn to underbiking? You've been subscribed to our newsletter. Salsa Fargo Rival 1 & Salsa Fargo GX Key Specifications. Given that it has an awesome frame, fork and wheels, it could be a great bike to upgrade down the track. The Salsa Vaya is a superb bike that offers more options than you’d wish for in a motorcycle. The big tyres do take some effort to wind up to speed – they do even without the bike being loaded – but once you’ve got going the Vaya’s frame remains stable and smooth. Versatility. Well, the old non weight-weenie me might have said, “Screw that, just ride a bike that’s burly enough for everything.” Which I did, a lot. A bit of research led me to the Salsa Vaya. My wife’s Journeyman came with those, and that is an awesome perk to just screw your bag in, instead of straps. Its flared, shallow drop shape provides the perfect balance between hardtail mountain bike and commanding, look-around-you, comfortable sportive cockpit. ( Log Out /  If I had to nit-pick a couple of things I would say I would have liked a set of top tube bag mounts. I purchased a Salsa Vaya 105 back in the first week of November, … Despite a couple of nit picks, it’s exactly what I was looking for. The full build features a carbon fork but uses a Shimano GRX 600 groupset for greater versatility. The Vaya seemed like a really nice compromise between the two. The Vaya 105 is designed to handle any road surface. 2019 Salsa VAYA. Ya know, I didn’t really consider the Fargo. Hey Guys, Wanted to do a more thorough walk through of my Salsa Vaya. Current models that were introduced in March 2018 continue, but Salsa adds a new $1399 Apex 1 drop bar build for both the 700c and 650b wheel/tire size. Top-end steel Salsa Vaya bike with a carbon fork, size 55. This 8-speed bike cuts corners to reduce the cost with the gearing and brakes in particular. Finishing kit is mostly Salsa's own, and again it's tailored to the bike size so the biggest frames get the whopping 46cm incarnation of Salsa's excellent Bell Lap bar. Salsa Vaya. In a word… yes. It feels great lightly loaded or unloaded. Big-volume 38mm Continental Tour Ride tyres give huge amounts of cushioning, as does the well shaped and padded Salsa … As Jan Heine defines it, underbiking is “riding a bike that is only marginally suited to the environment where we ride.” For the cool kids, that means skidding a roadie or cross bike down a dirt road or slice of singletrack. Trek, Surly, Salsa, Raleigh, and a few other models made my short list. The Vaya GRX 600 is designed to handle any road surface. Its cable disc brakes don’t have the all-out stopping power of hydraulic mountain bike units, but for a bike that you might take touring they make perfect sense: the pads last longer and if you buckle your wheel miles from anywhere it won’t affect your braking and you can still ride on to find help with a wobbly hoop. Whether you’re on a fast tour or just taking your time, the Salsa Vaya is an extremely versatile machine that’s at home on everything from picture perfect lanes to less than ideal byways. As I talked about in my previous blog, I spend a lot of time figuring out what to buy. Thanks! Vaya: The Vaya is arguably Salsa Cycles’ first “all-road gravel bike” having come out in 2010. The position is neutral, the steering a touch on the slow side but perfect for cruising along. The complete Apex 1 build will go for $2,1… The 48/32t front cog gives just that slight bit of extra oomph that makes the bike feel completely comfortable under load. Pingback: 2019 Biking Year in Review – Second Runnings. I’ve been able to transition over any surface with ease, and the component upgrade from my previous ride has improved my skill noticeably. Overall, the frame looks unchanged with Cobra Kai CroMoly tubing and Alternator V1.5 dropouts which allow you to run multiple hub standards and add a single speed or belt drive set up. Bike review: salsa vaya on october 15, 2019 october 8, 2019 by jamison in finding my best life 2019 , general i posted a long rambling blog about how i came to make my decision to purchase a salsa vaya gravel bike, but i also promised a review at a later date. I love riding it, even if it’s just to the train station 1.8 miles away. 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