the ultimate guide to mountain bikes and gear

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO MOUNTAIN BIKES AND GEAR
JAN/FEB 2015
THE BIBLE OF BIKE TESTS : 3 6 O F T H E Y E A R ’ S B E S T B I K E S I T R A I L - T E S T E D I N C E N T R A L O R E G ON I ALL T H ESE RO UND TABL E S AND NA RY A K NIG HT
$6.99 DISPLAY UNTIL 02/20/15
JAN/FEB 2015
VOL. 22 I NO. 01
PLUS: FORKS | WHEELS | SHOCKS | BRAKES
11/25/14 11:44 AM
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072 B I B L E O F B I K E T E S T S
CROSS COUNTRY
SALSA SPEARFISH CARBON 1 | $4,900
Final Take The Salsa brand has always been about going to
amazing places, not just getting there first. But the Spearfish
combines short travel with high tech to allow you to do both.
YETI ASR C | $5,800
Final Take A beautiful and capable playmate that begs to be
ridden hard and comes in thoughtful sizing options that let riders of all sizes know they’re still in with a chance.
Every bike that crosses our workbench packs some sort of a surprise. Even objective journalists have expectations, and we truly enjoy getting blown away. The Salsa Spearfish did just that. It’s rare
to hear us say this about an XC bike. Some are lighter than others.
Some ride more like trail bikes, as we love to say, but few offer what
this one does.
The Salsa brand conjures images of steel hardtails burdened
by canvas touring bags crossing the tundras of Minnesota. But
the bright-orange, carbon-fiber, Split Pivot-suspended Spearfish is
quite a different animal. At first glance, we all saw a modern crosscountry machine given its feathery weight, 69.3-degree headtube
angle, flat but comfy bar, and the 100-millimeter Thomson X4
stem on our size-large test bike.
And on the climbs, it behaved like we expected. It was a rocket
on rails. Comfortable, active, but especially responsive. Each of
this year’s XC bikes was an expert climber, but this one rode like
some sort of magic levitating hardtail. We were split about the 2x10
spec, though. We knew the Spearfish was fast enough to shed its
front derailleur, but some testers are not always preoccupied with
speed. One Bike editor who has roamed for thousands of miles
at the ends of the earth holds Salsa’s “Adventure by Bike” slogan
close to heart, but often holds his granny gear closer. Others were
just tired and wanted to conserve their energy for the descents.
After spending some time on our comparatively tame XC
course, we cast the Spearfish into the fire of Central Oregon’s many
lava rock-strewn chutes. It proved one of the most maneuverable
XC bikes in this year’s garage, which stood in contrast to the traditionally stable, long-wheelbased trekking machines we usually see
from Salsa. But even more surprising was that this bike, which we
found so fun and capable, had just 80 millimeters of rear travel.
The fact that the Spearfish does so much with so little inspired
both the sprinters and the marathoners among us to ponder how
far they could push this bike, and vice versa. –Travis Engel
It’s not every day you hop aboard a ‘cross-country’ bike and find
yourself intentionally seeking out the chunkiest lines you can find.
But during my time on the Yeti ASR C, that’s all I could think about.
While the mostly buff singletrack of Central Oregon’s Dutchman
Flat trail system was excellent for testing XC bikes, after riding a few
miles on the Yeti ASR C, I realized the 29-inch-wheeled bike was
begging me to take it somewhere much rowdier. Elated, I heeded
its call, inventing imaginative booters from even the smallest roots
and frolicking through the forest like there was no tomorrow.
My euphoria was well founded: The Yeti ASR C is much more than
just a cross-country bike, and its geometry hints at this. The 69.1-degree head angle of our test bike was steep enough to keep it obedient
while climbing, but just slack enough to comfortably let loose on steep
descents. So it was probably no coincidence that each of our testers
said they’d like to try a beefier fork than the stock, 120-millimeter Fox
Float 32 Factory in order to push the bike to its potential.
Our testers also were unanimous in noting a lack of pedaling
support when climbing with the Fox Float CTD shock wide open.
This tendency contrasts starkly with the ultra-supportive platform
of Yeti’s ‘SB’ line of bikes, all of which pedal beautifully with the
shock completely open. But while this might be an issue for racers
looking for unfettered pedaling efficiency, for us it was merely a
matter of flipping the shock into ‘Trail’ mode and grinding it out in
anticipation of the next descent.
On an aesthetic level, we admired the sheer beauty of the
sculpted carbon frame, highlighted by the sexy signature curves of
the chainstays (which Yeti calls ‘loopstays’). The parts on this build
left little to be desired, and we thought the fact that Yeti equipped
the ASR C with 740-millimeter-wide Easton Haven Carbon bars
revealed the company’s feelings about this bike’s nature.
The ASR C should appeal to a range of riders, especially considering that the extra-small and small versions come with 27.5-inch
wheels, making the bike accessible to smaller riders. –Brice Minnigh
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