Jason and I have been talking about a bike for a long time that isn't a slouch on the road, but can still fit really large tires, and is still extremely comfortable. That's a lot to ask of a bike, and Salsa knocked it out of the park with this bike. With through axles front and rear this bike is stiff under pedaling, but has fantastic compliance vertically, thanks to the class 5 VRS system that Salsa developed. I really don't think there is a gravel bike with such great tech out there right now. No fancy shake weight style suspension, no micro dampeners courtesy of soft tail tech from yesteryear, and most importantly none of those dumb ass Zertz inserts, because fuck that shit. Having spent some time on the Warbird it feels like a road bike when it needs to, and can handle some fairly gnarly off road stuff. Versatility means that if you want to take the beaten path you can, without hesitation. We handbuilt some Pacenti rims to North Carolina made Industry Nine hubs, as they have been proven to be tough as nails, but very light. Some minor tweak to fit came by way of a Thomson post and Brooks Camibum saddle, a shop favorite right now. Components are Sram Rival 22, which if a 1x is in the future the bike can be coverted fairly easily to a 1x11, Lizard skins DSP tape rounds off the goodness, and allows Jason to ride gloveless, most days (when its not 30deg). I really dig this bike, so much so I've got my own #projectwarbird in the pipeline. More info on bikes available at City Cycle here.
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