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Salsa Blackthorn Carbon GX Mountain Bike - 2021, Small

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- Salsa makes some bold claims with the Blackthorn. So is this the future of trail bikes, or is it just too damn big and heavy? We're going to find out. (upbeat music) (loud whoosh and boom) You may know Salsa best for it's gravel bikes, it's adventure bikes, bikepacking bikes, it's fat bikes, does all of those really well, but the brand actually got its start in 1981 as a mountain bike brand. Salsa was founded in 1981 by a gentleman named Ross Shafer up in Northern California, and he amassed quite a reputation for his excellent mountain bikes that put him in the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. (birds chirp) (light music) The Blackthorn is Salsa's newest trail bike. 140 millimeters of rear travel, 160 upfront. Suspension design is known as split pivot. The rear axle is concentric for rear pivot. Now this design also is known as AVP when Trek uses it, but Devinci and Salsa are the only two brands that use the split pivot suspension design. My review sample with the carbon front triangle, aluminum rear triangle, and SRAM's GX Eagle comes in at 6299 and weighs 32.3 pounds. Now that may seem a little heavy, but part of the reason it is a little bit heavier trail bike is the Blackthorn shares it's frame with another Salsa model. The Cassidy is Salsa's 160 rear, 180 front Enduro race bike. So that means that if you buy a Blackthorn, and you're like, 'Hey, this isn't a bike for me', you can make it a Cassidy, but it's gonna cost you. You'll need to buy the $150 Link and Clevis kit from Salsa, you'll need to buy a longer stroke shock, and those can be $700 to $1,000, and you'll need to get a new fork. So it's a bit of an expensive upgrade to get a Blackthorn to Cassidy, but it's a lot cheaper than buying a whole new Enduro bike. (light music) With a 616 millimeter top tube, 469 millimeter reach, 1,228 millimeter wheelbase, and a 64.6 degree head tube angle, 64.9 in high mode, this is one of the longest bikes in the 140 millimeter category. Put those together, and this bike's size and weight challenges some pretty big bikes. It's also a little bit heavier because it's got a pretty substantial buildup. So SRAM's code brakes, it's downhill spec brakes, are on this bike. 200 millimeter front rotor, pretty solid rims, 35 mil external with 30 mil internal, DT Swiss rims. Some pretty sizeable Maxxis tires with EXO plus casing, an aluminum bar and stem, 35 mil clam, pretty wide bar. So it's built with pretty burly parts in addition to its length and just overall mass. (light music) So I mentioned Salsa's expertise in bikepacking and adventure bikes, and Salsa uses some of that expertise in the Blackthorn. My favorite feature that they integrated, is this mounting spot. There's a little slot here for a strap and this little rubberized pad. You take a couple of CO2's, a tube, and a tool, and a few other things, you can wrap it up in a little pack, put it on there, latch it down, and it stays quiet, it stays tight. Actually the rubber pad and the slot prevents that whole pack from scratching the hell out of the frame, potentially wearing through the carbon. So nice feature. Another feature kind of inspired by the adventure scene, well, it's got a mount on the top tube for putting little snacks and food and stuff like that. K-Edge makes a Garmin adapter that actually works with this mount, too. So you can put your Garmin there, Enduro style, where it's kind of out of the way, not up here in the bars, and then down on the down tube where the water bottle mounts, it's a three pack. Now, the way that works, is the lower two mounts, that's for your water bottle cage and with the water bottle cage down there, you can actually fit a large water bottle in this frame, but the upper two mounts, that is for a mini pump. That higher amount for the pump keeps the length of the mini pump away from the bend in the down tube. So, just really well thought out. And one other kind of neat little detail, the headset cap is actually a tool for tightening the split pivot nut. So if it comes loose on the trail, you can take off that headset cap, you can put your hex wrench in there. You can make sure everything's all nice and tight. Some really neat features built into this frame. (light music) What we have here, is a bike that's trail bike travel, Enduro bike length and weight, but with adventure-oriented features. So you may be thinking to yourself like, 'What is this thing'? Well, I asked also, 'What is this thing'? And the guys I talked to there, they said it is the trail bike they want. This is a strong, stiff, capable mountain bike for long, hard days in rowdy terrain. It's a bike that's supposed to pedal well, but can hold up to some serious abuse. In my opinion, after riding it, it is a short travel, big mountain bike. And I tested this bike here in Durango, I took it to Sedona, I rode it in Moab, Fruita, tough terrain there, a little bit brutal. It's not easy on bikes, and it held up. Didn't even flat, which is amazing for me. The downside of that is, it's a little bit sluggish at slower speeds. It doesn't have the pop of a bike that's a little lighter on its toes. So it's a little bit more (hands slap) stuck to the ground. For such a big, long, heavy, tough bike, this thing climbs great. And your rear end is super efficient, not much bob, not much sense of lost efficiency. The pedals feel really crisp, good rear traction, too. Really supportive rear end, so when you're hitting step-ups on a climb, you don't feel that big sink and lose all your front wheel traction. In fact, the stock volume spacer was a little bit too much for me. It was a little too progressive, so I actually had to drop down one. Great climbing bike, lots of rear wheel traction, and really efficient. (light music) So I talked about how long this bike is. One thing that's kinda surprisingly short, is the rear end, 431 millimeters. Now, part of the reason for that is super boost spacing. So they're able to push that rear wheel out, which allows 'em to open up the front of the swing arm yoke. So they're able to get a little bit more space in there for clearance so everything can kind of scoot in. When you're going downhill, you feel pretty centered on the bike. It's so long, and then when you stand up, you're feeling right in the middle of it. But if you go around a tight corner, that back end really does swing around pretty surprisingly well. Front end of course, 'cause it's so long, it's gonna wanna take the wide line. But once you get used to how that back end swings around and where that front end wants to go, it's pretty great at some tighter terrain, better than I thought it would be, given its size. The only place it really felt big and long was just more flowing and slower speed stuff. It just moves like a bigger, longer bike. If you're shopping for the typical 140 millimeter bike, I don't think the Blackthorn's for you. The bike rides almost like a 160, 180 bike with less travel. You get almost a 160, 180 bike feel on the downhills, but that shorter bike feel in the climbs. So I think some people are gonna want that, but again, it doesn't have that overall, like poppiness, that overall quickness and lightness that the typical 140 bike has. But what do you think of the Salsa Blackthorn? Do you want a big, stable, 140 millimeter trail bike for your everyday trail riding? Let me know in the comments below, I'd really love to hear your thoughts. And if this doesn't sound like your kind of bike, let me know what is. Thanks for watching. (light music)

While Salsa today is more known for its gravel bikes, bikepacking bikes, adventure bikes and fat bikes, but the brand got its start as a mountain bike brand. Senior Test Editor Matt Phillips gives his trail-tested take on the new Salsa Blackthorn.

Tested | Salsa Blackthorn Carbon GX

Juliana Wilder

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The Salsa Blackthorn is a Short-Travel Big-Mountain Adventure Trail Bike

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