Long before the bikepacking hype swept across the scene, adventurers relied on Salsa. The Cutthroat is something like the great-grandfather of long-distance bikes and was explicitly developed for the legendary Tour Divide route. On this classic route, daredevils cover around 4500 kilometres and 60,000 metres in altitude from the Canadian Rockies through the American hinterland to the Mexican border. Landslides and bushfires mean that the route has to be adapted slightly every year. The Salsa is prepared for anything: Thanks to the hub standard, mountain bike wheels and up to three-inch fat tyres fit into the chassis. This means the bike can plough through snow fields and sand dunes with ease. The frame triangle can accommodate four water bottles or a gigantic pannier. There is also room for plenty of belongings between the widely spaced handle humps. Nice: The cables are routed ex works so that they do not get in the way of a handlebar roller. The approval for a maximum total weight of 160 kilos, suspension forks with 100 millimetres of travel, vario supports and jumps of up to 61 centimetres underline the heavy-duty claim of the carbon bike.
Unusual approach
Anyone who spends weeks riding through Wallachia far from civilisation wants to sit comfortably. That's why the wide design of the seat stays is supposed to reduce vibrations. However, as there is a thick aluminium seat post in the seat tube, we were unable to identify any advantage on our test benches. The flex element of the Pivot, for example, offers more comfort. The extremely wide aluminium handlebar of the Cutthroat also provides hardly any gentle flex despite the large lever. Salsa pursues a unique strategy for the riding position. The reach is short, the stack high. Together with the short stem, this puts the rider in a relaxed riding position.
The Salsa is a far cry from a sporty stretching bench à la Marin. The geometry is clearly designed for long riding times. Due to the longest chainstays in the test field, the bike climbs extremely competently. Thanks to the compact positioning on the bike and the steep seat angle, you can stay relaxed in the saddle even on steep ramps without the front wheel becoming light. The combination of a small chainring and large MTB cassette also helps. However, the considerable weight cannot be ignored. The Salsa has almost three kilos more than the athletic Alutech on its carbon fibre ribs. The weight of the simple wheels is even on a par with some enduro mountain bikes. Apart from the Scott, the Salsa therefore accelerates the slowest. The bike is clearly not designed for sprints and ambitions for the next KOM.
Make distance!
The fact that the handling remains agile despite being overweight is due to the pairing of a short top tube and short head centre. Together with the particularly slack head angle, the Cutthroat can be positioned in the desired line without much fuss. The 29 x 2.2 inch tyres sit firmly on the course and the extremely wide cockpit conveys a great sense of control. Only a bike with straight handlebars offers this much riding confidence on exposed paths and single trails. The stable Salsa is still a benchmark for long bike tours with luggage in remote corners of the planet. In slow corners, however, the large handlebars in combination with the wide rear end make the flow of the bike sluggish. It then takes a lot of commitment to change direction. The mechanical gearstick may match the indestructible concept, but the three-dimensionally movable shift/brake lever unfortunately has so much play that it doesn't provide a really stable grip on rough downhills. All in all, the Salsa is equipped with sensible, but not exactly high-quality parts. Unfortunately, better equipment and less weight are only possible with more financial outlay.
Salsa Cutthroat C GRX 1x: Price, geometry, equipment, measured values, advantages and disadvantages
- Price: 3799 Euro
- Weight of complete wheel: 11.2 kilos
- Frame sizes: 52, 54, 56, 58, 60
Geometry
- STR/STR+: 1,67/1,26
- Stack+/Reach+: 712/565 mm
Equipment
- Fork: Salsa Carbon
- Drive/gear shift: Shimano GRX 610 (1x12; 36, 10-51 t.)
- Brakes: Shimano GRX RX400 (160/160 mm)
- Tyres: Teravail Sparwood 56 mm (eff.: 55 mm)
- Impellers: Shimano/WTB ST 25 TCS 2.0
Measured values
- Weight of complete wheel: 11.190 g
- Weight of wheels: 5314 g
- Impeller inertia: 3845 kg x cm²
Salsa Cutthroat C GRX 1x: Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages
High riding stability and safety off-road, optimised for a lot of luggage, frame with many body options
Disadvantages
heavy, moderately equipped, sluggish acceleration, extremely wide handlebars
Jan Timmermann
Editor
