Driving report Salsa Cutthroat: cutthroat, or brook trout?

The Tour Divide is a challenge for man and Material. On 2745 miles, the route of the legendary self-catering race from Banff in Canada to Antelope Wells at the America-Mexican border. Will be driven mostly off-road and cross through the Rocky Mountains. Nearly 61.000 meters of altitude have to be overcome without outside help. Everything need the driver to run. Sleep is sporadic at the edge. It is a race against the clock to complete the Fastest in 14 days.

A wheel that can be found in the field, in many cases, is the Salsa Cutthroat. It is made for such challenges, in order to survive long days in the saddle as fatigue. The American brand created a rather unusual Mix of Gravel and mountain bike. The frame and fork are made of carbon and Eyelets for bottle holder, bags and Luggage straps. In the frame triangle even bulky frame bags, one of the characteristic pieces of Luggage of stand-alone long-distance cyclists with a light-weight soft spot.

spring elements, wherein the wheel can, in principle, also be constructed with a 100-mm suspension fork. The 29-inch wheels are equipped with 2.2-inch-wide knobby tires. Mechanical TRP Spyre-C-brakes with 160 mm discs provide weather-independent delay, and can be repaired in the event of breakdown. Crank, chain and gears sourced by Sram. Salsa does without a front derailleur, and equips the Cutthroat with a road-oriented 1×11-circuit of the Apex-1 group. The Truvativ-Stylo crank-velvet-Dub-inside the warehouse, instead, comes from the mountain corner. The components list must be referred to in a positive sense as unpretentious. At least on the test Bike. In the Cutthroat family, there are also higher quality-equipped variants.

all of which is perched a broad-Dropbar with a slightly flared arm ends for variety in grip positions. The tested Ritchey-Handlebar is a comfortable, elastomer-damped seatpost from Cane Creek is not standard equipment, the original steering operated by AIS and similar needs.