Originally Posted by
Sully151
Are $2000 Salsa bikes crap? I am just looking into a gravel/bikepacking bike and Salsa is on my radar.
They aren't "crap" at all. They're solid machines, but many of the builds at regular pricing are just WTFs for the money.
Take their Cutthroat lineup. An interesting frame set for MonsterCX, that could be a great build. But seriously, they want $4200 for middling tier 1X parts? $2,500 for entry level 1X parts?!! The same thing happens again and again in their drop bar bike lineup. Even their steel frames.
And given the high-entry level price you're stuck with mechanical brakes that IRL feel just plain spongy compared to nice hydraulics.
It would be one thing if Salsa were a tiny M-USA company struggling to make it...but Salsa is (one of many of) the house brandings for Quality Bicycle Products, probably the biggest bike part s distributor in the world. It ends up being exactly like a warehouse retailer wanting to charge boutique shop prices. IMHO.