The only downside I can find with the ISO is its not fast on the road but I feel this is mainly due to the spec that made me choose it (XT 34 front ring & wide tyres & rims) but it still feels really comfortable on the road & not out of place. The ergonomics of the venture max bars & the geometry of the bike make it such that it fits so well ridden in this position & the GRX brakes are perfectly positioned for single finger application. Generally speaking, the Force 1x Cutthroat is a solid spec without much room to quibble over necessary upgrades. The 2020 Cannondale Topstone Sora is a great budget friendly bikepacking bike option. Efficiency too & the angles of say an ISO lends itself to one being perfectly positioned for long periods of time (days) with an ability to effortlessly switch from one terrain to another (trail, singletrack, road & gravel). BIKEPACKING.com is dedicated to exploration by bicycle. Thanks in advance for spreading the word! The limiting factor for the outer rings is the Braze-on Front Derailleur mount. We removed a couple of chainlinks and adjusted limit-screws and whatnot and it all seems to work rather well! Categorised as a gravel bike, that is designed to take you off the beaten track. We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices. Alternative Bags; Bike Bag for HIRE; Fork Bags; Frame Bags; Handlebar Bags; Hip Bags; Pannier Bags; Seat Bags; Supports; Top tube bags; Bar ends; Camping . I rode it unloaded on gravel, Pisgah singletrack, and around town. Fast and light at 9kg but lots of mounts for packing it up as well. I think the fitness of the rider is going to be a bigger difference maker than if you are on a Warbird or Cutthroat. Ive ridden the Salsa Cutthroat and loved it. In addition, the upper straps on a frame pack can often wear the paint a little. Not sure what you mean by a drop. Vee Rubber Snow Avalanche and Snowshoe XL 4.8 tires ensure you can power through the snow, mud, sand. Magura Trail Sport hydraulic disc brake with four front pistons and two at the rear for maximum power and control. Salsa Cutthroat GRX 600 (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) $3,599 (opens in new tab) View (opens in new tab) See all prices. Salsa engineers also thought about fans of dynamo hubs and their related charging units and lights. It is more then capable! Leatherman And also compatibility with Surly-8 and 24-Pack racks. Did a mega road/gravel ride yesterday ending with a lap of Ladybower. The bike has 210 Speed gearing which is plenty. Half Roll electrical tape The Salsa uses a press-fit bottom bracket. Ive spoken To Dom from Mason and the Insearchof seems (on paper anyway) close to my perfect bike. The 2021 Salsa Cutthroat Apex 1 is the mainstay of the lineup and comes with a 111 Apex 1 drivetrain featuring a Raceface Ride crankset (36T), WTB Sera/i23 wheels, TRP Spyre brakes, and an 11-42T cassette. A good choice of 2x gearing can certainly help with this as well as provide other benefits to the chainline over a 1x. The attraction of the Mason is its off-road ability, and its an exciting bespoke build from a UK company who I can call on with anytime I fancy. tires, also has an internal sleeve through which a dynamo wire can be routed. I got it for future adventures such as TD. FWIW I would say if you test an ISO one aspect I quickly realised is this bike is best ridden almost entirely on its drops -I never go on the hoods like a road bike even when climbing. New "Dream Build" Salsa Cutthroat AXS with SID SL Ultimate Fork 58cm. refresh results with search filters open search menu. Wool Tech T It comes with a top tube mount and 3 water bottle mounts. Two bikes have caught my imagination: The Mason Insearchof and the Salsa Cutthroat. We have over 300 original and curated bikepacking routes in our global network spanning nearly 50 countries. Im sounding like a bit of an arse here perhaps : ) plenty of riders like Jaquie Phelan and Richard Cunningham had preferences I wouldnt question and thats all this is, preferences and riding attitudes. 2 drybags Ride across the continent? It certainly goes fast (with a Josh on board at least). The luminance package with the Sinewave Beacon was a good upgrade, and Im looking forward to Dom and the team releasing the ISO front carrier that they teased a while ago. GRX is amazing as well along with the Venture Max bars (I went with 44 rather than the spec 42). While giving you a lightweight adventureframe. Comes with Surly Knard 293.0 tires, with a clearance for 27.5 x 3 (XSM) or 29 x 3 (MXL) tires (with or without fenders). 2 pencils/eraser In both Pisgah and all the random chunder we ran across in Cuba, I never felt like the bike was too much to handle, or not tough enough. Codey is the name! Salsa bills their Cutthroat as an Ultra-Endurance bikepacking rig. Yes they look a lot higher which makes sense so you can actually use the drops most of the time. And a digital membership where you can read all the digital magazines is normally 25, and now 12.50 with the code. 200,000 feet of climbing. Welcome to take a look at mine (Im in Totley). Sometimes called a "carbon Fargo," the Cutthroat is an excellent alternative for folks with a higher budget and/or more performance-oriented goals. And it has a nice elastic drawstring on the top for strapping wet clothes. I think what sometimes gets conflated is the difference between a gravel & adventure bike, I get often asked about my ISO as if its a gravel bike, then I explain the differences (boost single 34t front ring geometry & loading capacity) check out the load Josh Ibbett put on his front fork for GBduro. Obvs that is defined territory but i will never ever sell it. Basically a beefed up all rounder. The final issue to overcome was finding a suitable MTB crankset. Carbonfiend, I dont doubt its a good bike for you, what Im getting at is that the good things it offers over a lot of MTBs for bikepacking will be things like quicker-steering and that drop bars just dont enhance off-road riding. Wheels and fat tires probably overkill for a gravel race. Ive got a bolt in frame bag from Straight cut and you can fit loads in it. Every feature was evaluated and designed to obliterate long-distance cycling route and event records. Its a bike you can pack up your life on and go across the Siberia or the Rockies on or you can simply do what we did and load up for a cheeky midweek overnighter on the South Downs and enjoy the fresh air. Wool lightweight socks Honestly it tears me up but I genuinely believe that I was destined to ride bikes for the rest of my life! And with two of us jackhammering these bikes for 20 days straight, I think I can attest to their durability. There was always the risk that there was some random design feature to discover at the last minute that threw all of the above out the window. 1 light button-down shirt Share. I use my rigid El Mariachi as my adventure bike and I find it perfect. Cutthroat carbon fork features Three-Pack mounts and internal routing for a dynamo cable. 10-spd chainrings work fine with 11-spd drivetrains so this is where I focussed next. I know steel is real and all that but the Cutty has the Class V rear end which does a great job of killing uncomfortable vibes. The Apex 1 model comes in your choice of three colorways for $2899. The V2 update to the Salsa Cutthroat brings the option of fitting one of Salsa's direct mount frame bags. And the option for 293.0 / 27.53.0-4.0 wheelsets for a mix of riding. The bike features powerful, weather-independent post mount disc brakes which are said to be great for long descents and are what you need when descending with a fully loaded bike. They are meant to be ridden over rough chunder for 18 hours a day, thrashed, and hammered. At first glance you will notice a new color scheme, with the Gloss Earth Grey color with grey and Mustard decals. Lack of gear range might be an issue. Gorilla tape But what about the bike? Suspension although not required is another factor that some bikepacking bikes have. Immodium IME if the drops are low set to be used as a lower position benefit then they stress you too much on long off-road rides and you end up on the hoods a lot which int good for comfort or control compared to an MTB bar, if theyre set higher, well then theyre just like a very narrow flared MTB bar. Crossed a desert in the Sudan earlier this year.. not by bike though! The other GRX Rear derailleur, the RX810 version, supposedly only works with a maximum cassette sprocket of 34t, but has the higher chainwrap capacity of 40T. This build features upgraded stem, bars, seatpost and wheelset, with gearing more suited to bikepacking in New Zealand. The Genesis Vagabond is a monstercross bike in the loosest sense of the term; the illegitimate lovechild of a road and mountain bike, a frankenbike that has long been the staple of shed tinkerers, the result of many an experimental I wonder if spare parts box builds. Passport One point to note on the Front Derailleur. As far as we could tell, no one had completed a full off-road traverse of Cuba, and there wasnt much detail on many of her tracks, both mapped or otherwise. Regards the looks it different but frankly its more about its performance I also like its uniqueness. Not for me. A steel bike will not be as maneuverable and quick as the Cutthroat. For something that is purpose built for bikepakcing. The topic Mason Insearchof vs Salsa Cutthroat is closed to new replies. Priced to sell at $7000 CONTACT Just wondered if anyone had ridden either or both of these bikes and had an opinion? At Cycle Travel Overload we are all about inspiring people to get outside and explore more! 8oz sealant for initial setup But I feel I am missing out on what a true bikepacking bike is all about. Seven frame sizes, from 49mm to 61mm, cover . The Local Overnighters Project is a unified effort to document and map one-night bikepacking routes all over the worldby locals, in their own backyards. I went for the ISO due to its leanings towards being more off road its boost spacing has a 1x XT front ring can be converted to 27.5 and frankly its just that bit more bespoke. The Cutthroat fork, with clearance for 29 x 3.0in. Ive also played around with it as an XC MTB here in the Chilterns & it snaps in & out of singletrack corners with fun and speed. Salsa's 'Class 5 Vibration Reduction System' helped reduce fatigue on long rides. I dont need to go in that direction as I also have XC HT and FS. It was designed for the Tour Divide so comfort is key. The title, 983,000 revolutions, is based on the estimated wheel rotations during my ~1400 mile test period with the Salsa Cutthroat.