Leaving behind beautiful Topanga Canyon for a few days….
Saddle Drive in Ogden, Utah is one of our favorite events. This event is hosted by Quality Bicycle Products. This event gives brands like Surly, Salsa, All-City, and Foundry a chance to reveal some new bikes….and us a chance to ride them!
All-City threw a party the first night at the famous Kokomo Club. One of the best parts of the event is the chance to share a beverage with other dealers and catch up on the happenings of the bike industry.
The following two days included being shuttled up to Snow Basin Ski Resort to ride some of the newest bikes on some fantastic trails. When we arrived at Snow Basin it was 48 degrees and raining. What the heck!? I thought that this was the desert!
After the Salsa Presentation and a couple of meetings, the rain had stopped. It was time to ride! I grabbed the mint green SS Karate Monkey from Surly and headed up the trails. What a fun bike!
The combination of a little rain and some mild temps made for some ideal trail conditions. The views were absolutely spectacular riding up into the mountains.
The show had hyped a lot of bikes and there was a lot of buzz around the new Salsas. I figured I would try a couple of them out. Wow! The new Salsas were amazing. The Pony Rustler had the same frame as the existing carbon Horsethief but was a 27.5+ platform. The neat thing about this bike is that it uses the new BOOST standard from Sram and with two wheelsets (and one frame) you can essentially have two bikes.
The Pony Rustler blew me away with the ride. I ended up meeting up with our friend Kyle from Golden Saddle Cyclery in LA. We rode several loops up the Sardines trail and had a blast on the new bikes.
Two other bikes that blew my mind were the DeadWood which is a 29+ version of the Fargo, also utilizing BOOST wheel standards. Man ohhhh man did it eat up the trial. So fun to ride! And Salsa nailed the graphics.
I was excited to see a drop and flatbar touring bike offered from Salsa this year. The Marrakesh has two different frame geometries depending on the flatbar or dropbar set up. The bike comes spec’d with a brooks saddle, rear Salsa rack, Scwalbe tires, and a full Shimano Deore group for $1599. This bike is pretty great.
All in all the Saddle Drive Experience was a great one. QBP always does a rockstar job of accommodating all of the dealers and making sure everyone is well informed on the new products. It was wonderful to see old friends from around the country and share some time on the trails together. The new Surly, Salsa, All-City, and Foundry bikes look AND ride really well and we are excited to see some new stuff in the store.
Look for our UnPredict Your Wednesday trip and Salsa Demo on August 18-19th.
Thanks for the memories Utah!
