I am working this winter on building up a Salsa Warbird frame and fork I found used online. I'll be posting more pictures up later but wanted to know where the other Warbird owners were at? Let's here from the Salsa crowd! What have you liked about this bike so far, what haven't you liked?
Here's a picture of the bike early in the build process with loaner wheels and seat off of my Vaya.
I have about 200 miles on my Warbird 2 that I bought in the fall. So far I love the bike and can't wait for the weather to break to get back out on it. I'm sure some of the joy comes from getting out on roads I normally would n't travel on but either way I still daydream about riding it.
I'm planning on doing a few gravel races on it so we'll see what I think after completing those. LOL.
I like and will probably keep the Cowbell bars and the Clement skins. I'll probably upgrade some of the components over time for no other reason other than I want to not because it needs it. The Tiagra shifter cabling is a little messy looking up front so I may do something about that also.
been on my salsa warbird 2 for about 2 months, absolutely love it ! i usually ride a de rosa carbon road bike set up fairly racer style but when i got my salsa i put some 4 season tyres on just to get used to it before doing some big off road adventures ! wow ! so impressed my de rosa is just on 7kg (15 lbs) and the salsa is already so much faster on the flats and downhills , it just puts you in the best pedalling position and feels very natural ! it really lacks going up hills but i think it is the weight and upright position . over the weekend we rode a 62 mile 8600 ft elevation trail just north of me here in Sydney the bike handled all day like a champ no problems handling the big hills ! out of 11 bikes all the guys rated the salsa highest for down hilling , navigating corrugated roads , and fast peddling across flats ! i love it ! fsa gossamer cranks and bb were damaged due to bad build so I'm running a chris king pf30 bb and shimano cx70 crankset first time use on this ride , shimano cx70 shifts a lot faster and cleaner off road not much difference for on road !
Hi guys, anybody have been able to fit a bigger tire than the MSO!? I wouldn't mind something a tad bigger, like the WTB NANO or the SURLY KNARD, just for the fun of it...
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I have been riding my Warbird TI for about a year now. I have about 5 bikes, but this bike has become my favorite. I have an extra set of wheels that are set up tubeless that I use for gravel. Only other modification has been the chainrings. I swapped the 36 for a 34 right away. Just this week I bought a 48 to replace the 46.
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\nI have ridden several gravel century events. The bike is quite a bit heavier than the carbon fiber CX setups, but it handles so much better than my Super X on gravel descents. The first gravel hill I bombed last season convinced me that this bike was a great decision.
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\nI have come to appreciate the comfort of this ride so much, that I really don't ride my skinny tire Madone much any more. Only when I'm riding with a very fast group or on a recovery day when my legs appreciate an easier workout.
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\nI rode this bike in the Dirty Kanza 200 last season. Spent 14 hours in the saddle. You can't help but hurt after that kind of time on gravel, but the bike kept me fresh. It's just such a sweet ride.
Jalm3yda wrote:Hi guys, anybody have been able to fit a bigger tire than the MSO!? I wouldn't mind something a tad bigger, like the WTB NANO or the SURLY KNARD, just for the fun of it... Cheers
The Surly Knard is 41c across so it would fit. It would be tight though. I don't know about the Nano though. I don't have any experience with it.
I have a Warbird for a year now, wonderful bike to do long rides on every surface. I have two sets of wheels, a Stans Alpha 340 with Hutchinson Sectour 28 tubeless and some WTB Stryker 29 with Knards 41 that are near the limit of the rear end. In the front Enve fork I was able to fit a Stans The Crow 29 x 2.0 but with little space.
I run a 1x10 drivetrain with 38 and 11-32 cassette, but I will switch to a compact front crankset to have a bette range of gears. Hope it helps.
