Wednesday, November 29, 2006

El Mariachi

Anyone read Dirt Rag? On page 68 of issue 125, there's an ad for an El Mariachi from Salsa Cycles. The complete bike is a fully rigid 29er with a 1x9 drivetrain and mechanical disc brakes. This bike interests me for a few reasons.

It has the good qualities of a rigid single speed, but is a bit more flexible. Sometimes when I ride my single speed, I'm thinking that I don't necessarily want 26 more gears, but that a few more would be nice. It looks to have a single speed crankset up front with a 32 tooth chain ring, and a 9 speed cassette in the rear.

I've yet to ride a 29er off-road, but I can imagine that it'd be smoother through the rocks...maybe even feeling like it had a wee bit of suspension compared to a 26 inch wheeled bike. The True Temper Ox frame should help with some of the shock absorption too.

The disc brakes are a nice touch too, helping stop in the winter mess of mud and snow.

I want to get a road bike next, but a bike like this one could definitely be in my future...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I subscribe and read Dirtrag. The El Mariachi looks nice in person. We have lots of Salsa bikes around here, near the home of Quality Bikes.

I love my 29er, but it needs a suspension fork for me to use it for all off-roading. Without the fork, there are some courses that are too rough. I mean the small rough stuff like washboard-type erosion or constant tree-root covered trails. It eats the big stuff like I can't believe.