 |
Salsa adds carbon versions of the Woodchipper, Cowchipper, and Cowbell bars for 2018 |
NOTE: Large doses of "my opinion" will be handed out in gloppy dollops today. You've been forewarned.....
Carbon Bars:
Salsa Cycles could probably lay claim to the three most popular off road/gravel/back road bars in existence now with their line up of the Woodchipper, Cowbell, and Cowchipper bars. These bars have been around for a while in two versions, a 6061 T-6 aluminum version and a 7000 series aluminum version, but curiously there were no carbon drop bars.
That's all been changed now with Frostbike's announcement that a carbon version of all three bars would now be available. All carbon models are at the same price of $215.00 each. The aluminum bar model in each version in 7050 T-6 aluminum is $75.00. So
why spend $140.00 more for carbon. Well, it would save you 75 grams, so says Salsa.
They also propose that the carbon bar, while being stiffer, actually absorbs more vibrations. Hmm......
I've heard that story before with carbon forks. Not buying that one. The theory of carbon absorbing "higher frequency vibrations" is just that, a
theory, and in reality, carbon just passes different vibrations than steel does. It isn't a "buzz" that we are trying to damp here. Anyway, yeah....... Not buying into that theory. The bar needs to move to mitigate the constant input from gravel and a stiffer bar will move less.
Then the bar has a wider 31.8mm section for better mounting of gizmos and aero bars, or whatnot. Okay, yeah, good deal there, but for $140.00 extra bucks? Look, they will sell every one of these they can make because,
carbon. But I have a hard time with saving 75 grams for a $1.86 per gram. Especially for a stiffer bar. If the bar was demonstrably more comfortable? Okay, I might bite on that.
 |
Surly Midnight Special- image courtesy of Surly Bikes |
Surly Midnight Special:
I posted about all this stuff today on
Riding Gravel here, so I'll spare the deets. Let's get to the meat of my opinion here then.
This is the furthest thing from a gravel bike geometry, short of being a rando bike, I can think of . High bottom bracket and a steep head angle make the Midnight Special a non-starter for me. But hey!
Don't let what I think works best keep you away.
That said, if you read the Surly blog post on this bike carefully it is right there in front of your eyes to see that this bike is an outgrowth of the Pacer, Surly's full on roadie sled. This just takes bigger tires is all, oh......
and flat mount disc brakes.
It is notable that there are roadie things going on here like down tube shifter bosses, a lack of all those wild fork braze ons, and short-ish chain stays which point to more of a road bike usage than it does an adventure/gravel bike use. Through axle front and rear and the aforementioned flat mount disc brakes are really making this a sibling to the Pacer with modern touches. If it couldn't take great big rubber, that would be easier to see here, I think.
No single speed option makes it an odd bike for Surly, or is it really a moving on? I'm noticing more and more that the "old Surly" is fading away, and the "single speed for everything" philosophy seems to be going to the wayside. Maybe I have that wrong.........
 |
The "Gorilla Monsoon"..........Really? -Image courtesy of All City |
Oh! That Name Though!
It is kind of a tradition at Quality Bicycle Products for any bicycle they make to have a weird name. That all started with the '02 announcement of the Surly Karate Monkey. That will be a model name no company at QBP will ever live up to, in my opinion, but bless those folks-
they keep trying!
All City is no stranger to bizarrely named bicycles
. The Spacehorse, Mr. Pink, The Electric Queen, and now.........
drum roll, please........The Gorilla Monsoon.
Please make it stop!
All right, besides the weirdo name, this bike is really a pretty dang cool rig. That bi-plane fork crown! Steel fork! Fade paint job in Orange?
Yes! Okay, that had my attention, but the geometry is probably as jacked as the Surly, right?
Wrong!
This bike tics most of the boxes. They made the chain stays really wide here to accept these big, mountain bike WTB tires, so the chain ring clearances suffer a bit, but otherwise, this bike is the best thing I've seen out of QBP for gravel riding since the intro of the Warbird.
And did I mention that Orange fade paint job and bi-plane fork crown? Oh......
I did? Uhh.......okay. Moving on now!
I could live with this bike. It's pretty nice on paper and the images are looking great here. I'm not sure about 1X for gravel. I'd have to see about that. The crank chain ring options seem a bit limiting, and yes......
I like front changers. But that said, a 1X probably is in my future because,
fashion. Gotta at least try it. Whether it is this bike or something like it, I will give it a try.
So, of all the Frostbike news, which also included a slimmed down Full Suspension line up from Salsa, the (gulp)
Gorilla Monsoon is the best thing I've seen here. Although I
despise that name.
Anyway.......