I have several Salsa bikes, and am thinking of adding a new Rustler. Does anybody here have any experience with this bike?
That’s a lot of travel, IMO. I know the Enduro stuff has become all the rage, but, unless it’s a mostly downhill run, that wouldn’t be much fun for anything else. Salsa’s Spearfish is the bike that has always intrigued me, from their lineup.
Thanks. I have raced (xc) a Spearfish and liked it. It was similar to my Spec epic, except my epic kept having issues while the Salsa never caused me any problems. Being over 50 now, the extra travel seems like a positive - Body parts seem to take longer now to recover.
I cross-shopped Salsa, before buying a Stumpjumper that was 120mm F&R. Before committing, I test rode an Epic FS. In hindsight, I should’ve bought the Epic. The Stumpy felt like a monster truck and the Epic felt like dance partner. That experience is what gives me pause with slacker geometries and longer travel.
It is tough to find the balance, depending on goals of course. The feel of my Epic (2013 carbon comp) was awesome, but not worth the headaches IMO. The rear thru axle would come loose no matter what you did - I ended up drilling a hole through the handle and I would zip tie to the frame. The roval wheels - they would flex and the spokes would need to be adjusted after each race. The rear brain shock - it would blow through the travel on any hard hits. I actually bent 3 shock bolts. Sent the shock back 3 or 4 times and they never got it working right. There were other smaller issues. I bought that bike new and weighed 148 pounds while racing it towards the front of the Comp class in xc. Nothing crazy. I replaced it with the Spearfish (which was maybe 3/4 pound heavier) and it held up much better. Been riding Salsa's ever since. Maybe things are different now, or maybe I just got a lemon epic, who knows.
