Home > Bike Types > Mountain Bike

Salsa Cycles announces all-new Beargrease 27.5″ fat bikes for 2019

13 Comments
Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

Salsa Cycles just announced the latest iteration of their venerable high-performance fat bike, the all-new 2019 Beargrease. Building on the success of the current platform, Salsa’s lead designer Pete Koski said the updated bike isn’t necessarily changed, but substantially improved.

For 2019 the Beargrease gets a few tweaks to further its mission as a fast and nimble all-season mountain bike. The most significant changes are to the rear triangle and fork. Following recent trends, the rear spacing was pushed to 197-mm without any alterations to the existing Q-factor. This permits the use of a wider wheel package with a max width of a 4.5-inch tire on 26-inch rims. The new bike will continue to ship on 27.5-inch rims with a 4-inch tire.

Up front the three top level Beargrease models get two new forks. The Kingpin Deluxe fork utilizes an all-carbon layup with updated features. Aimed at the winter racer and adventure rider, the Kingpin now includes Three-Pack mounts on both the leading and trailing edges of each fork blade. A mid-blade bolt accommodates a front pannier rack and internal routing accepts wiring for dynamo hubs. You’ll also find the new Kingpin fork on select models of updated Mukluk and Blackborow fat bikes as well.

The standard Kingpin fork offers all the features of the Deluxe model but with an aluminum steerer tube. To maximize its all-conditions potential, the Kingpin fork fits a 5-inch tire mounted to a 100-mm 26-inch rim.

Since winter racers need to portage more gear than most, the new frame now accepts Salsa’s own 170/177 Alternator rear rack. Keeping the frame clear for additional bags, new internal sleeves help route cables and lines within the frame with a minimum of mechanical headache. The growing popularity of dropper posts for winter riding mandated the new frame include internal cable routing ports on the seat tube.

Perhaps the best news for riders on the smaller end of the fit spectrum is the addition of an XS frame size.

Overall, not much about the 2019 Beargrease carries over save for the proven ride qualities the bike is known for. Koski said it was of paramount importance they not alter the stiffness, power transfer, and predictable handling Beargrease riders have come to appreciate. With the top level bike ringing in at $5599, the entry point sells for a respectable $2299 spec’ed with a Deore drivetrain.

Beargrease Carbon XO1 Eagle – $5,599

Salsa Cycles just announced their all-new Beargrease for 2019

The top model follows the parts spec from the previous year with carbon fiber rims from Whiskey Parts Co. and a full SRAM XO Eagle drivetrain.

Beargrease Carbon GX Eagle – $3,899

Salsa Cycles just announced their all-new Beargrease for 2019

The GX Eagle bike drops in price considerably with the swap to aluminum wheels and a slightly less expensive parts package. It still retains the top level Kingpin Deluxe all-carbon fork.

Beargrease Carbon NX Eagle – $2,899

Salsa Cycles just announced their all-new Beargrease for 2019

The NX bike drops just below the $3,000 mark but shouldn’t sacrifice much in terms of performance. The standard Kingpin fork adds an aluminum steerer but keeps all of the new rack mounting features of the full carbon fork.

Beargrease Carbon Deore 1x – $2,299

Salsa Cycles just announced their all-new Beargrease for 2019

With excellent bang-for-the-buck, the entry point swaps the Kingpin fork for the previous generation Bearpaw fork.

The 2019 Salsa Beargrease in all four models are available now through Salsa dealers.

The 2019 Salsa Beargrease in all four models are available now through Salsa dealers.

salsacycles.com 

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

13 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
lesmcluffalot
lesmcluffalot
5 years ago

Beautiful Anti-Zwift technology.

Frank
Frank
5 years ago

With all the mounting points, what the difference now between the Beargrease and the Mukluk?

Matt
Matt
5 years ago
Reply to  Frank

Alternator swinging dropouts for one. Beargrease is fixed rear dropout.

Christopher Lowell
Christopher Lowell
5 years ago
Reply to  Frank

1 degree on the head angle and 7mm chain stay, compared to my 2013 mukluk. They buillt a carbon Mukluk

The Dude
The Dude
5 years ago

(deleted)

Jason Etter
Jason Etter
5 years ago
Reply to  The Dude

For insults to land correctly. They have to be spelled right.

Craig
Craig
5 years ago
Reply to  The Dude

Awesome color schemes

Heffe
Heffe
5 years ago

Nice bike but so hideous. I’d have to have it redone.

Fred Gravelly
Fred Gravelly
5 years ago

Yeah they should do a few color options for those of us who aren’t fans of “obnoxiously trendy” colors

Celest Greene
Celest Greene
5 years ago
Reply to  Fred Gravelly

My thoughts exactly. Really wanted to like the Cutthroat too but can’t imagine it’ll age well.

Dan Lind
5 years ago

Why switch to a 197mm rear spacing and ONLY be able to fit 4.5″ wide tires? My 177mm LaMere will run 4.8″ and still has a narrower Q-factor than the Beargrease….but I don’t have to worry about banging my legs off the seatstays. IMO, the Beargrease was better suited as a fat bike “racer’s” bike. Leave the wide spacing and multitude of rack mounts for the more laid-back Mukluk which suits the adventure and touring rider much better.

Pinky
Pinky
5 years ago

One improvement they could have made was to run the front brake line thru the fork.

Kevin
Kevin
5 years ago

How about an XL that’s long enough for me over 6′ tall (480+ reach)? On a Bigfoot now, but after a few years on it would like to get off the qr and something with axles, but very few choices. Also, every bike should have a black, grey or some subdued color option these days.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.