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The Salsa Flyway Replaces the Warbird as Their Modern Gravel Racer + Updates to Other Gravel Platforms

Salsa's new gravel bike, the Flyway
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Salsa heads into 2026 with updates to three of its gravel platforms: the Fargo, Cutthroat, and Journeyer. The updates include new colors and component options, including gravel suspension forks offered on some complete builds.

Oh, and they are also adding another gravel bike to their lineup! Introducing the Flyway.

The Salsa Flyway

First, let’s see what Salsa has been cooking up with their new gravel platform, the Flyway. Salsa says this is the bike you will want to ride every day of the week. It is the platform that is confident between race tape, yet comfortable enough for a weekend (or week) in the woods.

Salsa continues to push away from traditional road geometry on the new Flyway. The head tube is a bit slacker, the reach is longer, and the bottom bracket is lower to provide stability. However, the chainstays remain relatively short for quick responsiveness, and the seat tube is steeper, providing more comfort and better power transfer.

The Flyway comes in two carbon offerings: Deluxe and Standard. Salsa’s Standard carbon layup prioritizes performance and minimizes weight, with an ML-size frame weighing just 1,200g. The Deluxe goes even further, dropping the same frame down to 1,050g.

These frames are compatible with 40mm travel forks.

Salsa equipped the Flyway with 12 x 148mm spacing and room for 50mm tires in the rear. The fork is compatible with up to 57mm tires. It has a 47.5mm chainline, a UDH, and is compatible with both 2x and 1x drivetrains. It also features headset cable routing.

There are six frame sizes: XS, SM, MD, ML, L, and XL. The two smallest sizes fit two bottle cages in the frame, while MD-XL can fit three. There are multiple other mounting points throughout the Flyway, including bag mounts and rack compatibility.

Salsa offers the Flyway in five builds and a frame-only option. 

  • Flyway DLX RED: $11,999
  • Flyway DLX Force: $7,999
  • Flyway Rival Sus: $5,499
  • Flyway Apex: $4,499
  • Flyway GRX 610: $3,499
  • Flyway DLX Frameset: $2,799

Updates to the Gravel Lineup

Salsa is also updating colors and spec of the Fargo, Cutthroat, and Journeyer. Also, the Cutthroat will have a complete build option with front suspension. 

The Salsa Cutthroat

  • Rival GX: $7,299
  • Apex: $4,599
  • GRX 610: $3,599
  • Frame-only: $2,599

Fargo

  • Apex: $3,399
  • Frame-only: $1,599
  • Ti Frame: $3,299

Journeyer

  • GRX 610: $2,299
  • Cues 10: $1,799
  • Essa 8: $1,299
  • Frame-only: $899

salsacycles.com

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Gravel Nut
Gravel Nut
2 months ago

Are they adding a bike to the lineup or replacing the Warbird? It says both here and it’s very confusing.

arm85
arm85
2 months ago
Reply to  Gravel Nut

I think Flyway is supposed to replace Warbird since they are so similar. Just too much overlap between these two models.

dontcoast
2 months ago

Holy Stack Height Batman

Mudmudmud
Mudmudmud
2 months ago

This thing is a race bike? That stack is huge! You’d look like a praying mantis riding that thing.

Astro_Kraken
Astro_Kraken
2 months ago
Reply to  Mudmudmud

There have been a bunch of road bike tests recently that a higher stack height isn’t really any less aero. Sure, it *feels* faster, but so do 120 psi tires.

Whether or not it impacts handling is different but geometry can be adjusted around it.

King County
King County
2 months ago
Reply to  Mudmudmud

I do not see where it says this is a ‘race bike’. It states, “It is the platform that is confident between race tape, yet comfortable enough for a weekend (or week) in the woods”, yet, you are loosing your sht over the stack. It is as if you read an article on a different bike and commented here.

Ben Slabaugh
Ben Slabaugh
2 months ago

This is a great looking bike, but the continual reach number inflation on gravel bikes is a problem. On mountain bikes, steeper seat tube angles and longer reach have been offset by stubby stems and slack headtube angles. For a carbon gravel bike it isn’t a tenable option to spec an ultra-short stem because the headtube angle remains steep.

The large size Flyway has a massive 420.7mm reach, but still specs a 90mm stem on the Salsa website. To ride this bike, I would need to drop to a 60mm stem, which would compromise both looks and handling. Smaller sizes won’t work because the stack heights are too low. Fairlight’s offering of tall sizing with higher stacks and shorter reaches makes a ton of sense vs. continuing to extend top tubes until the geometry simply no longer fits many riders.

Rich E
Rich E
2 months ago
Reply to  Ben Slabaugh

On my XL 405/620 road bike im running a 30mm stack and 130mm stem, so an XL 435/644 Flyway id run a 100mm stem in a road position, maybe a 90mm with a wider bar. Sounds perfect for me. A lot of XL are too short and low.

Matt
Matt
2 months ago

Salsa’s Standard carbon layup prioritizes performance and minimizes weight, with an ML-size frame weighing just 1,200g. The Deluxe goes even further, dropping the same frame down to 1,050g.

So… the Standard does not minimize weight; the Deluxe does.

nooner
nooner
2 months ago

Looks killer Salsa! Ben Delaney has raced this bike and has a great review up on youtube.

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