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Salsa Stormchaser flies in with single speed drivetrain and massive mud clearance

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Salsa announced the Stormchaser, a new aluminum gravel bike that’s made specifically for mud and poor weather conditions. With clearance for 700x50mm tires and a single-speed drivetrain, it is designed to keep on truckin’ no matter what nature throws your way. Alternator flat mount dropouts and multiple bottle/gear mounts round out the package.

Salsa considers the Stormchaser to be their doomsday-prepped gravel bike – for times when even their Warbird might not cut it. Those with experience know that in the worst conditions, you need simplicity, mega tire clearance, and a single gear.

The 6066-T6 aluminum frame features Salsa’s Class 5 Vibration Reduction System (VRS). They quote maximum tire clearance at 50mm for both 700c and 650b applications, or 45mm with fenders. To keep bottom bracket heights in check, Salsa gives a minimum tire size of 650b x 47mm or 700c x 32mm.

12mm thru axles keep the wheels bolted up front and rear. The rear-end also uses Salsa’s Alternator flat mount dropouts, allowing for 15mm of chainstay length adjustment. They also offer an alternative dropout for use with 1x geared drivetrains, should you decide to go that route (complete bikes ship ONLY with SS dropouts, while framesets include both sets).

Size 57.5 – 61 frames feature three bottle mounts in the main triangle, with smaller frames featuring two. All frames have an accessory mount on the underside of the downtube, a top tube Salsa EXP mount, and fender/rack mounts.

Click to enlarge.

Seven sizes complete the range, with full geometry listed above.

Spec & Pricing

Without a groupset per se, only one level of complete bike is offered. It includes both 17t and 18t cogs, for a complete bike price of $1,499. All sizes include wider-than-average Salsa Cowchipper bars.

The Stormchaser frameset includes both sets of rear dropouts, and is compatible with SS, 1x mechanical, and Di2 drivetrains (maximum 38t chainring). It is priced at $1,099.

The Stormchaser is available immediately through Salsa retailers. Update: Salsa has since released an updated availability date of April 2020. -Ed

SalsaCycles.com

 

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17 Comments
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Greg
Greg
4 years ago

Made for mud clearance, but only one press shot that even comes close to illustrating the design?

threeringcircus
threeringcircus
4 years ago
Reply to  Greg

Saw one up close at Mid South today. Clearance is indeed pretty big at the chainstays. Still…if it’s so crappy that I need to ride this, I’d rather spend the day at Iron Monk than $1500 on a bike I’ll ride once.

con
con
4 years ago

70° head tube angle – why?

gibboon
gibboon
4 years ago
Reply to  con

Because with the 51mm offset fork it gives a 70mm trail figure. So good high speed stability combined with low speed manoeuvrability.
Instead of you know…..being a road bike.

Bart
Bart
4 years ago
Reply to  con

A floppy sort of trail number but a neutral lower trail might feel bad from that high front end. Disconnected.

mtbinavl
mtbinavl
4 years ago

Any more details on what appears to be the anti wear metal plates on the inside of the fork crown? That seems genuinely smart

Chader09
Chader09
4 years ago
Reply to  mtbinavl

Yeah, cool feature and surprising they don’t seem to draw attention to it. I suspect it’s similar to what we see some builders add around the chainstay on the drive side, to limit damage from chain suck. Great idea. Someone should sell that “armor” for retrofit to existing frames and forks (maybe they do, but I’ve not seen it).

John
John
4 years ago
Reply to  mtbinavl

That wear guard shows up in other Salsa forks, on the Warbird and the Cutthroat that I’m personally aware of. I’d actually like to see them expand it a bit.

Heffe
Heffe
4 years ago

Aw, I hoped they were coming out with something more interesting than this.

AJ
AJ
4 years ago

Looks like kona sutra and kona unit had a sister.
surly ogre is the father. moots baxter is the mother.

J'Anky Teal
J'Anky Teal
4 years ago

I dig it, especially for the money. Not sure about what look like ram air crud scoops where the chainstays meet the bb, especially if there’s no derailleur cable filling the hole.

badbikema
badbikema
4 years ago

Love the SSCXWC golden bikini reference in the paint! Craig beet SVEN.

Kona
Kona
4 years ago
Reply to  badbikema

Because Sven didn’t want the tattoo. You don’t put a bumper sticker on a Ferrari…

Huffagnolo SuperMagna
Huffagnolo SuperMagna
4 years ago

Make it in Titanium and I am buying!

Joey
Joey
4 years ago

Hope some one was riding one at Mid South today. Mud fest!

Dustin
Dustin
4 years ago
Reply to  Joey

The guy in the photos was! Matt Acker, 8th place overall.

Davechopoptions
Davechopoptions
4 years ago

Tyre clearance looks good until you see the chainstay length and the very limited max chainring size.

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