At times it’s ideal for a full-squisher, at others a carbon road bike, and, sometimes, even an ultra-granny geared touring rig would fit the bill. The Warbird didn’t quite match some of the terrain we rode, but I will say that there is no single bike that would perfectly fit this route. Now don’t tell Salsa this, but there were a couple occasions on those roads where I white knuckled the drops and yelled over at Joe, “Holy shit we’re going to break these things!” Of course we didn’t break them - no matter how hard we tried. In fact, it consists of somewhat equal shares of dirt roads, buff singletrack, rooty mild-tech trails, and several stretches of Vermont’s finest ‘Class 4’ roads - forgotten, insanely rough, rutted, and rocky tracks that are often steep, and when you’re descending on them, they’re perfectly fit for a downhill bike. To clarify, the Growler isn’t all gravel. I talked Salsa in to sending a pair for Joe and I to demo on a route we put together called the Green Mountain Gravel Growler. To rationalize this incongruity I assumed the Warbird was reserved for easy lightweight overnighters.įast forward a few years, and after hearing only positives about the Warbird, I decided to give the 2017 model a go. The entire rig and kit weighed significantly less than my ride did unloaded.

Even loaded, it remained unbelievably lightweight. For the clinic he had it completely kitted out with his full weekend gear list. That particular Warbird was in fact his own, a bike that he considered his go-to for just about any occasion.

Ben, the Salsa rep who led the talk, had one setup for demonstration and seemed genuinely passionate about it. The first time I laid my eyes on a Salsa Warbird - or heard about one being used for bikepacking for that matter - was at a bikepacking clinic in San Diego.

Salsa warbird