First ride: Salsa El Mariachi – Golden Gate NRA

Finally, it’s done: I completed my Salsa El Marichia over the weekend and had my first ride on Sunday. What an amazing bike! I never tried 29er’s before but all the positive things I have read before are true. It’s truely a race bike but has the old spirit of a steel frame – it lives! And it rides so easy! The big wheels don’t care about stones and roots in the way, the bike easily goes over it like none of my other mountain bikes before. Here are some pics from my tour today. I started in Sausalito (Marin County) all the way to the coast and then up to the Golden Gate Brigde and back. A 2 hours ride with some nice single trails and fast fire roads.

Thanks to Scott from www.endlesscyclesonline.com for putting this frame on hold for me and for his advices for parts and how to set it up. Scott really knows what he talks about and I can highly recommend their shop (they are located in Castro Valley).

Here are more detailed pictures:

Here is a rundown of the parts I have used:

Frame: Salsa Mariachi, 18″
Fork: Fox 32 RLC 120 29er (reduced to 100mm with 3cm of sag – cool!)
Wheels: Mavic Crossmax
Tyres: Specialized Fast Track LK S-Works
Crankset: RaceFace Turbine 28-40
Drivetrain: Shimano XT (except Front Derailleur which is SRAM X0)
Headset: Chris King
Setpost: Crank Bros Cobalt 2
Seat: Selle Italia Flite (Original from 1997 !)
Brakes: Shimano XT (AMAZING!)
Pedals: Shimano XT

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