2023 Salsa

Blackthorn SLX

The Blackthorn is designed to be a trail bike that has no fear of approaching sketchy sections on the mountain while still being remarkably pedal-worthy for an all-day ride.

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Best known for its gravel and adventure bikes, Salsa has also spent years blending secret sauces for top-tier mountain bikes. The stealthy Blackthorn is its current 140mm travel rig that’s designed around a 160mm fork, modern angles, and a go-anywhere, ride-anything philosophy. If money is no object, and you want something a little different from the mainstream, it definitely stacks up against the best full-suspension trail bikes on the market. Need to know Salsa’s do-it-all 140mm carbon trail bike rolls on 29in wheels and is designed around a 160mm fork Dave Weagle’s Split Pivot suspension design helps separate acceleration and braking forces Aftermarket link (and shock) can transform the Blackthorn into the longer travel Cassidy model, but you’ll also need a 180mm travel fork. Super Boost 157mm rear hub standard to accommodate tyres up to 3.0in wide in 27.5in size. Frame The Blackthorn’s Split Pivot suspension and ability to transform the chassis into a longer travel rig also gives it something of a dual personality. How so? Well, while it looks clinically clean, Salsa says the frame construction is burly enough to handle a 180mm 29er fork, and, by swapping links and the shock stroke, the Blackthorn can be transformed into a completely different model called the Cassidy with 160mm rear travel. This Jekyll and Hyde trick saves on production costs, as it allows a single base frame to morph into two very different platforms. And while this approach is not unique to Salsa, most other brands aren’t so upfront about it. The aftermarket link kit needed to perform such a character switch will only set you back £155, but you do need to factor in the cost of swapping the shock and fork travel to match, so it’s not something I see many riders doing. Suspension Talking of shocks, the Blackthorn gets a Factory-level Fox DPX2 with its three-position compression adjuster. Also it’s worth pointing out that the leverage rate on both frame configurations is optimised for the extra progressivity inherent in air-sprung shocks, so there’s not enough ramp up to run a coil spring. For the rear suspension, Salsa enlists the help of Dave Weagle and his Split Pivot design, where the rear-most pivot is concentric with the rear axle. It’s very similar to Trek’s ABP design and because the brake caliper is mounted on the seatstay rather than the chainstay, it offers the design engineer more freedom to fine tune braking forces. The concentric pivot also allows for a very clean frame layout, although its 157mm wide Super Boost hub spacing may raise a few eyebrows; especially for riders looking for a frame upgrade, but wanting to use their existing wheels and drivetrain. Sizing and geometry The Blackthorn frame is available in four frame sizes (in both carbon or aluminium), where the carbon version ridden here employs subtly visible layers of carbon weave everywhere except the 6066 alloy seatstays. Salsa uses the EPS (expanded polystyrene) process, similar to other high-end bike firms to ensure optimum carbon fibre …Continue reading »

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James tests this single frame in both the Blackthorn and Cassidy guises, both of which are a bit of a change from the usual Salsa offerings.

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