The Salsa Blackborow Fears No Adventure
Price: $3,099
Weight: 38.9 lbs
Style: Cargo fat bike
Drivetrain: SRAM GX Eagle
Material: Aluminum
Travel: Rigid
Wheel Size: 27.5-in (stock build), 26, or 29.
Tire clearance: 26 x 4.33, 27.5 x 4.0, 29 x 3.0-in.
Cargo bikes are utilitarian, fat bikes are fun, and cargo fat bikes cross the line to straight up awesome. The Salsa Blackborow is a mid-tail cargo fat bike that’s ready to play. Hard. This burly, rugged-looking machine feels far lighter than you think it should, clocking in at 38.9 pounds for the size large, and the 27.5 by 3.8-inch Maxxis Minion FBF tires give it a smooth cushion as it rolls on 80mm-wide rims. In stock form it's rigid bike; if you want a little more give Mantiou's Mastodon fork is compatible with the BB, but you lose the stock-forks many mounting points.
Capable of hauling up to 420 lbs (combined rider and cargo weight), the Blackborow is a tool (toy?) for hauling you and your gear off the beaten path. The rear rack can fit 4 full-sized panniers and carry 110 pounds of cargo. The carbon Kingpin fork and main frame are also outfitted with eyelet bosses to attach more gear, such as Salsa’s Anything Cages, EXP frame packs, top tube bags, and Anything Cradles. There are also mounts for 3 water bottles tucked into the frame. Regardless of the season, the Blackborow can take you and your gear far off the grid, or simply get you to the same place in a more fun and adventurous fashion.
Choose Your Wheels
The theme of the Blackborow is adaptability and versatility. Not only can you strap a lot to it, it can also accept many different wheel and tire combos to fine tune it to your needs. 27.5 wheels with 3.8 tires are stock, but you can bump up to 4.0 tires on the stock wheels. Dropping down to 26 inch wheels lets you ride up to 4.33 tires for a bit more floatation. Or upsize to 29 inch wheels with 3.0 tires for a lighter and faster ride.
Hauls A Lot
The question with this bike isn’t what can you do, it’s what can’t you do. Okay, you probably won’t want to enter a some kinds of races on this bike, but that doesn’t mean all races are off limits for the Blackborow. Salsa-sponsored athlete Jay Petervary recently set a new course record at the Iditarod Trail Invitational aboard this bike.
For such a big bike, it’s not as heavy as you might think, thanks to an aluminum frame and carbon fork. And with a total capacity of 185 pound can really load this sucker down.
The rear rack is rated to carry up to 110 pounds, and will fit up to four full-sized panniers. If you want custom bags made, Salsa provides a handy document with all the rack’s dimensions, as well as the bike’s front-triangle dimensions for fitting a frame-pack.
The Kingpin carbon fork has internal routing for a dynamo hub, and has mounts-a-plenty for attaching multiples of Salsa’s aptly-named Anything Cage, additional water bottle cages, or a low-rider pannier rack.
Additional cargo space is found in the area between the seat tube and the rear tire, and two bosses on top tube let you attach a stash bag for gear you want to access on the fly. The frame has four water bottle cage mount locations-two on the seat tube, two on the down tube-though these might get covered up depending on the bags used.
If you're looking for a bit of help with parking a loaded Blackborow, there's a plate ready to accept your favorite heavy-duty kickstand.
SRAM GX Eagle 12-speed
For all your adventure and off-the-grid needs, the Blackborow sports a SRAM GX Eagle 1x12-speed drivetrain. The 30-tooth front ring with 10-50 cassette gives you a lot of range for when the going gets rough and is adequate for pedaling the bike when loaded.
Hayes MX Comp mechanical disc brakes are tasked with keeping this big rig under control. They may not offer the performance of hydraulic brakes, but a spare cable and housing is easy to pack, and easy to replace trailside. SUNringlé’s Mulefüt SL 80 wheels and the 3.8-inch Maxxis Minion FBF tires come tubeless ready.
It’s dropper post compatible too. Adding one will make a fully loaded bike easier to control in tricky terrain.
Long Enough to Haul Your Gear, Short Enough to Be Agile
The Blackborow is considered a mid-tail cargo fat bike. It’s much shorter than the Big Fat Dummy long tail cargo bike from sister-brand Surly-size large Blackborow wheelbase 1367mm, large BFD 1590mm. It can’t haul as much as the longer BFD with steel frame and fork, but Blackborow is lighter, more compact, and more maneuverable.
On the flip side is a bike like Salsa’s Cutthroat (short-tail?) adventure bike. The Cutthroat will be much lighter and more maneuverable, but can’t haul nearly as much as the Blackborow.
If you're wondering what the hell the Blackborow is for, that’s kind of the point. It’s described as a bike for, "off-road expedition / world touring / creative thinking," on Salsa’s website. Salsa has created an immensely capable and versatile platform that can be anything from a grocery getter, a replacement for a car in snowy mountain towns, a bike you can load for a week long fishing expedition, or a way to go bike glamping with everything including a literal (camp) kitchen sink.
It’s not so much what it is, but what it can be. And the Blackborow can be more things than almost any other bike on the market right now.
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