Salsa Cycles is an American bicycle brand based in Bloomington, Minnesota. The company produces touring,

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

, road, and gravel bicycles, as well as bicycle components. The Salsa Cycles brand, along with its sister brands Surly Bikes and All-City Cycles, is owned by the Bloomington-based

Quality Bicycle Products Quality Bicycle Products (QBP) is a large distributor of bicycle parts and accessories in the bicycle industry, with revenues of $150 million in 2008. In addition to wholesaling bicycles and components from other manufacturers, QBP owns and ...

. The Salsa brand is widely recognized by winter biking enthusiasts in cold climates.

History

Ross Shafer founded Salsa Cycles in the early 1980s. The company initially focused on producing bicycle

frames A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (co ...

and custom stems. In 1997, the brand was acquired by Minnesota-based

, which transitioned from a wholesale bike-parts distributor to a bike-brand conglomerate, with a focus on biking in climates with cold winters. In 2021, Quality Bicycle Products employed over 600 people.

Products

Salsa has bike frames made in Asia out of

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It h ...

carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resista ...

, and chromoly steel. They have several bike touring bicycles, fat tire bikes, bikepacking bikes, and gravel bikes, as well as full-suspension mountain bikes. Some Salsa frames are equipped with a unique

dropout Dropout or drop out may refer to: * Dropping out, prematurely leaving school, college or university Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Dropout'' (film), a 1970 Italian drama * "The Dropout", a 1970 episode of ''The Brady Bunch'' ...

design that Salsa has manufactured in Asia. The "alternator dropout" allows for a bike to be easily converted from a rear derailleur to a single speed, permits the use of several different hub standards, and allows for an adjustable wheelbase.

References

{{American bicycle manufacturers Cycle manufacturers of the United States