Salsa Cycles is an American

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

brand based in

Bloomington, Minnesota Bloomington is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, on the north bank of the Minnesota River, above its confluence with the Mississippi River, south of downtown Minneapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 89,987, ma ...

. 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 (topography), summit area, and ...

, road, and gravel bicycles, as well as bicycle components. The Salsa Cycles brand, along with its sister brands

Surly Bikes Surly Bikes, or Surly, is a bicycle brand based in Bloomington, Minnesota, United States, that was founded in 1998. It is a division of Quality Bicycle Products, a manufacturer and distributor of bicycles and bicycle parts. Despite sharing a simi ...

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 m ...

. 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 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 has ...

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 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, resistant to corrosion in ...

, 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 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 In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

References

{{American bicycle manufacturers Cycle manufacturers of the United States