Friday, August 20, 2010

Salsa Woodchipper Review

Today was a relaxing day of bike maintenance at Sprague Brook.  I had some repair work to do on the Bianchi MUSS so I loaded the bike, my stand, and all the equipment I had with me to the park and set up shop.  Part of my maintenance was installing my 2nd pair of Salsa Woodchipper Handlebars.

I have them on my Salsa Vaya and a very knowledgeable and reputable bike guru - Guitar Ted (Does it make sense that someone so knowledgeable about bikes has Guitar as his first name??  I was thinking more like Derailleur Ted or Single Speed Ted would be more fitting - but hey I digress!) recommends these bars on his blog and uses them on his bike so I tried them out and loved them on the Vaya.  I then decided to try them on the MUSS.  Needless to say I am very happy!

There they are - I have red tape on both sets - Boring I know!
So I got the bike all set and headed off on the trails.  I have never ridden drops on single track so it took some adjusting but the bars gave me the ability to wrench hard on the pedals of the Single Speed beast.

Top Side View

One change I am planning on making to the cockpit of the MUSS is to add some cross brakes.  I decided on the trail when I almost went headfirst into the river that an upper set of brakes would be helpful for times when it is flat or downhill and I am riding the flat part of the bars.

Needless to say I am very happy with these and will be making another purchase for the next bike.  Maybe even the Felt Breed for cross season to get some more power out of riding SS during cross races.  Hmmm that thought just came to my mind!!!!

Have a great weekend and get out and ride your bike.  Tomorrow is a long ride to Sprague Brook from the house to give the bars and bike another run!  I cannot wait!!

1 comment:

MrDaveyGie said...

Good thoughts Bill. I am thinking drop bars on my snow bikes and hopefully I get me a Salsa snow machine. Seems my pedal style suits the drops bars the best and give the most power to the pedal.