And I’m excited about building it. 2012 Salsa Horsethief, but appears to have the 2013 Fox Float CTD Trail Adjust. Building it up with 130mm Revelations, Hope Pro2/Arch EX and 32/24 2×10 double+bash SLX. I’ll get some better photos later but here’s one for now.

Nice.

Have fun building then riding it.

Nice! 8)

Quite fancy building a 29er FS myself this year.

On the list is above & Turner Sultan……….

Sultan you say? 🙂

If you get in quick they’re available for £800, not many left though. I think the new ones are £1200. The shock was a nice surprise, I was expecting a standard 2012 Kashima RP23 and got a 2013 Kashima CTD instead.
EDIT: Having said that, those Sultans above are at a very good price.

21″ Raw would have been my 1st choice, not sure about Ano blue…….

A bit early just now, maybe leave it til the summer.

Sultan way too complicated. That Horsethief is lovely.

suits you sir.. 😀

Merci Yunki. I’m very excited, just need Parcelfarce to pull their finger out and deliver my forks tomorrow, and for them not to mess up delivering my wheels next week 🙂

Lovely that…

Ooh nice horse, id be interested to see the build and all up weight..

A friend of mine built an extra large up using xt, stans, hope, all the usual stuff and it came in at 30lb. Not bad for a big full susser 29er!

Very nice.

Any idea what the frame weight is?

6.5 to 7lb with shock, hanger, maxle etc. It’s about right for a 29er.

I’d like to get mine to 30lb, but it’ll start off at about 32lb I’d imagine.

Sambob,

My mate went for the Crests with pro 2’s. The wheels are the secret to a lighter bike. My full susser 29er weighed 27lb and that was with Salsa Semi’s which are much heavier than Crests. I suppose I could of saved around 1lb.

Hope Pro2 Evo/ Arch EX run tubeless. Tough enough and not particularly heavy. Will have On-One Smorgasbords on to start with though. Might get Nobby Nic/Racing Ralph Snakeskin if stuff starts to dry out a bit though.

Frame weight is 3.12kg on my reasonable accurate luggage scales including maxle, Hope Tapered headset and seatclamp. Seems fine to me, only 300g heavier than my FSR XC frame, which is for sale incidentally.

It’s going to be a great bike, you’ll love it! Salsa’s brilliant stuff. A pal of mine has the Dos Niner and he has that weighing 26/27lb.

Cheers. Cable guides almost had me stumped for a moment, but I’ve worked it out. Initially, it only looks like there are enough guides for two cables, but one cable gets fixed to the outside of the cable guide, rather than having it’s own.

Seriously tempted by a horsethief but the top tubes just look too long on paper (web) for me, would be great if you can measure yours when made up to see how it compares to Salsas figures as ive yet to own a bike which measured the same as what the manufacturers quoted……….

Any more pics? I’ve been undecided between a Spearfish and Horsethief for a while now. I prefer the look of the Spearfish and the fact it’s nearly £200 cheaper 🙂 , but the Horsethief’s got a lot of pros a normal BB and maxle rear and probably the clincher, 120mm rear travel.
What size is yours sambob?

I should have finished it by the middle of next week depending on when my wheels and forks arrive, so can measure it all then. Effective TT is 10mm longer than my FSR XC on paper, so I’ll have to see whether it actually feels any longer. What sort of thing you looking for cooie? It’s a large btw.

I had a spearfish and liked it except the front centre was too short and felt dodgy with flats and size 12 feet, was ok with spds though. Was my first 29er and fc was the one thing I forgot to check. Now on a scandal 29er for the winter which is great but trying to decide what 29fs for when/if things dry up (back doesn’t like ht’s on hard ground longer rides). Horsethief is perfect except the tt on paper, it may fit me with a 50mm stem, currently on a 70

I’ll probably end up with a 50mm stem, as my Specialized felt fine (if not slightly long) with a 70mm stem.

Re tyres, I’ve been running 2.25 racing ralph snakeskin on some arch ex’s on the SF and scandal, they are brilliant, only deep mud fazes them, yes they slide a bit in normal mud but very predictable, 2 punctures in 6 months which self sealed fine, not sure I will bother with anything beefier on the front

Hmm… Struggling to find any for less than about £40. If I can find some in Germany I might buy one and keep a Smorgasbord on the front…

Mine were from bike-discount.de £32 each at the mo

Oooo, cheers.

Merlin had RRs going cheap a few weeks ago…

I think the horsethief would be my first choice for an fs 29er. Would be perfect to ride Horsethief too… One day I’ll get back there…

If anyone’s thinking about getting a large you’re welcome to at least have a sit on mine once I’ve finished it.

A pal of mine has the Dos Niner and he has that weighing 26/27lb

My rigid singlespeed el mariachi comes out at 26lb 🙁

Really nice bike though, the Horsethief is top of my list for a FS

It’s nice isn’t it Sam. Really quite impressed by it.

What sort of thing you looking for cooie?

I’d be after a large too. Can get one from charliethebikemonger 2 mins down the road 😀

Just got a ‘thief in XL myself too 🙂

One thing to check – the shock on mine, the black trail adjust (1,2,3) lever didn’t move, so it’s had to go back. Hopefully quickly sorted though, can’t wait to ride it. Charlie the bikemonger’s being very helpful thus far.

Mine’s built a bit more AM: Marz 44s@140, singlering, reverb, flows etc.

the top tubes just look too long on paper (web) for me, would be great if you can measure yours when made up to see how it compares to Salsas figures

My XL measures up as spec. Which is awesome, finally it won’t look like I’ve nicked a child’s bike!

IA, how tall are you?

6’4″, should be able to get a decent riding position with a 60mm stem, and I’m excited at the prospect I might even be able to try a touch shorter.

Would be a large for me, 6’3 but prefer small bikes but the TT is still 638, my Scandal is 615 and I run that with a 70mm so in theory a large HF with 50mm should be ok but not sure if I would prefer it to be shorter still due to the type of thrashing it will get and its a lot of money to gamble on…..suppose I could get a 40mm stem 😉

6’3″ puts you borderline L/XL I guess – TT measurements don’t tell the whole story if the seat angles and reach (as in reach & stack) change. Personally I prefer bikes that fit to small bikes. Anyhow, I’ll post pics of mine once it’s built and if you spot me on the trails in the south west folk are welcome to a sit on it for size.

And it turns out there’s nothing wrong with my shock and I’m an idiot – you have to pull up the black dial to turn it! Nothing in the manual /youtube videos I saw about this.

I have to say Charlie was very understanding about it, so that’s a recommmendation from me not just on service but also cheerfully putting up with daft customers 🙂