Obviously not quite finished as the chain was too short, but anyway =
[img] 
[/img]
First thoughts: It's looooooooong. I'm 6'2" and the front tyre is above my eyeline when on it's back wheel. (admittedly with a 2.4 front tyre)
It's not light = mainly due to tyres I'd imagine, On-One Chunky Monkey 2.4 and a Smorgasbord 2.25
Tubeless set up is a piece of cake - Arch EX rims, yellow taped. Smorgasbord went up no issues with a track pump, sealed very quickly. Will do the front wheel too when I decide whether to keep the Chunky Monkey on or use a Smorgasbord instead.
Issues:
Need to get a new chain tomorrow as my old one is too short.
Rear mech doesn't seem to have a stop point on the mech hanger, so ends up swinging under the chainstay, any ideas on what I might be doing wrong? Should I just rely on the tension of the mech bolt?
EDIT: cables will be sorted tomorrow night.
one of your wheels is the wrong size.
Both are the right size 😉
OR the front wheel is just closer to the camera.
That could well be the case. Admittedly it really does look like a 29" front wheel and 26" rear.
To be fair it does look a bit odd. Why did you buy that?
Nice looking bike 😀
My bike always looks strange in photos, looks miles better in real life!
I wanted a FS 29er something that'd take a beating should the need arise, and the frames are old stock so going relatively cheaply.
Or do you mean why did I buy it even though it looks weird? Look alright in the flesh, just weird in that photo.
Fair do'es I'd lower the front of that saddle though.
Will do, not sorted positioning yet as I've not been able to pedal it.
Finished 😀 Looks great in my (clearly impartial) opinion. Not ridden yet but going for a ride tomorrow. What say you STW?
Apologies for poor quality kitchen photo:
[img] 
[/img]
that 1st photo put me right off as i thought the bike looked horrible, the latest pic is just the opposite and it looks great, funny how a picture does that
cupboard door under sink needs adjusting upwards a few mil..
bike looks chuffing great 😀
That looks better.
I must admit, I was very tempted to get one of those.
The opportunity is still available 😉
Looks great.
Have you opened the fork up yet to see if it's got a spacer restricting it to 130mm?
Not yet, going to try riding it first to see whether I feel 140 would be too much or just more fun.
Was the frame not designed round a 140 fork. 😉
I've got a Rev on my Yelli. Dropped that down to 120 as that's what the frame was designed round. Didn't take long before i put it back to 140. 8)
Between 120 and 140. Came with a spacer in the box (OEM from CRC) which makes me think there may well be a spacer in there. I'm almost scared about how fast it'll be, might check my brakes again in the morning 😯
Is that a Large or XL?
At some stage I'll have to upgrade my Big Mama to a newer version.
Large. I'm 6'2" and it's absolutely fine for me, will probably change from a 70 to 50mm stem at some point.
It's fanbloodytastic. Perfect fit, tyres don't seem overly draggy, may change when I put the front tubeless but I can live with that for the amount of grip it gives.
[img] 
[/img]
Great bike!
Enjoy your riding!
Good luck.
Weight is approx 13.9kg on my luggage scales, without thinking about it, which I'm happy with. Might get a Nobby Nic/ Racing Ralph SS for "summer" though.
Do like that. I swither between liking and disliking the colour, mind, but on balance I think it's great- and at least it's interesting.
waiting to see if the price drops again, heard there's a replacement model so you never know 🙂
Which bike were you riding before?
MrTall - Member
Is that a Large or XL?
At some stage I'll have to upgrade my Big Mama to a newer version.
POSTED 23 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST
Not snapped yet then Steve ? 😀
Si,
I've only ridden it once since the 'summer' so i still don't know if it's a crack or not and it's now out of warranty. Oops.
If the Wyre ever dries out i'll try riding it again.......
Was on a Specialized FSR XC Comp, which was good, but a bit on the small side.
Can't see the price dropping any further RD, they're already £800. Not many left as far as I know.
Looks good mate. 😉
Ah well in twisted logic I'll have saved myself £800 🙂
Buy one, you know it's the right decision.
I've just ordered one 🙂
I find I'm not loving it enough to take a punt
How's it going Sambob? Finding myself Horsethief curious....
Anyone got an S or M down South?
Same boat. Sold 3 of my 26ers and looking for an AM 29er FS to go alongside my Scalpel 29er and HT 29er.
I have a demo on a Tallboy LT on Saturday but finding it hard, on paper, to justify the expense in comparsion to a Horsethief frameset.
Loving mine so far, 4 rides inc a xc race with my best result, its a large though, pic on here somewhere, last page [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/i-bought-a-new-frame-today ]http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/i-bought-a-new-frame-today[/url]
Loving mine the more I ride it.
Interesting how versatile a frame it is - mine's built up very much as an AM bike whilst others here seem to have a more XC/Trail build.
Only thing I'd change about mine would be bottle bosses. And they have them on the 2013 ones.
IMO one of the best traits is the length, you can really "feel" your position in the bike and have a lot of latitude to move forward/back and fine tune the weight on each wheel. Makes it really easy to push the limits of the tyres.
No XLs left.
I have a demo on a Tallboy LT on Saturday but finding it hard, on paper, to justify the expense in comparsion to a Horsethief frameset.
Amen.
Does the '12 have no bottle bosses at all? I need somewhere to hang my battery for nightrides.
IMO one of the best traits is the length, you can really "feel" your position in the bike and have a lot of latitude to move forward/back and fine tune the weight on each wheel.
Yeah, funny how many 29ers are sold as 'feeling just like a 26er'. I want a 29er to feel like a 29er!
It is quite long but its still ok, just takes a little bit more man handling on some stuff but it works well regardless. Mines built with 140mm revs, arch ex, reverb etc
Does the '12 have no bottle bosses at all?
Some under the downtube, they'd be ok for a battery.
No XLs left.
Glad I got mine when I did then! The fit's one of the best things about it. A 2013 one still cheaper than a SC tho! Also a HT is 0.6" longer in the TT than an XL tallboy LT, which is all good in my book. Can run a 60mm stem and get a good position.
Salsa say ETT on a medium before sag is 618mm (which seems way long to me).
How much, in which direction, does it change when sagged? (Who's on one at about 5'8").
(Assumption - the shock compresses when sagged so 25% of 120mm travel brings it down to the 590-600mm range which is about right, if that's how it works).
Eh? Why would ETT change? Saddle's (and pedals) are still the same distance from the headtube.
Good point.
I'd need a small then.
Hmmmm!
On my large I measured the TT at 625 whereas they quote 638. All other figures were the same. This was good though as the long TT on paper was my only worry about it. Currently running a 50mm stem which seems ok, might try a 60 I have laying around. I run a 70 on my large Scandal 29er but forget its TT off the top of my head, ~620 iirc
Ta, interesting, if it was 10-15mm out on paper a medium would be spot on. I'm reluctant to buy a small, I'm not really a 'small' person I'm a mediumish person so alarm bells to clang a bit.
OTOH my XL measured up exactly as the geo chart.
Were you measuring correctly?
I measured it like the below, centre of head tube horizontally to the centre of the seat post, just checked again, 625-626mm. Maybe thats not how they measure it but thats how I did my Scandal for comparison when deciding what FS frame to go for 🙂
and yes I know my bars are high but it works for me and stops my wrist pain 🙂
[img] 
[/img]
Some bikes look right, some look silly, especially 29er FS. These look right.
Yer I like it heh. Re:measurements, bear in mind mines a 2013 which is what the online figures are for, perhaps 2012 was slightly different, worth an email to salsa if looking at an older one
2012 measurements are here:
http://salsacycles.com/bikes/2012_horsethief
ETT comes out as you'd expect if you use reach/stack/SA to calculate it. Note that it changes a little based on fork length (3mm for 20mm of fork on their charts)
Thing is, 10mm out is easily within error if the bike wasn't on a level surface or the measurement wasn't dead level. So whilst that could account for your error, it could also account for mine measuring up the same and it's not really!
Having said that, on paper I worked out the bars/saddle distance to be the same (with 60mm stem) as my XC bike, and that's what it's ended up as (and that's an easier measurement to take).
Ta. '12 geo is same as '13 by the charts.
Anyone out there my height (172cm), what are you on?
Nearly ready to press the button but it could be an expensive punt!
Have to say dlr that looks good.
Just thought I'd drop a pic of mine in this thread too, 😉
XL 2012 fairly burly build (tho not heavy)
[img] 
[/img]
^^ looks like a 26er, must be a big bike!
^^ looks like a 26er, must be a big bike!
Oh yeah, it's glorious 🙂
A few points for scale: that's a 200mm front rotor and 2.4" tyre, the bars are 760 wide.
When I'm on it then it just looks like a 26 too, I'm just actually further away than you think 😉
OTOH my XL measured up exactly as the geo chart.Were you measuring correctly?
FWIW I have a medium Selma HW - according to the geometry is 600mm ETT, it measures up as 585mm on my ruler. I don't see how I can be 15mm out!
eh? A 60cm headtube?
oops no ETT, edited.
I checked with Salsa, from the horse's mouth the only geometry difference between '12 and '13 Horsethief is "The down tube is shaped differently to fit a water bottle".
Thought I'd bump this to see how everyone is getting on with theirs? Mine is nearly finished and I'm getting antsy!
Mine nearly done too. Been a bit slack on the biking front lately 😳
Will post pics when done 🙂
Finally got my XX1 cranks through and decided to stick the groupset on my 'Thief rather than my hard-tail 'race' bike:
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
Weighs in at approximately 13kg.
Get that Reverb hose sorted! 😉
I really like this! The one on the front page has got my intrest!!!