Carbon warbird

They seem to have serious supply chain issues.  Not unusual for a company that's inexperienced sourcing a given product (especially carbon fiber components) from Asia.  Unfortunately, there are other issues that usually go with that.  If you don't really know your stuff (and, generally, have someone resident full-time in the factory), the specs of the product that ships can be rather variable.  I hope that's not the case for Salsa on this product.  Time will tell.

1)  The new Warbird was announced, with a very favorable response, at FrostBike it late February - SEVEN months ago.

2)  Every time I call Salsa to find out when to expect availability I get a different response.  First it was May, then June, then August, then September and now it's almost October.

3)  Their excuses are also all over the place.  At first the excuse was the LA dock strike.  The excuse on my last call was some gobbledygook I couldn't even understand - something about internal processing priorities.

4)  In the meantime there have been many new models introduced by other manufacturers - from Pivot to Ridley and many others.  And I expect many more at the currently running InterBike show in LV.  There are now many more options than in February.

5)  I would think their potential customers, Art and myself for example, are very frustrated.

6)  I would think that their dealers are going to be very mad as they lose sales to other manufacturers.  And they have missed the whole Spring and Summer riding season as well as likely the Autumn season.

7)  There are many high quality carbon fabricators in Taiwan.  I would hope that if they picked a good one that there would be minimal quality control issues.  That said, I'm guessing that is the main issue.

8)  At a Salsa demo day a couple of weeks ago, they had Carbon Cutthroats available to ride but no Warbirds.  I thought that odd especially since framesets were delivered to the factory in mid-August.

9)  If the frames were delivered in mid-August, why were the frameset orders NOT fulfilled almost immediately.

10)  My wish is that they would at least be honest with everyone so that we can know what to expect in order to make an informed decision whether or not to wait some more or look elsewhere.

For what it's worth, I saw a carbon Warbird on Tuesday night.  I asked the owner how he was able to get one, and he said their team is sponsored by Salsa.  Either way, he loves the bike and it was very impressive looking in person.  His was black with the rasta stripes.

We allegedly saw a couple Warbird Carbons at Dirty Kanza at the end of May.  I say "allegedly" because, under the paint, on a bike you've never seen before, you can't tell by looking whether it's carbon or aluminum.  I was immediately impressed that they decisively cured their previous tire clearance issues.  The spec changes are definitely for the better.  But I will admit to being a little concerned about how spindly the seat stays look.  And I tried and tried and tried to buy one.  Salsa isn't providing them to my nearest Salsa dealer because they don't stock enough bikes.  Second nearest dealer is a 3-hour trip away.  Salsa said I could either make the trip or buy somebody else's bike.  Okay.

I discovered that I could have a custom frameset made in titanium in a lot less time than it's taking to get one of these off the rack.  So I am.

Black carbon warbird frame is sitting in my lbs.  Salsa shipped it overnight at their expense with apologies for the delay.  Long time coming...

2019 Salsa Warbird teaser...

https://bikerumor.com/2018/06/02/salsa-warbird-v4-sneak-peek-shows-their-next-gen-carbon-gravel-race-bike/

Coming this fall, the 2019 Salsa Warbird V.4 gets an all-new carbon frame that sheds 100g from its predecessor, yet it adds more features – three water bottle bosses inside the front triangle (sizes 56 and larger), rack mounts, fender mounts, top tub bag mounts, and even stealth dropper seatpost routing (when running a 1x drivetrain).

The chainstay’s dropped driveside design make plenty of room for larger 2x cranksets, and there’s internal routing for both mechanical and electronic shifting. They say that lower half redesign also boost power transfer, while a refined size-specific layup improves vibration reduction. Speaking of sizes, there’s now a smaller 49cm option, running all the way up to 61cm. Top tube lengths have been stretched a bit to improve stability.

Tire clearance is claimed at 700×45, but it’s also 650Bx2.1″ compatible now, too. The new Waxwing fork gets accessory holster, pannier rack and fender mounts, plus Dynamo wire routing to keep powered installs just as clean as the rest of the bike. Flat mount brakes tidy up the other side. Want something softer? The geo is suspension corrected so you can sub in current gravel suspension forks without changing the handling.

Pricing for the frame and fork (which will be sold separately, too) are TBD.

I have been enjoying my Domane and thinking titanium for pure gravel, but this one and the new Donnelly have my attention.  Looking forward to seeing the pricing and builds. 

Rashad F wrote:I have been enjoying my Domane and thinking titanium for pure gravel, but this one and the new Donnelly have my attention.  Looking forward to seeing the pricing and builds. 

I am planning on new bike this Fall. It'll all revolve around the geometry and a bike that will fit me well. I was planning steel or Ti, but am super-interested in the new Warbird frame.

I am in the same boat, but may not purchase anything until the offseason. I stil have a preference for Ti, but geometry, fit, and features will likely be the deciding factors. Trek has spoiled me with my Domane fit, so we’ll see where I end up. I am intrigued by this bike too though.

Rashad F wrote:I am in the same boat, but may not purchase anything until the offseason. I stil have a preference for Ti, but geometry, fit, and features will likely be the deciding factors. Trek has spoiled me with my Domane fit, so we’ll see where I end up. I am intrigued by this bike too though.

I thought it was interesting that the V3 Warbird had more compliance in the Aluminum version compared to V2 in the Ti version (Carbon even more so).

Magnum Rotae wrote:2019 Salsa Warbird teaser...

I was going to post that too.  the 650B option is getting more popular...

I hope that is a 386 evo B.B., that old pf86 B.B. held it back.

Smale Rider wrote:I hope that is a 386 evo B.B., that old pf86 B.B. held it back.

I'd love a threaded BB - every family bike with a PF bottom bracket has been a PITA. In fact I don't think I'll ever purchase ANY other bike with a PF bottom bracket.  PF may offer a small performance advantage -BUT- at a huge cost in reliability. 

Specialized recently went back to threaded BB for the new Stumpjumper line.  I'm hoping to see other companies going that direction or possibly the new T47 bottom bracket.

NoCoGreg wrote:
I'd love a threaded BB - every family bike with a PF bottom bracket has been a PITA. In fact I don't think I'll ever purchase ANY other bike with a PF bottom bracket.  PF may offer a small performance advantage -BUT- at a huge cost in reliability. 

Specialized recently went back to threaded BB for the new Stumpjumper line.  I'm hoping to see other companies going that direction or possibly the new T47 bottom bracket.

I'd prefer a threaded BB as well, but I don't let it keep me from getting a nice bike.  I simply use a Wheels manufacturing threaded BB on all my pressfit frames and they are trouble (and creak) free.

ljsmith wrote:

I'd prefer a threaded BB as well, but I don't let it keep me from getting a nice bike.  I simply use a Wheels manufacturing threaded BB on all my pressfit frames and they are trouble (and creak) free.

I had a wheels MFG thread together BB installed on my road bike. Fixed the pressfit creak for me. 

I've ordered a Carbonda CFR696 gravel frame with similar geo to the V3 warbird. It has BB86, but I just factor a thread together BB into the build cost for future bikes.