With its nimble geometry, plush yet supportive suspension and awesome grip, the Salsa Spearfish is an excellent cross country mountain bike for new and experienced riders alike. Whether you’re looking for a bike to compete in your local XC race scene or just want an all around trail shredder that’s fast and pedals amazingly well, the Salsa Spearfish is definitely worth a look.
Pros
- Playful and fun to ride
- Tight cornering
- Excellent traction
- Outstanding climber
- On bike storage
Cons
- Can bottom out rear shock if riding too roughly
- Flip chip offers only limited adjustability
Bike specs
Frame
6066-T6 aluminum
Geometry
Size large Spearfish SLX with 29 inch wheels
| Spec | Measurement (Low flip chip setting) | Measurement (High flip chip setting) |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 460mm | 462mm |
| Chainstay | 432mm | 431mm |
| Head tube angle | 67.8° | 68° |
| Seat tube angle | 74.3° | 74.6° |
| Wheelbase | 1176mm | 1176mm |
| Bottom bracket drop | 39mm | 36mm |
| Standover height | 755mm | 758mm |
Suspension
Front fork
RockShox SID RL 120mm
Rear shock
Fox Float DPS Performance 100mm
Brakes
Shimano Deore M6100
Tires
Front: Maxxis Ardent Race 29″x2.35″
Rear: Maxxis Ikon 29″x2.35″
Drivetrain
Shifter: Shimano Deore M6100
Rear derailleur: Shimano SLX M7100 SGS
Crankset: Shimano Deore M6130
Seatpost
TranzX YSI05 dropper
Bike weight
31.9lbs (size large with SLX alloy frame)
Handling and overall bike impression
The Salsa Spearfish is a fun to ride cross country mountain bike that can make any trail come alive.
While its most at home on flatter XC terrain, the Salsa Spearfish is a very versatile mountain bike that you can take on many trails without it skipping a beat.
The Spearfish feels playful and confident on tight, twisty singletrack trails. The bike is a dream at handling corners, thanks in part to its relatively short chainstay length of 432mm.
The Salsa Spearfish feels locked in on the trails with excellent traction.
Part of what gives the Spearfish such a good grip on the trails is its balanced geometry, with a 67.8° head tube angle and a 74.3° seat tube angle. The bikes angles help immensely in keeping your body weight centered and weight where it should be, over the rear tire on descents, balanced between both tires on flatter terrain, and over the front tire on climbs.
The Spearfish’s tires also contribute to its awesome grip – the bike comes standard with the Maxxis Ardent Race 29″x2.35″ in the front and Maxxis Ikon 29″x2.35″ out back. The 29 inch wheels also help with maintaining traction over rougher terrain, and offering improved ability to roll over obstacles, and perhaps more importantly, superior roll speed compared to bikes with a smaller wheel size.
A piece of technology Salsa includes on many of its mountain bikes including the Spearfish is its split pivot suspension. The purpose of the split pivot suspension is to isolate pedaling forces and braking forces put on the rear suspension from each other.
This allows Salsa to independently tune the rear shock to each of these forces, pedaling and braking. The result? Less pedal bob on flats and climbs, and better traction while both pedaling and braking through the full range of the shock’s travel. The split pivot suspension It really helps to give the Spearfish a terrific feel and provides for a great riding experience.
Thanks in part to the reduced pedal bob that the split pivot suspension provides, the Spearfish climbs very efficiently.
Beyond its split pivot setup, the Spearfish’s geometry gets your body into a powerful position to pedal up hills, and its 29er wheels with grippy Maxxis tires help to keep traction while pedaling and keep slip outs to the minimum. The bike is also fairly light, weighing in at only 31.9 lbs with a size large alloy frame.
If you’re looking for a bike for exploring backcountry and taking bikepacking adventures, the Spearfish is a great option thanks to its ample mounts to store gear and mount a frame bag on, and its lightweight, balanced rideability.
As far as where the Spearfish has limitations, as a cross country bike, you need to understand that it cannot absorb the same types of blows that longer travel trail or enduro bikes can. Its rear shock, while plush and supportive, has only 100mm of travel which means it will start to bottom out when the hits start getting too hard. The bike can handle downhill, but the ability to ride it aggressively through rough terrain is limited.
While the flip chip is touted as a great adjustability tool for the geometry on Salsa and other mountain bikes, it seems almost a bit gimmicky on the Spearfish because of just how limited the adjustability offered by the Flip Chip is.
Climbing
The Salsa Spearfish is an excellent climber, and climbs just as well if not better than what you’d expect from a quality XC bike.
It’s got superb grip on the trail which gives the bike a surefootedness while going uphill and allowing you to focus on the trail more and your traction less. The bike maneuvers through uphill switchbacks effortlessly and its lightweight means you can ride uphill for long stretches before getting tired.
The Spearfish’s weight is definitely much less of a burden on trails with lots of climbing than your typical trail bike would be, which really allows you to push your pace on climbs.
Descending
XC bikes like the Spearfish aren’t necessarily designed with descents in mind, but thanks to its balanced geometry and plush suspension in both the front and rear, along with the excellent traction the Maxxis tires provide, this bike can be a ton of fun on descents. The Spearfish felt composed and confident on the fast but relatively mellow descent we tried on our test.
The Spearfish’s snappy handling makes descending twisty, smooth singletrack super fun, and its suspension offers plenty of forgiveness for small and medium sized obstacles if ridden with some skill.
When hitting higher speeds and rougher terrain, the Spearfish begins to be limited by the amount of travel it has. It’s fun to descend on, but remember, it is still an XC bike, albeit a very balanced and well-rounded one.
Rough terrain, jumps and drops
Rough terrain
The Spearfish handles surprisingly well for a cross country MTB through obstacles, but it has limited ability once you get onto really rough terrain at any sort of speed. As you get familiar with the Spearfish you will begin to understand its limitations.
Rocky and rooty trails can be plenty of fun on the Spearfish for a skilled rider, but the bike does have significantly less forgiveness than a more downhill oriented trail bike or enduro/downhill setup.
Jumps and drops
The Spearfish actually handles jumps and drops pretty well, especially considering that’s not necessarily what an XC bike is designed for.
It’s balanced geometry feels confident when hitting small and medium sized features, and its suspension does help to soak up some of those less than perfect landings.
If you case a jump hard on the Spearfish you will definitely feel it though with only 100mm of travel in the rear shock. Also it’s probably not a good idea to try large drops to flat landings, because that will be putting bigger impacts on the bike than it is designed for.
Frequently asked questions
The size large Spearfish SLX (with an alloy frame) weights in at 31.9 lbs fully assembled. The Spearfish carbon models are lighter than our test bike, but the SLX is nice and light as well.
The Spearfish comes standard with 29″x2.35″ Maxxis Ardent Race tires up front and 29″x2.35″ Maxxis Ikon tires in the rear.
Mountain bike review criteria
When reviewing mountain bikes, these are the things we look for:
- Frame quality
- Component quality
- Bike weight
- Bike style and aesthetic appeal
For a detailed breakdown of how we assess each of these criteria, see How We Review Mountain Bikes.
Conclusion
As playful and fun to ride as it is smooth and confident, the Salsa Spearfish is a great mountain bike that climbs superbly and eats tight, twisty singletrack for breakfast. The Spearfish’s versatile bike format means it can handle most everything you ride it over and is a great option for riders looking for speed more than big air.