While Salsa probably isn’t the first name that comes to most rider’s minds when thinking of big-travel trail (or enduro) bikes, the all-new Blackthorn might change that. Salsa says that it’s “Built for riding any trail anywhere with confidence,” and they’ve spec’d it with 140mm of rear-wheel-travel, a 160mm Fox 36, 29″ wheels, and geometry that wouldn’t have been out of line on an enduro bike only a few years ago. Oh, and there’s a hell of a lot of purple on our Carbon X01 Eagle version that costs $7,499 USD. Allergic to purple? You’ll need to drop down a spec level, or go the frame-only route to get another frame color option.
With no fancypants XTR or AXS-equipped model, our test bike is the priciest Blackthorn you can get. But you don’t need to drop that much coin to get one, with aluminum models starting at $3,199 USD for 12-speed Deore components, RockShox suspension, and proper Maxxis tires.