Wheel Size: 29’’
Travel:
- Frame: 125 mm
- Fork: 140 mm
Geometry Highlights:
- Sizes Offered: Small, Medium, Large, XL
- Headtube Angle: 64.4° (low setting)
- Seat Tube Angle: 77.9° (effective, low setting)
- Reach: 498 mm (size Large)
- Chainstay Length: 433 mm
Frame Material: Carbon Fiber
Price: Complete Bikes $3,999 to $6,499
Wheel Size: 29’’
Travel:
- Frame: 145 mm
- Fork: 160 mm
Geometry Highlights:
- Sizes Offered: Small, Medium, Large, XL
- Headtube Angle: 63.6° (low setting)
- Seat Tube Angle: 77.1° (effective, low setting)
- Reach: 489 mm (size Large)
- Chainstay Length: 433 mm
Frame Material: Carbon Fiber
Price:
- Frame w/ Fox Float X Factory shock: $3,199
- Complete Bikes: $3,999 to $8,999
Intro
Salsa has become better known for their gravel and bikepacking bikes in recent years, but they’ve continued to have a few mountain bikes in their lineup as well. They’ve recently given their MTB lineup a big overhaul, with a new version of the Spearfish XC bike (more on that one coming soon), a carbon fiber version of their Notch eMTB, and a pair of new Trail / All Mountain bikes, the Blackthorn 125 C and Blackthorn 145 C, which we’re covering here.
The Frame
The Blackthorn 125 C and Blackthorn 145 C share the same main frame, with their travel and geometry differences handled by swapping the shock yoke and shock, with a corresponding fork travel change to match. They’re offered in carbon fiber only and use a Split Pivot suspension layout. The Blackthorn 125 C gets its 125 mm of rear wheel travel from a 190 x 45 mm shock, while the Blackthorn 145 C adds 20 mm of travel by way of a 210 x 55 mm shock, with a shorter shock yoke to compensate for the longer shock. Salsa doesn’t publish suspension kinematics for either version.
Both versions of the shock yoke feature a geometry-adjusting flip chip at the rear shock mount. The Blackthorn 125 is designed around a 140 mm travel fork, while the Blackthorn 145 gets a 160 mm travel one. Both are designed around 29’’ wheels at both ends, but can be run with a 27.5’’ rear wheel with the flip chip in the high setting; Salsa recommends running 165 mm cranks or shorter in the mullet configuration, with a 2.5’’ rear tire and a 2.4’’ front one to steepen the bike a touch.
Salsa makes a wide range of gravel / bikepacking bikes, and some of that ethos has carried over to the Blackthorn when it comes to on-bike storage. You can fit two water bottles inside the front triangle on all frame sizes (one on the downtube, one on the lower portion of the seat tube), and the downtube mounts feature a third bolt to allow two different mounting positions and/or more space for accessories. And then there’s a third set of mounts on top of the top tube for a small frame bag or other accessories, and an integrated tube strap on top of the brace between the downtube and top tube.
The other frame details are fairly standard — reasonably so, in my book. The bottom bracket is threaded, with removable ISCG tabs; the cable routing is internal and fully guided (though, somewhat unusually, all three ports are on the left side of the headtube); and the Blackthorn frames use standard 148 mm Boost rear hub spacing with a SRAM UDH for Transmission compatibility and ease of sourcing replacement hangers. Rubber guards protect the drive side chain and seat stays, the underside of the down tube, and the main pivot area.
Fit & Geometry
The Blackthorn siblings are offered in four sizes, Small through XL, with 20 mm steps in reach between them. Both feature relatively short 433 mm chainstays across the size range, and their geometry is largely similar overall (again, they share the same frame apart from the shock and yoke), with the Blackthorn 125 being a bit lower and steeper due to its shorter fork.
Geometry: Blackthorn 125 C
In the 125 configuration, the Blackthorn gets 64.7° headtube and 78.3° seat tube angles and a 32 mm bottom bracket drop, in the default geometry setting; switching to the low position adds 4 mm to the bottom bracket drop and slackens the angles to 64.4° and 77.9°, respe ctively.
Reach starts at 462 mm on the Small frame and grows by ~20 mm per size from there (again in the default geometry setting; the low one shortens the reach by a few millimeters). That’s somewhat on the long side, but the steep seat tube reins in the effective top tube measurements to relatively standard figures.
Geometry: Blackthorn 145 C
The Blackthorn 145 C is a little higher and slacker than the 125 C, but its geometry isn’t massively different overall. The headtube angle sits at 63.9° / 63.6° (depending on the flip chip setting), with the seat tube angle slackened a touch to a (still pretty steep) 77.5° / 77.1°. The bottom bracket drop is now 25 mm (default) or 30 mm (low), which should produce a similar height at sag to the Blackthorn 125 C. The Blackthorn 145 C also gets slightly shorter reach and higher stack figures, due to the slacker headtube angle and the fact that the two share a frame. Reach starts at 453 mm on the Small and grows by about 20 mm per size, up to 512 mm on the XL.
The Builds
Blackthorn 125 C
Salsa offers two builds on the Blackthorn 125 C. The entry-level Deore build gets (surprise) a Shimano Deore 12-speed drivetrain and four-piston brakes, with the base versions of RockShox’s Pike fork and Super Deluxe shock handling suspension duties. The higher-spec GX Transmission build gets a SRAM GX Transmission groupset with Code Bronze Stealth brakes, and Performance Elite tier Fox 36 SL / Float X suspension.
- Drivetrain: Shimano Deore 12-speed
- Brakes: Shimano Deore 4-piston w/ 203 mm front / 180 mm rear rotors
- Fork: RockShox Pike
- Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe
- Wheels: Shimano TC500 hubs w/ WTB i30 TCS rims
- Dropper Post: TransX YS105 (S: 150 mm / M & L: 175 mm / XL: 200 mm)
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Code Bronze Stealth w/ 200 mm front / 180 mm rear rotors
- Fork: Fox 36 SL Performance Elite
- Shock: Fox Float X Performance Elite
- Wheels: WTB Frequency hubs w/ WTB i30 TCS rims
- Dropper Post: TransX Reverse (S: 160 mm / M: 180 mm / L & XL: 210 mm)
Blackthorn 145 C
The Blackthorn 145 C is offered in three build kits, with the Deore and GX Transmission ones closely mirroring the corresponding builds on the Blackthorn 125 C, plus a higher-end X0 Transmission build above them. The Deore build on the Blackthorn 145 C gets a RockShox Lyrik Base fork and a 203 mm rear brake rotor, but is otherwise the same as the Blackthorn 125 C Deore; the Blackthorn 145 C GX Transmission bumps up to a Fox 36 Performance Elite fork with the Grip X2 damper and SRAM Maven Bronze brakes, with the rest of the spec matching that of the Blackthorn 125 C GX Transmission.
- Drivetrain: Shimano Deore 12-speed
- Brakes: Shimano Deore 4-piston w/ 203 mm rotors
- Fork: RockShox Lyrik
- Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe
- Wheels: Shimano TC500 hubs w/ WTB i30 TCS rims
- Dropper Post: TransX YS105 (S: 150 mm / M & L: 175 mm / XL: 200 mm)
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Bronze Stealth w/ 200 mm Centerline rotors
- Fork: Fox 36 Performance Elite Grip X2
- Shock: Fox Float X Performance Elite
- Wheels: WTB Frequency hubs w/ WTB i30 TCS rims
- Dropper Post: TransX Reverse (S: 160 mm / M: 180 mm / L & XL: 210 mm)
- Drivetrain: SRAM X0 Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Maven Ultimate Stealth w/ 200 mm HS2 rotors
- Fork: RockShox Lyrik Ultimate
- Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate
- Wheels: WTB Frequency hubs w/ WTB CZR Carbon rims
- Dropper Post: TransX Reverse (S: 160 mm / M: 180 mm / L & XL: 210 mm)
Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About
(1) How do the Blackthorn siblings ride in general? It’s been quite a while since we’ve been on any of Salsa’s MTBs, so we’re not sure what to expect there.
(2) How cleanly does the conversion between the Blackthorn 125 C and 145 C go? Does the geometry feel coherent in both configurations, or are there notable compromises?
(3) And how do the Blackthorns stack up in a crowded market of do-it-all Trail bikes?
Bottom Line (For Now)
The new Salsa Blackthorn siblings look like interesting takes on all-rounder Trail / All Mountain bikes, and we’ve started spending time on the Blackthorn 145 C to see how it stacks up. BLISTER+ Members and folks with our Digital Access Pass can check out our early impressions, and stay tuned for a Full Review to come.
Flash Review: Our Initial On-Trail Impressions
BLISTER+ members and those who purchase our Digital Access Pass can check out the Flash Review below to read our initial on-trail impressions. Get our Digital Access Pass to view all our Flash Reviews and Deep Dives, or become a BLISTER+ member today to get access to that and a LOT more, including the best worldwide Outdoor Injury Insurance, exclusive deals and discounts on skis, personalized gear recommendations from us, and much more.
Flash Review: Salsa Blackthorn 145 C
We’ve started spending time on the new Salsa Blackthorn 145 C to see how it stacks up. Check out our early thoughts.
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Look like fun, straightforward bikes.