Salsa Cycles introduce the Journeyman and it looks like an affordable adventure machine
Two wheel sizes and two spec builds at the budget end of the spectrum
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The latest bike to the already brimming stable of Salsa gravel bikes is the Journeyman, a versatile all-road bike designed to take on missions from backroad wandering to bikepacking, to riding or racing gravel.
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Offered in both drop and flat bars, and in two different wheel sizes; 700c and 650b, there looks to be a Journeyman to suit all tastes and most pockets. The range is priced from $899 to $1099 (USD) for full builds, UK pricing looks like it will sit at £999 and £1200, dealers are listed at the bottom of this article if you fancy one.
The Journeyman is built around an aluminium alloy frame and either a 2×9 Shimano Sora with a carbon fork or 2×8 Claris drivetrain with an alloy fork, the Sora being the more expensive build and the Claris the cheaper. Both of these bikes will be sold in either a 650b x 2.1″ guise (using WTB Nano tyres) or with 700c x 37mm tires (WTB Riddlers). There are also drop or flat bars bikes to choose from in both spec and wheel sizes.
Salsa Journeyman Sora 700 $1,099
It's a bike ready to be loaded with gear, there are all the mounting options you'd expect on this style of push cycle including; top tube bag mounts, bosses on the fork, three bottle mounts on the frame, a fork crown light mount, rear rack mounts, and a rack and fender kit. Other features include internal cable routing, flat mount brakes, and tubeless-ready wheels. There are six sizes to choose from ranging from 50cm to 59.5cm with each size being built with some size specific component, for example, shorter cranks and narrower bars on the smaller sizes.
Compared to the Warbird, Salsa's gravel race bike, the Journeyman gets more relaxed geometry, the wheelbase is longer, there is a slacker head angle on the bigger sizes and a steeper seat tube. It will likely produce a more stable ride and be comfortable for both longer off-road journeys and shorter road commutes.
Salsa Journeyman Sora 650 $1,099
Salsa Journeyman Claris 700 $899
Salsa Journeyman Claris 650 $999
We will get back to you with the UK pricing once we hear of it and will hopefully get one in for test soon!
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Comments
Shame about the likely price in £ being even higher than the dollar value. Sora is pretty robust, but a tad low spec, given the competition at this price point. Road spec drivetrain doesn't really cut the mustard, with regard to low gears needed for a fair bit of gravelly rough stuff imo.
Looks like a good frame, and Sora is robust, though a little more effort into some lower gear options would have been welcome, especially on rougher tracks with decent gradients. Shame about 'UK market price', being actually higher in £ than the dollar value; not that competitive IMO.