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Salsa Bear Grease?

3K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  dirt-nerd 
#1 ·
Hey, anybody on Salsa Carbon Bear Grease riding single track? Any problems?
I'm 225lbs.
Thanks
 
#2 ·
I've seen far bigger guys on the Carbon Bear Grease riding out in the bush. I don't think you'll have any issue. Each one of them tells me they absolutely love the bike.

I spent about 30 min or so on a Bear Grease on my local trails, * I ride a Spesh Fatboy * and ever since I've been debating dropping bikes and just moving exclusively to a Bear Grease for all year riding. I found it to be incredibly quick for a fatty, and I was almost as fast on it as I was on my other bikes.

I'm about 245.

Hope that helps.
 
#4 ·
210ish here in my birthday suit and absolutely LOVE the BearGrease. I found a used XL and I'm 6'2" with just over 33" inseam. I have the Bluto fork on it and think it would be that much better at 120mm travel instead of 100mm but Salsa says that's not ok so I'm learning to be happy with the 100mm travel. It's a very fast bike in single track with 3.8" Surly Knards with 120tpi set up tubeless. I'm constantly setting PR's on it as I've been riding it the most lately, yet I have two other arguably much faster bikes. The thing with the BearGrease and 3.8" tires is the amount of confidence in hauling the mail down the trail and not having to be as on the spot with your lines. It rolls over everything and of the 200ish miles I've put on it so far there's only be one crash on a fairly technical rocky river crossing. It's the most forgiving bike I've ever pedaled and still moves if you're willing to feed it the power and keep up momentum. I was running it with 34 tooth Absolute Black oval with 11-42 10spd in the back. It was ok for short local rides at less than 15ish miles and 1200' of climbing but when I started going for 20+ mile rides up north and double/triple the climbing it was evident I needed a bail out gear to save the legs on endurance riding. So now I'm 2x10 XTR with regular XT cassette and works much better for anywhere I take it.
 
#6 ·
Beargrease run 3.8" vs FatBoy 4.6". That inch can rob quite the top end. I rode the XL alu BG at 6'7" 260lbs. Nice but still a bit tight in the cockpit. I would have like a riser bar and maybe a set back seat post. Seat was all the way back in stock setup. I'm frustrated that I'm right at or above the design parameters of most XL commercial frames.
H
 
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