TejanoTrackie 

Just a heads up for those of you smaller males or females that the Salsa Casseroll SS 47cm and 49cm (equivalent to 50cm and 52cm level TT) are on sale at Universal Cycles for $449 + shipping. These bikes normally sell for $600 - $700. I just picked up a 47cm for $486.58 shipped along with a bunch of other goodies for only $2.56 additional shipping. For those of you that don't know, these are very versatile bikes that can be easily converted to fixed or geared.

https://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...6&category=483

adriano 

are you kidding? that disgusting thing has a derailleur hanger. ill have an se draft please.

renton20

I do hope you're joking. These are awesome bikes, think surly cross check but with caliper brakes

adriano 

why would you want a crosscheck? they can only do one thing.

TejanoTrackie 

Considering that I paid only about $30 more than the street price of a cross check frameset alone, my decision was a no brainer. It will be real easy to convert it into a geared camp touring rig as I already have a lot of the needed parts. It will be interesting to see how good a job Universal Cycles does building it, as they claim that they completely assemble, adjust, tighten etc. every bike and then break it down for shipping. My two bd bikes required lots of work to set up properly.

squeegeesunny 

Looks like a cool bike to me.

NormanF

Its a good beginner bike. Double butted cromoly complete bike.

Ride it SS or FG. Whatever floats your boat!

At that price, its a steal!

TejanoTrackie 

Well, UPS tracking says I'll get my bike this Thursday, and I'm waiting in anticipation of what it will be like. How will it compare to the quality of my same priced Kilo WT? They are both butted CroMo frames with Sugino RD2 cranks, but beyond that how will the other parts compare? How good a build job will Universal Cycles have done as compared to the indifferent assembly of my bd bikes? Universal Cycles states that "Please allow 3 business day for our professional bike assembly" and that they do a "Pro Build" with "10 minutes from box to trail or road" Will the wheels be true and tensioned? Will the Surly hubs need adjustment? I feel like a child two days before Christmas.

I visited Salsa's site and learned that there are major changes to the Casseroll frameset for 2011, and that it's goint to be a lot more like a Surly Crosscheck with cantilever brake bosses, even more tire / fender clearance, a super tall head tube and triple bottle mounts. They'll even include a front rack. Salsa is heavily off-road oriented, so their clientele apparently wanted this.

https://salsacycles.com/culture/intro...roll/#comments

TejanoTrackie 

UPS delivered the box from Universal Cycles with the Salsa Casseroll Single plus a small box with MKS touring pedals, two Blackburn MTB bottle cages and a rear rack. bike packaging was excellent and everything except wheels, chain, bars and seatpost with saddle was already installed and adjusted. Wheels were centered and true, but rear wheel had a lot of ups and downs that had to be worked out. Rear Surly hub was smooth but front was too tight. Cranks were tight and BB is smooth. Seatpost is very long and had to cut it down to insert it far enough for proper saddle height. Also had to do a lot af bending of the left rack bracket so it would clear the brake caliper. The big disappointment is that there is very little fender clearance in the front, and the stock 700x37c tire (actually more like 34c) barely clears the brake caliper, so no way will a 32c tire work with a fender as Salsa claims. Even in the rear clearance is pretty tight. So for the time being I'm running sans fenders until I can devise a successful solution. Had a chance to ride it around the block a few times before it got dark, and the Conti Contact tires are noisy and have a lot of drag. The Shimano SS freewheel makes clackity clack noises when pedalling hard; don't know if this is normal for this beast. Otherwise, it rides nicely and the stock gearing of 48 x 18 feel right. It weighs a little over 21 lbs w/o pedals, and over 23 lbs with pedals, rack and bottle cages, which is about the same as my Kilo WT. Both the Salsa and Kilo WT frames are made in Taiwan, and the quality is comparable, except the Salsa has much nicer stainless steel fork and rear dropouts. All the components on the Salsa are good quality, right sized for me and the saddle is comfy, so the only change I anticipate are compact brake levers for my small hands. Anyways, gotta go to bed now, so I'll just post a few photos and see if anyone of y'all have any interest or questions about this bike.

Squirrelli

You even took a picture of the delivery person, cool review nonetheless.

I was wondering what is the rear spacing of the frame?


EDIT: Nevermind, checked the website, it says 130mm. There's a Casseroll frame for on my CL for $200 but then checked the geometry and it's way too big for me.

adriano 

that looks sharp. clearly, that frame is ultimately versatile.

looking at our setups makes the sadness of being outliers in stature very apparent.

531phile 

I'm sorry but that color has to be the worse thing to grace a bike frame.

I'm sure that UPS drive thought you were a freak for taking that photo.

It's a cool looking bikes though sans the color. A good choice for someone who wants a singlespeed with an option to convert it to a multispeed bike in the future.

Are those downtube shifter bosses on the frame?

TejanoTrackie 

The color looks much better in person, kinda like a dark metallic gold and the Salsa decals on the dt and st have a lot of detail and make the bike look like a classic with color panels. Also, the paint quality is very good and looks durable. That UPS driver knows me well, and appreciated the fact that I came up to the truck to take my bike and didn't make her drag it all the way to my front door. And, yes, those are dt shifter bosses, which can also be used as cable stops for bar end shifters or brifters. They are pretty ugly looking just bare like that, and I'm going to cover them up. There is also a tapped hole underneath the BB shell for mounting cable guides. I definitely had conversion to geared in the future in mind when I bought it, as my only modern geared rig is strictly a very stiff and harsh riding race bike and I'd like something for comfortable touring.

Bone Machine

Nice looking bike - but stupid name...

FKMTB07

Those are great bikes. Enjoy.

TejanoTrackie 

See Post # 10540 here >>> https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...hotos!/page422

Since posting here, all the 49cm Casserolls on closeout for $449 have sold, but a few 47cm remain. I've made quite a few changes to mine, including adding fenders and lights, new tires and brake levers. The tires are smaller to make room for the fenders and the levers are compact size for my small hands. This bike will replace my 1975 46 lb Schwinn Speedster 3 speed for local transport and running errands to nearby stores.

M_S

Even if none of the sizes left fit you if you sell the frame for a hundred bucks it's worth it for the parts alone. Pretty good wheels, for example.

If anyone is thinking about ordering one double check on sizing, the etts are way longer than the listed sizes on many salsas.

calbrner

Would the 47cm be too small for me?

I am 5'6.5"

I currently ride a 54cm allez (but feel that I am stretched out on it)

TejanoTrackie 

I'm 5'-3" with a 28" inseam and the 47cm is a good fit for me. It comes with 170mm cranks and a 80mm stem. I suspect it would be a bit small for you, and the 49cm would give you the proper fit with a 1 cm longer ett and 1 cm longer stem. On the Casserolls, add 3cm to the size to get the equivalent level top tube size, so 47cm -> 50cm and 49cm -> 52cm. The geometry is stretched out touring. The 49cm is a similar fit to a 49cm Surly Steamroller or BD Kilo WT.

calbrner

too bad that's sold out already.

cc700

i love the casseroll, yours is nice and practical. no wonder they're sold out, that price is fantastic.

i think a casseroll 1x9 is probably the coolest tourable townie around.

adriano 

i dont think single ring touring is such a hot idea.

TejanoTrackie 

I found this 49cm on eBay for just $1 more than I paid. The shipping is a bit steep but it's still a good deal IMO.

Edit: It's now been relisted for $435 + shipping >>> https://cgi.ebay.com/Salsa-Casseroll-...item19c03d8e8c