TESTED: Salsa Woodsmoke Carbon 27.5 plus

Words: Adam Macbeth    Photos: Tim Bardsley-Smith

Since their brand makeover in the mid 2000s and the adoption of their ‘Adventure By Bike’ motto, Salsa have really proved that they are a company not scared to push limits of bicycle design and usage. A quick look at their overall range for 2017 will highlight, among other things, a full suspension fatbike, multiple bikes with drop bars and big rubber designed for serious exploring. All that, plus the newest introduction to their range – the Woodsmoke. 

Like much of Salsa’s range, the Woodsmoke is designed for maximum versatility, this time revolving around a playful, slack, carbon trail bike platform. The recent rise of the trail geometry hardtail is no new thing, but with the ability to run three different wheel and tyre options, loads of ability for storage on bikepacking missions and a very individual look, I was definitely keen to see what the Woodsmoke was all about. 

Initial Impressions

The Woodsmoke is an interesting and maybe polarising bike based on appearances. The extremely elevated driveside chainstay, big rubber and large front triangle set it apart from just about every other bike I’ve ever seen, except perhaps for the slightly more subtle looking Trek Stache I reviewed last issue. It’s the kind of bike that many people would write off on first glance as ‘not for them’, but get beyond the visuals and there are a lot of very cool details.

The Woodsmoke runs Salsa’s revised Alternator dropout system which allows the rider the option of 27.5+ as tested here, or 29” or even 29+ (although this option also requires a fork change). Salsa claim this opens the Woodsmoke up to a wider audience. 27.5+ for those seeking grips and agility. Twenty-nine inch wheels for a more XC, fast experience and 29+ for those seeking unmatched momentum and traction. Riders also have the ability to run the Woodsmoke singlespeed with ease and belt drive is also an accessible option for a full ‘bearded tourer’ setup. Most importantly, the Alternator dropouts allow the rider to fine tune the ride quality of the Woodsmoke, regardless of wheel size, to suit their style and terrain, but we’ll get to that in a minute. 

It wouldn’t be a Salsa if you couldn’t take it on a multi-day adventure and as such the Woodsmoke features a HUGE front triangle to enable maximum frame-bag capacity for bikepackers. From the bottom bracket the downtube extends forward first, then up to meet the headtube, maximising the amount of stuff that can be stored low, keeping the bike handling well when loaded. There is also an external bottle mount on the underside of the downtube and a direct mount for a top tube storage bag. 

Bits and Pieces

Our test bike came complete with SRAM GX1 throughout, with the tier-down NX1 crank set and a Sunrace 11-42 cassette. Not top shelf by any means, but these days even the lower group sets work amazingly well. Brakes are the new Level T also from SRAM, specced with the older G2 Clean Sweep rotors renowned for their ‘turkey gobble’ sound and feel. Cockpit and hubs are taken care of by Salsa’s clean and functional inhouse branded gear, with Whisky Parts Co alloy rims and WTB Ranger tyres in 27.5×3.0”. These rims hold onto tyres harder than any I’ve seen (and I’ve seen a lot) and it took me a good 10 minutes to actually get them to unbead so I could get the tubes out and set them up tubeless. This was painful for sure, but my confidence in running low pressures tubeless was at an all time high. The RockShox Yari RC is a fork I have spent a lot of time on previously, and liked. While not as adjustable as some of its brothers and sisters further up the tree, it felt buttery out of the box and was a piece of cake to set up . 

On The Trail

The first thing you notice about the Woodsmoke is that it is STIFF. With 27.5+ wheels I started the test with the rear end wound all the way in to a crazy-short 403mm. Placing the rear wheel so far in under the rider and combining this with the oversized carbon stays meant that there was not a whole lot of forgiveness going on here, even with the big rubber at 16psi. That said, the acceleration and nimbleness of the Woodsmoke was immediately laugh-out-loud fun and it literally takes zero effort whatsoever to get the front end off the ground or manoeuvre tight turns. 

I’m very much an ‘out of the saddle’ climber and for me the super short rear end climbed amazingly well, with a very sprightly and direct feel and no issues with breaking traction, even on the loosest, most gravelly surfaces. Climbing in the saddle with the rear end this short does pose problems, though, and you need to sit right out on the nose of the saddle to keep the front end planted. Handling here does become more difficult as the 67.8 degree headangle becomes slightly unmanageable with your body in that position on the bike. If this wasn’t adjustable I could see a lot of riders falling completely out of love with the Woodsmoke for this trait alone. But adjustable it is. 

It doesn’t sound like a huge change, but the five minute job of winding the Alternators out to 415mm totally changed the feel of the bike. Suddenly it is noticeably less harsh, and seated climbing became a simple affair. It seems like Salsa’s idea of rider personalisation with the Woodsmoke has some serious merit. 

That adjustability will also be appreciated when it comes to descending feel. I absolutely loved the Woodsmoke set up short. The insane amount of traction combined with the long, 640mm top tube and the 403mm rear end worked to my riding strengths of weighting the front wheel and sliding the rear around through turns. I’m not a strong jumper. Tim our photographer is always teasing me for manualling through everything, and manual the Woodsmoke certainly can, but I felt more confidence than I have in a long time for letting the bike leave the floor (resulting in appreciative slow claps from behind the lens) and the bike was super stable once off the ground. Again, winding the rear end out made a huge change, increasing the high speed stability and making the Woodsmoke feel a lot more planted and stable. 

The raised chainstay of the Woodsmoke results in a seriously silent ride, even on the roughest terrain. I did find that my driveside heel would occasionally brush the wide chainstay and riders with feet bigger than my size 44 should add some frame protection here. I did not have the opportunity during this test to take the Woodsmoke bikepacking, but the ability to mess around with the handling of the bike gives me the impresssion that you could easily retain a lot of the fun of a proper trail bike, even when fully loaded for a three or four day trip. This is something I will be doing over the coming months though, and I can’t wait.

Our Take

In short, the Woodsmoke is bloody good fun. Each individual rider is possibly going to need to spend a little extra time fine tuning the ride quality to suit their style and location – but because that’s actually possible I find it hard to believe anyone wouldn’t enjoy this bike. I would have really loved to try this set up 29+ as I think the little extra comfort is the only thing stopping this bike from being totally badass. At $5,190 it is in a price bracket with a lot of competition, but its versatility is unmatched and means it’s a total Swiss Army Knife, do-it-all machine.