Last spring, I was spreading my saddle-time among a couple of different bikes: a full-suspension MTB, and a loaded tourer doing double-duty as commuter and roadie. The mountain bike, while fun on rough, technical terrain, was less-than-enjoyable on pavement. The tourer worked well in its beast-of-burden role, but it didn’t really inspire me to ride longer than necessary. I found myself wanting one bike that could handle commuting, un-loaded paved rides, and non-technical dirt and gravel.
A bit of research led me to the Salsa Vaya. Billed as a “road adventure bike,” it sounded like a perfect match for my one-bike-fits-all quest. I studied the geometry/fit chart on Salsa’s website, and decided on the 57cm size in the charcoal color. A few days later, brown santa delivered my much-anticipated frameset. Ample padding and sturdy packaging had kept the frame and fork free of scratches, dings, or dents. Props to Salsa for doing the right thing to insure damage-free transit.
I built up the Vaya with a mix of my favorite road and MTB components. My local shop installed the headset, but I completed the rest of the build myself. Everything went together easily, and there were no unexpected surprises or gotchas. A trouble-free build such as this tells me that the company put a lot of though into details such as braze-on placement and component compatibility (the frame utilizes a threaded, 68mm BB shell, 27.2mm seatpost, threadless 1-1/8″ steerer, and 135mm rear hub spacing).
Seat cluster & Lip-Lock collar.
Writing an objective review of a bicycle–or in this case, a frameset–can be a real challenge. Every rider has their own unique set of idiosyncrasies and preferences, and it’s often difficult to ignore those factors when evaluating a bike’s performance. In the case of Salsa’s Vaya, however, it was my own fit requirements and preferences that drew me to this particular bike in the first place.
From the very first ride, I felt a “balance” that had eluded me on other bikes. The frame’s geometry was spot-on, and I didn’t have to make any component changes to compensate for out-of-spec dimensions or angles. The initial shakedown rides revealed a bike that was stable and predictable without being a total snooze-fest when you wanted–or needed to–put the hammer down. On dirt and gravel, the Vaya really came into its element. With the appropriate tires (there’s clearance for 700×43 rubber), the bike would float over ruts and rocks, but could still be pedaled efficiently on smoother terrain. Interestingly enough, the more I rode the Salsa off-road, the more I found myself gravitating to a more aggressive climbing style, and within a couple of months, I switched from a triple- to a compact-double crankset.
Ample clearance with 32mm (actual width) tire.
Salsa wisely spec’d the Vaya with braze-ons for front and rear racks, fenders, and three bottle cages. Chances are, if you want to carry it, there’s a way to mount it to the frame. The disc brakes are set up for full-length housing, which means less maintenance and compatibility with (future) drop-bar hydraulic setups. In addition to threaded bosses on the seatstay and chainstay bridges, both dropouts feature two sets of (threaded) eyelets. I would have preferred threaded cable adjusters over the downtube shifter bosses, but adapters are easily available for those using bar-end or integrated shifters (aka, brifters).
Disc mount & custom dropout (replaceable hanger).
Over the past twelve months, I’ve logged many happy miles aboard the Vaya. It’s been my go-to bike for commuting, off-road exploring, and unencumbered road riding. The bike has performed so well, in fact, that it’s replaced the aforementioned MTB and tourer in my stable. It’s taken everything I’ve dished out, and always left me with a smile on my face. As a do-it-all adventure bike, the Vaya definitely delivers. If you want one bike that can tackle a century, gravel grinder, off-road exploring, or commuting, look no further. Salsa has come up with a bike that’ll inspire you to ditch the roof rack and start all your two-wheeled adventures from your own front door.
In commuter mode with slicks & Carradice Nelson saddlebag.
Couldn’t agree more about the freedom afforded by the Vaya to ride… well, wherever I want.
I have managed to fit Vee Rubber X-C-X 45 mm tires on mine with no clearance issues (without fenders, of course). They are cush!
Click on the “Salsa Vaya” or “gravel” tags on the homepage of my blog to see innumerable gleeful ride reports and proud owner’s photos.
What kind of tires are you running in these photos? Also, about your saddle bag… looks like it drags on your rear wheel! Just the angle of the photo, or is there something that keeps it off the rubber?
The tires in the photos are Vittoria Randonneur Hypers. They’re really nice tires–durable, puncture resistant, and quick rolling. Maybe not as nice of a ride as, say, a Panaracer Pasela, but more durable, in my experience.
To keep the saddlebag off of the rear wheel, I use a Carradice Bagman support. The photos make it look like the bag is hitting the rear tire, but there’s approximately two inches between the tire and bag.
Yes, I bought a Salsa Vaya Ti about 8 months ago, put 700×38 tires on it, and the favorite of my six bikes. When I start a ride I never know where I’m going to end up – single track? jeep trail? dirt county road? pavement? I’ve come full circle, instead of a highly specialized bike for each discipline, one bike that kinda does it all.
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great looking bike! I had an factory-built orange Vaya with the Sram Apex and while it was a nice bike I always felt it was a bit of a pig… I did change out the Tour Ride tires to Ritchey speedmax in 35mm, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the Vaya… I gotta ask what your Vaya is weighing at? I had the chance to pre-ride the Vaya before I bought it in Portland last summer and really liked the ride/fit on the initial test ride, just not so much after I got it home and was able to compare it to my 2011 Casseroll (the two had a lot of overlap for my riding)…
To be honest, I never weighed it. I have, however, experimented with a lot of different tires, and “the right” ones make a huge difference in how the bike rides.
How does this bike do weighted down? How much weight were in your bags? Very interested in this bike or the Fargo. Trying to find a bike that will do well on asphalt, gravel, and light trails for an extended day trips for about a month. Thanks!
I rarely carry more than 10-12 pounds (including the bag and support). Handling is fine with the saddlebag. I commute approximately 120 miles/week (pavement, dirt, gravel), and am really pleased with the bike’s performance. In fact, I’m considering building up another one, but with lighter parts and 650B wheels.
It feels very planted with a pair of classic Ortlieb rollers on the rear loaded to the brim (i.e. un-rolled, tops 8″ above the top of the rack) with books back to the library and groceries. Even while wearing a messenger bag with the laptop and assorted notebooks. You do of course get the additional feedback when leaning with all this weight but I feel in control unlike with the Masi Special CX, on 28 or even 32mm tires, where I feel like I’m struggling to keep it off it’s side in every turn. I haven’t had the need to expand to the front so I can’t comment there.
I got the Vaya 3 build and while I love it, there are a few things I’m considering changing. Note that they’re not significant enough to me to have done anything in a year of riding it.
-The 3 comes with MicroShifters that are index only (sorry, not sure which model they are) and neither I nor the shop I got the bike from have been able to get them totally dialed in; there’s always a few gears on the rear cassette that seem on the edge of their indexed positions and thus I end up with an automatic transmission on bumpy path some times. Every time I threaten to replace them but after another few hours of trouble free riding I forget about it.
-The front fork is so solid that I find myself airing down the front tire and have broken down to looking at a Surley Disc Trucker fork to smooth out the tree root-ed asphalt and cobble streets.
-BB5s work just fine but every time I have to adjust them I wish BB7s.
I road my Vaya down the west coast, from Victoria BC, to TJ Mexico. Mostly roads on the route, but we found a few trails that saved us time and trouble with traffic. Trails had anything from mud, to dirt and gravel. The Vaya was always stable, even when fully loaded with front, rear, and handlebar bag. No troubles outside of ordinary things like the occasional flat, brake adjustments, shifter adjustments, lube, etc.