Tuning the 2026 Salsa Cutthroat GRX for gravel riding and occasional bikepacking
Posting this here in case it is useful to someone with similar objectives considering a Salsa Cutthroat.
Overall, I love this bike in its modified form. I find it very versatile and comfortable for long rides on almost any type of terrain other than technical MTB trails.
Objectives
- As a mountain biker with a full-suspension bike and my share of injuries over the years (lower back, shoulders, hands), my goal was to find the most comfortable bike for long gravel rides (80%) and the occasional bikepacking trip (20%) on off-pavement terrain (i.e. anything between non-technical single-track, ATV trails, country gravel roads and hard-packed rail trails).
- I wanted a mechanical SRAM GX build to swap wheels with my MTB, so I had to compromise and get the base GRX build. Doing a full swap was beyond my budget.
Making it faster for gravel
- Being a drop-bar mountain bike with a 34t chainring, I found the stock Cutthroat slow on gravel roads compared to a true gravel bike. It felt almost as slow as my MTB that is also set up with a 34t, and on which I keep spinning out on flat gravel roads. I addressed this with lighter wheels, narrower and faster-rolling tires, and a 38t chainring, although I initially considered a 40t.
- It would have been cheaper and easier (i.e. parts availability) to buy a “true” gravel bike like the Salsa Flyway, but comfort (i.e. more upright position) and the ability to run larger than 50mm MTB tires (e.g. Vittoria mezcal 2.25 for bikepacking) were more important to me than speed (I don’t race).
Sizing
- I am 176cm (5ft 9in) and 140lbs. I am straight in the middle of a size 56 cutthroat per Salsa’s sizing guide.
- The 80mm stem was too long for me, and I had to replace it with a 60mm.
- The 48cm handlebars were also way too wide for me (40cm shoulder width), so I went with a 44cm bar that provides a bit more agile steering and felt better on my arms and shoulders.
Weight: 25lbs down to ~21lbs.
Stock weight without pedals: 11kg (24.6lbs)
Add:
- Shimano XT pedals +342g
- Redshift cruise control grips +238g
- Ridewrap matte protection film +50g
- 2x lezyne bottle holders +50g
- 32mm Salsa Rack lock seat post collar -1g
Replace:
- Woven M9XC carbon wheels (1440g) -660g
- Easton EA90 seat post (kept the 90g cable installed in case) -320g
- Schwalbe 50mm R pro and RX pro tires -310g
- Sealant instead of tubes -300g
- Easton EA 38t chainring -70g
- Shimano XT Cassette -70g
- Salsa cowchipper deluxe 44cm (vs. 48cm Teravail Radia) -60g
- Easton EA 90 60mm stem (vs. stock 80mm) -40g
- Shimano XT chain -18g
Final weight: 9.82kg (21.66lbs)
One could bring this down to 21lbs by foregoing the redshift grips, and taking off the dropper cable, or even below 21lbs by spending more and replacing the crankset (-120g) or going with GRX 800 brakes (-100g), but the cost/g was too high for my budget.
Best modification of all: a bike fit. The bike felt faster, more comfortable, and I had no pressure on my hands, lower back, neck, and shoulders. Save yourself 5-6 hours of frustrating trial and error that I had to endure and get a proper bikefit.