Introducing the Salsa Cycles Cutthroat, made for the Tour Divide Race

Salsa Cycles announces the next generation of off-road touring bicycle, the Cutthroat. Like its older sibling the Salsa Fargo, it's a drop-bar mountain bike designed for carrying self-supported touring gear, and tested on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route.

The Cutthroat shares the carbon fiber Salsa Firestarter fork with the Salsa Fargo 2, which includes the 3-pack bolt system for mounting the Salsa Anything Cage or Anything Cage HD to haul stuff. Most of the similarities end there, though.

First off, don't be put off by the violent-sounding name. The Cutthroat is named for the Cutthroat Trout, the official state fish of all five US states that the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route passes through.

The Cutthroat features a full carbon fiber frame, with thru-axles front and rear for stiffness and stability. The oversize main triangle allows more capacity for carrying touring gear (fit an XL size frame bag in a size LG frame). The frame has three water bottle cage mounts, plus new custom top-tube mounts for an as-yet-un-announced new top tube pack from Salsa.

The bike is designed for 29-inch tires up to 2.4 inches wide. In a nod to the bike's origin's, there a map of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route in the graphics on the bottom of the frame's down tube.

The Salsa Cutthroat will be available this fall, in two complete bike options: with a SRAM Rival drive train and SRAM Roam 40 tubeless-compatible wheelset for $3,999.99, or with a SRAM X.9 drive train and DT Swiss/Stan's NoTube wheelset for $2,999.99. It will also be available as a frameset, including frame, fork, headset, and seat collar for $1,999.99.

The complete Rival bike comes in at only 21 pounds, or 23 pounds for the X.9 version (size Medium, without pedals).

The Salsa Cutthroat is currently being tested as we speak on the 2015 edition of the Tour Divide race, by past winner, course record holder, and Salsa-sponsored athlete Jay Petervary.

Jay Petervary at the start of the 2015 Tour Divide in Banff, Alberta on Friday, June 12

You can track the progress of Jay and all of this year's Tour Divide racers here.

Read more about the new Salsa Cutthroat:

• Salsa Cycles Blog - Introducing: Cutthroat (with full specs)
• The Radavist - Introducing the Salsa Cycles Cutthroat Tour Divide Bike
• Bikepackers Magazine - Salsa Cycles Cutthroat - A Tour Divide Dream
• Outside Magazine - Will this bike win the Tour Divide?