Salsa Horsethief Carbon GX Eagle

Suspension refinements and more fork travel make this the most capable Horsethief yet.

The Takeaway: The Horsethief is an efficient-pedaling trail bike that can handle serious hits.

Price: $5,199Weight: 29.1 lb. (L)

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Welcome to the Horsethief Carbon GX Eagle, a multitalented new trail rig from Salsa that could become the only bike in your stable. The 2019 bike gets a bigger RockShox Pike RC fork and a revised leverage rate for the split-pivot suspension, which helps the RockShox Deluxe RT3 shock feel more progressive at the end of its travel. In other words, it’s ready to send it harder than a 120mm full-suspension bike probably should. Throw in a slacker head tube angle and shorter chainstays and you get a trail bike that should descend as fast as it pedals.

Within reason, the parts pick spares few expenses. You get a SRAM GX Eagle drivetrain, SRAM Guide R hydraulic brakes with 180mm rotors, and a RockShox Reverb Stealth dropper post. Like the Pony Rustler before it, the Horsethief accommodates 27.5+ tires up to 3 inches wide, and a flip chip in the shock link allows you to raise and lower the bottom bracket height and head tube angle accordingly. Rider-focused details include two bottle mounts in the main triangle and internal-sleeved cable routing. On first impressions, the new Horsethief boasts impressive versatility.

You might know the Horsethief as the Pony Rustler, Salsa’s former 27.5+ trail bike, and that’s because the two have historically shared a frameset. For 2019, the Horsethief gets its own split-pivot frame. “We wanted to maintain the capabilities of the plus-size tire, but we see the market is having a 29er resurgence, particularly in racing,” says Salsa Product Manager Joe Meiser. “So we chose to outfit [the 2019 Horsethief] as a 29er that will handle 27.5 x 3-inch tires.” Salsa has tweaked—you might say modernized—the geometry with 157mm “Super Boost” spacing, a 1-degree-slacker head tube angle (67 degrees), increased fork travel (from 130mm to 140mm), and slightly shorter chainstays (from 437mm to 432mm).

Patented in 2010, the popular split-pivot suspension design is a mainstay for Salsa. “What’s unique about the split-pivot is the antisquat for pedaling performance,” Meiser says. According to Dave Weagle, who designed split-pivot, the design separates acceleration and braking forces via a concentric dropout—the “split-pivot.” Without getting too technical, the important thing to know is that the new Horsethief should handle big hits more confidently. A lower leverage rate allows the RockShox Deluxe RT3 to operate with less air pressure, which makes it feel more progressive toward the end of its travel, Meiser says. The shock has also been tuned to feel more supple at the top of its travel. Coupled with the 140mm RockShox Pike RC fork, the new suspension means you can push the Horsethief a little bit harder.

The rest of the Horsethief Carbon GX Eagle is a trail rider’s wish list. The SRAM GX Eagle groupset features a 10-50 cassette and 32 teeth at the crankset. The SRAM Guide R brakes have hulking 180mm rotors to get you out of precarious situations, and there’s a RockShox Reverb Stealth dropper post to coax you into those situations. The WTB ST i29 TCS wheels are tubeless-ready, and the tires are Maxxis Minion DHFs and DHRs (2.5 inches wide up front, 2.4 in the rear).

Frame material: Carbon fiberWheel size: 29 in.Tire clearance: 29 x 2.6 in; 27.5 x 3 inFork travel: 140mmFrame travel: 120mmDrivetrain: 1x12Crankset: SRAM GX Eagle Dub 32tRear derailleur: SRAM GX EagleCassette: SRAM GX Eagle 1275 10-50tBrakes: SRAM Guide R hydraulic disc, 180mm rotors (front and rear)Seatpost: RockShox Reverb Stealth, 150mmRims: WTB ST i29 TCSTires: Maxxis Minion DHF 2.5 in. (front); Maxxis Minion DHR 2.4 in. (rear)

Should you not spring for the top-end GX Eagle bike, Salsa is selling three cheaper Horsethieves, too. The Horsethief Carbon NX Eagle downgrades you to a 140mm RockShox Revelation fork and a SRAM NX Eagle drivetrain for $4,199. The $2,999 Horsethief SLX and the $2,399 Horsethief Deore have aluminum frames and 140mm RockShox Recon RL forks, and I bet you can guess their groupsets. Every Horsethief but the GX Eagle model has a TranzX dropper post.

The new Horsethief’s lower leverage rate helps it handle big hits.

The flip chips give you the option of a 66.8- or 67-degree head-tube angle.

The 140mm fork feels plush, but becomes progressive when you push it.

The 50-tooth climbing gear is there if you need it.

Slam the saddle before the trail drops off.

Say you decide your Horsethief could use a set of 27.5-inch hooves. To avoid pedal strikes, you can raise the bottom bracket by flipping the chip in the shock link. Leave it in the up position if your local trails are rocky, or drop it down for flowing singletrack.

With a couple exceptions, I exclusively rode the Horsethief for two months, so I got to sample it as a one-bike solution to five local trail systems. I adjusted the rebound and tweaked the fork and shock pressures, but found myself happiest with the recommended 30 percent sag, middle-of-the-road rebound, and compression damping wide open. The split-pivot suspension provided a taught pedaling platform; I never felt like I needed to touch the lockout switch to get up a climb.

In mostly good ways, the Horsethief feels bigger than it is. I didn’t take it to a bike park or an enduro race, but I did show it many of the rockiest descents in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. The rear suspension felt progressive: Charging through rock gardens and hitting some modest drops, I never managed to bottom it out. I’d stop short of calling the rear end snappy, but I got a significant and predictable amount of pop every time I loaded up the shock for a bunny hop. And although that pop isn’t exhilarating at low speeds, it’s quite manageable going fast, which makes it less intimidating to air off the trail’s natural features. And when I’d put a bit too much momentum into the rear end and caused it to buck my rear wheel skyward, the 140mm Pike RC fork cushioned my nose-down landing through its seemingly vast travel. Had it bottomed out, I might be writing this review a little worse for wear, so I see the wisdom of the slightly longer front travel.

The downside, depending on your preference, is that the Horsethief is less excitable on fast and flowy cross-country trails and technical singletrack. It feels big, as if you’re sitting within a long bike rather than riding atop a short and maneuverable one. The 431/432mm chainstays helped me wrangle the rear end around tight turns, but the bike still feels every bit of its 1,185mm wheelbase. That, combined with the slow-turning 66.8-degree head-tube angle and the sluggish Maxxis Minion DHF/DHR tires, mean that the Horsethief isn’t the bike I’d pick to blitz some relatively tame singletrack.

If you like a mountain bike with a relaxed feel and don’t mind investing in some faster tires, then the Horsethief wouldn’t disappoint for XC-bike duties. But it’s best deployed as a trail bike that pedals exceptionally well. On steep and loose sections, the Maxxis tires dig in and the slack geometry keeps you confident in your line, whether it’s intelligent or harrowing. What Salsa has done with the Horsethief is prove that with a 140mm fork and the right linkage and geometry, you can get away with a lot less rear travel than you think you need. Buy it if you spend at least as much time riding trails with big bumps and demanding downhills as you do pedal-focused singletrack.

A former Division 1 runner, Dan grew up riding fixies and mountain bikes and now reviews everything from performance running shoes to road and cross bikes, to the latest tech for runners and cyclists at Bicycling and Runner’s World.

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