La Cruz Impressions

Well, I've had my Salsa La Cruz now for about 2 months and I've put a few hundred miles on it. I was responding to a thread on MTBR about the La Cruz and my response made a good start as a blog post.

I bought the 2008 La Cruz Complete, size 53. I've made the following changes:

• Shimano R700 Compact Crank 172.5 length 34/50 rings
• SRAM OG1070 11-28 cassette -- yes, I'm fat and weak. Actually, I have mixed feelings about this cassette. I find that I use the 12-25 cogs FAR more frequently than I actually use the 11 or the 28. 34/28 is too low to climb while standing, and I only use the 50/11 when descending and typically I'll spin out of that anyway above 35mph or so.
  
• Panaracer Pasela 700x35c Tires -- these are great tires. I am really impressed with their grip on gravel as well as pavement. When I'm riding dirt I inflate them to about 75-80psi and if I'm going to be onroad only, I pump them up to 95psi.
  

I bought the La Cruz to be my "road bike". I didn't want my first road bike to be a throwaway carbon prima donna, I wanted a steel, disc-brake road bike with which I could mostly hang with the group on training rides. It fulfills this purpose to a tee.

I don't think the La Cruz slows me down any until 22+ mph at which time the aero aspects of the relatively high bars and wide tires start to affect me. It is 3 or 4 lbs heavier than most of my buddies' bikes, but most of them are on Ultegra, so when you compare it to other 105-class bikes, it is really only about 2lbs heavier. Figure about a pound for the frame and a pound for the brakes, tires, saddle and stem. I'm 30-90 lbs heavier than the guys I ride with, so unless I sneak a motor onboard, they are going to be beat me uphill on any bike.

I ride mine all over the place, but my hands can't take the pounding on rough trails, so I pretty much stick to easy trails, fire roads and pavement. The bike rides great on everything, and I've even done a couple of (very) small drops and jumps just to see how it handles, and it was fine in that environment as well. With narrow handlebars and weight-forward positioning I won't be flying into any rock gardens, but I find that it has a very wide range of applicability for general riding.

It is a sweet riding frame, but not overly stiff. When I first got it, I found it a little bit flexy when climbing standing (I weigh 235), but I've gotten a bit smoother and have made my peace with it.