2000s Salsa A La Carte

I'm not sure of the vintage of this frame: I impulse-bought it off eBay in 2006 as NOS to replace a stolen Kona and built it up over the next couple of years with cut-price parts from eBay and Wiggle. I think it must be an '04.

It languished pretty much unridden for ten years while I was working in Singapore and the humidity took its toll: one of the Hope Mono Minis seized up and had to be replaced - the best I could do in Australia was a Hope Tech 3 V4. And the seatpost is seized in the frame.

Spec:

Frame: Salsa A La Carte 20"
Fork: Rockshox Reba
Headset: Hope
Stem: Thomson XC (since cracked and replaced with an old one from an Orange P7)
Handlebars: Easton Monkeylite carbon fibre
Bar Ends: Cane Creek
Brakes (originally): Hope Mono Mini
Shifters: XT
Chainset/Cranks: Middleburn RS7 Duo 175mm
Front Derailleur: XT
Chain: XTR
Cassette: XTR M970 11-34
Rear Derailleur: Shimano XTR 970 Rapid Rise (it was on sale - still confuses me)
Wheels: Mavic Crossmax disc
Tyres: Continental Speed King 2.1
Pedals: XTR SPDs
Seatpost: USE Alien aluminium 27.2mm
Seat: Selle Italia Flite

Since taking the photos I've dialled the suspension down to 80mm which is right for this frame and it handles really nicely. It's now getting good use on the dirt roads of New South Wales while I try to get fit after a long lay-off. Looking forward to finding some of the local trails.

Re: My Salsa A La Carte

Here's a shot of the cracked Thomson stem faceplate. Must get a torque wrench.

Nice ride shame about the stem that must have been some hardcore overtightening

Very cool

Here it is with the cracked stem swapped out for an Orange Bona Fido. This came with my '98 P7 and was upgraded with a Pace stem. The P7 was stolen but the stem lives on.

(I've also replaced the DX flatties in this pic with SPDs).

Re:

Nice A La Carte

Re the Thomson stem, they have replaced two 25.4 stem faceplates for me in the last couple of years (without receipt) FOC

The cracking appears to be a known issue.

Andy

Re: Re:

fatfixie":wgfe6qtl said:

Nice A La Carte

Re the Thomson stem, they have replaced two 25.4 stem faceplates for me in the last couple of years (without receipt) FOC

The cracking appears to be a known issue.

Andy

Click to expand...

Hi Andy,

That's good to know -- I've also seen replacement faceplates still available here and there. Unfortunately all my old bike bits have been in storage since I arrived in Australia last November, so the main part of the stem isn't to hand :cry:

Re:

Doesn’t matter . If you have the broken part, I just sent an email with a pic

Andy

Thanks mate -- will give it a go

Nice! I do like a Salsa