As a material that is a staple part of the brand's line up, Salsa has added three new steel gravel bikes to it's bikepacking focussed lineup. Each bike is intended for a slightly different purpose be it mass ground coverage, serious bike packing or all-road adventuring. 

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First off is the Fargo Apex 1. Featuring that steel frame and carbon fork, this bike is made to cover ground. The brand have equipped the Fargo with a fat 29x2.2 wheel and tyre combo for maximum rollover and they're momentum carrying properties. While the frame is designed to fit 29x2.2 wheels it can alternatively be run with 27.5x3.0mm or 29x2.4mm with a fender. Pushing it even further, it can be run with a 29x3.0mm on SM to XL frames.

The full build comes with SRAM Apex shifting, WTB wheels and hubs, and Teravail  Sparwood tubeless-ready tyres. TRP provides the stoppers with their Spyre-C's on 160mm rotors. The bike is also certified for belt drive use.

The Vaya is Salsa's any-road, light-touring machine. Built to take on both road and gravel the bike is designed to ridden loaded for overnight epics or unloaded while retaining steels lively ride. The full build features a carbon fork but uses a Shimano GRX 600 groupset for greater versatility. 

On the frame are plenty of rackmounts and clearance for 700cx50mm wheels and tyres (45mm with fenders). Speaking of wheels the Vaya uses the same WTB hoops as the Fargo but they're wrapped in Terevails Cannonball 700cx38mm tubeless-ready tyres. Like the Fargo, the Vaya comes specced with TRP Spyre-C brakes.

Built for world touring and very serious bikepacking, the Marrakesh is littered with rack mounts and comes with Salsas own front and rear racks (on full builds) for maximum load-carrying potential. With long-distance touring in mind, Salsa has focussed even more so on durability fitting the frame with a steel fork with double eyelet dropouts, low rider pack bosses and Three-Pack bosses.

Found within the array of bosses, spare spoke mounts and even a kickstand plate are bosses for downtube shifters to enable the rider to make carrying space out of every inch of the bike. The Marakesh is specced with Shimano M475 hubs laced to WTB rims with Terevail Rampart 700cx42mm, tubeless-ready tyres but the bike can be fitted with 29x2.0mm wheelsets if that's more your style. 

Marrakesh frames come in the warm grey colour and 50cm to 57cm sizes. The frame only can be picked up for $800 (around £651) and complete builds come in at $1800 (around £1,465).

Vaya frames come in the one colour and are sized from 49.5cm to 59.5cm. The frame only comes in black and is priced at $1,000 (about £813) and the full build will set you back $2,300 (£1,870).

Finally, the Fargo comes in red and is sized from XS to XL. The frame only is $1000 (£813). Differently to the other frames in the lineup, there is also a titanium option priced at $2,800 (around £2275). The full build is limited to the originally intended steel and comes in at $2,200 (about £1,900).

• www.salsacycles.com

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