Salsa by Scoboni

Ross Shafer began building frames in the 1970's, and built his first mountain bike in 1981. By 1982 he was primarily building mountain bikes and started using the Salsa name in Santa Cruz, California. Salsa Cycles became one of the more recognized brand names of the 1980's an 90's, primarily for their stems. Ross (and Salsa) moved to Petaluma, California, in 1984 and remained there until the late-90's when Salsa was sold to Quality Bike Products (QBP), where it still operates today.

This frame is a fairly early Salsa, which went through a major overhaul in about 1991. The frame was repainted and the components were upgraded to a more "modern" spec. For the time being, I've left the frame as I received it. Eventually I put earlier components back on it, but for now it's build as the rider it was for many years.

I asked Ross about the frame to see if he remembered any details. Here's an excerpt of his response:

[The frame] was indeed built in 1983. It was sold through Pacific Coast Cycles in Carlsbad, California. It was [originally] a two-tone paint job with rose and blue colors. This was done back when I was still doing all the painting myself.

I didn't serial number the first few Salsa's and didn't start a record book until frame number 016, so your frame is probably not the 31st Salsa, but is certainly in the first 50 or that I made. It was built in my shop in Santa Cruz California, before I moved to Petaluma in 1984.

The tubing spec was:
  Top Tube... Ishiwatta 1 x .7 x 1
  Down Tube... Tange 1.2 x .9 x 1.2
  Seat Tube... Columbus .9 x .6 x .9
  Seat Stays... Reynolds 531 16 x .9
  Chain Stays... Reynolds 531
  Steerer and Unicrown Blades... Tange (very rare and hard to come by back then)