2013 Salsa Vaya

The Story of My 2013 Salsa Vaya

Written by: Joseph Nocella

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Published on

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Time to read 3 min

I am not one to get sentimental about my bikes. My bikes don't have a name/pronoun, or any lore.  For me, they have always been tools that came and went in my life....until this one.

2013 Salsa Vaya
2013 Salsa Vaya

As a bike shop owner, bikes came and went in my life. I felt like a cattle rancher...all of the cows can't have names, there's just too many!  In addition, I normally only own only 1-3 bikes at a time (currently 1), so I wasn't a fetishist or collector.


The bike I selected for a tour season usually had something to do with a vendor relationship, as I would generally sell a lot of the bike model I rode.  I've ridden some great bikes throughout the years.

2013 Salsa Vaya
2013 Salsa Vaya

The backstory on my 2013 Salsa Vaya is one that will stay with me forever. In about 2012, this guy named Greg starting hanging around our shop (old location in Gowanus on 3rd Ave). Not much was known about him, but he came by every day and started helping out. He became a fixture in the shop, and someone who we all could relay on.  For me, he represented an adult I could talk to, as  the shop staff was certainly a younger crowd.

2013 Salsa Vaya
2013 Salsa Vaya

He was a very private man, and we all would speculate what his backstory was...but there he was, EVERY DAY, sweeping the basement, or selling bikes on the sales floor. The man was brilliant, a sponge of information and source of biting, direct hilarious commentary. He became a dear friend to me. We could (and did), talk for hours on end, conversations that would last days and weeks.


At Christmas 2014, I bought two 2013 Salsa Vaya frames...one for him as a gift/thank you, and one for me to build up someday. Greg was an amazing rider, having completed the Trans America and the Great Divide ride. He duly built up his Vaya and rode it for thousands of miles...I hung my frame on the wall and got distracted for many years.


When I moved into my smaller space on 7th Ave in 2020, Greg came along. But, as this space was smaller, he didn't stop by as often anymore, but that frame of mine still hung on the wall. Greg would ask me all the time when I was going to build it up, but I never had a real good answer as I was probably busy riding some new, modern, swoopy gravel/touring bike with a single front chainring and tubeless tires.


Greg was older than me, and was the most fit person I had ever known. The call from his sister in 2022 informing me of his death knocked me out.


It took me a few years, but finally in 2024 I pulled this dusty frame off the wall and felt I wanted to build this bike they way Greg would have.


This meant a 3x9 friction drivetrain (front and rear), bar-end shifters, dynamo hub and wired lights, racks and panniers, quick-release wheels...the whole retro touring thing. Greg was a traditionalist when it came to his bikes, and I channeled these ideas on the build. I am far from spiritual, but I feel his presence out there on long desolate trips, and I even talk to him...I guess that IS the definition of being spiritual.


The 2 pieces of life advice he gave me that I use every day are:


  1. "Get off your losers". His previous life had him in finance, and this saying was meant to get one to move on quickly...the sooner one could distance themselves from their "losers" (stocks, bad ideas, bad employees, etc) the better.
  2. "Make every trade". The implication here was you never know who is going to walk through the door or call on the phone...each interaction has to be your best.

His favorite movies were/are my favorite movies (Raising Arizona, Spinal Tap).


I rode this bike for just about our entire 2024 season, and am looking forward to 2025 and beyond. I have sold every bike I've ever owned without batting an eye...I will never sell this one. It's one of one.

2013 Salsa Vaya
2013 Salsa Catalog Image
2013 Salsa Vaya
Adirondacks 2024