The Fargo - Ride Report

After describing the my Fargo setup in great details, here's a few words about the ride.  The first thing I noticed about the bike is that it's really smooth.  The steel frame is excellent in the way a good steel frame should be.  It's not too stiff but it is very stable.  It rolls with the trail and it eats what is dished out.  What really surprised me about this bike is that it pedals and climbs really well for how heavy it is.  As you can see I made no effort to make the bike super light.  But the bike still feels fast.  Like any 29er, the key is to keep the wheels' rolling momentum going so they can keep rolling over stuff.  And the Fargo is a 29er mountain bike at heart.

My frame is the size XXL.  It's probably not the tightest handling bike ever made, but I have no complaints.  It turns well in tight spots and feels smaller than it is.  I think the change from drop bars to something more mountain-like allows for better trail handling.

One of my favorite rides at the moment is a lap around the Boulder Reservoir.  It's mostly fast hardpack covered with a bit of gravel.  There's a short section of descent that steep enough so you can't really slam on the brakes and come to a stop, but the Fargo feels really stable and comfortable.  The head angle is slack compare to  some other 29er hardtails, at 71 degrees.  I think this is to provide stability for full loaded touring.  But it also makes for a nice ride on a variety of terrain, including beachfront property and rocky steeps.

Here's one for the brochure.  This is just above one of the trailheads at Marshall Mesa.  There's miles of singletrack and gravel roads there and The Fargo is right at home.  The trip around Marshall from Boulder is a really nice long ride.  One of these days I'll get some trail photos to go with the landscape photography. The Fargo actually rolls over rocks, I promise.

Fargo - The Story Continues

It's been a while since the Fargo found it's way into the garage and it's been through a few different setups and more than a few rides.  Let's get caught up with the story...

The first changes to the stock setup was the addition of the rack, fenders, and brooks saddle.  The saddle was no decision at all.  I had it on my old single speed cross bike townie and just like the feel of it.  It's a great fit for the Fargo and really takes the edge off the trails.  It is spring loaded and sometimes I get my bounce on while riding on a rough trail but it just adds to the fun.  The fenders and rack was the plan from the beginning.  I wanted to this bike to be and SUV that I could ride on the local trails and haul panniers full of beer and food home.  The pedals are Crank Brothers Mallet 1s.  They are designed for downhill racing but they work really well on this bike.  The nice big platform lets me pedal well with street shoes.  The eggbeater in the middle clips me in when the ride is road and/or trail.  I also read that Crank Brothers put more durable bearings in the Mallets, which also sounded good to me.  In a quick  test, I seemed to me that the Mallet bearings also spin better at the axle than other CB pedals.

The rack is the Portland Design Works Payload.  The good: I think the bamboo deck and curved lines look awesome!  The styling won me over straight away.  It's also rated to carry 77 lbs, which I think I tested on some errand runs that included groceries and beer.  The bad:  The slots in the deck and the curved supports just don't work with some pannier systems.  I brought it into stores to make sure panniers would sit right. I ended up going with Ortlieb Back Rollers (in bright yellow).  They work great, are waterproof, easy on/off, and seem to be durable so far.  More on them in another post.

You may recall this odd bike came stock with drop bars, road brakes, and bar end shifters.  I gave that setup a few weeks trial run and decided I didn't like it.  The drop bars and brakes were actually really comfortable, and it was kinda fun flying down hill in the drops.  But I just didn't dig the bar end shifters.  I didn't like the motion of moving my hand from the hoods or drops to the bar end and work a lever to shift.  It's just much easier to work the gears and brakes when it's all within fingers reach.  The bike doesn't tour enough at the moment to justify having them.  I use it as a trail bike and a commuter bike so a mountain bar setup made more sense.

I did a bunch of research into what the bike community is calling Alt bars and settled on the Soma Clarence Bar.  It's similar in design and dimensions to the more popular On One Mary bar, but a little wider.  It was also cheaper and easier to order.  The brakes and shifters are Shimano XT.  The bike (in XT build) is all XT from the hubs out so I had to finish that off on the bars.  Yes the grips are leather!  Another well made product from PDW, the Dapper Dan grips are lock-ons and really comfortable without gloves.  This was key since I ride this bike about town without my trail gloves on.

As for the ride report on the Alt bar setup, I didn't really dig them either.  They were kinda comfortable and felt good for out of saddle climbing.  But they put my elbows in towards me at a weird angle.  Off road, the downward slant of the grips caused my hands to literally bounce down the ends of the bars, which is super interesting!  And the combination of the 25.4 clamp and 2-bolt road stem had way too much flex for trail use.  So the Alt bars were replaced.  More on that later.

The stock tires are WTB Vulpine 2.1 29er tires.  They are billed as XC race tires but they worked really well on this bike.  The center knobs are almost flat and roll fast on roads and hardpack.  The outside knobs dig in pretty well but on the loose harpack out here the bike got a little shifty.  The tires always caught but it made for an interesting ride on fast corners.  Kind of like skiing in soft snow.

The brakes are Avid BB7 Mountain (not road) discs and they work really well on this bike.  Haven't even thought about swapping for hydraulics.  One of the many really nice design features of this frame is the placement of the brake mounts inside the rear triangle.  This leaves easy clearance for the rack and fender eyelets.

 The paint color, a sparkled olive green that Salsa calls Fun Guy Green, seems to be a real 'love it or hate it' color among riders and reviewers.  I happen to love it.  I also really dig the decal work.  The one above says "Designed In Minnesota, Made In Taiwan"

The one above says "If it ain't Moto, it's worthless".  This  a long time Salsa slogan.  If any one knows what it means let me know.  I think it's rad.

And last but not least, I really like that the folks at Salsa print instructions right on the frame.

By the way, this 3-word instruction manual is also etched into the drop-outs.  And that's what I try to do.  Just ride and smile...

The Fargo by Salsa - How it got to Gershfeld Garage.

Welcome readers!  This is my first post and I have to dedicate it to the finest piece of gear I have acquired in a really long time: my new bike, the Salsa Fargo.  I was lucky enough to procure this bike at a screaming deal that I just could not pass up (I will refrain from admitting the details to protect the innocent, but they know who they are, and they get props!).  And no, I do not work for Salsa.  But I will entertain a job offer if they are reading.

I was looking for a steel hard tail 29er and I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a custom build.  I have to admit I didn't think this would be the one.  But the deal was offered to me and I found out that a local shop actually had one in stock, built up in my size (XXL).  I had to check it out.

At first sight it's a strange looking bike, I know.  Salsa bills this bike as a specifically designed off road touring 29er.  It comes with every conceivable braze-on for racks and fenders and bottle mounts on the frame and fork.  You can read the details on the Salsa site.  It is supposed to be able tour any surface anywhere.  I didn't really have ambitions of exploring every dirt road in the US and beyond, but I really liked the idea of a bike that could ride well on pavement, gravel, fire roads, some local light trails, and be able to carry a rack and panniers for town commuting.  It just gave the impression that it could get things done and have a good time at it.

I got a good feeling about the bike right from the first ride.  I used to have an un-suspended steel 29er single speed, so I was familiar with the big wheel concept.  But I was surprised at how quick this bike took off, considering it's probably at least 30 lbs in the biggest size.   I was not immediately sold on drop bars or the bar end shifters but I thought it was worth a try.  Who knows, I might get used to them and grow to like them.  In case you're wondering, bar end shifters are preferred by most tourers, which is why they are spec'ed on the Fargo.  It was explained to me that they are the simplest, most durable, easily repairable in the third world, shifting mechanisms available.  And even when they break they still sort of work.

From the shop I climbed a short hill up to the edge of a park where bike are not allowed.  But I ducked in just enough to check out the Fargo on a bit of dirt and rocks.  I remembered how well the big wheels rolled over stuff.  I turned a quick corner, rolled over some roots, and went off a short rock shelf.  I ducked out of the park and back on the road, which was now a fast downhill back to shop.  I made sure to pop on and off some curbs to do a proper test ride.  By the time I got back to the shop I was sold on the geometry and the quality of the ride.  It really did handle all the conditions I threw at it with ease.

Over the next few days I read alot of reviews and blogs about the Fargo. People from all over the world seemed to be setting them up all different ways and riding them in all different sorts of terrain.  All the stories were really positive.  Many of the photos of riders generally included a smile.  Even after a short demo ride I could see why.  There was something very interesting and satisfying about a bike that could offer so much versatility.  Especially if I could get it for the price of an average Boulder wheelset.  I put my order in and the bike was on it's way.

Stay tuned for more stories of my Fargo, how I set up, and where it's been riding...