Salsa Cycles new website goes live today and in it Salsa Cycles announces its newest 29″er, the Fargo. This isn’t just any ol’ 29″er though. The Fargo is a new breed of 29″er that will bend the rules just a bit. Let’s take a look.
(Editors Note: Pictures coutesy of Jason Boucher of Salsa)
First off, the Fargo is a hardtail, non-suspension corrected steel, geared specific, disc brake only bike. That in itself makes it stand out from the crowd. But there is more- much more to the story behind the Fargo. The Fargo is intended for a purpose that no other 29″er before it has been. For a clearer picture of what is going on here, I asked Salsa head honcho, Jason Boucher, to help explain things. Jason told me that the Fargo is intended for, “adventure touring”. He goes on to say, “This is a ride anywhere do anything bike.” The bike has its roots in things like the Great Divide Race, off road touring, and long distance endurance events like Trans Iowa, but that doesn’t necessarily define what the Fargo’s purposes are. Jason has also mentioned that he fully expects to see the Fargo doing all sorts of activities. Commuting, utility, and off roading fall into this bikes realm of possibilties.
However, it is hard to overlook the specific details of the Fargo and not think “adventure”. Things like six water bottle bosses, (on the small size, there are only five) two above the down tube, one below it, one on the seat tube, and two on the back sides of the rigid fork’s legs, which are also fitted with low rider mounts. There is a pump peg, and the brakes are post mounts with the rear brake on the chainstay to help clear rack and fenders. (Yes, there are rack and fender mounts too!)
Details abound on the Fargo. Things like a special eyelet to run a toe strap through on a fork leg mounted water bottle cage, should you choose to mount cages there. This keeps the bottle from ejecting over rough terrain. The drop outs are specially designed and stainless steel. A little “Salsa” logo is part of the rear drop outs design which gives the Fargo a “custom bike” flair. Of course, the post mounts for disc brakes are another unique element of the Fargo’s design.
There are a lot of subtle things going on here too. The geometry is optimized for drop bar use, but a flat bar is not excluded because of this. (The Fargo Complete will come with drop bars) The bottom bracket is slightly lower for stability. The fork, as mentioned, is not suspension corrected. (443mm axle to crown) It also features a 55mm offset for the small, medium, and large sizes to help clear toes when fenders are mounted. The XL and XXL sizes are using a 50mm offset. Even the finish on the Fargo didn’t escape the touch of innovation. The powder coat is a new custom mix that is more durable and stays looking good. Jason says, “The bike I have has 1,000 miles on it. I polished it and used it for the website photos. Incredible.”
When asked about the non corrected nature of the fork, Jason replied, ” That’s intentional. This is a go anywhere in the world bike including almost any road in the world. Sus forks aren’t the best for that intended application.” Jason also addressed the disc brake versus cantilever brake debate by stating, “I get it, but we like disc brakes on this bike. Avid mechs are proven.”
The main thing here is that the Fargo is a very versatile platform. Prototypes have been ridden with Racing Ralph 2.4′s and WTB Weir Wolf’s, arguably the fattest 29″er tires that you can buy. Fenders will fit with 2.0 tires. Road type tires can also be fitted; however, Salsa recommends that nothing smaller than a 40mm tire be used to keep the bottom bracket from getting too low. Honestly, there are other bikes that do “skinny” better, and this isn’t the Fargo’s intended territory anyway. This is a new category of bicycle, what I call an “Adventuring” rig. A go anywhere, go long type of bicycle.
Salsa is setting the suggested retail on the frame, fork, and seat post clamp at $650.00. A complete model spec’ed with a full XT drivetrain, bar end shifters on Salsa Bell Lap drop bars, Salsa Shaft seat post holding a WTB saddle, WTB Vulpines on Salsa Semi 36 hole rims, DT Competition spokes, brass nipples, Avd BB-7 brakes, Tektro levers, and Salsa CroMoto stem will set you back $2000.00 MSRP. Expected availability on the framesets is November 2008 The Fargo Completes will be here January/February of 2009.
Now if I can just figure out how to install an Alfine hub without the tensioner. That is my dream bike, actually with a couple details that I had not thought about. thumbsup!
I give Salsa two big thumbs up for attempting to design a drop bar 29er for the masses. They’ve done everything I would have and then some.
Hey folks,
This is Pete, one of the engineers over at Salsa Cycles. G-Ted’s column mentions fenders with 2.0″ tires…. On the prototypes I was actually able to fit 2.3″ tires w/ the Planet Bike Cascadia 29er fenders. This is also called out on Salsa’s website. Ride & Smile!
I like the concept, but that has got to be one of the ugliest bikes I’ve ever seen. Pics on their web site now.
Looks pretty cool, Fun Guy green notwithstanding (hey, it ain’t easy being green right?). It seems really well thought out all around, I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess they’re going to sell real well.
YES! The bike we’ve all been waiting for is HERE! You guys wait ’til you see this thing… It’s so cool and has an awesome ride quality. I got a chance to give Jason’s bike a good looksee at Guitar Ted’s Death Ride Invitational, and the tire clearance is very impressive — Pete’s not just blowin’ smoke. It’s something I’d ride into the backcountry fully-loaded without hesitation too. They designed it with reliability in mind. It’s the off-road adventurer… and it’s meant to be ridden for long, repeated days… weeks… months in the saddle at a time.
This is outstanding. Thank you Salsa, for stepping so far out of the box. I love the color. I love the utility. This just exudes awesomeness.
I tried to explain how good it it without going into detail, on MTBR. I took many words. It’s just an unheard of design.
When I did recent mega post sequel on all that’s wrong in cycling…Salsa took care of about half my point right there with the Fargo.
I can say I need a Fargo now, but honestly, 5 or 10 years from now, all bikes ought to be copies of this one.
Big bow for Salsa. I just empied a bag of tortilla chips with medium salsa dip. Then this news hit me. Weird,
WOW, WOW and WOW….
That’s a bike I’ve been waiting for!!! I Don’t care about the fugly green but the functionality for off-road touring seems amazing. I want to do a repeat of my 2006 bike trip around the Himalayas in 2010 – longer, badder and bigger this time;) – and this is a bike that might be able to take the abuse. Thanks will keep looking for it;)
my dream bike has finally been built.
Swap the drop bars to flats with bar ends, fit some Pauls mounts to the bar end shifters to turn them into thumbshifters… and this just became my ultimate commuter bike.
BRING IT ON!
What mg said. Looks even better now the hombre secreto electrical tape is removed from the logos.
It’s like they took the Karate Monkey and fixed my personal issues with it…suspension correction, fender/tire/derailleur clearance, drop bar geometry, etc. I prefer v-brakes, but you can’t have everything. I’m guessing they’ll have to use Tiagra shifters with the XT stuff since everything above that is 10-speed.
xchokex: No, not STI. Salsa is going with bar end shifters which are available in 9spd. If you biff your derailluer you can switch to friction mode and ride on.
-How will this compare weight-wise to current and past year Kona Sutra framesets?
-Will the clearance work with 2.35 Big Apples for mostly on road use with 29er fenders, or will that be too tight?
-And you couldn’t do fixed gear except with a ENO hub, right?
This looks like my perfect bike… love the forward fork drops.
Josh: I am not familiar with the Sutra other than that it does not accept this sort of a tire. (2.3″ with fenders) I would assume based upon the intended use that the Salsa would be slightly heavier. A good thing if you stray far from pavement with a loaded bike.
Big apples should clear fine. the Salsa guys are using knobbies at 2.3″ with fenders.
Fixed with an ENO, correct.
I concur Guitar Ted. The Fargo and Sutra are two completely different bicycles. The Sutra is completely mountain bikeable. In fact, Jason told me they actually designed the Fargo so that it would be completely durable when ridden fully-loaded off-road. That means they actually had to beef it up compared to the El Mariachi 29er mountain bike tubeset. That’s sweet!
The clearance should easily be good to go for your big apples with fenders, based on what I saw on Jason’s bike… I can’t imagine it wouldn’t work.
The Fargo is going to seriously raise the bar for long-haul adventure bikes, I believe. If the La Cruz got me to fall back in love with drop bars again for ‘cross (I used to run flat bars on my ‘cross bikes), the Fargo is going to get me to fall in love with riding drop bars off road.
Not that I don’t like the Sutra — it’s a cool bike. It’s just that the Fargo is an evolution beyond the Sutra in so far that it’s a real mountain bike and can be ridden as such, has chainstay-mounted, post-mount disc brakes, six sets of water bottle bosses, Salsa’s super sweet dropouts and an awesome True Temper OX Platinum tubeset. I’ll take the Fargo ten times out of ten!
… but that’s probably no surprise to anyone here.
Cheers,
MG
they need to use the casserole dropouts! this is a great platform for a fixie/commuter! bummer its gearie only!!
This is a great bike. The more days riding the better. This bike is definitely designed by people who love riding. Even looking at this pictures make me dream about riding for a few weeks. Still have to finish the last part of the Great Divide, want to ride in Alaska again, ride Norway, and many more trips come up. Combine this with dropbars, cabledisks, strong frame, lots of brazeons and room for wide tires. This is the new paradigm for adventurebikes.
Awesome! I going to my LBS to put down a deposit today.
Woha!!!
Way cool frame! Looks to be a perfect do it all bike!
I think salsa well have a hard time keeping up with the demand!
I’m very interested in the bike. In what way is the geometry altered to suit drop-bars? What I’d like to know is what I’m giving up by running flat bars on the frame?
As for the bike, I very much like what I see so far. I bent my Crosstrail frame this year and am looking for a 29er that I can configure with rack and fenders to use as a replacement. The Fargo sounds spot-on for that application.
Man, it’s like someone was reading my mind!
@Jonathan :
Top tubes are way short. Head angles slacks, and offset increased. Much like Fisher have been doing to get ultimate off-road handling, but it also makes short top tubes possible with less toe overlap.
For an M 29″er, the head tube is logn, but then, it’s not a suspension corrected fork like most 29″ers. Advantage of that, I would not know.
Awesome. I was just considering a Rawland (they’ll fit 29×1.9 tires) for similar purposes, looks like I might wait for this to be available instead, as it adresses some of the things that are holding me back on the Rawland.
I built up both a Karate Monkey and an LHT, both of which aspire to be this bike. I wish this was available a few years ago.
Yeah, I saw the bar end shifters after I posted that. I think the stock gearing is going to be way too high for loaded off-road touring. My monkey is running 46/34/24 and it’s a bit stiff on some of the climbs around here. The gearing is good for commuting though, which is where most of my miles come from. I kind of wish it had Midge bars, but Bell Laps are cool, too.
This looks really similar in concept to bikes I’ve seen from Thorn and Koga-Miyata. Ted had hinted at a gravel grinder specific bike coming soon when I mentioned it in his personal blog, and I am pretty sure this is what he was thinking of at the time. At this point, I am a bit torn. i have a Karate Monkey and just put together a Long Haul Trucker like John has. However, I had not built up either of those to be what this bike is. This bike appears to be trying to cover a lot of bases and I find it hard to believe that this one bike could cover them as completely as the two bikes I currently have. I would have to try one out and get a feel for it. This could replace my LHT for touring and eliminate the need for a separate cross bike for gravel grinders. I’d still be tempted by a La Cruz for gravel grinders like TI and DK just because of the lower starting weight. Too many choices can be a bad thing sometimes
I’d run Kelly Take-Offs with this frame
http://www.kellybike.com/2nd_xtra_takeoff.html
I’d also like Midge flared Dirt Drop style bars, but I’ve seen a couple of references on the web saying that wouldn’t be the best combo.
Debate….
re earlier posts- I’m glad to hear that 2.35 Big Apples+Cascadia 29er fenders will fit with plenty of clearance/ no toe overlap.
On the subject of Midge/Gary bars, it doesn’t have any bearing on performance it only impacts comfort and preferance of the rider……on road.
Off raod they are actually a better choice. The drops are formed in such a way that the bend to the lower portion of the drop will not interfere with your wrists and forearms when riding offroad. Even Bell Lap bars do not have enough flare for this, although they do have some. Keep in mind that this is correct only if you adhere to the philosophy that one always stays in the drops off road and has the bike set up accordingly. (The pictures of the Fargo illustrate this perfectly. The drops being nearly in line with the saddle height.)
Gravel grinding: The cross bike for racing is an excellent choice only if you are in contention for a top finish in an event. Otherwise the pain inflicted by it’s short event efficiency, (read stiffness and rider position) isn’t really an appealing facet of riding several hours at a crack. I’ve no doubt that the Fargo will make an appearance at Trans Iowa set up with 32mm tires and in a “cross bike-like” set up. Will it be good? Well, if you take advantage of those six bottle mounts and ride without a pack, I think the answer is yes. Sure the bike will weigh more, but you won’t be getting ground into dust by a hydration pack full of water and gear either.
How big of a curse would it be to run the Fargo with a trailer? I subscribe to the light bike, and extra wheel supported baggage philosophy. In my theory, a trailer reduced rolling resistance. I once saw a 24″ or 26″ conversion of a BOB, and I want that, especially the 26″. Performance tires and wheels are readily available for that.
Or like the sand bike 26×3.7/29″ trailer with the bags on the side, a shorter solution. A 29×2.0″ Marathon Supreme should be an appropriately named tire for a trailer. Do trailers need any grip at all? Not a whole lot, until you equipe them with a brake or cardan axle drive, I suppose.
When a 3rd wheel follows in the path of the 2nd, its rolling resistance due to trail deformation is much reduced. Even on immovable surfaces, such as inline skates on asphalt, adding wheels reduces rolling resistance.
Summer 2007 I did some 111km commutes to visit a girlfriend, my 100L weekend bag in the BOB. Times set suggested it was a fast setup, despite the 16″ wheel.
More on topic : Without any prior knowledge, I predict that Salsa keeps one big bang for Interbike launch. An OS super off-road randonneur handlebar, inpired on the WTB Dirt Drop and Migde/Gary bars, yet with far improved comfort and fitting, on bikes of any proportions.
Salsa are leading the way in Flat bar development (more degrees of sweep added per half decade than the other trend setters). They can certainly come up with improvements of the aforementioned, after having crunched the numbers for the Fargo.
So many things to use the Fargo for… With 2.35 BA’s, as a low positioned drop bar beach racer. There’s a 130km A-to-B race along the main part of the Dutch coast. I’d even dare run tri bars, did it before in 26″, just in shorter races. I’d hope to try shaved 2.4 RR’s for that though, half the weight and rolling resistance
This bike is what I had in mind when I bought my Raleigh XXIX. I’ve been plannig to get braze-on fender/rack mounts for two years now, maybe this winter. That Salsa is sweet, maybe someone else can put the braze-ons on the raleigh when I sell it for a Fargo.
The XXIX with a Redline Flight fork would appromixate the Fargo’s design idea rather closely.
Longer thus slacker. More offset (slightly), which helps handling. Longer forks also reduce reace, and of course help towards getting a dropbar to fit.
Just you’d miss some braze-ons perhaps. A custom fork of course could do more.
@ Cloxxki “How big of a curse would it be to run the Fargo with a trailer?”
I plan to use one when needed with my Fargo for trail work, groceries, laundry, anytime I need more hauling ability. Why not? This is the ultimate adventure tour utility commuter bike in my mind. Now Salsa built my dream.
I’d be stoked to race the Fargo in something like the TransRockies, or even the Dirty Kanza 200. Something rough that would reward a rider able to run a Nanoraptor or a Crow instead of a ‘cross tire. The ability to get a lot of the weight off the body and onto the bike without resorting to straps and clamps is a major bonus as well. In addition, the tubeset, while not OX Platinum, as I’d originally stated (and thought it was going to be — it’s Salsa Classico Chromoly), it is beefed up to handle appropriately while fully loaded in off road conditions, so it’s going to handle the way it should. If the production bike rides anything like the way Jason’s prototype rode at Guitar Ted’s Death Ride, we’re in for a treat.
And I’d say, if the trailer fits, run it, if that’s your style. Why discriminate? Running a trailer simply adds to your load carrying options as far as I’m concerned. Like slocaus said, it’d be a killer utility bike. You don’t have to run the thing all the time, and it’ll be sweet to have for the times you need it. The brakes certainly work well enough to use a trailer — I’ll tell you that much. Those post-mount BB7s are STRONG!
looks like a great bike! seems to be perfect for commuting and the occasional of road tour….
im not sure i would use it for heavy duty off road touring though, specially if you’re not going to be touring in the west. there is the whole 26″ vs 29″ touring debate, i know, i know…but seriously, its hard to find 29″ tires when you are out in the boonies. 26″ are easier to come by, even if they are of low quality. at least you’ll still be able to ride.
i’ve toured through Scandinavia and Russia on a 26″ rohloff equipped thorn. never had a problem. i still believe that for serious, long distance, trouble free touring, you should use a rohloff. i would love to see an ebb on this bike! would also be great for SS.
there a couple of things i don’t get. the second bottle cage on the down tube. it looks like a larger water bottle wouldn’t even fit that high up. also the water bottle holders on the fork. weird, and unnecessary. when carrying weight on a bike you want it as low as possible, this seems a little silly to put extra weight up that high.
if you need to carry a lot of water, install one of those “oversized” bottle cages that holds 1-2 liter bottles. you wont have trouble with it. the other advantage is that you can just buy new water, or refill the bottle, and when it gets nasty, just get a new one.
the bb7′s are great! although i would bring an extra disc, just in case.
awesome 29er though, if it was equipped with an ebb this bike would even be more versatile.
tourguy: Thanks for your comments. Here’s my quick thoughts on your comments.
EBB: Yeah, I hear you, but as for touring, there has been tons and tons of successful tours done on derailluered rigs and they are cheaper to set up for most folks piecing this together from a frame/fork. I do understand that Salsa cannot accommodate everyone’s desires when it comes to a bike like this. I think it fits 90% of what most are looking for here though.
Wheel size: In a pinch, you could run 26 inch disc wheels in this. Also, there are again many successful tours that have been done in really remote places on different wheel sizes. It’s just a matter of acceptance of risk, as with any choices you make in regards to touring in remote areas.
The bottle cages: Those are there not so much for tourists, but for adventure cyclists and racers in a weird category of ultra endurance racing that maybe you are not familiar with. Again, the Fargo is not “just an off road-able touring bike” Many are pigeon holing it that way, when in fact it isn’t “just” that. It is a lot more than that, and believe it or not, a lot of folks are stoked that it has these mounts and will work for this new Adventuring category of cycling.
tourguy, an extra disc!? Seems extreme, but if you’ve actually been on tour and broken a disc and wished you had an extra I’d love to hear the story! I figure with discs even if you lose one brake the other one will be enough to get you to a shop, and 6″ rotors are everywhere, at least here in the States.
Since it comes up often, everyone should know about this:
http://eehouse.org/fixin/formfmu.php
Allows you to input chainstay length and if you want to use a half-link, and outputs chainring/cog combinations that work without a tensioner. Might not get you exactly what you want, but pretty neat for running internal hubs on a bike with vertical dropouts.
Does the size Medium with it’s 57.5 cm top tube seem kinda long to anyone else?
@jimmythefly “Does the size Medium with it’s 57.5 cm top tube seem kinda long to anyone else?”
Just the opposite on sizing for me. I chose frames based on ETT with an eye to standover and/or being able to get a long enough seatpost.
Compared to my Inbred SS (L) and Canzo FS (L), this puts me on an XXL with no standover. Or if I get and a C-T seat tube almost the same as my existing bikes, and similar standover, I end up on a L with an inch shorter ETT. Given a stem around 100 (110 on Canzo, 95 on Inbred) and the extra reach of riding in the drops, this should work. Hmmmmm.
when i looked at the fargo, i immediately thought adventure touring! just the way it is set up with front and rear racks, etc… so that is what i based my comments on.
i’m also basing my comments on my experiences, meaning touring in really remote areas (asia, russia, eastern europe, etc.) as for the extra disc, i was more talking about a bent disc then a broken one. when touring with discs you just need to be a little more careful, like when you get on a train (in order to cross borders) or when you lean your bike against something, or when it falls over. little things like this can bend your disc, and it’s really hard to fix a disc or find a new one (again i speak of experience).
i’m aware of many tours being successful with different wheel sizes and dérailleurs, etc. don’t get me wrong, i love the idea of this bike. i get what it was made for. for me, i was just dreaming of building a really cool, bombproof, maintenance free, 29″ touring bike. take off all the touring stuff and you would have a bombproof maintenance free, 29″ endurance racer.
On a long tour, I wouldn’t consider it out of line to carry a one or two spare rotors, and some spare pads. I usually carry an extra pair of replacement cleats and hardware as well. Can’t be too prepared. It makes the bike heavier, but that doesn’t bother me.
@slocaus I see what you mean. I just think they got their names wrong when it comes to drop-bar bike sizing, a 57.5 top tube is barely in “medium” range(though it seems appropriate for mountain-bike sizing), and what Salsa calls a small at 55.5 EFF is much bigger than what most manufacturers call a “small” drop-bar touring frame. I understand that for a 29er there’s a limit to how small a frame can work, just seems like the naming/sizing is still based around MTB 29er sizing, not drop-bar touring. Anyhows, we’re all different on this, and it’s not like consumers won’t be able to figure it out, just struck me as odd.
Tourguy and Steve, thanks for the insight into remote touring. I guess we’ll need custom front and rear racks with built-in disc rotor guards!
Some more questions on this great bike, maybe there are some Salsa guys out here.
Can I use a suspension fork on it? Maybe someone has tested a setup with a flat bar and a suspension fork? How does it compare to XC 29ers on a trail? And maybe some more info on a frame… I’d be very grateful since I’m considering buying one for all-round use.
Skinnyman: It is not optimized for the lenght a sauspension fork would have, so expect a big change in geometry and handling if you do put a suspension fork on it.
The frame is butted CroMoly steel to Salsa’s specs. I thought it rode with a typical springy steel feel that a good steel frame displays when done correctly. The fargo is a very competent single tracker. Its lower bottom bracket height makes it feel and handle better in the twisties than many other bikes, but this does lead to some pedal strike issues.
Man, I am so stoked over this bike! I’ve been looking at the Tout Terrain Silk Road and the Thorn eXp, two exceptional bikes, but both have a LOFTY price tag, the Thorn lacks disc brakes, and both are 26ers (and there’s nothing wrong with that, but having a steel 29er adventure tourer with disc brakes and all kinds of rack bosses for $650 is unprecedented).
I own a Karate Monkey rigid (for which I have dabbled in transforming it into an urban-assault bike with my Schwalbe Big Apples, but it’s too freakin awesome as a SS mountain bike)… so I have a pair of Big Apples waiting to be used…
I also own a Kogswell P/R 650B with Midge On One bars, and barend shifters….it’s a silky smooth ride and has the makings of a great tourer, except it simply cannot handle loaded touring without being noodly… so it’s a wonderful bike to ride, but it has limited use….
Finally I own a Salsa Ala Carte with 650B wheels and disc brakes… Almost perfect for loaded touring, except it lacks the rack bosses (but I have adapters), and still has rack/disc brake clearance issues in the rear… I even added the Midge bars and Avid road disc brakes, figuring I’d have the ultimate adventure tourer… still have challenges with the racks, and somehow it wasn’t as comfortable with the drop bars as I had thought, and I really missed the hydraulic disc brakes… so I put the drops back on the Kogswell and am running the Salsa like a 650B “roadster”… awesome bike, but not quite the “uber adventure bike” I had envisioned.
The Fargo…. that may be the “game changer”… brilliant! brilliant!!
Peace,
MBB
Tourguy, you suggested an EBB… I stumbled upon this bike a few months ago; you may have heard of the Steelwool Tweed http://www.steelwoolbicycles.ca/bikes/tweed.php
Steelwool is a small Canadian company… The Tweed is unique…. They describe it as “The Swiss Army Knife of Bikes”…. It’s a great-looking steel lugged frame… kinda reminds me of a Surly LHT, but includes disc brake bosses, a derailleur hanger AND… an EBB!!
MSRP for frame and fork is $681 Canadian (that’s around $525 US)
Peace,
MBB