You blog readers could have guessed this, right? I think it has made the list every year I've done this list. And you all know I love this bike and probably y'all know why too. There isn't much left to be said about it after all these years. So, if you are new here and don't understand, I apologize. Just shoot me a comment and I'll answer, but I feel like writing more about this bike is beating a dead horse now after 12 years of owning it.
I will talk about future plans as they relate to maintenance and I should mention a couple changes too. First and most obviously I have mounted these new-ish Surly Extraterrestrial 29" X 2.5" tires. I traded for these with Andy who had them to mount to a Karate Monkey he ended up selling before he got them used. I also switched up wheels and I have these Shimano hubbed, Duster rimmed wheels which were off of my old Sawyer, actually. The Extraterrestrials mounted up well to these tubeless and I expect that they shouldn't give me any troubles at all. They are on the heavy side though.
Another change I made was to use this Salsa Regulator Ti post with a Brooks C-17 saddle. This combination is really smooth. Combined with the tires I have smoothed out the ride of this bike a great deal. I also put a Redshift Sports ShockStop stem on there for a while but I have a rigid stem back on it for the time being. I fitted the Becker Bags frame bag made for this bike and the J-Pak proto gravel top tube bag. There is also a Bar Yak system cue sheet holder deal on there for my analog route finding.
I had threatened to upgrade the drive train but with COVID-19 shortages on cassettes and chain rings, not to mention chains, I decided to just keep running this set up into the ground for now. Eventually I hope to replace the aging Deore crank set with the original XT Hollotech triple and a Chris King bottom bracket along with a new 9 speed cassette.
But that's pretty much it. Dreaming big, I would go with a new set of wheels here, but probably not yet. So, that covers this old girl and you can expect to see it again real soon.
7 comments:
Seems like salsa hit it out of the park with this one. Then they had to go monkey with success. The plastic fork on the current model would be a deal breaker for me. I wonder who makes the closest match to the Gen 1 now? Gotta go look.
To me, the Gen. I Fargo is the iconic Guitar Ted bike. When I first started following your blog, I recall seeing photos of that bike and thinking how much I liked the color. I did research of that model of bike but found it to be out of my budget. When I participated in a geezer ride, you rode that bike. I felt like I was in the presence of a celebrity! It's fun to see how much your stable has grown.
@Phillip Cowan - Salsa hit a home run, no doubt, with that model. I do remember at Interbike in 2008 when they released the model as a 2009 bike that there was confusion about the Fargo. The consensus amongst those of us at the Outdoor Demo was that this was a very unique and striking bike, but no one really understood what it was for. Now- looking back after all of this time, it is easy to see that Salsa had a bike with an ethos way ahead of its time.
The Gen I Fargo was the prototype drop bar bikepacking bike before 'bikepacking' was a thing. Had Salsa - or its dealers- understood the bike better, it would be a completely different model than it is now.
Salsa didn't "monkey with success' so much as they frittered away a chance. Maybe saying that Salsa didn't properly focus their range afterward makes more sense. Think about how bikes like the Vaya, the Marrakesh, and the El Mariachi- a bike the Fargo was based on- were really all facets of what the Gen I Fargo already was. To differentiate the Fargo in the line, it by necessity had to take on a more 'mountain bike' character, allowing first for a suspension fork, (although you RARELY ever see a Fargo with front suspension), and then beefing up the tubing to make it pass all the MTB stress tests, thus ruining any of the magic the Gen I bike may have had. Additionally, calling the 'carbon Fargo' the Cutthroat muddies the waters further.
In an alternative universe, the evolution of the Fargo would have been to add through axles, internal cable routing, slightly increased tire clearances, a slight decrease in head angle, add Alternator drop outs, add real fender mounts and snap-in bag mounts, and- (YES, I know you won't like this) a carbon fork with the Three-Pack mounts. The bike would have then remained a non-suspension corrected design, kept up with changes that made sense, and would have made for an even better bike packing bike. They could have been offered with drop bars or some sort of flat Alt-Bar as an alternative. The Carbon Fargo(Cutthroat) would have been the lightweight alternative, and a Titanium Fargo would have been the ultimate wayfarer's choice. Boom.
But alas! They got it wrong and here we are.......
@graveldoc - Kind words, thank you!
I suppose that you are right- the Fargo Gen I in 'Fun Guy Green' is the quintessential "Guitar Ted bike" if there ever was one. Maybe the Raleigh Tamland would be a close second? Or the Orange Crush? Hmm... No, the Fargo is it then.
Me- a 'celebrity'? Now that is definitely up for debate! But thank you for the notion. That's very flattering.
@Guitar Ted- I think you nailed it. The industry can be pretty short sighted and sometimes the public doesn't recognise a great bike right off. By the time they do those bikes have moved on to cult status, think XO-1 or Rock Combo. The Gen 1 Fargo may be headed in that direction. Hang on to your OEM Fargo parts in case a collector with buckets of cash comes sniffing around,lol.
Gen Ones on Gents. Plan on it. ;)
@S. Fuller: Eye-eye Cap'n!
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