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Tag Archives: Salsa
Video: Twinsburg City Park Loop Fat Biking
Posted by on February 1, 2015
I ride the Twinsburg City Park Loop when I want to squeeze in a quick ride close to home. It’s good on just about any kind of bike–cyclocross, hybrid, mountain, or in this case, my Salsa Mukluk snow bike.
I started at the corner of Glenwood and Gary drives. The snow in the wooded sections of the Old Hickory Trail was perfect; deep enough to get good traction, but light and fluffy enough to keep a brisk pace, with some previous hiking tracks providing somewhat of a packed base. The paved trail along the Officer Joshua T. Miktarian Memorial Parkway was completely un-plowed and un-tracked, which made it virtually impassable, so I had to jump on the road for that part. The Center Valley Park Trail was plowed, which made the going there quick and easy.
I only saw one other person during the ride, a guy on showshoes, who you’ll see briefly in the video.
My Big Fat Bike Adventure
Posted by on January 23, 2015
A few of us in the Peninsula store like to take short one-night bike tours, or Sub 24-Hour Overnights, throughout the year. With snow bike season in full swing, we figured why not take a snow bike tour?
Chris got the bright idea to drive out to Oil Creek State Park, near Oil City, Pennsylvania. The park has a bike path that runs along the creek, which we could ride on fat bikes until we got to a hiking trail that leads to the top of the ridge overlooking the creek. Up the ridge is a set of lean-to shelters for overnight camping. Then, we’d ride back to the car the next morning.
So what does one pack for a bike-camping trip in the winter time? It’s pretty much the same as bike-camping any other time, except you take some warmer clothes. We could save a little packing space by not taking tents, since we’d be sleeping in a shelter.
Video: Bedford Singletrack Fat Biking
Posted by on January 11, 2015
A 5-second time-lapse video of riding my Salsa Mukluk 2 fat bike in the snow at the Bedford Singletrack in the Cleveland Metroparks Bedford Reservation. Only about 3 miles of riding, on the Parallel Universe 1 Trail, last section of the Friendship Trail, Moore Trail, and Volunteer Spirit Trail.
A Towpath Century
Posted by on September 26, 2014
It’s been a lower-than average mileage year for me; by mid-August of 2013 I had three century rides under my belt for the year, but I had not done one at all this year until today. A day off with fine fall weather (summer sun with mild early fall temperatures) beckoning took me to the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail with my Salsa Fargo.
Other than a short ride to work one day, this was the first test of some new upgrades on the Fargo. I had purchased a pair of Velocity Blunt rims that I found a good deal on a couple of years ago. They are 36-hole rims, so I figured they’d make a good pair of heavy-duty touring wheels someday, and was I saving them until I settled on what hubs to use. A couple of friends of mine started using generator front hubs, so I jumped on the bandwagon to try out being self-sufficient with power while on the road. I went with the Cadillac model of hub, the Schmidt SON28, and likewise for a dynamo-powered headlight, the Busch & Mueller Luxos U. For the rear hub, I went with a Shimano Deore XT.
The Luxos U headlight has a handlebar-mounted switch with a built-in USB port. During the daytime (when you’re not using the headlight), you can plug in your smartphone or any USB-powered device to keep it running and charged. With my phone in my top tube bag and the USB cable running between the phone and the light switch, I was good to go.
Occasionally taking the phone out to snap some pictures of the scenery along the way didn’t post any additional challenges.
Trunk sewer line near the Towpath Trail just south of Portage Path in Akron.
Floating bridge over Summit Lake south of downtown Akron
Towpath Trail bridge over Pancake Creek a mile north of the village of Clinton
A dike separating the Tuscarawas River from State Route 21 near downtown Massillon
I noticed there were a few more sections of pavement on the Towpath compared to the last time I had ridden down this far south. One part included a section just south of the Summit/Stark county line. I suspect this may have been done after the repair of some flood damage from storms that we received in Northeast Ohio in the spring of this year.
Downtown Massillon is currently the only unfinished section of the Towpath Trail in Stark County. The trail ends when you reach the Lincoln Way bridge. I usually just detour through downtown–it’s quicker and less complicated–to make my way over to the Walnut Road bridge, where the trail continues south. Instead, today I decided to follow the posted detour just out of curiosity. It takes you over the river on the Lincoln Way bridge, then along a convoluted series of back streets, glass-strewn alleys, and paved local park paths until you reach Walnut Road. However, I noticed this not-yet-open extension of the Towpath Trail extending under the Lincoln Way bridge:
When I got to Walnut Road, looking north, I could not see where this new stretch connected to continue south. So, I’m not sure when this new trail will open, and if and when it will complete the continuous trail through Massillon.
UPDATE Nov. 30, 2014 – Apparently, there was a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony for this new section of trail on November 12.
Since my goal was to do 100 miles today, I continued south of Massillon until my cyclocomputer hit the 50-mile mark, which happened to be this spot about a quarter-mile south of Wooster Street in Navarre, on another stretch of new pavement:
I had a Clif Bar snack before turning around and heading back north. I stopped at the Cherry Street Creamery in Canal Fulton for some lunch (chili cheese dog and a soft pretzel).
Beaver Marsh area in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Usually, when you do an out-and-back ride to reach a specific distance, the margin of error makes you end up a little over or a little under your target mileage. Surprisingly, in this case, the moment I arrived right at my car back at my starting point in Peninsula, my cyclocomputer turned over just 1/100th of a mile over 100 miles.
The generator hub coupled with the USB port on the headlight worked perfectly. After running the Endomondo app on my phone during the entire 8-hour ride, I ended up with a fully-charged phone.
A Tale of Two Fargos
Posted by on March 20, 2014
It’s been almost a year since my last post. I spent 2013 just trying to get in as much riding as possible between juggling work and home schedules, and did not devote time to this blog. If you follow Car Less Ohio on Facebook or Twitter, I’ve tried to keep up with news about living with less car in Ohio.
Last March, I put together a new Surly Cross-Check, and kept putting lots of miles on it. I rode two centuries in one week–the Sweet Corn Challenge in Richfield on July 28, and then the Bike MS Pedal to the Point from Brunswick to Sandusky on August 3.
The other bike project last year was converting the Salsa Fargo from its drop-bar rigid off-road touring bike configuration to a traditional hardtail mountain bike. Here’s what it looked like pre-transformation, from a ride last April:
I wanted to convert it to a hardtail for no particular reason, other than just out of curiosity to see how it would work, I needed another bike project to keep me busy (and from buying another bike), and because I always wanted a nice 29er Ti hardtail.
I kept the Truvativ Stylo crankset and SRAM X-Gen front derailer. I had a pair of SRAM X.7 trigger shifters and an X.9 rear derailer in the parts bin.
The only major acquisition necessary was a fork. I opted for the X-Fusion Slide RL 29, mainly because it was cheap enough for what I knew would be a temporary project. I’m not picky when it comes to suspension setup, and the less dials and knobs to fiddle with, the better. It’s got a lockout knob and rebound adjustment, which is enough for me. The travel can be set to 80, 100, or 120mm; I set it to 80 to match what the Fargo frame is designed for.
Oh, and although it wasn’t necessary, I picked up a pair of Shimano Deore XT hydraulic brakes on impulse when I saw them on sale. I did the derailer cable housing in blue to further the blue bling look with most of the other components.
I kept my Thomson seatpost on it at first. but later swapped to the Salsa Shaft post. When I bought this frame three years ago, I was on the fence between a Medium and Large. After test-riding both, I settled on the Medium, because the Large, although it would have worked, gave me that feeling like I was riding on a scaffolding. I’ve been happy with my choice of the Medium, and I think that works best in drop-bar mode, but I found that in hardtail/flat-bar mode, the Large would probably be better. So, the Salsa Shaft seatpost compensated for this, as its greater setback stretched out the cockpit the way I needed it.
I switched my saddle to a WTB Silverado, which I had picked up on the cheap at FrostBike. I’ve got a plethora of WTB saddles; they’ve been my favorite for years. The models range from the Laser V, Speed V, ProGel, Rocket V, whatever. I couldnt’ tell you the difference between them all; they are pretty much the same to me.
Here it is heading off to one of our first rides, at Mohican State Park:
That’s a Thomson stem and a Soma Odin handlebar. The bike rode pretty well, but I wasn’t completely satisfied with the feel of the cockpit, so I swapped to the more upright Salsa stem that I originally had on the bike, which necessitated a 31.8 handlebar, which I happened to have around in a Salsa flat bar. That provided the sweet spot, which was confirmed during a ride at the local Royalview Trail in the Cleveland Metroparks:
And later at Quail Hollow State Park:
I took it for a spin around West Branch State Park at some point, too, but didn’t get a photo.
The tires initially were Schwalbe Racing Ralphs, which I had also used for off-road riding when the bike still had drop bars, including at the 2012 Iceman Cometh Challenge. I never really got completely taken by these tires. I like the tread pattern, but they always felt too hard. It became apparent right away that the minimum recommended pressure of 35psi was WAY too high, so I dropped them to about 27. That felt pretty good, but it seemed dangerously close to pinch-flat territory. I know, the solution to that is to go tubeless, but I have not made that technological leap yet. I switched to a pair of WTB Nano tires that I had also picked up at FrostBike, and these are the cat’s meow.
So, you’re wondering, how did this beast ride? To make a long story short, it’s a short-travel hardtail, so it rides like, well, a short-travel hardtail. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing; I cut my mountain biking teeth on a short-travel hardtail. The suspension fork is just enough to take the edge off, but you’ve still got to ride with finesse and pick your lines carefully.
The WTB Silverado saddle worked pretty well for me. I thought it would take more getting used to, because it’s harder than my other WTB saddles, but it turns out that wasn’t a bad thing.
I felt like I was coming close to pedal strikes when going through rock gardens more often than I should have. My initial theory was that this was because of the Fargo’s lower bottom bracket compared to a regular mountain bike. I compared it to a no-name 29er that I’m using as my commuter bike, and the Fargo’s bottom bracket was actually about a centimeter higher, so there goes that theory. However, the other bike was measured with a rigid fork, so the measurement may be meaningless. Or, the pedal strikes could be because the Fargo’s longer wheelbase makes it more likely to “hit bottom” when rolling over obstacles. Or maybe it was all in my head.
Anyway, the bike was more than capable of handling whatever Royalview, Quail, and Mohican had to throw at it. The smoother sections of West Branch were manageable, but the rock gardens got a little dicey. I was going to ride it at the ’13 Iceman race, but at the last minute decided to go back to my trusty Mongoose Teocali Super dually.
Late in 2013, I began the process of migrating the Fargo back to its old drop-bar self. The bar, of course, is the Salsa Woodchipper. Back on went the Shimano Deore XT rear derailer, bar-end shifters, WTB Laser/Rocket/Speed V saddle, and rigid steel fork.
New for this iteration were Cane Creek brake levers. I’ve used these levers for years on my Surly Long Haul Trucker touring bike. I like the shape; they are more like modern STI levers and provide a more flat transition from the top of the bar to the hoods. However, these are road levers, which meant I had to switch to road disc brakes. This involved a four-way swap between the Fargo, another of my bikes, and two of my girlfriend’s bikes (the details of which I won’t bore you with), but I now sport Avid BB7 road brakes on the Fargo, as opposed to its original Avid BB7 mountain brakes. The Serfas Drifter 9er tires went back on, along with a Thomson stem and seatpost. My original Thomson stem was a zero-offset model, but a few months back I traded it to a co-worker for the setback model that came on his new Salsa El Mariachi. He felt he needed to be a little less stretched out, and we’ll see how being a little more stretched out works for me.
The other change was that I gave up my Lizard Skins DSP bar tape (which has become my favorite bar tape the past few years) to try out the new ESI RCT silicone bar tape. ESI’s silicone grips have been a favorite among some mountain bikers I know (I have not tried them), and I was checking out their new bar tape at Interbike in September 2013, so I thought I’d give it a go. I kept with the blue theme on the bar tape, as well as the brake and derailer housing.
The new brake levers allowed me to experiment with the angle of my Woodchipper bars a little more. I was able to have them not turned quite so far upward as I did before, which makes reaching down for the bar-end shifters a lot easier. Before, the ends of the drops were parallel to my down tube; now, they are parallel to my top tube.
Here it is on the first ride of the 2014 season, out on a shortened version of the Sunny Lake Loop:
(Yes, that’s a Salsa Minimalist rack on the front.)
It was good to be back on the Fargo in its any-road/any-trail setup. The BB7 road brakes stopped just as strong and sure as the BB7 mountain brakes. The brake levers, it turned out, were a little too high, as might be apparent in the photo. They were a bit hard to reach when I was riding in the drops. When I got home, I turned the bars down a bit. I think this might do the trick without having to re-wrap the bars to re-position the levers, but only another ride will tell for sure.
Iceman!
Posted by on November 4, 2012
The fall cycling season is typically capped off with my traditional trip up to Northern Michigan for the Iceman Cometh Challenge mountain bike race. Brent and I headed out early Friday morning for what was to be a re-run of the first day of our Michigan trip back in August–drive to Fort Custer Recreation Area outside of Battle Creek to ride the buff singletrack there, head over the Kalamazoo for lunch at Bell’s Brewery, head up to Grand Rapids for a quick refreshment at Founder’s Brewing, then continue north to join the main festivities.
I decided to ride on my Salsa Fargo this year. I’ve given it a good workout on lots of singletrack the past two seasons, but this was its first race experience.
We woke up to some rain and wet snow in Traverse City on Saturday morning, but when we drove to the start in Kalkaska, it remained somewhat cold but sunny and dry. Brent took off in Wave 12 at 9:33am, and I followed soon after at 9:36am.
After a tough race here in 2010, I felt I had to redeem myself and turn in a good performance in 2011. This year, I didn’t feel I had anything to prove. I just wanted to have a good ride and a good time and race my own race. I felt I prepared well for the day’s conditions, with my SmartWool Cuff Beanie under my helmet, DeFeet DuraWool liner gloves under regular short-finder cycling gloves, SmartWool liner shirt, long-sleeve Century Cycles wool jersey, Ibex wool bib knickers, my new Surly Chainsaw tall wool socks, and Lake MX-100 cycling boots. I had on my Pearl Izumi Elite Barrier Convertible Jacket for the start, but I ended up pulling over about 5 miles into the race and stuffing it into my jersey pocket. I was completely comfortable for the rest of the race.
The Fargo performed well on the course. The rigid fork didn’t feel like it beat me up as much as my rigid setup did back in 2010, and being able to ride in the drops to power through the dirt and gravel road sections was a huge benefit. As I’ve mentioned before, the bike climbs like a billy goat; among the many short, steep climbs on the course, I only had to dismount on one of them, and that was due to a flubbed shift.
About halfway through the race as we approached Traverse City, we got into the snow zone, which made some of the course a little more soft and squishy than usual, but the firm Michigan mud was nothing compared to the sloppy Ohio mud.
I did the usual leap-frogging against the same handful of recognizable riders throughout the race.
The course ended up as the longest ever, about 30.5 miles, so times were a little longer than usual. I ended up at 2 hours, 31 minutes, and 7 seconds, about a third of the way down from the leader within my age group, so I was satisfied with that.
On our way home on Sunday, we stopped to ride the Potowatomi Trail at Pinckney State Recreation Area, followed by post-ride dinner at the new Grizzly Peak Brewing Company in nearby Ann Arbor; about as perfect a combination of biking and beer that you’ll find anywhere in the world.
Bike-packing gear list, version 1.0
Posted by on July 10, 2012
I recently obtained my new hydration pack, which made me ready to start testing my plan for packing up the Salsa Fargo for light-n-fast “rack-less” touring.
Here’s a shot of the naked bike with all of the gear before packing:
The weight of the bike as shown is about 27.5 pounds. Included on the bike are:
- Cat Eye Strada Wireless cyclocomputer
- 2 Salsa Anything Cages (mounted on the fork legs)
- Planet Bike Blaze 2-watt headlight
- Planet Bike Superflash Turbo taillight
The weight of the empty bags is about 6 pounds.
Here’s a shot of everything packed and ready to ride:
Here are the details of the bags and contents:
Left unpacked are what I’d be wearing while riding:
- Endura Hummvee Lite 3/4 shorts
- Surly Wool short-sleeve jersey
- Pearl Izumi Sun Sleeves
- wool cycling socks
- cycling gloves
- Pearl Izumi X-Alp Seek shoes
- Buff bandanna
- Bell Sequence helmet
- Road ID
Revelate Designs Viscacha seat bag:
- Pacific Crest synthetic-fill 40-degree sleeping bag
- Big Agnes Diversions Insulated Air Core sleeping pad
- tent poles
- O2 Fluid3 hooded rain jacket (in a stuff sack)
- Showers Pass Storm rain pants (in a stuff sack)
- generic down jacket packed in (in a stuff sack)
Revelate Designs Gas Tank top tube bag:
- sunscreen
- lip balm
- insect repellent
- hand sanitizer
Outdoor Research 10-liter dry sack on left fork leg:
- Big Agnes Seedhouse SL2 tent body, fly, stakes, and ground cloth
- tent stake hammer
Outdoor Research 10-liter dry sack on right fork leg:
- REI titanium cooking pot
- Evernew titanium mug
- Snow Peak titanium bowl
- Light My Fire titanium spork
- Markill stove
- fuel canister
- REI plastic mixing spoon
- salt and pepper shaker
- small pack towel
- scrubbing pad
- waterproof matches
- fire starters
- MSR Miniworks EX water filter pump
- first aid kit
Salsa/Revelate Designs frame bag:
- 2 spare tubes
- tire levers
- patch kit
- tire boots
- hex wrench set
- multi-tip screwdriver
- Pedro’s chain tool with spoke wrenches
- Leatherman multi-tool
- cable cutter
- brake cable
- derailer cable
- spare derailer hanger
- spare small parts: bolts, nuts, washers, chain links, zip ties, cleat bolts, cable tips and ferrules
- small tube of Tri-Flow grease
- small bottle of Tri-Flow chain/component lube
- duct tape
- Tenacious tape
- 12mm coiled cable lock
- 2 Gojo wipes
- 2 shop rags
Osprey Manta 25 hydration pack:
- Large pack towel
- 2 spare pair of socks
- Ibex wool boxer shorts
- lightweight casual shorts
- lightweight long-sleeve shirt (can double as a spare bike jersey)
- SmartWool liner shirt
- SmartWool liner pants
- SmartWool Cuff Beanie
- DeFeet DuraWool liner gloves
- Neoprene socks
- Pearl Izumi Zephrr shell gloves
- Columbia Sportswear booney hat
- multi-purpose camp soap
- toothbrush/paste/floss
- camp mirror
- tweezers
- nail clippers with nail file
- scissors
- travel size deodorant
- 2 rolls backpacker’s toilet paper
- trowel
- smartphone and charger
- GPS and charger
- vitamins
- body wipes
- spare eyeglasses
- wallet (with cash, credit/ATM cards, driver’s license, passport card)
- Princeton Tec Byte headlamp
A couple things that I’ve since thought of that are not included above, but I’ll have to find room for eventually:
- spare batteries: 2032 for cyclocomputer, AA for headlight, AAA for taillight
- small notebook and pen
- route maps
In looking at this list, as well as the photo of the unpacked gear above, it’s hard to believe that it all fit on the bike. I weighed the packed bike, and subtracting the original weight of the bike and the empty bags, it’s about 25 pounds worth of gear, not counting the clothing and other gear that I’d be wearing on my body while on the bike. That’s not too bad, considering that for normal touring with racks and roomy panniers, I’d typically have about 40 pounds of gear.
The problem, however, is the bulk of the gear. With everything packed in as I described above, it leaves hardly any room for a food supply. The Gas Tank bag has room for a few energy bars and gels; a few small items might still be stuffed into the frame bag, and the OR dry sacks might fit a few more things.
Either way, though, I’ll have to put my gear list on a diet and make some adjustments to where stuff is packed.
I also need to think about how to plan for extended periods without a water source. Possibilities include an MSR Dromedary bag lashed to the seat bag, water bottles in the side pockets of the hydration pack, and a bottle cage mounted on the bottom of the bike’s down tube.
This past Sunday, I put this packing scheme to the test by riding it to work, and then taking it on a Sub-24-Hour Overnight trip with my friend Brent to our usual destination of West Branch State Park.
The full gear list above takes into account the full range of weather that might be encountered on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, including cold and wet. Being that it’s now July in Northeast Ohio, and there was only a small chance of rain this particular evening, I was able to ditch quite a bit of gear to free up space. I removed the down jacket, wool liner shirt and pants, wool liner gloves, wool hat, neoprene socks, shell gloves, and booney hat. I also would not be needing the water filter, since fresh water at the West Branch campground is readily available. I left out the trowel and toilet paper, since there are also restrooms. I kept the Ibex boxers, used the outer layer of the Endura shorts as my in-camp casual shorts, and packed a t-shirt to wear around the camp. I wore the same pair of socks through the whole trip. I meant to leave the rain jacket and pants behind, but only realized later at the camp site that I still had them in the seat bag.
I packed a few food items in the hydration pack. For dinner, I took a box of macaroni & cheese, packet of tuna, and a pack of instant mashed potatoes. For breakfast, I took two packets of instant oatmeal. I also took a few cookies to snack on.
On the way to work, the dry sacks on the fork came loose a bit. I stopped to tighten up the Velcro straps I was using to hold them in place, and that seemed to do the trick for the time being. Once I got to work, I found a couple of extra bungee cords and used them for extra support around the Salsa Anything Cages, just to be safe. I’ve concluded, however, that the Anything Cage works best with soft goods, like my tent on the left side. It doesn’t work so well with hard goods like my cooking gear on the right side, because this kind of stuff tends to shift around too easily, and thus the straps holding it in place come loose more easily. So this is one area where I can adjust the location of where I pack stuff.
I started thinking that I should just ditch the whole concept of bike-packing, and go back to traditional racks and panniers. Back at home a few days earlier, I weighed my panniers, front rack, and rear rack. If I used these instead of all of the frame bags, the gain in weight is about 4 pounds.
However, after getting everything situated, making the ride to West Branch, setting up camp, and then breaking down camp the next morning, I got used to the bike-packing scheme. The way I had all of the items organized lent itself quite well to easily unpacking and re-packing, and finding stuff when I needed it. I guess like any new idea, it has to grow on you a bit. I’ve already got a few ideas for changes to pare down the bulk of the gear, so stay tuned for version 2.0 of the bike-packing gear list.
Brent and I did a little route exploring on the way to West Branch. We usually hop on the Portage Bike and Hike Trail near Towners Woods park. The last time we made this trip, the trail ended near downtown Ravenna. It’s been extended since then, so it now ends on Peck Road east of town. We made a right onto Peck, then a right onto Newton Falls Road, very near where it meets the intersection of State Routes 14 and 59. Normally, one would take Rt 59 east to where it meets State Route 5, then turn right onto Rock Spring Road into West Branch State Park. The campground entrance is just past the railroad overpass bridge.
This bridge is being rebuilt, so the detour involves taking Rt 14 south for a few miles to Booth Road, which meets Rock Spring Road from the other end. Cable Line Road would provide a similar, but shorter, detour, but it, too, is closed. We decided to head up Cable Line Road anyway to see if the closed section were passable by bike or on foot.
Not quite a mile from Rt 14, we got to the closed section:
There was no gap in the guard rail to cut around, so we had to hop over and lift our bikes over. We finally saw the reason for the road closing:
As you can see, a wide section of road has washed out, leaving a chasm about 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep.
Carrying our bikes and shuffling a little at a time to avoid losing our footing, we made our way down, through, and up out of the chasm. So, Cable Line Road is passable via an extreme hike-a-bike. But, for the extra time and effort it takes, taking the Booth Road detour is a better option, which we did for the ride home on Monday morning.
Product Review: Salsa Fargo, Part 4 – Road Rules
Posted by on April 17, 2012
This is the fourth part of my ongoing review of my Salsa Fargo bicycle. To recap, in Part 1, I talked about my initial impressions based on a couple of short-to-medium road rides and commuting. In Part 2, I compared the Fargo to a traditional full-suspension mountain bike on singletrack rides. In Part 3, I put the Fargo to the test for loaded touring on a Sub 24-Hour Overnight (S24O).
I’ve done a pretty fair amount of road and mixed-surface riding on the Fargo since then. In fact, I find that the Fargo has become my go-to bike for most long and short road rides, just because it’s so much fun to ride.
The longest ride was a century I did with the Akron Bike Club on Sept. 11 of last year, the Circle Cleveland Ride, or their version of the Emerald Necklace Tour that the circles through and around Cleveland using mostly the parkways of the Cleveland Metroparks system. Most of the other folks were on regular road bikes. The ride started out with a several-mile climb out of the Cuyahoga Valley from the Brecksville Reservation. I still had the Fargo set up in fully-loaded touring mode, with front and rear racks, and full-coverage fenders, so I was at a significant disadvantage whenever the road turned uphill due to so much extra weight. It wasn’t so hard, though, holding my own in a paceline on flat land.
All of this has had me thinking, with the question of whether the Fargo is “one bike to rule them all,” how would it hold up in a head-to-head showdown against a pure shave-my-legs-and-go-fast road bike? So, I planned a test ride similar to the way I did the Singletrack Showdown for Part 2, with alternating laps on a short, repeatable loop course.
My road bike is pretty typical of the style–traditional flat-top-tube frame geometry, carbon fork, mixed Shimano Ultegra/Dura-Ace drive train. Gearing is a standard road double (53/39 chainrings) up front, with an 11-27 cassette on the back. The tires are Continental Grand Prix 4-Season 700×23.
I normally use Speedplay road pedals on this bike, and Crank Brothers Egg Beaters or Candy pedals on all of my other bikes. For today, I swapped a pair of Egg Beaters onto my road bike so that I would not have to change shoes as I changed bikes for each lap.
The task the night before was to configure the Fargo in basic “just go for a ride” mode–removing all of the touring/bikepacking gear I’ve been trying out recently. Off came the frame pack and oversize seat bag, off came the fork-mounted bottle cages. On went the bottle cages in the usual positions in the main frame triangle.
I chose to use a pair of Serfas Drifter 700×32 tires on the Fargo, mainly because that’s what I happened to have around that would work. I wanted to use something comparable to a road bike tire, but a 32mm wide tire was about as narrow as I felt comfortable using safely on the wide-profile Salsa Semi 29er Disc rims. I probably could have gotten away with something like a 700×28 tire; I did have a spare Continental Ultra Gatorskin in that size, but only one. I’ve used the Serfas Drifters for long road rides on my cyclocross bike in the past, and they roll surprisingly well. Plus, I figured it was a good compromise between using something “roadie” and keeping the Fargo true to its fat-tire character.
Weight for the Fargo with this setup was 27 pounds, 8 ounces. The weight for the road bike was 20 pounds, 5 ounces. Note that these are not stripped-down “cheater” weights; these are the full real-world ready-to-ride weights, which includes pedals, bottle cages, mini-pump, and small seat bag with spare tube, patch kit, tire levers, and multi-tool. I did not include water bottles in the weight; for the test, I used the same brand and model of bottle on each bike (one each of a Camelback Podium and Podium Chill on each bike).
Choosing a test course was a no-brainer; those of us who live in or near the Cuyahoga Valley have been riding what we call the “Valley Loop” for years as a quick test-ride or pre-work/post-work spin whenever the time doesn’t allow for something longer. It’s an 18-mile loop with a few rolling hills, and one somewhat significant climb near the end:
- Start in Peninsula at the corner of Main St/State Route 303 and S Locust St.
- Turn RIGHT onto S Locust St.
- Road becomes Akron-Peninsula Rd.
- Road becomes North Portage Path.
- Turn RIGHT onto Merriman Rd.
- Road becomes Riverview Rd.
- Turn RIGHT onto Main St/State Route 303.
- End in Peninsula at the corner of Main St/State Route 303 and S Locust St.
If you’re interested in seeing a map and elevation profile, leave a comment and I’ll email you a .GPX file.
I did four laps, starting on the road bike for the first lap and switching to the Fargo on the second and fourth laps. I tracked myself using both my on-bike computer and my smartphone using the Strava Cycling app. The distance for each lap came up at 17.7 miles on both devices. Here are the results:
| Lap | Bike | Time (Bike/Strava) |
Average Speed (Bike/Strava) |
Maximum Speed (Bike/Strava) |
| 1 | Road | 53:36 / 53:26 | 19.9 / 19.9 | 33.6 / 32.7 |
| 2 | Fargo | 58:02 / 58:15 | 18.2 / 18.3 | 30.4 / 31 |
| 3 | Road | 56:02 / 56:15 | 18.9 / 18.9 | 30.5 / 30.1 |
| 4 | Fargo | 59:44 / 1:00:19 | 17.7 / 17.6 | 30.4 / 30.8 |
Times listed are for time in motion, not total elapsed time.
As you can see, I was slightly slower on the Fargo compared to the road bike. It would be hard to say for certain, but I think that most of the difference came from the overall weight difference, with the wider tires playing a much smaller factor. Of course, if I were to switch to a narrower road bike tire, that would reduce some of the weight difference as well. I could feel the weight effect at the beginning of any uphill stretch on the Fargo, when the additional weight made it a little more noticeable when gravity started to suck my momentum out a little bit sooner compared to on the road bike.
Theoretically, the more upright geometry of the Fargo made me less aerodynamic, but whenever I felt this came into play on descents or into the wind, I could hunker down in the drops and bend down lower over the stem to make up the difference.
Ideally, if I really had to use the Fargo as my full-time road bike, I could have chosen rims with a narrower profile that would be more amenable to swapping on a skinny road tire. I could always get a second set of disc-compatible 29er wheels and just swap wheel sets on and off the bike as needed.
My conclusion is that you wouldn’t want to use the Fargo for road racing, but the difference in on-road performance is negligible enough that you wouldn’t notice it on your average B-level club ride. The difference would be even less if you were to compare it to entry-level road bikes, where the weight difference would be even less.
This test confirms the characterization of the Fargo that I’ve been finding all along: that it’s as close as you’ll ever find to a true jack-of-all-trades bicycle. It would be perfect to take on a cycling vacation–use a pair of fat, comfy slick tires to ride fully-loaded to your destination. If you want to check out some local singletrack, swap on a pair of knobbies. Want to join the local hammerheads on a road circuit? Switch on a pair of narrow slick tires and never look back.
New gear (and gears) for the Salsa Fargo
Posted by on April 2, 2012
Back in the first and third parts of the review of my Salsa Fargo, I talked about how the traditional mountain crankset (44-32-22 chainrings) was ideal for singletrack riding, and the touring crankset (48-36-26) was better for road/mixed surface riding. I had still been thinking since then if I could come up with the “Goldilocks” (just right) gear combination that would work well in all conditions. I recently swapped the small and middle chainrings out for Salsa 24-tooth and Race Face 34-tooth chainrings. With my 11-34 cassette, this setup gives me pretty much the same low gears in my granny gear and middle ring as I would have with the traditional mountain chainrings and an 11-32 cassette. I haven’t had the chance to try it out on singletrack yet, but I’ve done a few 50-60 mile road rides, and it has worked out well. The middle ring gives me plenty of range to handle any on-road climbs, and the 48-tooth big ring is still there for maximum cruising on flat roads and descents.
Back on March 11, my girlfriend wanted me to meet her after her class for dinner at her mom’s house. I, of course, thought it was a perfect day for a bike ride. The perfect compromise: riding my bike out to her mom’s! It was a 37-mile ride out to one of Cleveland’s western suburbs, most of which was on the Valley Parkway through the Cleveland Metroparks.
It was a perfect opportunity to test another another new piece of gear, the Revelate Designs Viscacha Seat Bag. The Viscacha is like a regular seat bag on steroids. It attaches to your seatpost and seat rails pretty much like a regular seat bag, except with two very heavy-duty velcro straps for the seatpost. It can hold up to a whopping 14 liters of stuff. For this ride, I first stuffed in a down jacket–not because I anticipated needing to wear it that day (it was over 60 degrees), but because some of the seams had started to come apart inside one of the sleeves and one of the pockets, and I asked my girlfriend’s mom to fix it for me (she enjoys science projects like that). Then, I put in the stuff I’d need once I got there: clean shirt, shorts, socks, pair of shoes, and a small kit with my toothbrush and the like. It all fit with room to spare in the Viscacha.
The only suggestion I’d have for improving the Viscacha bag would be to add a small section of shockcord, to provide a place to quickly stow a jacket or such mid-ride. The Viscacha does have four small loops on the top side, designed as a place to attach the optional Spocket bag from Revelate. I put my brain in DIY mode and obtained a two-foot section of shockcord, threaded it through the loops, and voilà–my wish is granted!
Finally, while Salsa’s distributor briefly had a couple in stock, I managed to snag one of the frame bags for the Fargo, made for Salsa by Revelate Designs. This, combined with the Viscacha Seat Bag, a couple of dry bags strapped to the Salsa Anything Cages on the fork, and I’m ready to start truly testing out packing schemes for my eventual trip on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. I’m also anticipating needing a high-capacity hydration pack; right now I’m leaning toward the Osprey Manta 20. Any thoughts or suggestions?
Springtime in January
Posted by on January 10, 2012
My scheduled day off from work today aligned with the unseasonably warm weather we’ve had in the past week, so I decided it was a perfect time to head out on the Salsa Fargo for my first “big” ride of the new year. The forecast called for it to break 50 degrees; I don’t think it got that warm, only around the mid- to upper-40s, but it was sunny, and with the right combination of clothing, I had a pleasant and comfortable ride.
I headed out towards Aurora to pick up one of my favorite routes, Pioneer Trail to Garrettsville. There was still a thin glaze of ice on the surface of Aurora Lake.
I had recently stripped the Fargo out of full touring mode, removing the fenders and racks to start experimenting with “light ‘n fast” touring setups. I wanted to keep the road spray off, though, so I threw on some clip-on fenders–the Headland BackSlide on the seatpost, and the Topeak Defender FX up front. The roads were all but bone dry, though, so I would have been fine without the fenders today.
This was my first time trying out my new Revelate Designs Tangle Frame Bag. My size medium Fargo frame required the Small size Tangle bag, but the bag still doesn’t leave room for bottle cages on the down tube or seat tube. Fortunately, the bottle cage mounts on the Fargo fork took up the slack.
The Tangle bag worked great doing double-duty, taking the place of both my seat bag and my handlebar bag. I was able to fit all of the usual items–spare tube, tire levers, patch kit, multi-tool (all from the seat bag), plus wallet and mobile phone. I also squeezed in a pair of wool liner gloves, in case it warmed up enough that the heavier fleece gloves that I started out with became too much.
I stopped into Miller’s Family Restaurant in Garrettsville and dispatched their stuffed pancake special, along with a fine cup of diner-caliber coffee. I headed straight back west on State Route 82 to Hiram, and continued out of Hiram.
I originally planned to stay on Route 82 all the way back to Twinsburg, but as I got to the edge of Hiram, I passed up Alpha Road on my right. I had recalled passing by this road many times, both by bike and by car, but had never been on it, so I decided to check it out. The pavement was a slightly rough chip and seal surface, but the fat tires on the Fargo made that no problem. There was a slight climb at the start, and then I was rewarded with a long, straight descent before the road ended in the village of Hiram Rapids. A left turn onto Winchell Road put me on course back towards Aurora. I’ll have to keep this little connector road in mind when putting together future routes.
I tried another recently-acquired product today. I had been searching for a good pair of winter commuting pants. I usually wear a pair of wool tights (SmartWool) under a pair of Endura Gridlock waterproof pants. This works great when it’s raining or otherwise really nasty, but any waterproof overpants tend to make me overheat and feel a little too clammy on those dry and cold-but-not-too-cold days. Plus I wanted some kind of one-piece system for my legs, something lower maintenance and easier to get on and off than a two-layer system.
I figured a pant made out of a softshell material would fit the bill. The softshell would give warmth and enough water resistance during snow and light rains. I know it won’t keep me dry in a full-on downpour, but what does?
I was intrigued by the Showers Pass Hybrid Zip-Off Pants, but decided against them, although I foresee them being added to my cycling wardrobe some time in the future. I finally settled on the Pearl Izumi Infinity Softshell Pants. These are actually a running tight, with a more loose fit compared to a cycling tight, which is what I wanted, to give me a more casual look for errands and coffee stops during commutes, plus provide the quicker and easier on-off that I was looking for. These running tights provide another feature not typically found on cycling tights, namely pockets, which I wanted for quick access to items such as keys and lip balm. The Infinity pants have two full-size hand pockets on the sides, with zippers for security, and a small zippered key pocket on the middle of the back. The leg openings have a full cut, but there are snaps on the sides to cinch them down to minimize flapping while running, or in my case, to keep them out of my chainrings.
I bought the pants in a Large size, which probably have more room than I need; I probably could have gotten away with a Medium, but I wanted to make sure the pants had enough length to still give me full ankle coverage while in the saddle. They aren’t too large; the drawstring waist keeps them hiked up securely. When they arrived in the mail at work, I tried them on immediately, and one of my co-workers remarked that they look like they’d make great comfortable lounge pants, which I think they would.
The Infinity pants worked great over the course of the 49.5-mile ride today. That says a lot, given that many non-cycling clothing items feel fine during short commutes and errand rides, but don’t hold up their comfort level over the course of a long “serious” ride. Even though the pants have a seam through the middle of the crotch, with my regular cycling shorts underneath, the seam didn’t have any negative impact on that sensitive area.
My only complaint about the Pearl Izumi Infinity Softshell pants are that they were a little too warm for today’s conditions, but that’s a good thing. I won’t dare to complain about today’s spring-like weather, and I bought the pants with the intention of wearing them in colder weather, say, 40 degrees and lower.
Car Less Ohio 