Review - Salsa Fargo

Pros

• Perfectly suited for bikepacking
• Reasonably priced @ $1,649
• Woodchipper handlebars are fantastic
• Fork mounts for bottle cages and Salsa everything cages
• No hassle custom frame bag ordering through Revelate
• All Revelate bikepacking gear fits well
• In stock at 21st Ave

Cons

• Heavy
• Gearing could be a touch lower/higher
• Wheels are poorly built
• Thudbuster seat doesn’t allow for much seat adjustment
• Thudbuster seat not compatible with traditional seatbag

I’ll start with the good stuff. This bike was designed specifically for bikepacking and it excels at it. No, it’s not a true mountain bike and it wouldn’t be a good bike for riding single-track. But that’s not what this bike was made for. If you stick to bikepacking, I think you’d have a hard time going wrong with this bike or its’ titanium equivalent. It also provides a wicked smooth ride for unloaded gravel and dirt road riding; however, I favor a cross bike for the gravel racing scene.

The woodchipper handlebar is great. The angled-in drops fit my wrists perfectly. The flared drops also provide enough width to fit a handlebar harness and the taller head tube and steeply-angled stem give plenty of front-end clearance. I like the fit of this handlebar so much I put one on my cross/road bike. For me, it’s much more comfortable and natural to have my wrists angled-in slightly compared to traditional dropbars. I also think these handlebars are better than flatbars when the bushwhacking begins (and if you’re doing it right, it will…)

Eric Parsons at Revelate is apparently very familiar with the Fargo (and other Surly and Salsa bikes). This made ordering a custom frame bag a piece of cake; I didn’t have to measure anything or send in a cutout of my frame dimensions. I just had to email him my bike type and frame size.

I fall right in between the medium and large Fargo. After talking things through with my bike fitter, I opted to go with the medium frame. Because the frame is on the smaller size for me, the Thudbuster seat didn’t work as I couldn’t raise it high enough to fit. The Thudbuster is nice touch, but I don’t miss it. Plus it requires a special seatbag if you’re bikepacking. In the end, it was simpler to replace it and I’d rather the bike be slightly cheaper and come Thudbuster-free.

I have a hard time finding much in the way of faults. As I said, it’s designed for bikepacking and it excels at it. I only have a few minor complaints. First, the gearing: the low range is not low enough for loaded riding up steep climbs and the high end is not high enough when you get the opportunity to turn it on descending. The highest speed I could maintain in the big ring was about 25mph before spinning out, which is surprisingly easy to do on downhills when fully loaded. I think a minor gearing change on the crank would solve both problems. Alternatively, you could put on a flatbar, new shifters and a triple. I don’t think anything that extreme is necessary or desirable.

I’ve put about 800-1,000 miles on the bike, with about 400 of that loaded bikepacking. I’ve already had to get the rear wheel re-laced because the spokes had all come loose and several were just barely hanging on. Wheels taking this kind of abuse shouldn’t be machine built… and I shouldn’t have to drop extra coin to get them fixed within 6 months of purchase.

Summary: If you’re looking for a bikepacking-specific bike you’d be hard-pressed to find something better for the money. Yeah, it’s not cheap, but it’s not overly expensive either - it’s a good value for what you get. And yes it’s heavy. But most of us don’t have $4k lying around for a Ti bike just for bikepacking. The few minor issues noted above are nowhere near enough to deter me from buying this again or recommending it to others. Interested? Go to 21st Ave and go for a test ride - they’re in stock.

VeloDirt

(I have several more bikepacking trips planned this year and I’ll update this review if I have anything further to add)