Some snaps of the new Fargo. She was christened on a rainy 45 mile paved, dirt, mud, and trail ride last Sunday. Only way that seemed fitting was to get her dirty. No pics from the ride worth posting – these are from a tour of the local parks.
Stock everything at the moment. Cables are long and steerer is tall while awaiting the wider of the Woodchipper bars. Still working on position. The current pics show a great dirt road / mild trail setup. If this were to be single track only I’d rotate the levers down to make the drops my primary position.
Not sold on the Thudbuster – have to put it through its paces to see how it shakes out on my normal rides. Certainly nice on there for singletrack, although it is odd that I have some cush on the rear and nothing up front…
Really enjoying the SRAM 2×10 drivetrain. Pleasantly surprised, and if money weren’t an issued I think I’d replace the Campy on the IF with the Red or Rival group.
Long range plans include a tubeless wheelset with a dyno up front to run a Supernova E3 and a custom frame bag. I may move over a Brooks or decent WTB. So far the stock saddle is unremarkable but comfortable.
Replace the Campy? Really? I love my new Campy, although admittedly I haven’t ridden SRAM
Tim – I really liked the Campy when I first started running it. A few things I’ve come to dislike – $$$$ is the top – I ride so much dirt and gravel and rain and slop that this stuff gets pricey to replace… $90 SRAM 10spd cassette vs. $165 for Campy (Centaur!). The other is lever shape. At first I really liked the shape and size – but I’ve come to like a larger lever shape when I was testing out the Gen 1 Fargo I borrowed – the SRAM stuff seems friendlier in the hand. .
Looks nice, Mike. Can’t wait to see it out on the road/trail.
Seems like a fun, practical build. I’m glad you mention “still working on position” — I always spend what seems like endless amounts of time working on that whenever I get a new bike. Most people never even mention it, so I don’t know if they don’t have this problem, or if they just don’t mention it.
Apertome – stock is stock. But it will get tweaked. I fuss with fit for awhile… had a pro fit done on my IF, and that was pretty dialed in – so I have baseline reach and saddle height / position to BB / etc. numbers to work with – but the dirt drop bars want to be higher, to allow for full on riding in the hooks while riding single track. But my muscle memory wants them to be in a road or cross location… so I’m trying to find a balance. Currently they are pretty nice for gravel / dirt road – higher than on my ‘road’ bike – but lower than I’ve seen most Fargo setups. I tried some wet, nasty singletrack this morning – and it was so-so. I think some of this has to do with the nature of drop bars – you’re not steering from the top with your torso like on a flat bar MTB, but more steering with your arms and body weight… (and I’m no expert or even amateur MTBr…).
Anyway, yes, looking forward to getting it dialed and finding some gravel grinding tires for it.