Salsa Fargo or?

[moots7]

Looking to get my wife a dirt road bike. She doesn't care for mountain biking, rocks,roots,ledges...but does really enjoy dirt roads very smooth two track, or Gothic road Crested Butte.
Thinking of a XS Fargo but winding about a really light mountain bike hardtail?
Suggestions
Thanks!

[ColonelJLloyd]

Drop bar?

[p nut]

My wife feels way more confident with straight/alt bars and fat tires, whether on asphalt or dirt. So I bought her a Surly Disc Trucker, which she loves. Swept back albatross bars, Brooks b66 saddle, 1.75" tires (2.2" for dirt), and a nice basket up front. She doesn't do super long rides, so this is a perfect all around bike.

I'd just put your wife on a few bikes and see what she feels comfortable with. Fargo would be a good bike, but do you need super fat 29" tires? Maybe Vaya would be better? Or the new Surly Troll with 26 Plus tire clearance?

[AJosiahK]

I had a gen 1 Fargo and loved it.

That being said I let a friend ride it several times as her first few bike rides almost ever. She had a cheap old old rod bike.

She loved it, confidence inspiring, comfortable geo and stable.

It would be a good bike to choose!

[ColonelJLloyd]

For a rider who fits an XS frame, I think I'd look to 650b wheels.

[charliedid]

What's she want?

[that guy]

Sounds like a perfect use for one of the "crossover" category bikes that don't get much love but are actually super practical.

http://konaworld.com/images/bike/med/splice_dl.jpg

[moots7]

Waiting for XS Fargo to come in,,,Oct-Nov time frame. The XS are super hard to come by, they sold out last year quickly. The shop is bring one in for her to try no obligation to buy it. The 2017 XS Fargo is 27.5. She is more of a roadie, we are almost finished riding all of the paved passes and classic rides in Colorado 6 more to go! Then she wants to transition to more dirt road riding we are kinda tired of highway traffic. We will still road ride for training and have the Colorado National Monument in our back yard.
She is relying on me to pick her out a bike, I know it must be stable, and not too heavy.

[p nut]

Waiting for XS Fargo to come in,,,Oct-Nov time frame. The XS are super hard to come by, they sold out last year quickly. The shop is bring one in for her to try no obligation to buy it. The 2017 XS Fargo is 27.5. She is more of a roadie, we are almost finished riding all of the paved passes and classic rides in Colorado 6 more to go! Then she wants to transition to more dirt road riding we are kinda tired of highway traffic. We will still road ride for training and have the Colorado National Monument in our back yard.
She is relying on me to pick her out a bike, I know it must be stable, and not too heavy.

Definitely try out the Fargo, but if she is a "roadie", I would think she will like a Vaya or Warbird better for those smooth dirt roads.

In fact, it's a good time to get yourself a Bucksaw as well! :)

http://salsacycles.com/culture/two_bikes_for_any_adventure_limited_time_offer

[guido]

Definitely try out the Fargo, but if she is a "roadie", I would think she will like a Vaya or Warbird better for those smooth dirt roads.

In fact, it's a good time to get yourself a Bucksaw as well! :)

http://salsacycles.com/culture/two_bikes_for_any_adventure_limited_time_offer

Wow that is a nice package... I wonder if they will let you split sizes like that...

[commonguy001]

Definitely try out the Fargo, but if she is a "roadie", I would think she will like a Vaya or Warbird better for those smooth dirt roads.


I'll second this - if she can also ride the Vaya or Warbird that'd be ideal.

My wife had an original Fargo and while she liked it well enough it just wasn't ever great. She now has a Warbird and loves it as it's probably 5 pounds lighter and handles a lot more like a road bike than the Fargo ever did. Anything she'll ride is completely doable on 35-40mm tires so no need for 29er tires.

Also will add - I'm sure with the multiple geometry tweaks the Fargo has had that the new stuff probably handles a lot better than what she had.

[DrSpoke]

Are you looking for a bike w/front suspension? I believe the Fargo has a suspension corrected fork so you can run either suspension or rigid. But if you're going to run a rigid fork it's not necessary and, in fact, raises the front end considerably, especially for small frames. I think the original Gen1 Fargo was not suspension corrected which is partly why they are so desirable. So if you don't need or want it, then bikes like the Ridley X-Trail, Specialized Diverge, the new Specialized Sequoia, Niner RLT, the aforementioned Salsa models among many others are much closer to road spec. Suspension is nice in some situations but for fire roads and light singletrack I've found the rigid forks to be very capable and much lighter. That is, it's more about tire size than suspension. The rigid forks can, and do, beat you up a bit though at times.

There is a lot of good info too over here: http://ridinggravel.forumchitchat.com/