Fargo Shakedown Cruise

[Outsider]

It was time for the first real test ride of the Fargo packed with overnight gear.

Test packing. This is almost full winter gear, including a stove to melt water. Since it was not that cold, about -6°C (~20°F) I left the Ridgerest sleeping pad at home. With the Ridgerest, the set should be good for down to about -23°C (-°10F), which almost always is enough for where I live.





I left at 21:00 after having put the children to bed, heading for an island just out of the city. It took about 50 minutes of riding to get to the other side of the city.




Then I arrived at the Forbidden Forest (bikes no longer allowed), which was only partly rideable.


View back to the city.


Rideable trail.


After 2 hours of riding, I found a sheltered spot 20 meters from the sea.


The mailman brought some suitable evening reading just in time for this trip.


I slept surprisingly well and was awakened by the first of the ferries from Sweden at 6:30. After drinking my morning coffee and eating porridge, I got up to see the second ferry arrive.


Another view of my camping spot.


A single short Thermarest Prolite 4 is not really enough, as can be seen from this picture, but the sleeping bag was warm enough to compensate for that.


On the move again at 7:30.


A view to the sea before turning back home.


Bicycle road.


The harbour.


Going back to the other side of the city. I got home at 9:30 after 2 hours of riding.


This is what the Fargo has been made for and it works like a dream.

[AZTtripper]

Nice pics, but all I can say is burr!

[fat bob]

Peter,

Great write up, and excellent documentation of your trip. I concur with AZT... "Brrrrr"!!! Seems like a Pugsly or Fatback might be a good addition to your stable with all the white stuff in your photo's.

[Outsider]

Thanks. This year at fat bike would make sense, and a riding buddy of mine actually bought one. It has been unusually cold this winter (coldest since 2003), without any warmer weather compacting the snow. Usually we have a wide network of hard (sometimes icy) trails during the winter, but not now.

[paxton coyote]

 looks like a great time, I hope to be doing a shakedown ride on a Fargo by fall, have a frame/fork on the way, my daughter is going on a foreign exchange program later this year & Finland is one of the possiblities she could go to.

[DaveC]

Awesome pictures!

[fargoman]

Thanks for the post, Peter.  What brand/model handlebars are on your Fargo?

[Outsider]

The handlebar is a On-One Midge. It is a great handlebar with one flaw: The drop portion is too short for me, at least with thicker winter gloves. It would probably be ok for someone with smaller hands, but I have a Salsa Woodchipper ordered through my friendly LBS. The Woodchipper should be a good replacement for the Midge.

[fargoman]

I appreciate the feedback.  I've also been considering a Woodchipper bar.

[efuentes]

This Costeñito (Little tropical coast dweller) just can't believe somebody can sleep on the snow, gotta try it some time.

Nice writeup and pictures.

[intheways]

Nice write up.  I'm curious about your sleeping arrangement (bag, bivy, etc.).  I've got a Prolite Plus for admittedly milder conditions.

Thanks

[Outsider]

For winter use I have a fairly cheap Marmot Never Summer sleeping bag rated to -37/-17/-9°C according to the European EN13537 standard. The bivy bag is a simple Alpkit Hunka XL, inside which I have the sleeping bag and the Prolite 4 short (120 cm) sleeping pad. This is good to maybe around -10°C (15°F), after which another full length sleeping pad is needed. One of the pictures shows how the inadequate isolation of a this single short sleeping pad caused the snow underneath to melt. The sleeping pad is as important as the sleeping bag during the winter. A combination of one short sleeping pad and one long is works well. With a full length RidgeRest under the bivy bag (in addition to the short pad inside) I've been very warm and comfortable in -20°C (-4°F). I have not tried it in in any colder temperatures, but I think it should be comfortable down to maybe -10°F. There is no need for a tent in the forest terrain where I usually am. If it is really cold or snows a larger spruce provides some extra shelter.

During the summer everything is simpler, except maybe for the worst mosquito period.

Edit: Celsius and Fahrenheit mess...

[ScottM]

Excellent post, nice looking kit and a heck of a shakedown ride!  Thanks for sharing.

[Black Dog]

Awesome pics, looks beautiful there.  

We're currently slammed with our second monster snow storm in 4 days here in SE Pennsylvania, somehow it dosen't seem
as inviting here.

[fat bob]

Awesome pics, looks beautiful there. 

We're currently slammed with our second monster snow storm in 4 days here in SE Pennsylvania, somehow it dosen't seem
as inviting here.

So when can we see your first Fargo outing sir?

[Black Dog]

So when can we see your first Fargo outing sir?

  Well, it's like this... it's been something of an odyssey building this bike. I've been swamped at work and since I needed to have my LBS swap over the headset from the Inbred anyway, I decided to just have my them put it together for me. They're apparently not real experienced working with a somewhat ecclectic parts mix and, I also found out they had never seen
a Fargo before. The mechanic assembling the bike about crapped himself when Salsa told him he'd need to bend the fork's brake mounts to get them to clear the rotor(a problem almost every Fargo has had) I had to offer to come in and put a pair of pliers to it myself before he agreed to do it. Then he wasn't comfortable installing a triple FD with a double ring set-up, so we went round over that. He also told me my XT FD was "worn out" I think I used it all of 6 months, but it's about 10 years old and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. After that, he found my 185mm rear brake wouldn't fit so he needed to order a 160. It's been almost 3 weeks at this point and I'm keeping my fingers crossed there are no more problems. Every time I've spoken to this guy, I remind him NOT to cut the steerer until he's called me to come in and check my bar height, I have this sick feeling he's going to cut it too short  and then I'll need to wait until he gets me a new fork (at his cost)

Aren't you sorry you asked, Bob? 

[fat bob]

Well, it's like this... it's been something of an odyssey building this bike. I've been swamped at work and since I needed to have my LBS swap over the headset from the Inbred anyway, I decided to just have my them put it together for me. They're apparently not real experienced working with a somewhat ecclectic parts mix and, I also found out they had never seen
a Fargo before. The mechanic assembling the bike about crapped himself when Salsa told him he'd need to bend the fork's brake mounts to get them to clear the rotor(a problem almost every Fargo has had) I had to offer to come in and put a pair of pliers to it myself before he agreed to do it. Then he wasn't comfortable installing a triple FD with a double ring set-up, so we went round over that. He also told me my XT FD was "worn out" I think I used it all of 6 months, but it's about 10 years old and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. After that, he found my 185mm rear brake wouldn't fit so he needed to order a 160. It's been almost 3 weeks at this point and I'm keeping my fingers crossed there are no more problems. Every time I've spoken to this guy, I remind him NOT to cut the steerer until he's called me to come in and check my bar height, I have this sick feeling he's going to cut it too short  and then I'll need to wait until he gets me a new fork (at his cost)

Aren't you sorry you asked, Bob? 

Wow, quite an adventure in assembly. Hope all the bad ju-ju is worked out in the shop rather than the trail. Didn't know about the brake issue on the Fargo, good to know. I'll keep fingers crossed that the wrench @ the shop doesn't cut your steer, funny I asked Mike @ Universal to leave the steer on my El Mariachi alone, he assured me that it would be very long... 30mm is what they cut it down to... I could/should have bitched and insisted that they send me a new one un-cut so I could run the Woodchippers, but I guess I'll just run a silly riser stem and just deal. Hope you're dug out of the snow soon and on trail sooner!

[Black Dog]

Wow, quite an adventure in assembly. Hope all the bad ju-ju is worked out in the shop rather than the trail. Didn't know about the brake issue on the Fargo, good to know. I'll keep fingers crossed that the wrench @ the shop doesn't cut your steer, funny I asked Mike @ Universal to leave the steer on my El Mariachi alone, he assured me that it would be very long... 30mm is what they cut it down to... I could/should have bitched and insisted that they send me a new one un-cut so I could run the Woodchippers, but I guess I'll just run a silly riser stem and just deal. Hope you're dug out of the snow soon and on trail sooner!

Guitar Ted and others have said they were able to use 185s on the rear but they're all riding Large frames so that may have some bearing on it. I'm concerned if he cuts the steerer too short, the high rise Salsa stem I'm already using may not be tall enough. All this aggravation because I've been too cheap all these years to buy a headset press. 

[richNYC]

Peter,

Nice write-up;) Question: What kind of crank set are you using on your Fargo??? I want to go double too. I'm trying to decide in the next few weeks. I'm looking for something like 36/26 or 38/24...

[Outsider]

Rich,

I haven't really decided which crank to use yet. The one I have now, an Xt 22/32/bash ring, was borrowed from my 29 FS bike, which currently waits for a new warranty frame. I couldn't get one of the chain ring bolts open, otherwise I might have put a big ring on. That said, the gearing is not really too low now during the winter, but during the summer it might be. I do think that a double with something like your suggestion (24-26/36-38) would be ideal. My intention is to use fairly big rubber (Racing Ralph 2.25) during the summer so I don't think the gearing will be too low with a 36 or 38 max at the front, at least not for my riding.