Great Divide Bike

[ACEasterling]

I am trying to find a bike for the entire Great Divide route and possibly a trip all the way down to Brazil for the Olympics. I have very limited mountain bike knowledge but have a good idea of what is needed I just think my budget of less than $2,000 and preferably around $1,200 is limiting BUT I just came across this bike on Craigslist here in Denver, Colorado and thought it might be "THE ONE". It's a 2011 Trek Remedy 8 and looks like its in great shape. Anyways, i started an account on here just so i could post the link to the bike and get some feedback from some more knowledegable bikepacking folks...

THANKS!!!

https://denver.craigslist.org/bik/5403974794.html

[Ailuropoda]

That's a nice bike.  I've always like Trek bikes.  

Might be too mechanically complicated for long trips.  For $1200 you an get a pretty decent rigid bike and I think for $2000 you could get very good Salsa Fargo.

Just something to think about.

http://salsacycles.com/bikes/fargo/2016_fargo_x7

$1700 MSRP

I'm not one of those brand partisans and I'm not an expert by any means.  I ride a lot, however, and my full-suspension bike (a Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Elite) is a great bike but the suspension needs periodic maintenance and need to be rebuilt at certain intervals depending on how hard you use them.

I do a lot of long distance rides on dirt and gravel roads.   Suspension is not strictly necessary for most of that.    I'm training for the Tour Divide and most of the veterans of the race have commented that suspension doesn't add much in relation to its mechanical complexity.  

[ACEasterling]

Nice. Thanks for the reply! I just finished a 20 mile ride and stopped at a bike shop along the way and the guy at the shop said the same thing. Full suspension is just a bit too mechanically demanding for that long of a ride. I took a look at the link you posted and then browsed over to the ole' Fargo SUS and almost fell in love. Looks like the perfect bike. Thanks for the input and recommendation, Salsa cycles looks like they're geared toward bikepacking which is becoming more and more poular these days.

I wonder, is there any other companies out there that make a bike similar to the Fargo SUS?

Thanks in advance...

-Austin

[bigeyedfish]

Trek makes the 920, which is similar in that it's a drop bar touring bike built mostly for dirt and gravel. Only been out for a couple years though, so if you're looking for a used one, they might be hard to find.

[Adam Alphabet]

You're going to get a lot of advice and opinions of what bike is best as questions like this have been asked. Here's my two cents based on what I ride.

A steel hard tail 29er with adjustable (sliding) dropouts is in my opinion the most versatile bike that you can get for bikepacking/touring, day to day mountain biking, commuting etc.

Different parts kit and you can drastically change the personality of the same frame.
You can go from a full on road tourer/commuter to an aggressive trail bike and everything in between off the same frame.

Quick Example of some ranges...
Different bars: Salsa Cowbells to Woodchippers to 800mm wide risers.
Stem lengths: whatever works/is comfortable
Forks: low ac rigid with bosses on bosses to mount stuff, stiff carbon thing, to 140mm suspension.
Tires: 32mm panaracer pasella's to 2.4" minions.
Drivetrain arrangements: 1x whatever, 2x, 3x, single speed, dingle speed, rohloff, schlumf, (just change the drop outs, paragon rules here for the weird stuff.
Seat posts: Stiff or Dropper
Packing: racks with panniers or bikepacking bag kit.
Fenders or not:

Sky's the limit....
If I were in your shoes, with your budget and trip intention I'd be looking at things like the Salsa El Mariachi, Surly Karate Monkey, Kona Unit or something along those lines. Look at pics online of the infinite Karate Monkey set ups; from full on road tourers to fun looking trail bikes and absolutely every motley set up in between. For a ride down the divide and down to Brazil (SICK TRIP!) I'd go for something right in between and be smiling the whole way!

Cheers,
Adam.

[ACEasterling]

Adam, you said exactly what I needed to hear which is that basically it's all about preference based on the routes terrain which I am still kind of researching but from what i've seen is just gravel roads which i would love to slay with that the Salsa Fargo SUS... SO STOKED to eat ramen and put together my rig these next 6 months...

[Adam Alphabet]

Adam, you said exactly what I needed to hear which is that basically it's all about preference based on the routes terrain which I am still kind of researching but from what i've seen is just gravel roads which i would love to slay with that the Salsa Fargo SUS... SO STOKED to eat ramen and put together my rig these next 6 months...

Tonnes of gravel and paved no doubt but....
There's no reason you couldn't stop in say Salida for a couple days, take the bags off and go ride some world class single track. Or do a few day side trip/loop on the Colorado trail and get off the roads for a bit or scout out some single track in South America or...
I think the Fargo is a great idea (haven't tried one) and tonnes of people love them but I think a classic standard 29er mountain bike might have the edge in versatility if you did in fact want to ride trail trails.
If that's not your m.o. then no sweat, the Fargo has proven to be an outstanding tour slayer!
Whichever way you go your trip sounds super rad and you'll have tonnes of type 1 and 2 fun along the way.

[ACEasterling]

Ya im just now reading up on the Salsa Deadwood which looks like a blast to ride. Maybe that Fargo setup is a little less rugged than what I need. The thing is, i've NEVER mountain biked. I road biked out here to Denver from Florida 3 years ago and am about ready for another great adventure down into South America. I got a lot of prep to do but am thoroughly motivated to ride and ride and read and ride to prepare for this TREK. I'm an adventurist at heart and love to ride, camp, eat, repeat for weeks on end. What do you mean by type 1 and type 2? We talkin about diabetes here? JK...

[Adam Alphabet]

Ya im just now reading up on the Salsa Deadwood which looks like a blast to ride. Maybe that Fargo setup is a little less rugged than what I need. The thing is, i've NEVER mountain biked. I road biked out here to Denver from Florida 3 years ago and am about ready for another great adventure down into South America. I got a lot of prep to do but am thoroughly motivated to ride and ride and read and ride to prepare for this TREK. I'm an adventurist at heart and love to ride, camp, eat, repeat for weeks on end. What do you mean by type 1 and type 2? We talkin about diabetes here? JK...

http://www.tetongravity.com/story/adventure/the-three-and-a-half-types-of-fun-explained

[ACEasterling]

Ok ok I gotcha. Ya I am planning on solo and am always excited to meet like minded people.