Interbike: Salsa Fargo, adventure touring (and commuting?)

A lot of people are having trouble categorizing the new Salsa Cycles Fargo. They’re labeling it an “adventure touring” bike. It has all the comfort for long distances of a touring bike while built as a mountain bike. It looks to be the perfect bike for long gravel roads and perhaps some adventure commuting.

One of the complaints often made about using a road bike as a commuter is the comfort issue. Road bikes are hard on the body and aren’t exactly made for hopping curbs and potholes, which you may find yourself having to do on a regular basis on a commute.

There are cross bikes, which are built to take a beating, but they aren’t built to carry a load and don’t come with braze ons for racks, fenders, etc.

This is where I think the Fargo will be a perfect commuter bike for a lot of people.

It has six water bottle mounts, standard fender mounts and standard front/rear rack mounts.

It’s built to take 29er mountain bike tires (knobby or slicks).

While I didn’t get a chance to take the Fargo out for a ride at the Outdoor Demo, I spoke to several people that did and the overwhelming comment was how comfortable it is.

So it looks to be a bike you’ll be able to carry plenty of stuff on, can take a beating and is extremely comfortable… sounds good to me!

MSRP’s:

Frame/fork: $625 (available in November)

Complete build: $1865 (available in February 09)

Click here to check out Salsa’s site for more info and specs on the complete build.

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