Bike in a Box

Most of what I write on this site is related to photography. Occasionally I get to talking about philosophy and other things of life. I think about two years ago I declared I would talk about whatever I wanted on this site instead of restricting myself to only things related to photography. Well, I didn't get too far off base except for the occasional talk about things that matter in life. Well, this time I'm going to talk about something completely unrelated to life talks and photography, my bicycle.

I just happens I was in the market for a new bike. It's a long story why I got here. Throughout my life, I've always been deeply involved with bicycles and exercising with bikes. It's only been in the last 10 years or so I've moved away from bikes to do other things like running--which I still love to do. Due to many reasons including me not being able to run nearly as much as I desire due to a nagging injury in one of my feet, I'm getting seriously back into biking. Here is a story buying my first new bike in 10 years, my first serious bike in 16 years.

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Bike Box

I wanted a new bike to replace/supplement the mountain bike I've been riding for the last 10 years. That old bike was supposed to be a transitional thing until I got serious into biking again. It wasn't supposed to be my primary form of bike enjoyment as it has been for 10 years. Still, it's been configured with slick tires to be my go-to morning exercise bike when I wasn't running or jumping around the house.

So, I got into the market for a new vehicle. I wanted something that was flexible, reliable, and original. What I meant was something that could fill the niche I wanted which was maximum flexibility with a nod towards road riding.

Enter the Salsa Fargo.

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Swag From Tree Fort Bike

The little bike company, Salsa was well known for it's highly innovative "Adventure" bikes. An adventure bike was something that could carry the rider towards an adventure.

At first I was interested in a hybrid bike. You know, the on-road/off-road version that could meet all my whims. Of course, I knew everything was a compromise and honestly thought the best solution was getting a classic hybrid bicycle. That is until I discovered the Salsa Fargo.

You see, the Fargo is designed to meet the needs of the guy who wants to take his bike on a long camping trip in almost all terrain. That meant the design compromises were less oriented towards bombing down the hill like a classic mountain bike or towards the high efficiency of being on the road. Instead, it was pointed towards meeting the needs of the guy committed to making long miles and bringing stuff with him. What that meant was a compliant bike without a lot of cool shock absorber stuff. Instead it meant being as comfortable as possible mountain bike. That's precisely what the Salsa Fargo is.

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Bike Out of the Box

I found the Fargo online but knew I needed to ride one to really get the feel of it. The bike I target was the Salsa Fargo 2 meaning it was a couple thousand dollar bike and buying one without riding it didn't seem like a great idea. Coincidentally, I was heading to my sister's house for the weekend at the same time. It turns out one of the larger online bike dealers is TreeFortBikes which happens to be about 20 minutes from my sister's house in Ann Arbor, Mi.

After going out there to find this tiny shop in the strip-mall, they happened to have the Fargo except it was the titanium version. No, they didn't have the steel, Fargo 2 which I originally targeted, only the titanium version.

Why is this important? It's important because titanium bikes are the holy grail of frames in the bike world. They aren't made out of Unabtainium like some bikes but still, it's pretty rare stuff--i.e. pricey. Still, since it was the only one of the Fargo they had, I threw a leg over the bike to test it out in the parking lot.

Needless to say, it was love at first pedal. The bike rode extremely well for me. Even though it's configured with a rigid fork instead of a shock absorber upfront, the bike was very compliant riding off curbs. I fell in love.

An American Express deal later, the bike is paid for and on its way to my house in New Mexico.

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Bike Being Built

Having to build the mostly configured bike wasn't an issue to me. Curiously, the sales folks at TreeFork Bikes told me 2013 was the last year Salsa will let them mail bikes to customers. I find that funny because the amount of "put together" required with a mailed bike is easily within the grasp of any experienced rider, let a lone a wrench head. Me, I'm just a rider. And, I put the bike tother with no troubles whatsoever.

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Bike Being Done

Funny enough I've been home during the days this last week because my work scheduled shifted to the night. As a result, I was here to not only receive the bike from Fedex, I was also able to put the bike together in the daylight which is a bit unusually since most of my free time is at night with a normal day work schedule.

You can see the bike is setup with 29 inch wheels which is a bit of a recent innovation in the off-road world. I also bought a couple of packs to carry stuff such as the frame back you see here and another bag for the top of the frame at the steering head stem I haven't setup yet. The point with these bags was to be able to carry more on the bike instead of on my back like I used to with old hydration backpacks.

The bike went together without a hitch. It was a join to put together. Absolutely no troubles. Which makes me wonder about the rumored Salsa policy of sending bikes out in the mail.

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First Ride!

Since I was on nights all week, I was able to take the bike on its first spin during daylight. Except for the part about me only getting 3.5 hours sleep before riding this the first time, the ride was fantastic. The components are smooth. The gearing is just right for what I want. The handle bars--the most unique feature of this mountain bike--were wonderful. I can see me using all the hand positions with these handle bars.

The only thing that was slightly not perfect were the tires. They definitely aren't tuned for on-road riding like my old mountain bike that's setup with slick tires. Still, the first ride was great. This picture shows it right after I got back. It's leaning against the house.

Well, you can tell I'm excited about getting into biking again. It's been a long time. It won't displace any of the other things I do all the time, it'll just share my time with everything else. I hope to write more about riding this bike and shooting pictures when on the road. I'm already formulating ideas of camping with this while still bringing a good camera like my Nikon V1. I figure the bike will open a lot more territory than simply hiking to points.

Cheers

Tom

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