You can totally do road tours - but in my experience the gearing on the stock build is a little light on the top end of road riding ( fine for gravel but gearing is also personal preference). If you like to spin fast - its not a problem, but these are really geared for off road with some load so more centered around low end gearing to conquer tough trails. As an all-rounder the Fargo is honestly great - I just personally like a high and wide gearing on my bikes so I prefer a 2x crankset to get that little extra top without sacrificing the low climbing gears (which is totally possible on this frame btw!)
@urbane-cyclist makes total sense. I checked the specs. 32 stock with 11-42 Definitely is a little low. Whats your thoughts on upgrading this gearing to 11-51 in the rear, with a 36/38 up front? That would give you 88-90 GI top, with a 20 GI low... I think that should work for any terrain! What are your thoughts urbane?
It depends on your riding/shifting style, how strong you are, how you like to ride and where you are riding and also what you might be carrying if you are bikepacking or touring. The best thing I can recommend it take note of gear inches and do some real world testing to see what works and where it might fall short. Do you run out of low gears on climbs? Do you spin out on the flat ground in your top gear? This will help inform you of where you might need more gears. For reference a regular road touring bike (3x9) typically has a range of about 120 - 20 gear inches give or take depending on specifics. This really comes to personal preference.
Yes, Absolutely. The Fargo is suspension corrected so adding suspension (within the intended specs) won't drastically alter handling. Just make sure whatever fork you are using is the correct length, axle size and steerer type!
