The Bikes We Used on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route | SALSA FARGO TIAGRA REVIEW 

My wife has been riding a Fargo for years. We have toured Oregon, commute, weekend rides, you name it. The bike gave my wife confidence. We will riding the GDMBR in a few months. Congratulations on your accomplishment. By the way Oregon is a great state to bike tour.

I really enjoyed watching your divide trip over the last two nights! Thanks for putting out such great content.

Thanks for the informative video. I can’t wait to watch this series. My wife and I have done a lot of thru-hiking and actually own a hostel on the AT - but are seriously considering getting into bike packing. The Fargo is high on my list of possible bikes and I’m so glad your video came up in the search. Great seeing likeminded couples out there having fun. Cheers.

You guys are so awe inspiring, congrats for doing all you do now that you're still young and able to do so. Worst thing in life is getting old and wishing you had done things you wanted to do and never did.

Great review and series. I’m currently on a bikepacking trip from Key West to South Carolina. I’m on day 7 of the ride. No issues with my tubeless setup either. AND my Infinity seat is like sitting on a pillow. Next week I will be celebrating my 68th birthday. Thanks for your videos. They are the best!!!

You are definitely making me consider getting a bike!! it looks so fun and I surely need some new workouts to try out, biking is definitely one of them. New sub! :)

You guys crack me up... totally naive but went for it anyways .. its amazing . I really enjoyed your series of vlogs.. come to Ireland some time . You did it with a 1x , did it with flat pedals , overloaded with gear, took nutella instead of a better tent, didnt do any training, carried loads of video gear ... I love your story.

The Fargo is a great bang for the buck. It’s my next bike specifically for the Great Divide and the Southern Tier routes. I was impressed how on your whole trip you didn’t let your lack of experience get you down. Great attitude when things weren’t perfect. Wish more travelers could be like you two. Looking forward to seeing any trips you may have in the future b

I also went with a Salsa Fargo, in 2017. I like the upright position and drop bars. I decided to not have suspension because this is one less thing to break on a long tour. I changed the drivetrain to a Rohloff and Gates and love it. Mine also has 27.5x3” tires, which change in air pressure can have amazing affect on the ride depending on the surface. It is slow on the road, but I’m not racing.

Cycled the Carratera Austral continuing onto Punta Arenas 2 years ago. It's amazing. Highly recommended. Really enjoy your videos.

I bought my Fargo in 2018 in anticipation of doing the Tour Divide. But life meant I ended up riding it across Japan and South Korea flawlessly with just a road-biased tyre swap. It has its quirks, but It's an outstanding machine built for a lifetime that emphasizes and encourages a slower pace and taking in nature.

The Redshift suspension steams and seatposts really open up a lot of comfort.

Given what you have purchased, when your tires get tired -- upsize the front tire from the 29x2.2 to at least 29x2.6 or even a 2.9x3.0 will fit on your Fargo front forks. Keep the narrower rear tire for mud clearance. And give you are running tubeless, adjust your air pressures! Liz's should be able to run 3-5psi less than Alex does. If I know I'm on gravel or bumpity dirt roads, I will run 22psi all the way down to 15psi. No problem with pinch flats or other things. When I hit pavement, I get out the air pump and air them up to 30psi or more. You can greatly "tune" your bike with air pressures. An accurate tire pressure gauge helps. I've gone through several sets of Maxxis Ikon's (on a Cutthroat) and getting about 2500-3800 miles per set. I could get more if I ran the same size front and rear tires and thus swap them at about 1500 miles -- but I like the greater width front tire given myself not having suspension.

Alex looks pretty grim in this video. Good review of your bikes, was one of them better at climbing those mountains (1x11 vs 2x8)? Keep up the bikepacking/touring and have fun for all of us.

Great story ,inspiring Fargo’s you can upgrade to suspension, and fair play to you embarking on such a journey only just buying the bike , few issues that you had was minimal so lucky , I would love to come to the US and do such a trip but at 56 and minimal experience I’m not sure I will ….mmm Maybe

For my 2021 bid of the TD, I went the middle ground with my new Binary build and put a Lauf fork on it. It’s incredible with no regrets. Also, I understand your initial fear of clipless, but I would recommend SPD pedals with the Shimano multi-release cleat (H56?) and then low tension setting. This has worked great for thousands of miles on all of my bikes. Enough for efficient pedal strokes, but releases easy for the errors in judgement 😅 or encounters with a moose.

The Fargo was a great choice, and in the end the price is actually affordable compared to some other bikes. I own a Salsa Fargo - I actually use it regularly as a mountain bike. It works quite well on the green and blue trails. I've owned front suspension mountain bikes, but to be honest you dont loose much comfort or control with the fully rigid Fargo, especially if you run fat tubeless tires at low pressures and dont ride dangerously fast on the rough stuff. The great advantage of not using suspension is the big weight savings as well as the added simplicity and also ability to carry more things attached to a rigid fork. I use the Fargo regularly for a variety of rides from dirt to pavement, and also for bike packing. I have 3 inch wide tires so it works surprisingly well on the fat bike trails in the winter as well. I also love the drop bars, but thats a personal thing - many people prefer flat bars or Jones bars.

Liz's rear cassette is not big enough by my opinion (lack some more "low" gears = the biggest sprocket can be bigger... but, at the end you both adapted incredible way to these bikes and bike packing ...). Top choice tbh with the bikes! Keep going you are both so sweet, and it is so relaxing to watch your adventures.

Good luck on finding any bike related items right now.

I always thought bike touring might been fun 👍

Haha thats a bummer having to upgrade .Chapeau .

Can you tell me if the Fargo rear hub is one of the loud hubs ? Thank you .

Hi Liz and Alex. Congrats on reaching your goal! I really enjoyed your video series and the honesty you portrayed. My son and I are planning to ride the Divide June 2024 so we are in the planning stages. We have done a considerable amount of cycling but new to bikepacking. One thing I have realized is that I actually converted from clipless to pedals like yours. I just couldn't find a MTB shoe that was comfortable for bikepacking and much more prefer my Keen sneakers. We do ride clipless on our road bikes though with no problems. We did a lot of gravel riding last summer and realized that we prefer suspension. the nicer forks allow you to lock out the suspension when you are climbing on smooth surfaces so the better quality the nicer the lock-out system is. My plan, for now, is to go with a 2.8" or 3" tire. I am not sure about the geometry of the frame yet but I recently purchased a Growler American Stout and it is really comfortable. I may swap out the fatty wheelset and ride that bike. It would be great to hear more about what you did for food and any other helpful planning tips. Happy Holidays!

How did you find the gearing? Which one do you think was best? Thanks for the video. Take care and stay safe, Al

Clipless all the way. Near the begging of the video you had a shot of the pedals on your bike and I just shook my head and thought someone is a glutton for punishment. In my experience, I will never ride with platform pedals ever again. When I first got into bike riding about 15 years ago at the age of 45 I looked at clipless pedals and figured they were a suicide mission. But I kept seeing lots of people using them on the local bike paths. One day while at my local bike shop I got into a conversation with the mechanic about the pros and cons of using clipless pedals. My fear was exactly like yours, what if I can't get out of the pedals in time and I fall over. His response was, if you're smart you'll only fall once, if you're even smarter you never will fall. Then he proceeded to explain to me the different angles your feet need to be in to release from the pedal. He then went on to explain about the adjusting screw that can be tighten or loosen to change the amount of grip the clips have on your shoe. This to me was somewhat of a game changer. He advised me to adjust the clip very loosely until I got used to releasing from the pedal and then begin to tighten it up until I find just the right amount of tension to gain the advantages of having a clipless pedal. Wow, what a difference. It definitely made claiming hills a lot easier. And as far as getting out of the pedals I guess I fall somewhere between smart and smarter. the first time I tried my clipless pedals on the local bike path I did really well the first four or five times I stopped because the clips were on my mind. Then at about my fifth stop I totally forgot about being clipped in and started to fall to one side but caught myself at about a 45° angle. I didn't hit the deck but I was on my way down. That was the first and last time that I nearly fell with clipless pedals. That experience branded the thought in my mind and I have come to subconsciously unclip whenever I need to. I own a pair of clipless pedals that have a clip on one side of the platform and then just the regular platform on the other side so if I need to ride without a clip I have that option. The only time I've ever used the flat platform is when I'm riding in Street shoes and that's no fun. You might want to look into front forks that can be locked out. For me they work great when I'm on gravel but when I'm on pavement I can simply lock out the fork and I have more rigid front suspension. I just found your channel because it was suggested by RU-vid. Take care. K

Great review and the Fargo was a great choice for this ride in my opinion. I’m amazed you actually found them in such short time given the inventory shortages that shops are encountering. Also glad to hear you supported the local bike shop (LBS). I believe the ridged fork is the way to go for this route. The Northern section seems to be a bit rougher, but past Montana it seems to be more gravel roads. You can possible add a suspension fork to your frame, but it likely adds weight and something to possibly break. If you had more time before you left, you might have been able to try and find more comfortable saddles. I’ve never had a stock saddle that was comfortable. Thanks for sharing this. Looking forward to hearing more about the gear you took.

If you decide to do part of the Silk Road someday, especially the Pamir highway part. Going without suspension is I'd prefer for the sake of low maintenance and reliability when you visit some really remote places. And upgrade to 2x11 drivetrain for the ultra low gear for steep climbs in high altitude.

Awesome I wasn’t sure the type but I thought they looked Salsa - I have the Salsa Vaya Deore steel gravel/touring

I love my Trek 920 for touring but they dont make them anymore. I also have a Priority 600X which is a belt drive for less maintenance and more of a mountain bike set up. It has loads of options for tying stuff on your bike bike but it is much slower on roads than the 920. In fact I took the 600x to Ragbrai last year and nicknamed it the slug as it was so much slower and harder to ride on paved surface. In the end all that matters is that you are out having fun and are comfortable with what you choose. I ride clipped in on pavement but if I am doing trails I like a flat pedal. I have tipped over clipped in a couple of times..(not pretty)🤣😂

i cant find that salsa fargo frame nowhere :( im in love with that olive color

Can you put front rack for panniers on the fargo?

Just curious, why did both of you have your handlebars positioned the way you did? The angle that your bars are at it appears that you were never going into the drops at all. One of the advantages of a drop bar handlebar is it affords you more hand positions and thus more rider positions which can help with fatigue on long rides. The advantage of different hand positions can help your hands and arms from becoming numb or sore. Plus if your drops are positioned correctly it puts your hands and wrists in a much more natural position. It's true that the majority of your time will be spent on the hoods sitting more upright. But when you have the luxury of a mellow stretch of road where you can kick up your pace a bit dropping into the drops is also more efficient for power transfer to the pedals. Also riding in the drops is the best way to make your form more aerodynamic for when you're fighting a headwind.

You get what you pay for,, Fargo is a nice bike, and steel frame, cool

Did you notice a lot of sway or flex in the frame when you rode it fully loaded?

I will never part with my Fargo.

So....do I try a salsa fargo...or zipp tires....hmmmmm....TX riding...

My mother tongue is French so it's a mystery for me why what I literally call "pedals with clips" get to be called "clipless pedals" in English. But I agree with you : those need a little bit of getting used to and it was better to go with traditional pedals a week before starting the trip.

Trek 920 is the best I think salsa are so slow