new bike advice

Hi there.

I don't have much of a opinion on the Fargo, though tons of people love them. I (almost) never ride in the drops even on my road bikes, so those bars don't make much sense for me.

I have an XL Ogre and I love it. It definitely is heavy, but it feels great to me. I don't really use it for single-track, just more of dirt road touring, so my experience is limited there. Last fall I did 350 miles of jeep roads and pavement in Death Valley, and it handled great, even with panniers and 16L of water on the bike. And I ride it 15-20 miles daily as a commuter too.

That said, the Surly ECR also looks great to me. Like an Ogre and Krampus offspring. And comes with Jeff Jones loop bars that I have on two of my bikes. Love those bars.

I'm just a huge fan of Surly bikes and the company (I have three of their bikes). But I know you can't go wrong between the Fargo and Ogre!

I've been thinking about this recently as well. All of the bikes discussed so far are awesome options. But, they are heavy. This is BPL after all, so we might as well snark at the weight.

I would suggest also considering the following bikes:

-Salsa Mariachi (Still steel and in the Surly/Salsa family, but lighter and better suited for singletrack)

-Salsa Spearfish (Ruins the budget, but would be dreamy for long distance off road bikepacking trips)

-On-One Lurcher (Ugly, but light and well priced. Less touring focused but you could definitely bikepack. Much more enjoyable on singletrack. You can buy them in the US as a frame or built up from the Titus online store.)

I don't think there's that much weight difference in the framesets, so the big difference is going to be in components. Are they that much better/lighter on the used Fargo? If you can swing some upgraded wheels (funded by selling the OEM jobs) for the Ogre that will drop some important weight and give you a solid package.

Geo isn't too different. BB drop is almost the same, i.e. pretty low, which I like for riding loaded. HTA on the Fargo is a bit slacked, and the Fargo ETT is a lot shorter. With the Fargo this pretty much commits you to drop bars (or flat bars and a stupid long stem).

UPDATE:

I bought a surly ogre.

I run it with velocity dually wheels in a hybrid 29+ set up (29×3.0 in the front, 29×2.5 in back) due to the clearance issues in the rear triangle.

I'm completely happy with it. When the snow goes away i'll mount up my smaller 29er tires for the trails but it works great commenting to work in the snow.

If you're used to road racing bikes you definitely need to close your eyes and take a deep breath when going to load haulers and dirt machines. They have two wheels, but it is a different world. Your Ogre will give you loads of fun and last.

That doesn't mean you need to completely give up on weight saving and knowing what we know as UL hikers, you have a lot more info and technique to help you there. It's the same process as hiking: don't take anything you won't use, seek out the lightest examples and look for multiple use features You see some really wild touring setups, with the bike loaded down just like a classic external frame pack with the "kitchen sink" gear list. We know better than that! All said and done, a bikepacking or touring gear list shouldn't look a bit different than an UL hiking list, except for tools, pump and spare tube/patch kit. Even those bike-centric items should follow the UL techniques.

So, instead of starting my own thread, I'm going to piggyback off of Nathan's.

I'm in the process of getting a Moots Routt 45 as a pretty much do-everything bike. I'll use it for road riding, but also for riding dirt trails and gravel roads, and even some mild, well mannered single track. I also want to explore bikepacking – I road toured pretty extensively years ago, but never any backcountry stuff, I think it will be fun and mesh well with my planned move west in a couple of years.

Anyway, the main input I'm looking for now – using it as a do-it-all bike per above, I'd love some suggestions on wheelsets to start with. I'll add that I already have a road bike for now, so I'm leaning heavily toward a dirt/gravel road wheelset – what would you pick (up to 41mm compatible)?

Also, Ultegra/equivalent SRAM derailleurs, or more along the DeoreXT/equivalent SRAM derailleurs? I assume I should stay away from the electronic (Di2)?

I'm definitely getting disc brakes – I'm thinking of staying away from hydraulic since I'm not a mechanic and I want to be able to have a chance of fixing something if it breaks in the backcountry – or would you suggest otherwise? Any particular disc brake you like?

Appreciate any input.

I'm definitely getting disc brakes – I'm thinking of staying away from hydraulic since I'm not a mechanic and I want to be able to have a chance of fixing something if it breaks in the backcountry – or would you suggest otherwise? Any particular disc brake you like?

I have had great performance and nearly zero maintenance issues with Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes. The main problem is they can get quite noisy with some disc rotors, but with the right selection of rotor and proper adjustment & cleaning that issue can be reduced or eliminated.

You can get these in either road or mountain-specific models, to be paired with the type of brake levers you plan to run.

Doug, Whatever decision you make get THIS , it will keep you safe and you’ll look sexy as a side benefit !

Thanks Link! I wonder if they make it in cuben…..

Thanks Frank, appreciate it.

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