Wild Flowers, Light Houses & Photo Shoot
It has been a long time since I got to ride my Salsa Fargo. After my bike trips last year and this winter, I took the bike apart, dropped it off at Bikeman and asked them to overhaul it for me. With all of my spring traveling, I did not even get the bike back until a couple of weeks ago. My goal after picking her up was to build the bike back to simple single speed configuration with parts I had lying around.
A year ago when I purchased the bike for my Bike Around America trip, it was in just such a configuration. Along the way I had the bike converted over to a geared rig out in Austin so that I could conquer the mountains and hills of the west coast. All of those SS parts were just lying around so it seemed a natural fit to resurrect the bike in its original configuration. While this layout is not optimal for long distance touring (my aging legs), it will make a great bike for shorter UL tours and as a general purpose around town bike.
You might then ask what am I going to use for long distance touring and for that I would say you have to wait and see... For now, the Mukluk will have to pick up the slack on any longer distance trips. A pair of Black Floyd tires, big fat slicks, make it more than capable of performing the task at hand. Alas, this is not about the Muk, but instead the Fargo.
I finished the rebuild yesterday and took her out for a maiden spin, complete with my original Porcelain Rocket Frame bag and a Porcelain Rocket Booster bag. With those two bags, I am more than capable of doing 2-3 day trips as long as I don't have to carry all of my food. For the shakedown ride yesterday I loaded the bike up with my new UL hammock & tarp setup and took the bike out for a spin. The wildflowers are still in bloom and the late evening sun produced some stunning views of Grand Manan and the Bay of Fundy. It was the perfect opportunity to do a little 'Film Noir' shoot with the bike, something different and unusual.
I have a separate writeup coming on component thoughts, specifically the use of alternative, aka non woodchipper handlebars on the Fargo. Right now I am using One Mary's on the bike and I can give you a clue that I don't think they are optimal. However, for my style of riding and touring I can tell you in over 8K miles last year on the Fargo, I spent a negligible amount of time in the drops. Most of my time was on the hoods, which leads me to believe that for me, drops are not the way to go. More details coming with my thoughts on bars and the Fargo. On the left side of the handlebars I am reusing an old lens bag that serves as a holder for my small NEX camera. Finding new uses for old gear is right in line with my 'Wabis Sabi' mentality.
Today I will head out for my first overnighter in a while. Just me, the Fargo, my hammock, the HMG cuben fiber tarp and some coffee. It will be a simple and fast trip, but sometimes that is all we need to regenerate the soul and help jumpstart some of the creative juices. Who knows, I may just throw in a bit of chocolate for a late night treat. Now, go Ride!