ExPo Build Project: Salsa Fargo

[Flounder]

Where'd that fancy Brooks saddle go?

Perhaps the B17 Aged with the silver rivets would be in keeping with your "silver bits" theme.

For some reason the photo wasn't loading. It's back now.

I'm not 100% sure I want to ride singletrack on a Brooks. Don't get me wrong, I've got a few Brooks saddles on other bikes, mostly my vintage collectables, but singletrack? Ouchie. I will get one for this bike, but it may not be the primary sitter.

[Squatchout]

I bought a Brooks Champion Flyer Special last year. It's by far my favorite brooks of the several I own. B17 top on a single rail sprung base. It's on one of my mountain bikes. A bit heavy like all sprung Brooks saddles but oh so comfortable in the rough.

I also own an early Swift Titanium. Very light for a Brooks and has a surprising amount of give because of the Ti frame. The brown with satin silver Ti frame would blend well with your chosen color scheme as well. I'm a big man and the shape works better for me than I expected.

Don't forget the matching Brooks leather bar tapes!

[thecriscokid]

Looks like a fun project!

I too am digging out some parts and putting something together. Something about fall makes me want to experiment.

I have tried a few of the "alternative" bar shapes and have never really stuck with any of them after a few singletrack rides. Don't get me wrong, I like the way they look and wish I could get used to them but I'm an Easton bar guy. Can't do it myself. Takes me a day or so to get the roll of my bars in the right spot, Hah! I always think my stem is about 5* off too...

Love the bottle bosses on the fork! Beautiful looking frame!

[Heifer Boy]

I'm not 100% sure I want to ride singletrack on a Brooks.

I broke the replaceable dropout tip on my Dos Niner just as winter started (about April over here) so swapped my wheels over and started riding my El Mariarchi offroad. It's my commuter/training/touring bike and usually has slicks on it (Conti Sport Contacts) but I love riding it off road and it's great in the mud with 2.3's on it.

I've had a Brooks B17 Narrow on it for a while now and was worried how a saddle like that would be in the bush. But I absolutely loved it!! Really cushioned the ride a lot and being a 'Narrow' still gave me loads of room to move in singletrack. Highly recommended!!

I even considered swapping it onto my Dos for a 100km race I did back in August becasue I had been riding for months. I think should have because my soft tender bits would have thanked me for it after the race

[Flounder]

Okay. We've flushed all the Brooks fans out of the shadows. I guess I'll order a Brooks.

[weezerbot]

I've been looking for this saddle for a while now. This is the Alp d'Huez limited edition saddle from Brooks.

Pretty awesome. Perhaps a bit too high brow for this bike project.

Wish I would have seen this before I ordered my An Atomica. Love that saddle though. Might need to order this one as a back up, though very cool and will match the topo grip tape on my bars.

[Flounder]

This is the surprise I was promising. We're going with a two-speed, single speed drive train! I know that sounds confusing. More on that later.

I'm pleased to announce that White Industries has jumped on board to help with this project. For those of you who might not be familiar with White Industries, they have been crafting beautiful aluminum components from their facility in Petaluma, California since 1978. This is a great group of people, who show a tremendous amount of pride in what they do. Their designs are innovative, yet classic in appearance, with precision in execution that is all too rare these days.

www.whiteind.com

Two-speed single speed?



This is the White Industries Double / Double system. For our bike, this is perfect. The challenge with any singlespeed is finding a gear suitable for on-road use, while providing low enough gearing for off-road riding. This system uses two ratios carefully chosen to provide different gears without altering chain length. For our 29" wheeled bike that is a 16/19 freewheel and a 31/34 chainring. That gives us a 34/16 gear for on-road riding and a pretty low 31/19 gear for those slow grinds up the singletrack. We'll have the simplicity of a singlespeed, but with more useful gearing for knocking down bigger miles, or quick commutes. The quality of the rings and freewheel promise years and years of use.

Singlespeed on a non-singlespeed frame?



Because the Salsa Fargo was designed for gears, we went with White Industries eccentric hub system to provide proper chain tension. This is a beautiful component in design and execution. We'll obviously be mounting a disc on this hub, which begs the question, how do you mount a disc brake on an eccentric hub? With their eccentric disc brake mount! That is a pretty amazing bit of engineering. More on that later.




Commuting pedals:



Sticking to the plan to make this bike as versetile as possible, we went with White Industries' really elegant pedals. This will allow ease in commuting without having to resort to clipless shoes and pedals. We will pair these pedals with All-City chrome double toe clips and leather toe straps. Should look fantastic when all assembled. I love these pedals.


(Note the self-extracting crank bolts. One wrench crank removal will make repair and maintenance quick and simple. I've been using these cranks on two of my existing bikes and they're great. I love the gold accent to the crank.)


This is shaping up to be a really fun build. There are some other surprises on the near horizon. I'll be lacing up the wheels today!

I would also encourage you to swing over to the White Industries web site to take a peek at their full range of components. I think we're really fortunate to have such high zoot parts made right here in the USA.

www.whiteind.com

[Squatchout]

I'm really liking the direction you are going with this. Kiss priciple +! Very elegant parts selections so far. It's going to be drool worthy for sure!

[Bike_Mech]

I had an ENO hub and one of their singlespeed freewheels about 6 years ago and really liked them. And of course their cranks...back in the day! I have a hard time getting past the square taper bb these days though....

Looking good!

-Chris

[Flounder]

Chris, I tend to agree about the square taper BB, but I continue to hammer the crap out of my WI cranks on my other mountain bikes and can't say I feel like it's a setback at all.

I also spent an hour today getting the rear hub and disc brake set up. Given this is a chainstay mounted brake, I had some serious concerns it would all mesh....it did. Kudos to White Industries. The chain line is a smidge off, but it gives me an excuse to put the shorter WI titanium BB axle I have in a bottom drawer into service.

Given the tight constraints on the brake placement, I have to say, this is a perfect application for a BB7 brake. The micro adjustments in the pad placement came in real handy.

I just have to finish the wheel builds, mount the tires and make some final tweaks. I also ordered a Brooks today as per previous discussions.


TIRES: I'm going to try Kenda Slant 6 2.0 tires on here for now. I might swap over later to something more commuter-ish. Cream colored Big Apples?