I made it to my local Salsa dealer today and tried on a medium size Fargo (that was the smallest they had in stock). I am in lust....errr...love...errr...take your pick :0

First of all the medium is just too large for me, there was -0 clearance between me and the top tube (it touched). For the right leg position though we had to raise the seat, it certainly wasn't a problem that way. The Fargo, as you can tell:

http://www.salsacycles.com/images/zoom_fargo_bk.jpg

has road bars. I didn't seem stretched to get to the hoods, but to actually reach the brakes it was an issue. Note that I have only been around flat bars.

The SHIFTING however, that completed my falling in love. The bar end shifters are MUCH smoother and even quieter than my Trek 7.6. The small gears shifted like butter (they are indexed), and the 3 rings were also smoother to shift as well. It took far less force than my trigger shifters. I wouldn't be able to keep fingers close to both at the same time though, which I do like about Stella.

And can I sing the praises of the steel frame? It isn't THAT heavy, and there are beautiful, lugs? down where the wheel drops in? The paint is beautiful...indeed there is NOTHING not to love about this bike outside of the seat. I would not leave the store with the stock seat, that is obvious.

Ok, now I just have to pay off some debts, save some money, and hope to purchase him this summer - after I find a 16-inch (small) version somewhere to try on for size. It costs too much to not check out the fit - though it seems apparent that the small frame will likely fit.