Salsa Fargo - sad news

[Ritamarie]

I have looked at the Surly Cross before - how does it do for long rides?

Catrin,

I've done a 100 mile ride on my Cross Check. I chose it over my road bike for that ride because there were some portions of the ride on the rail trail. It was great. I was lucky that there was a Surly dealer an hour from me and I was able to try one. Instant bike love.

My Cross Check is like the bike equivalent of an old pair of shoes. It's solid, it's stable, it doesn't get blown about by the wind. I feel safe on it. I had it built up special since I wanted flat bars and a triple on this bike. I would highly recommend the triple for what you are doing. I initially bought this as an all-rounder, a relatively inexpensive bike that I wouldn't mind getting dirty; that I could ride on the rail trail, commute on, put fat winter tires on, do a little touring. I'm even thinking of getting some fat knobbies for it and using it as a mountain bike! If I was to do it over, I would sink another few hundred dollars into it and choose better/lighter components, just because I'm spending more time on it than I thought I would! It weighs in at about 25 lbs now without bottle cages etc. (I think the Fargo you were looking at weighs in at about 27 lbs stripped.)

I am just a centimeter or two longer than you in the inseam and I have a 50cm Cross Check frame.

Meet "Ethel".... (Yeah she's a bit muddy in the pic, but that's her job!)

[Catrin]

Catrin,

I've done a 100 mile ride on my Cross Check. I chose it over my road bike for that ride because there were some portions of the ride on the rail trail. It was great. I was lucky that there was a Surly dealer an hour from me and I was able to try one. Instant bike love.

My Cross Check is like the bike equivalent of an old pair of shoes. It's solid, it's stable, it doesn't get blown about by the wind. I feel safe on it. I had it built up special since I wanted flat bars and a triple on this bike. I would highly recommend the triple for what you are doing. I initially bought this as an all-rounder, a relatively inexpensive bike that I wouldn't mind getting dirty; that I could ride on the rail trail, commute on, put fat winter tires on, do a little touring. I'm even thinking of getting some fat knobbies for it and using it as a mountain bike! If I was to do it over, I would sink another few hundred dollars into it and choose better/lighter components, just because I'm spending more time on it than I thought I would! It weighs in at about 25 lbs now without bottle cages etc. (I think the Fargo you were looking at weighs in at about 27 lbs stripped.)

I am just a centimeter or two longer than you in the inseam and I have a 50cm Cross Check frame.

Meet "Ethel".... (Yeah she's a bit muddy in the pic, but that's her job!)

Wow, she is pretty - and so is the LHT! I checked out the specs for the LHT and I have to wonder what the fitter was actually looking at. I've sent him an email to see if there was something else about the geometry. From what the specs say it looks like the LFT will certainly fit me.

The Cross Check stem angle is very different from the LHT. The LHT has a stem angle of 75, which my Trek 7.6 has and it is perfect. What impact would the stem angle of 84 have?

I just heard from my fitter, and he admitted that he was looking at the chart wrong for the LHT and said it looked like a perfect match for me. My LBS even has a 42cm Surly steel frame on display right now that I can look at