Howdy all and thanks Stuart for the add to the group.

I've got a 2018 Salsa Fargo (med) GX that I love and have done some trips with her since getting her last year. Biggest trip to date was Paris which went well.
My question is regarding the bars. It has woodchippers on it at the moment and these work great for smoother terrain and especially climbs. What I'm not so keen on is when things get technical and heading down hill. Add to that the brakes on drops are a world away from flat bar levers and the whole setup for riding on the rougher stuff I find a bit daunting at times. I guess I'd like my cake and each it
Looking for some ideas / suggestions / experiences from anyone who been in the same boat really.

For ref. I find the Fargo a comfy ride but do prefer to sit up a little

Thanks for reading
Dave

The thing to remember is that the Fargo is designed around drops. So switching to flat bars is not straight forward. You’d need to think about stem length and bar height at the same time in order to end up with a good position. The top tube on the Fargo is shorter than standard and the head tube taller.
I’ve had a Fargo a while now and quite like the drops for DH within reason. It feels like a very secure, locked in hand position and I don’t have any issues with my brakes - TRP Spyre with SRAM levers.
I did toy with the idea of Jones loop bars on mine for a while. A quick trawl if online images throws up quite a lot of flat bar Fargo’s so it must work fairly well for some folk.

I'm of the mind that there's far better bikes out there if you want to run flat bars. I also believe that many people don't set the bars on a Fargo high enough and set the brake levers too high on the bars ... BTW, I'm not saying you've done this, simply something I've noticed some people do.

I have Woodchippers on my Amazon and really love them. Fantastic on rough descents as there is so much control. Braking from the drops isn't an issue either. I currently have BB7s with compressionless outers and there are no issues with feel and/or power. It's possible that you just need to look at the bar height and rotation and maybe try something that works better for you.

Edit: FWIW, here's how mine are set up (I have small-to average hand size)

DSC_0143 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

P1010496 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

Fargos work well with Jones loops (or equivalent cheapo derivatives!) The front end geo is similar to an old style pre plus Jones. Just make sure the bars end up at or higher than the seat level. Ergotech 'High Charisma' stems work well in this regard

Bearbonesnorm wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2019 7:18 pm I'm of the mind that there's far better bikes out there if you want to run flat bars. I also believe that many people don't set the bars on a Fargo high enough and set the brake levers too high on the bars ... BTW, I'm not saying you've done this, simply something I've noticed some people do.

Agreed. On my Fargo I ran the woodchippers with the drops level with the saddle, and so the bar "flats" much higher than the saddle. Found it really stable and capable on tech descents. I didnt have them but imagine hydraulic road brakes would make a big difference as well.

Have you tried moving the brake levers? It wasn't until I replaced my bar tape that I experimented with their position and found they were in the "wrong" place out of the box.

I also fitted cinelli gel pads and smootape XL which helps with comfort.

Have a look at TDR Riders and R i g s on Bike Packing mag website.
Plenty of Fargos with and without loops.
There is a Deadwood which at that time was Fargo 29+ derivative that was run with loops.
Guitar Ted website has the most Fargo information.
I tried lots of different configurations for the drops on my Fargo but in the end it was the reach that I could not get on with so sold it on.

Carbon 46cm woodchippers, set the drops to use as primary position, swap Sram calipers for hope RX4 for much better power and modulation, sorted

Bars set high on 35deg stem



Hope goodness

Thanks for all the info folks. Really helpful and useful.
I'll be taking off the tape at the weekend and trying some different positions and angles as suggested. I've also picked up some On One Midge bars to try (they arent expensive).
Also found this article on Salsa site regards setting up bars.

https://salsacycles.com/culture/my_woodchipper_set_up

Cheers
Dave

I found this article very helpful when setting up Midges.

http://www.63xc.com/mattc/midge.htm

I have the woodchippers on my Kite (steel cx frame) and I run the brakes quite far round the drop loop. I use a 90mm 30 degree riser stem and this gives me a good middle ground between drops and hoods. I think I probably ride in the drops more than most people on normal drops do.



It's a bit kooky but I like it. I haven't done an Audax yet where I haven't been asked about the bar setup.

Thanks again to all for the info. Have been fiddling and tinkering with bar and shifter position, plus caliper adjustment and it seems to be much better now. Still a few tweaks to do but much happier with them and rode some rather slippy mud tracks last weekend which actually went ok. After swapping with my partner to try her Ogre with Jones bars I actually preferred the Fargo in the drops :)