A biketastic weekend.....(Part 1).

Ok, so I'm finally back (hopefully for good) from my Canada project.  This weekend was not a long enough recovery but some bikeyness definitely ensued.  I'll piece meal it out to you, but part of it was some upgrades to the Salsa Fargo in preparation for Cycle Oregon this fall.  These included a new rear rack and some tire changes.

This is how it's been ridden for the first 1000 miles or so....including Moab's skinny tire festival.  Yes, I know they are not skinny tires.

First up...for Cycle Oregon I want to be able to carry a few things during the day (and not in a messenger bag), so a rack was in order.

I chose the Salsa Wanderlust rack mostly because the Fargo is a unique frame design and this is the rack that's made to go with it.  Step one....attach with lower mounting bolts and roughly level the rack.

Step 2.  Attach secondary stays and measure for you're specific cuts.

Step 3.  Cut stays to length and install, making sure to adjust the final rack level and hand tighten the hardware.

Step 4.  Take a step back and see if it looks like you haven't screwed anything up yet.

Step 5.  Find tools that will allow you to really tighten all the nuts and bolts in the ridiculously small spaces you have to work in!

Step 5b.  More tightening.

Step 5c.  More tightening.

Step 6.  Step back again and look at the beautiful rack you just installed.  Overall it took about 30 minutes for this one.  So don't think you can't do it on your ride!

Project 2.  Install new rubber.  In this case lose the knobbies and switch over to some slicks.  I chose schwable marathon supremes for their bomber reputation for long wear and flat protection.  They cost an arm and a let but let's hope they're worth it.  

Oh yeah, I also chose them because they are one of the few slicks that come in a 29 x 2.0 size.  Anything smaller just looks too weird on this frame.