I wanted to post a picture of my new Salsa/Revelate frame pack I picked up today. I also upgraded my crankset to Shimano XT. Pretty excited to try the upgrades out on next weeks commute! Ill update after i get some miles with the framepack on. So far it is completely out of the way and i dont even notice it whilr riding.

Nice!

In case I'm missing it, where about is your hydration?

I accidentally left my water bottle cage at the LBS. Lol otherwise my bottle would be mounted on the underside of the downtube, or on either side of the front fork. Or in my backpack. Lots of options!

I am tired of having the Camelbak on my back. I was thinking of getting one of these and putting the CB bladder in the Revelate bag. Do you think that work? Also, I'd recommend their Mountain Feed bag. It is awesome.

I don't have a CB but I don't see why it wouldn't work. I plan on getting a seat post bag next for hauling my sleeping bag when i go bikepacking.

I like Salsas but I've always been confused by the frame geometry...seems almost mixte-ish, even more than most hybrids. What's the advantage?

Also, you're brave to commute in Spokane. I'm from CDA originally and, even though it has gotten slightly better, that whole area is so car-centric and other than the Centennial Trail, there's not much infrastructure.

Take a look at pcych bags. Can carry up to 100 oz of fluid (2x50), and other odds and ends.

I have a Revelate Tangle bag that swaps between my Salsa Vaya and a couple of other bikes. It's a really nice quality bag. Big enough to hold a bunch of stuff, but small enough to still allow room for water bottles and frame pumps, and not get in the way of your legs. It even has a hole and routing for a hydration bladder and tube.

Here's a pic of the bag on my old steel Schwinn:

The bag would interfere with my holder for my coffee cup/water bottle but as you know I could always put that someplace else.

What did you gain by upgrading your crank set? Sometimes I would like a lower granny gear (stock is about 20 gear inches). Is that what you got?

Looks great. I'll be interested in your post on the XT componetry.

My LBS has had nothing but bad things to say about the FSA comet crankset that comes stock on the Fargo 2. I was having chain rub issues and difficult shifting up front because of the design and the large ring was not true. They gave me a big discount plus trade in on the FSA set so thats why I went with the XT. MUCH smoother shifting and no chain rub now. Same gearing pretty much, although I did gain a tooth on the XT. You can really feel the difference in quality. So far every Fargo that has left their shop has had problems with the FSA Comet crankset. Maybe it was a bad batch I dont know.

I'll keep an eye on mine. The only time mine wasn't shifting well was due to the retaining bolt on the left side backing out, causing the assembly to be able to shift from side to side. Index that! I finally cleaned up the threads really well and re-torqued the bolt with blue loctite and so far it has been fine. I have about 800 miles on mine, I guess.

Does your SRAM derailer work fine with the new crank set? X7, I think we have....

Yes, the Sram X7 works great with the Shimano XT crankset. No issues so far. Believe it or not, I am slowly going to upgrade and refine my Fargo to handle the Great Divide route in a few years. That is one of my dreams, to complete the route. This bike will be perfect for it!

I agree. Now if I could just get more than a week at a time off from work!

I have the revelate bag on my Pugsley and love it. Its not the full frame one and my frame is an XL, so I still have room for both cages (just not the tall bottles), but I have an anything cage on my fork to hold the big stuff. The left pocket does have a routing through the front for a hydration system, but I havent had the need to set that up yet. The only problem is removing it to put it on my car rack is a PITA, but thats not a common occurance so I can put up with it

I hear ya! Luckily I work for a state college so as long as I have the vacation in the books I should be able to take a summer off. My biggest concern is physical conditioning. I have been adding an hour of riding time to my daily commute. Also, convincing the wife to let me disappear for a month + and leaving her with 2 toddlers at home will probably make riding the divide feel like a ride around the block in comparison!

Sweet, me too!

I got my bag for my El Mariachi yesterday as well. Fits the frame perfectly and I'm glad because I really didn't feel like waiting in a queue for a full custom frame bag. Looking forward to using the kit for bikepacking this year.