Thinking about go for one bike to do everything. Getting rid of the road bikes (winter/race) and given the mtb to the old man to get involved with.

Very rarely ride really technical off-road but riding much more trails and tracks now but want something I could test when needed. Thinking Salsa Fargo or something like that.

Is anyone going down a similar route and whats the advice?

It would be a bit to much of a compromise off road for me. I’d go for a 29er race xc, with a lock out fork and a spare set of wheels set up with road tyres and a closer range cassette.

make “it all” a narrow enough definition and you will be fine

My Open U.P. covers most of my riding at the moment.

Rigid 29er, something from the Salsa lineup. I could ride all day on my El Mariachi on or off road. I even do technical rides on it, just slower.

I have a cube Nutrail fat bike and it really does do it all, it’s my only bike. Yesterday I hit some technical stuff in the Surrey Hills with drops, jumps, roots etc. Couple of weeks before I did a 54 mile XC adventure with some horrible hills but it just absorbs anything you throw at it and it’s all so easy! I really believe that a fat bike (with suspension and tubeless) is the ultimate “do anything” bike.

Wouldn’t want to ride one far on road though, would you?

I went for a Mason Bokeh with a second set of 650b wheels.

In all honesty I could get rid of my MTB’s and just use the Bokeh for all the riding I do. One of the MTB’s will be going soon as it’s never used now but I’ll keep my full sus for the time being just in case!

Another votefor rigid 29er here.

Got it second hand. Best bike I’ve ever had and it only cost me £500.

I commute on it, bridleways, railway lines etc with the odd bit of road. Recently fitted a dropper and it’s fun on more technical stuff. As mentioned you just go a bit slower but I still have fun.

make “it all” a narrow enough definition and you will be fine

Or just be more tolerant of a less than ideal bike than most keen cyclists. 😉 Both my MTBs are used for commuting – inbound there are some fairly technical DH runs but homewards it’s road all the way (with some added ‘urban assault’). They’re no slower on the road than many generic bikes, but if you’re used to a road bike you’d find them hard work. But it would take a very gifted rider to handle a CX bike on the fun inbound bit, which I’m not, so big knobbly sticky tyres have to be dragged home every day.

Having similar thoughts myself, currently torn between a rigid 29er or something like a giant revolt that would be decent on the road and can take 50mm tyres so would still be ok off road?
I’ll be keeping my fat bike for proper off the beaten track stuff though.

Travers Russ Ti 650b +

Comfy, fast and great on most surfaces.

My cannondale slate arrived today, I’m hoping it will be the closest thing to a do it all bike

I think a rigid 29er with 2 wheel sets might be the way to go.

The bars is another issue. Flat or drop, one of the reasons I like the Fargo setup with the cow chipper bars.

Some nice options though with the Travers/Bokeh.

Think it’s definitely do able for my riding and what will ‘it all’ really look like. Always go the mtb I can use if needed for the chiller and stuff like that.

Whyte Glencoe?

The bars is another issue. Flat or drop, one of the reasons I like the Fargo setup with the cow chipper bars.

My Salsa has full length cables that you zip tie to external bosses. So I figured out that you could have drop bars, brakes and mech(s) all staying together and just swap them with a flat bar setup by un-bolting the calipers and mechs and re-zip tying. Not exactly instant job but easier than rebuilding it all each time.

Then I realised I couldn’t be bothered. You could just buy a Salsa Cutthroat. Or a Genesis Vagabond.

I’ve a 29er HT that I’ll use for anything, except that it doesn’t have pannier mounts and it runs a dropper, so loading it up is tricky (I have a large camelbak though).

I think when you factor in a second set of wheels,then you get really close to an do it all ATB .

Note – now I’m back at my computer – it doesn’t get used for everything. I have several other bikes, but it’s kind of eclipsed my old full sus for nearly all rides.

Wouldn’t want to ride one far on road though, would you?

Yes, I ride on the road all the time with 4.4 jumbo Jims, they have very little RR.

Boing boing boing.

luff – Member
Wouldn’t want to ride one far on road though, would you?
Yes, I ride on the road all the time with 4.4 jumbo Jims, they have very little RR

Compared to say a 2.4 Maxxis in 60a maybe, but to a proper XC tyre they are different worlds, let alone a gravel type tyre.

Another vote for a 29er XC bike with 2 sets of wheels here. A CX / gravel bike is IMHO too much of a compromise off road, whereas a XC 29’er can chug along nicely on the road.

Yes. You might lose a few minutes over 10 miles on a 29er compared to a gravel bike; but you will keep a whole lot more off-road ability.

Compared to say a 2.4 Maxxis in 60a maybe, but to a proper XC tyre they are different worlds, let alone a gravel type tyre.

Sure, my bike before this was a XC 29er so i can compare both and flat out cross country the fat bike is only a tiny bit slower in most situations. I’m not here to go on about Fat Bikes, just sharing my experience, you should see the roadies faces when i overtake them downhill at 35-40mph 🙂

Salsa Fargo

Your idea of “do it all” is VERY different from mine.

Have you tried the http://www.onlyjustoffroadsolongasitsnottoobumpy.com forum?

Just pulling your leg as I have nothing useful to add. Sorry 🙂

IME it’s largely a vain pursuit through a range of compromises. I went for a Vagabond, love it for 75% of my riding, but then soon realised I couldn’t live without an MTB so just now also bought a hardtail. ‘Ideally’ I would have quick-change (coupled?) cables option plus a 35c-shod spare wheelset for bar and tyre swaps on the Vagabond.

Rigid or lockout 29er seems a sensible compromise. Maybe factor in some (touring-sized) bar-ends for those times when required.

The decision between a Vagabond and a Longitude was a tough one and still not convinced I made the right one. I think that the ‘one bike’ decision is the hardest of all. And so we arrive at the N+1 merry-go-round.

I have a swift. For which I have two sets of wheels, (one single speed the other 9sp), rigid and sus forks, and a set of mary bars just for the individual look 🙄 . 2.3″ tires down to 35mm road tyres. Does everything not always the fastest though.

Your idea of “do it all” is VERY different from mine.

What does your idea include then? Of course there will be compromises at either end of the scale. That’s unavoidable.

What does your idea include then? Of course there will be compromises at either end of the scale. That’s unavoidable.

My do it all would have to be along the lines of a whyte t130 or similar.

I could do pretty much every type of riding I do on that. The fargo would cover my commute and that’s about all.

All very much dependant on what your ‘all’ is and where you live.

I’m in the same situation. Can only afford and only have space for one now. Trying to shift the Stache to find something that can do a bit of all sorts, but with compromises. Very surprised by how quick the stache is on the road though. I just think about wearing down the expensive tyres 🙁

Rigid 29er (karate monkey or El Mar) or something like a friston seem like the way forward. Like the Fargo, but seems overkill for what I’d need as I wouldn’t be bike packing or doing massive distances.

I recently tried this. Went for a gravel bike and couldn’t get on with it offroad when the going got remotely tough, so now I’m on a Rigid 29er. (Not quite: I have a 27+ tyre up front at the moment, and still have a 29er wheel when I want to go quicker on smoother trails.)

I certainly was starting to think one bike to do it all is just a constant annoyance, but… I’m starting to think a do-it-all bike is a lot more feasible than I thought, you just have to go more towards the MTB end: an MTB with road wheels will ride a lot better on-road than a road bike with MTB wheels will ride off-road. Especially as you can’t even get the tyres in the latter.

So if I was going to trim down to one bike from my current two, I’d go for a rigid MTB and two sets of wheels, but I’d add two things:

1) I’d get a front MTB wheel that’s bigger than the back. Potentially a 29 or 27+ at the back, and 29+ at the front. Or perhaps better, a 27 at the back, and 27+ or big (but not ‘+’) 29 at the front. That way not only would I get away with rigid forks, but when I changed to road wheels the front end would drop down without having to adjust stem height or something, which would be annoying.

2) I’d stick with flat bars (not super wide) as drops off-road are too much of a compromise IMO. To get back multiple hand positions and long day comfort, I’d just have Ergon Gp2 grips or something instead.

Cannondale Trail 29 rigid. Can be used SS due to the eccentric BB or as the 1×11 that is on there at the moment.
The Conti Race Sports have really made it a delight. I don’t need anything more most of what I can realistically do properly. I’d miss the FS though.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/QzTZVA]0T0A4605[/url] by John Stanley, on Flickr

Forgot to mention – for flat (and even riser 8O) bars when using an MTB on road all day I used to plug these super-long Procraft iGrip Evo barends in. Great results, highly recommended and easy to remove. I set up a (rigid) Kinesis maxlight with these plus some Big Apple 2.35s for summer mixed terrain touring and it was a revelation.

Oh, I also fit Rebas to my Salsa. That was an absolute joy off-road, there wasn’t much I felt I couldn’t do except the steep HA made tight steep techy a bit awkward. A dropper would’ve helped that though. But it was slightly less nice on road though so when I bought a XC FS frame I put the rebas on there and the Salsa is now permanently rigid (smirk)

Jones Plus set up with H bars.

Very rarely ride really technical off-road but riding much more trails and tracks now but want something I could test when needed. Thinking Salsa Fargo or something like that.

that makes me think you want a CX/ adventure bike and deal with the offroad bits. rather than a fargo a drop bar mtb and suffer the road bits.

with your needs i’d buy a arkose/ datum or similar.

but want something I could test when needed

That says to me he does NOT want a CX bike.

My 2013 Specialized Secteur does a decent job at riding anything up to red graded trails. Traction in mud and grass is a problem as the back wheel can’t take more than 37mm. I gave it a sound thrashing around The North York Moors at #agg100 yesterday. 2.1 front tyre gives it hardtail manners without the risk of bogging down the front fork. Having said that I did a PR on the climb back to the trailhead on my fully last week so maybe Lance was right…

My 2013 Specialized Secteur does a decent job at riding anything up to red graded trails.

What does that mean though? Red Brechfa is smooth as a baby’s bum, whereas there are straight bridleways that are so steep and rocky you can barely walk down them even without a bike.

Whatever you do, buy the one that fires your imagination. That’s the one you’ll ride most, and dream about riding when you’re stuck doing other things.

I found that I like riding with drop bars, and I like riding rigid forks, on- and off-road, but that the tyre clearance and gear range on my Kona Sutra were too narrow. So I used that excuse to buy a Shand Drove (when I was feeling rich one day) which is probably complete overkill for my riding (and budget), but it looked like the bike I’ve always found myself wanting when I’m out on long rides on bridleways and by-ways with some bits of road, and it speaks to the grand Cairngorm Adventure that motivates me to go out and ride in the summer rain.

That said, I’ve still got the Sutra in the shed, and a 26-inch hardtail “MTB”, for when I want them. That’s ‘road’ and ‘playing in the woods’ covered, with the new one for ‘everything else’.

I don’t really think there is ‘one bike’ is there? Just the one you fancy most at the time. I reckon you still want that Salsa, OP. Go for it 😈