The Woodsmoke Returns

 I bought the small Salsa Woodsmoke years ago as a hardtail mountain bike for bikepacking where a gravel bike wouldn't be great. I liked it much more than the Salsa Cutthroat at the time. I realized that the Woodsmoke was too small as a flat bar bike, and I put drop bars on it. I got a Medium frame, transferred the MTB components over, and was running a dual Woodsmoke setup for a minute. It was great.

However, I got annoyed at the geometry and gearing. The bike geometry was unstable at really high speed on pavement, and I couldn't get the gearing I wanted easily for gravel racing. I had a hard time getting a bike fit that was really comfortable, and I wasn't aware of my hip deformity. So, I converted it to a flat bar bike and let my girlfriend-at-the-time borrow it as a mountain bike. 

Meanwhile, my flat bar Woodsmoke became my primary fun bike - the Soma Saga was my commuter, the Woodsmoke did almost everything else. I'd run 42mm tires and a rigid fork for gravel riding, I had a dynamo wheelset for bikepacking, and I had a more MTB wheelset for trail riding. I also could swap forks - the carbon fork for most things, and a suspension fork for trickier trails.

Eventually, though, I knew I needed a fun drop bar bike. I opted for a racy gravel bike, and thus the 3T came into existence. I felt weird owning four bikes, so I sold the Woodsmoke and Saga to fund a Salsa Fargo to commute, bikepack, and tour on.

Well, the ex-girlfriend returned the Woodsmoke to me. Now I am pondering whether to keep it or sell. If I keep it, I'll be converting it into a drop bar rig, and using it for bikepacking. But this overlaps considerably with my Salsa Fargo, which I just bought and really like the feel. She also returned the Tern GSD, which is a far better commuter and grocery rig, and now I'm having thoughts and feelings...

I think the big thought I have is that I do really miss the feel and capability of the bike. It's light and nimble in a way the Fargo isn't. It's fast and fun and very comfortable on long rides. It's really well designed as a bikepacking race rig. And, looking at the geometry numbers I know I like now (post-surgery and with a proper eye for handlebar width), the bike would have a 70-80mm stem and feel great. It would be less upright than the Fargo. But that's just even more speed.

Now:

  • Fargo: Commuting, Touring, Bikepacking, Casual Riding
  • 3T Exploro: Gravel Racing
  • Canyon Lux Trail: Mountain biking (potentially FS bikepacking?)
  • Tern GSD: Commuting
  • Woodsmoke: Touring, Bikepacking, Casual Riding
The Fargo feels pretty redundant here. And I'd have a hard time selling the Woodsmoke as a drop bar bike. Bah!

The responsible thing to do here is sell the Woodsmoke. But... a lighter/faster bikepacking bike would be great... and maybe I could just sell the panniers on the Fargo too. Hmm.

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