Fargo 32 FAQ: Our Team Answers Your 32″ Questions

A whole new wheel size can spark some pretty big questions. With the launch of Fargo 32, we set out to answer some of the most common queries and concerns we’ve heard about 32″ wheels in general and the design of Fargo 32 specifically. Why did we do it? How does it ride? And how did we fit those giant wheels on a size Small? We got all the answers from Salsa Design Engineer Allison Schmitz (AS), Engineering Supervisor Pete Koski (PK), and Product Manager Ethan Frey (EF) — get into it below:

Why 32" Wheels and why start with Fargo?

AS: Fargo is the original drop-bar mountain bike meant for mixed-surface and long-mile rides. 32″ wheels can help you go farther, faster and tackle anything the day gives you.

That could mean a faster time in an event. Or shorter days on a bikepacking trip where you want to spend more time recovering for the next day. Or even longer days where you find yourself with more energy for wandering and exploring what else the trail can show you.

It can also be an advantage in tough terrain like muddy days (as our product manager, Joe Meiser, experienced at Unbound this year). There’s a lot to uncover with Fargo 32.

How did you make a small size when everyone's saying it's not possible? What are the geo adjustments and how would those affect the ride feel?

PK: There are three main fit elements for any bike: length, height, and stand-over.

Length is straightforward; it’s not difficult to achieve proper cockpit lengths for shorter riders. Even with the larger diameter wheel, the head tube angles, top tube lengths, and stem lengths we are targeting yield plenty of toe clearance.

Height (stack) is little harder, but Fargo has always had a taller stack to get the drop position of the handlebar in a neutral spot, as that is where the majority of control and stability comes from in rough terrain. The top/hood position on Fargo has always been a bit higher than a standard road or gravel bike. With this in mind, we can moderate head tube length on Fargo 32 to get the desired hand position. A negative-rise stem on the smaller sizes helps get it the rest of the way there. Most riders on larger frames can use standard stems. We will see a few 32″-specific stems that feature a low clamp stack and a lot of negative rise (drop) for those looking for a more aggressive setup on any size Fargo 32.

Standover is the trickiest. While it doesn’t affect how the frame fits the rider while riding, it’s nice to have when mounting and dismounting. This can be very important depending on the environment and/or the rider’s preferences.

However, our research, personal experiences, and team riders all routinely rank technologies and features such as wheel size, suspension travel, bottle fit, and cargo space higher than standover for the long-distance gravel and singletrack situations we design our bikes to thrive in.

This approach may not suit all riders, but many feel that having that extra bottle, or bit of suspension travel is worth the trade-off of needing to be a bit more calculated about how and when you mount or dismount the bike.

Isn't a 32" wheel hard to navigate through hard turns?

EF: In short, not discernably more than 29″. It feels very natural cornering at speed, and the tire’s increased contact patch allows you to. carry more speed through a corner. Much like 29″, the bike likes to be leaned or steered with body inputs, not just bar movement. This can make the tightest corners — particularly ones that don’t allow you to lean the bike — feel awkward at first but not substantially more than with any other wheel. Similar to riding a longer wheelbase bike or an ebike where the wheel is further in front or has more weight on it, you have to adjust your timing for initiating the corner and how you position your body on the bike but after a few rides you stop thinking about it and it becomes second nature.

AS: It’s also nice to make those tight turns without any toe overlap. As a SM rider, I am all too familiar with toe overlap, so eliminating that experience on Fargo 32 has helped me confidently navigate corners. And as someone who might not have the best line choice, I never had any doubt that I could make it through tight turns even if I went off trail a little bit. The larger wheels always help carry me through.

What kind of route or terrain is best for 32" wheel bike?

EF: 32″ can excel in a wide range of conditions from muddy and sandy to rocky and rooty. The longer contact patch provides good flotation in sand without increasing resistance. In mud, the extra traction provides grip and stability. Over roots and rocks, the approach angle makes each obstacle feel smaller. This means they have less impact on forward momentum, allowing more freedom in line choice through technical sections of trail. All of this is also complemented by the increased momentum on rolling, flat, and downhill terrain where the bike picks up and maintains speed with less effort.

Is there toe overlap?

AS: The longer top tube paired with the shorter stem, as well as the slacker head tube angle, helped eliminate this. We were able to increase the front center while maintaining a good handlebar stack and reach.

How does the ride feel change from 29" to 32"?

EF: The two most notable things are the increased speed on descents and increased cornering traction. You feel right away that the bike wants to pull you forward and it carries that momentum further up the next rise. It also blunts smaller obstacles like roots and rocks so they don’t slow you down and even allow you to take new lines that weren’t practical before.

AS: Another noticeable change is the stability and comfort. I did a lot of A/B testing with the 29″ and 32″ prototypes, and it was shocking to feel the 29er become squirrelly on more technical terrain. I felt like I had to put more effort into steering the 29er and the 32er responded better to leaning the bike. This added up over time and I was less fatigued on the 32" prototype.

PK: If you are old enough to have been around for the switch from 26” to 29”, the jump from 29” to 32” is very much an identical experience and sensations – the main difference being that the frame designs, geometry, and componentry we’re working with is much more refined and dialed than the awkward “adolescent” MTB designs, geo, componentry we had back in the early mid-00s.

Any thoughts about 32"/29" mullet wheel sizing?

EF: It will have its place, but you get the maximum advantage from the larger wheel by running it front and rear. In instances where this is not possible or practical, we will see mixed wheels used.

Does Fargo 32 Fit on a bike rack?

EF: Yes, some rack manufactures are making updates, but every rack I have put one on so far it fits without changes. That includes 1Up, Kuat, Khyber, and Lolo.

PK: I can squeeze it onto a Kuat Piston Pro. Only a few clicks, and I wish the tire bars sat a little higher on the tire diameter, but so far have not lost a bike.

What about other accessories like fenders and tubes? Do you think those are coming soon?

EF: Tubes are in the works and should be to market soon. I don’t have insight into any fender manufacturers to know what might be coming there, but I expect we will see them once they have a better idea what 32″ bikes are going to look like. It is also possible that some of the fenders that exist today for 29″ or fat-tire bikes will work with 32″ in instances where full coverage is not needed.

Is Salsa going to make a 32"-wheel mountain bike?

EF: We are always working on new and exciting things...

But really...is there any benefit to this or is it just hype to sell more bikes?

EF: 32″ absolutely brings new benefits, but your current bike isn’t going to burst into flames or suddenly start riding worse. Just don’t ride a 32″ bike and expect to look at your current bike the same way.

PK: Our data, experience, as a well as accounts from other industry friends suggest that on long distance events like Tour Divide, simply choosing 32" wheels over 29" could easily be ½ to a full day faster for an average racer. An average 100- mile event racer might see 10–15-minute faster finishing time.

Did you test it with 32" wheels or just scale it up from the 29" version?

EF: We tested and built the new Fargo from the ground up around 32" wheels. Some things we wanted to feel familiar, but we wanted to ensure the bike was optimized around the bigger wheels.

AS: I’ve spent lots of hours spent riding the SM Fargo 32. We tested different geometry like fork length and offset, head tube angle, and bottom bracket drop to make sure the experience was the best it could be.

Does it need a smaller chainring?

EF: Yes, we have found that a two-tooth drop is generally sufficient to account for the larger wheel. If you live somewhere with lots of long climbs you might want to consider dropping four teeth for extra comfort selecting the right climbing gear — but that’s partly because you can ride up steeper terrain due to the increased traction from the larger tire contact patch and lower tire pressure.

PK: When comparing the circumferences of 2.4″ tires in 32″ and 29″ with a normal wide-range cassette (10–52t), to maintain the same gain ratio (distance traveled per crank revolution on a particular gear) there needs to be about a three-tooth decrease in chainring size for the 32″ wheel relative to what someone normally runs on the 29″. For riders in average rolling terrain where maintaining momentum isn’t too difficult, a chainring that’s two teeth smaller seems to work just fine. On steep and punchy terrain with lots of accelerating where momentum is harder to hold, jumping down four teeth ensures that your lowest gear combination is not any worse (a tiny bit better, actually) relative to a 29″ wheel.

But really, do small riders like this thing?

AS: I’m 5′3″ and have really enjoyed riding Fargo 32. It has enabled me to ride and try new trails with less starting and stopping, as my momentum and better rollover carry me through the obstacles/terrain. The 32″ variant is the obvious choice when riding it back-to-back with the 29″ variant. There was an adjustment period getting used to the larger wheels, but it didn’t last long. I’m excited for the accessibility to overrule the skepticism surrounding the SM Fargo 32.

JC: I’m 5′6″ and spent a small amount of time on the Fargo, but the biggest thing I noticed was how fast and comfortable and easy to pedal it was. I purposefully didn’t look at the geo chart to answer this question honestly. The bike has no toe overlap somehow, so whatever geo magic made this possible did not feel like a fit or handling sacrifice. The only fit thing that jumped out at me was how high the stack was. I think this will be a noticeable change in fit for all small riders, especially for drop-bar bikes, but there are stems that can help bring the stack back down.