# MTB 29er for loaded touring/bike camping



## wastelandmanstan (Mar 4, 2009)

Hi yall, first post! 

So Im getting ready to build up a bike for this summer and based upon my travel plans I'm sure I want some kind of touring-centric bike. Ive looked in depth into traditional road touring bikes but I see one downfall: control while loaded on looser trails or in mud. yeah yeah i know most touring bikes can take fattie road tires or cross tires, but I want to explore a more rugged option for trails. Which has brought me here. Ive been thinking about either a normal mtb built up touring style, which is fairly common, or more interestingly a touring 29er. Unfortunately this seems to be a less explored application for 29ers, and it has come down to the Surly Cross Check and the Salsa Fargo, mainly because I havnt fully decided in a price point but those represent my lowest and highest. 
Does anyone have any expirience in this area? "adventurecycling"? any other obvious brands im missing? Id also love to use the bike as a pure trail/mountain 29er, which is shying me away from the fargo and closer to the karate monkey, has anyone used the fargo with a flatbar setup (i tried the drops on some grassy hills and wasnt really into it)? 
thanks a bunch everyone!!

p.s.just wanted to point out that I have little interest in full/rear suspension as my gear would interfere


----------



## scuppy (Nov 10, 2007)

Kona and custom.


----------



## davidbeinct (Dec 6, 2007)

*Soma Juice 29er*

http://www.somafab.com/juice29.html

kinda weird dropouts, single speed style but does have a derailleur hanger. soma makes a nice product, at least going by looks, I've seen their 'cross frame up close and the welds were really nice at the price point. after my budget recovers from my current project i'm pretty sure I'm going to build up their disk-compatible cross frame.

david b.


----------



## boomn (Jul 6, 2007)

wastelandmanstan said:


> Hi yall, first post!
> 
> So Im getting ready to build up a bike for this summer and based upon my travel plans I'm sure I want some kind of touring-centric bike. Ive looked in depth into traditional road touring bikes but I see one downfall: control while loaded on looser trails or in mud. yeah yeah i know most touring bikes can take fattie road tires or cross tires, but I want to explore a more rugged option for trails. Which has brought me here. Ive been thinking about either a normal mtb built up touring style, which is fairly common, or more interestingly a touring 29er. Unfortunately this seems to be a less explored application for 29ers, and it has come down to the Surly Cross Check and the Salsa Fargo, mainly because I havnt fully decided in a price point but those represent my lowest and highest.
> Does anyone have any expirience in this area? "adventurecycling"? any other obvious brands im missing? Id also love to use the bike as a pure trail/mountain 29er, which is shying me away from the fargo and closer to the karate monkey, has anyone used the fargo with a flatbar setup (i tried the drops on some grassy hills and wasnt really into it)?
> ...


Try asking again in the 29er forum. There are some guys that seem to frequent that board more who have a lot of miles of off-road touring under their belts.

It is definitely possible, by the way. I ride an On One Inbred which has dropout mounting holes for a rack and can still run disc brakes. The Surly Karate Monkey does too, but they can only be used with v-brakes. I don't believe either has the top mounting hole for racks but there are adapters I believe.

I have also heard great things about the Old Man Mountain racks which don't need any special mounting holes


----------



## cobba (Apr 5, 2007)

wastelandmanstan said:


> p.s.just wanted to point out that I have little interest in full/rear suspension as my gear would interfere


Not necessarily, Old Man Mountain makes some racks that can be attached to bikes with rear suspension:


----------



## dgjessee (Apr 26, 2009)

not sure if anyone's still readying this, but I stumbled across it and have a special interest in the topic. I just ordered an Ionic Steelhead 29er to serve both as my mountain rig and touring rig. I really wanted an American-made bike both for environmental and patriotic reasons as well as what I believe is better attention to detail. I havent decided on any set up yet, though I would probably have a beam rack with ultralight gear if I were just doing bike packing, like in the San Juan Huts. If I'm touring I will probably be running full pannier racks. 

Anyway I'm interested in what you decide to do Scuppy.


----------



## Jwiffle (Jan 26, 2004)

boomn said:


> The Surly Karate Monkey does too, but they can only be used with v-brakes. I don't believe either has the top mounting hole for racks but there are adapters I believe.


You can run disc brakes on a Karate Monkey even while fitting a rack - just need a disc brake specific rack.

I've seen several pics and trip reports on these forums of people who have used the Karate Monkey for loaded touring. Of course, it's also a great trail bike without the load!

Note on the Fargo: since it is designed for drop bars, you will have to look at the geometry charts carefully if you want to fit flat bars. Going by the geometry, I would ride a large with the "standard" setup. If I was going to set it up with flat bars for trail riding, I'd choose at least the XL if not the XXL.

If you want to be able to ride rugged trails as well as tour, I'd skip the Cross Check - although a great bike, you can't go on trails quite as rough with a cyclocross as you can a true mtb. Karate Monkey, or the Soma Juice as another suggested, or the Fargo, would make for excellent choices.


----------

