Flat "alt" handlebar on the Fargo (and Jeff Jones Plus design ideas)

For those of us who love doing singletrack on the Fargo (and wonder why it works so well), I would recommend checking out Jeff Jones talking about his new Jones Plus bike design:

http://blog.jonesbikes.com/jones-plus-this-is-it/]http://blog.jonesbikes.com/jones-plus-this-is-it/

Longer chainstays, shorter reach and lower BB drop than a typical MTB geometry (plus a rigid fork).  He actually has a lower BB than the Fargo's 70mm:
Jones Plus BB drop: EBB in top position – 76mm drop, EBB in bottom position – 88mm drop.

Great video with Jeff's design philosophy (while you watch him do a build):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytCndGtdZpg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytCndGtdZpg

This has caused me to want to try running a Jones Loop 710 bar on my Fargo (but with a 130mm stem).

 
 

I am 6'-4" (with a long upper/ body torso).  On the XL 2015 Fargo, I run a 120mm 0 deg. stem with the Woodchipper bars; as well as a setback Thomson seatpost (and it feels really short for me).  I think that the combo of the tall stack on the bike and the 60cm ETT make it feel short.  I keep wishing that I can sit further back on the seat (which is as far back as it goes) when riding in the hoods on the Woodchipper).

I know that with MTB's and wide bars, the wider you hands are on the bars the shorter your stem should be; so I am hoping that when I test out the Jones loop 710 bars with a 130mm Thomson stem that allows me to have a similar ride position as Jeff Jones describes for his Jones Plus.

From Jeff's blog:"The Jones Plus 24″ has less reach than a small Surly ECR (398mm) and the 25″ has less reach then the medium (416mm)."

The Jones Plus 25" has a 415cm reach + 110mm stem = 525mm
The Salsa Fargo has a 391mm reach = 130mm stem = 521mm

http://surlybikes.com/bikes/ecr/geometry]http://surlybikes.com/bikes/ecr/geometry
http://salsacycles.com/bikes/fargo/2016_fargo_x9]http://salsacycles.com/bikes/fargo/2016_fargo_x9
http://www.jonesbikes.com/jones-plus-xt-bb7-build-complete-bicycle-pre-order/]http://www.jonesbikes.com/jones-plus-xt-bb7-build-complete-bicycle-pre-order/

I am really surprised at the short reach on the XL Fargo (391mm reach). For a tall guy, this feels really short when you set this up as a cyclocross/ gravel grinder bike with drop bars. I didn't really understand "reach" until after I bought the Fargo.

The Fargo seems most comfortable doing singletrack trails (for me). I thought that it was just because, I am old (mid-40's); and more closely resembled the rigid steel mountain bikes that I rode during college in the early 1990's. But after watching and reading Jeff Jones talk about the Jones Plus the Fargo geometry makes more sense. I still wish that it had more reach though!

My solution is to make the Fargo a dedicated MTB with Jones Loop bars; and then build up a 60 cm Soma Wolverine (with 403mm reach) for my drop bar, gravel grinding setup. http://www.somafab.com/archives/product/wolverine

What stem do you run right now?   Jeff would probably tell you not to run the 130mm stem unless the Fargo has a really really short top tube for you.

I tried a Jones bar in 2014 and it didn't work for me at all.. I had a 100mm or 110mm stem on the bike I tried it on.   If i try it again I'm going to put something like a 50mm stem on with the Jones bar and probably move the saddle back 1cm.