The Nimble 9 29er Touring Build
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I wanted a bike that could do it all. A commuting, bikepacking, single track, mountain pass and fire road touring and anything in-between two wheeled beast. My solution? Take a frame from one of my favorite bike companies (Canfield Brothers) and slap on a build kit that would allow that kind of crazy range of riding. I have always liked the idea of the Salsa Fargo, and when I started comparing the geometry of the Salsa Fargo to the Nimble 9, I noticed they were pretty similar (in the small size anyway). The Nimble 9 has a shorter chain stay (even at it’s longest setting), but other than that they were pretty close. Also, the Nimble 9 lacks all of the fender and rack mounts on the frame, but it seems the trend for bikepacking bags is leaning towards frame mounted bags as opposed to panniers anyway (see Bedrock bags out of Durango). Also, Salsa has had the foresight to sell the Fargo fork individually which I used to allow a lot of mounting options on the fork for smaller panniers and extra bottle holders. Plus, I seem to desire a bit more customization than an out of the box bike can provide. The result has been awesome. I love this bike! 29er tires while commuting have been great and much more comfortable than the skinny road tires I traded them for and since I’m running my tires tubeless I’ll be able to run my tire pressure at really low pressure and winter snow commuting should be much easier. I’ve also ventured onto a couple of short in-town single track trails on my commute. This thing is amazing. I’m taking it to Canyonlands, UT this weekend and will have some more feedback after this trip. But to date this is already one of my favorite bikes.
The Build:
- Canfield Brothers Nimble 9 Frame – Small
- Salsa Fargo V2 Fork
- Stans NoTubes Custom Wheelset (Flow rims laced to Stans 3.30 Hubs)
- Shimano XT Crankset
- Cane Creek 110 Headset
- Salsa Down Under Fork Racks
- Detours D2R Small Panniers
- King Cage Water Bottle Cages
- Ritchey Pro 30º Rise Stem
- Soma Junebug Handlebars
- Cane Creek Brake Levers
- Shimano Dura-Ace Bar-Con 9spd Shifters
- Lizard Skin Bar Tape
- Salsa Rack-Lock Seatpost Clamp
- Cane Creek Thudbuster Seatpost
- Cardiff Saddle
- Detours Wedgie Seatpost Bag
- Avid BB7 Brakes
- Shimano XT DM Front Derailleur
- Shimano XTR Shadow Rear Derailleur
- Shimano 9spd Rear Cassette
- Maxxis Ikon Tires
Update:
Check out the Dirt Rag review on this frame.
Super cool build! I am thinking of a doing a similar build. How does this frame climb set up like this? Thanks, Matt
Matt,
I would say it climbs really well. I really like and it helps to have all of the different hand positions you can play with on longer climbs. Bottom line, this bike is sick. If you’re thinking about building one, do it. I keep trying to talk Lance into designing and producing some dropouts with rack mounts for us that commute on the bike as well and want to add panniers. We’ll see 🙂