A couple weeks back after riding the YiPsan around and getting it ready to ship back to Renold I got a slightly crazy idea.. what if.. I had a true all arounder?   I had already proven to myself that the 650b was comfortable and fast enough to deal with on the road.  The 41mm (or so..) tires handled decently in the hard packed dirt.  If I could just gear a bike with a wide enough range to keep a decent clip on the road but low enough to get down and dirty.

Slowly a plan formed in my head and I mentally went through a check list of parts.  I pulled my Salsa Ala Carte from behind my road bike and went at it.   The wheels, tires and cassette I decided to simply switch over from the YiPsan.  The cassette might be rough on the dirt as its largest cog is a 27t but that was a chance I would take.  Swept back Origin-8 handlebars and Ergons graced the cockpit, lights, a beautiful wooden fender and a couple bottle cages.  Wala!  I had a really great build.

The bike so far has been my daily commuter, beating around on a long gravel path 3 miles, twice a day for a couple weeks and a short single track section right before getting to the shop for work.  What can I say so far?  I think I have found it.  THAT bike you want in your mud room waiting for you to go to the store, beat around town or go on vacation with.  The longest ride to date on this fat(ter) tire friend is 35 miles round trip to work, which equaled out to 70 by the end of the day.  The bike, tires and set up really took everything in stride.  The only con’s I am finding so far are the tires are a bit to thin for my liking as I keep cutting the side wall on root balls and I am toying around swapping to platform pedals.   I am thankful that Renold didn’t budge a word when I mentioned he might end up getting a new set of tires in the mail from this review process.  I simply can’t return a rear tire that has been booted 3 times so far!

The current plan is to order in a few different 650b tires in from 32mm and up.  Try them out and hopefully get some more feedback up on this here site.