Norwegian Fara Cycling steps up their all-road and gravel bike game with the newly integrated F/AR and its strapless, magnetic quick release bikepacking bags. Developed from the ground up to be a fast mixed-surface endurance bike for anything from weekend rides to ultra-distance racing, the new F|AR fulfills the key goals of Fara’s two-year Oslo Project – to build the ultimate adventure weapon for mixed-surface adventures.
Fara F/AR carbon ultra-endurance all-road gravel bike
In what seems to be one of their first bikes truly developed from the ground up, Fara founder & ex conti pro racer Jeff Webb says he worked with an “industry leading frame designer” to create the new frameset. Based on Webb’s past work for Cervélo & ongoing collaboration with Factor/Black Inc, we can only guess as to who that really means lent their experience to creating this new F/AR.
What we are sure of… Fara’s goal was a lot about blurring the lines even further between road & gravel bikes, building a versatile fast touring, bikepacking, and all-around all-road bike. Webb admits that much of that versatility comes down to tires, so the F/AR was optimized for 32-35mm road & light gravel tires.
And with a few minor tweaks to their previous all-road geometry without having much impact on the quick handling ride, the new F/AR manages a max 700c x 38mm slick tire clearance. (They also offer the F|Gravel for full off-roading capability and even bigger knobby tires.)
Integrated bikepacking bags
One of the most unique aspects of the new all-road bike is its seamless bikepacking bag integration – claiming to be “the first bike company to develop both the frame and bag designs simultaneously“. We’ve highlighted some similar work from Fern+Gramm, Open+Gramm, Giant+H2PRO & Salsa, plus Niner being maybe the only other strapless and bolt-on complete setup.
But Fara wanted even more versatility to do long tours without sacrificing on everyday riding, so they worked with magnetic attachment specialists Fidlock & bag maker Roswheel to codevelop a quick-release, secure pack setup in tune with the bike’s intentions.
Complete details on the bags & pricing remain thin, but look to be similar to Roswheel’s standard road line and include a variable size frame bag (S 2.3L, M 2.6L, L 3.2L & XL 3.6L), a 15L seat pack & 12L handlebar bag. Of course, all are custom fit to the Fara F/AR frame sizes, and feature fast on-and-off with magnetic Fidlock attachment.
All-road & Gravel – Tech details
The full carbon frame & fork mix fibers to get to its target stiffness:comfort balance, at a claimed frame weight of just 980g (M/53cm) plus a 390g fork. Beyond that max 38mm tire size, there are stealth full-coverage fender mounts with room inside for up to 35mm tires or 32mm studded tires and the made-to-fit Fara Fenders.
There are of course Fidlock stud mounts for the bags, plus regular bottle cage bosses, under downtube cage bosses, toptube bento fuel bag bosses, and 3-pack Anything/Versacage mounts on the fork legs. The mounts out back can also be used with a light rear rack.
The F/AR features integrated fully-internal cable routing through the 1.5″ Token S-Box integrated headset (1x & 2x, electronic & mechanical compatible), a downtube rock guard protector, flat mount disc brakes, standard 12mm thru-axles, a BB386 bottom bracket, and 27.2mm seatpost with conventional external clamp.
Fara F/AR – Pricing, options & availability
As anticipated based on all the bike images available being computer renderings, the new Fara F/AR won’t be ready to ride until at least the end of May 2021. The first batch of sample bikes are expected next month (Feb 2021).
But, the Fara F/AR is being offered for pre-order now for anyone looking to get one of the first complete bikes – in four stock frame sizes, four frameset colors, and Fara’s standard component size customization options.
Fara is also offering a limited 100 complete bikes in this raw carbon with reflective pearl accent Signature Series design, including the bags with a refundable 10,000 Norwegian Krone (~950€) deposit. Only accessible here.
Regular complete bike builds will start at 3500€ with a 2x mechanical Shimano Ultegra groupset, alloy Fulcrum wheels with 32mm Panaracer Gravel King Slicks & a 3T cockpit.
Electronic Di2 or AXS groupsets, carbon Black Inc wheels & cockpit make it easy to get that total up to over 8000€ and a claimed complete weight down to 7kg if your wallet allows.
