I’ve been through a few bikes trying to find out exactly what I want for where I ride.

I’ve finally settled on 650b Plus Hardtail – this gives me enough “squish” whilst also letting me pootle around with the kids when we go for family bike rides.

It’s the road bike that I’m struggling with. I’ve currently got a Calibre Dark Peak, which is a gravel/adventure bike which works ok on the road but can only fit 40c tyres. However, after a couple of really close near misses on the trunk road this week, I’ve realised that road cycling is not where I’m at – I’d rather pootle around on my own round the forests.

To that end, I’ve started looking at “Monster Cross” bikes, where I can cycle to to the forests on the back roads and then blast around the fire roads. It looks like the Gensis Vagabond is a likely candidate.

It can fit nice, big mtb tyres and looks like it will do ok on the road sections – so question is, is it a good bike? If not, have you any other suggestions?

Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks

David

Great bikes, very versatile. There is a 10+ page thread about them on here if you search.

I’ve done 100+ mile road rides on mine (with road tyres on natch!), and it’s great for fire road cruising and countryside exploring.

Why not consider the new range of gravel bikes that will run 650b wheel sets as well as 700c. My Vaya runs 650b x47 and has enough clearance to run 700 c x50 w/o fenders

In 650b guise

Sounds ideal for the use you describe.  I use mine for similar, and ideally all-day back-lanes + off-road touring/bikepacking.  It makes simple exploring a joy.  I also learned to stay on the drops when descending/with small jumps 😉

The Vagabond rides lighter offroad than it’s 12kg weight would suggest and has a lively character.  Mine’s a stock 2016 specced with WTB Nano 2.1s.  I’d never used these tyres before but quickly became a firm favourite and they make a great deal of sense on such a versatile bike.  I tried 35c Schwalbes (landcruisers) for puncture-resistant winterr back road/towpath stuff with mudguards,  In all honesty they weigh virtually the same as the Nanos but the narrower tyres dull the fun with no noticeable gains on the flipside.  I could go fatter than 2.1s and may try that one day, yet the Nanos ‘just work’ for me.  One day I might find a suitable mudguard solution for those but until then I’m having too much fun to care much about the splatter offroad, and onroad the tyres dont seem to kick up as much water as either slicks or ‘proper’ knobblies.  This is seeming like more of a tyre review 🤔

To me the Vagabond is a happy marriage-á-trois of a quality double butted cromo 80s/90s rigid ATB, a 29er MTB, and and a skinny steel 700c touring bike.  Except with disc brakes and a heap of standover.  The Deore 2×10 setup with Microshift bar-end shifters has been faultless.  The bike feels bomb-proof over rough hardpack at speed. It has that slight springy feel  but is plenty stiff.  Very well balanced ride imo.

The only issues I’ve encounted are a degree of toe-overlap (with the 2.1s fitted) but I soon became accustomed and now involuntarily adjust riding-style to suit. Also the Spyre mechanical discs are seriously under-powered for my bulk.  Will try different pads first, but likely I’ll be sticking hydraulics on at some point.

In short I’m, really really happy with the frame and the ride, but in hindsight wished Id bought a Longitude, as my longer touring plans didnt come off owing to one thing and another.  I can afford to run only one ‘do it all’ bike, and something a bit longer and more MTB would just edge it for me in hindsight. In an ideal world I’d have both a S/S Longitude (slower and surer) and this 2×10 Vagabond (quicker and livelier), each built with dynohubs, good lights and top-notch wheel-sets.  Low-maintenance and simple all-day/all-weekend biking is my favourite type of biking.  And steel. I am 90s Man.

Happy all-day long (have since fitted a Phenom saddle)

forgot to add pics

Vaya looks great, and  a good shout.   Vagabond seems somewhere between a Vaya and a Fargo.  I now have mudguard envy.

I’ve had mine for around 6 months now.awesome bike as capable on road as off road.i run 2.1 tyres on mine and I don’t feel restricted on road.great bike for bike packing and razzing around on singletrack and bridleways.i replaces the bar end shifters and cable discs with some SRAM apex off previous bike personal choice.stock wheels and crankset bit Lardy but what do you expect for the price.all in all great bike which is ripe for upgrades as you go along.and it’s steel. It’s basically a poor mans fargo

buy one . It’s the bike I ride most now…

I bought a 2017 Vagabond in early February (from Drovers Cycles in Hay – recommended!) It has made my cross bike redundant. I’ve ridden and been evangelical about cross bikes for over 20 years so that suggests that I think a lot of this bike. (I will keep my CAADX but only for racing.)

I’ve done a lot of rides following the routes that we used in the 90s on rigid hardtails, the sort of thing that I wouldn’t ride on my 150mm full-sus.

Interestingly, some of the group I ride with ‘get’ the bike, some don’t, and it tends to be the ones who are more ingrained MTBers who understand what it’s for. The ones who only have a mid-long travel MTB and ride every day.

I’ll be heading out around Gower this afternoon. A lot of road, with some bridleway (and a proper ‘gravel’ track.) Maybe heading along the cliffs on the rocky tracks that are slightly too tech for 32mm cross tyres. It goes anywhere – only outright jumpy and bermy MTB trails make it feel out of its depth.

Despite having bought a carbon 150mm full-sus dream bike last July, it’s the Genesis I’m in love with. (Only a bit more than the MTB though. 😁 )

i have a surly karate monkey, which is more of an mtb really, although it can be used with drop bars, and its great, mine mostly gets used with schwalbe big apples, but it can do pretty much everything except road.

ive ridden a fair few genesis bikes, and have yet to see a bad one.

the salsa vaya, also a great bike.

my mate has a genesis day one 853, fitted with alfine 11. he couldn’t get on with the drop bars, (or the versa shifter) so he whipped em off, put carbon low rise dh bars on it, a shimano alfine sti shifter, zee brakes, and ergo grips with bar ends. it has 700×35 tyres.

sounds like a right mongrel, but rides brilliantly.

might be worth considering?

The only thing wrong with the Vagabond is it’s heavy, a bit like Malvern rider I think I should have bought a mk1 Longitude instead. I’d already experimented with a Cannondale Flash alloy with carbon forks and it is just so much better at what I thought the Vagabond would be good at – my Vagabond has now ended up as a comfortable cruiser with schwalbe big apple tyres and on one OG bars ☺️

@ malvernrider. Yes very pleased with how the mudguards look but fiddly to get just right, but I’m a bit ocd with things like this.

Not having a go, but if you think a Flash or Longitude is better than a Vagabond then you’re using it in a slightly different way than I use mine. It has drop bars for a reason – they put you in a better position for long, reasonably quick, distance riding. (IMO, of course!) I’d far rather be on drop bars for these types of riding than on a riser. That’s why I compare it to 90s MTBs perhaps – they had bar ends and lower front ends. And I’m happy enough on a drop bar off-road so don’t need to sacrifice anything there other than expecting it to cope with singletrack as quickly as my MTB.

It’s basically a poor mans fargo

I’ve heard this stated before.  There is also the Bombtrack Beyond.

The only thing wrong with the Vagabond is it’s heavy, a bit like Malvern rider I think I should have bought a mk1 Longitude instead

I test-rode a couple of Longitudes and they are (a little) heavier of course.  Don’t feel  that the stock Vagabond is at all heavy for the intended use.  And that’s with this heavyish  Alex Volare wheelset.  One could easily get it down to 24lbs with a few upgrades, and it rides lighter than it is at a current 27lbs.  Now I also have a hardtail (currently SS) it makes much more sense to keep the Vagabond for exploring/touring/distance, which will come in time as health and situations hopefully improve.  PS after a few weeks riding a lardy SS hardtail – the Vagabond by comparison just flies!  I can climb most anything on it, and easily, and as I’m not road-racing this is about all I would expect from an all-surface steel touring bike.  No regrets, but still hanker for a Longitude as a stablemate.  I’d have to live with both for a few years to make any ultimate decision 😎

OP, the Calibre Dark Peak is (I believe) around 11kg with pedals?

For comparison the 2018 stock Vagabond is listed as 12.25kg

The type of riding I typically do on a tourer means that comfort and versatility wins out over speed at the end of a long day riding, but YMMV.

I sometimes wonder if I tomorrow had a few grand to spend on a bike would I simply upgrade the Vagabond with the best wheels, best hub-generator, lights, carbon post, lightweight stem/ bar combo and some  lightweight bikepacking kit, or would I instead be paralysed by choice facing a new, different all-road touring bike purchase?

Figured I’d do better to just get out and ride the damned bike, that’s why I bought it, just felt great first time I demo’d one.  Would definitely recommend test-riding anything first.

Thanks all

The Vagabond sounds just like what I’m after. I do enjoy a quick 10 miles at night on the road when the kids have gone to bed, but to be honest after the close shaves this week I’m really not keen to do it again!

You’re right about the Dark Peak – it is bang on 11kg and I’ve put TRP HY/RDs on and set it up tubeless. It’s an excellent bike, but I’ve realised that it’s not quite what I’m looking for right now.

I think I’m pretty sure that a Monster Cross is what suits my needs at the minute – now just got to sell the Dark Peak (or split it and buy a Vagabond Frameset!)

Not having a go, but if you think a Flash or Longitude is better than a Vagabond then you’re using it in a slightly different way than I use mine.

Yes I know, drop bars on the flash & flat bars on the vagabond, it’s all arse about face & I have a bonkers +ve ape index, I just couldn’t get past the vagabond frame & forks being at least 1.5kg more than the flash & it made no sense having two monster cross bikes

For comparison the 2018 stock Vagabond is listed as 12.25kg

Mine feels heavier than my Intense, which is claimed to be 12.5kg. But, as said, that’s with the heavy wheels, seatpost, saddle and crankset. It doesn’t ride heavily on the road, even on the steep climbs around here. And the steel frame also provides some ‘pop’ (I’m not sure best to describe this!) It gets air off the smallest speed bump if I want it to. Fun.

As Malvern Riders says, given a lottery win I think I’d keep the Vagabond and put better finishing kit on it – while buying other similar bikes to compare, of course. 😁

Question for more experienced adventure bikers than me – do you think I could fit wider tyres to my dark peak if I went to a 650b wheelset?

The bike currently has 700c WTB Nano 40’s – do you think I could get some 2.1 650b tyres in there? If so, what sort of negative effects would this have? A bit lower bb?

Thanks

By way of an update

I fitted some 650b wheels to the bike and have got a 2.1 WTB Nano on the front and a Panaracer Gravelking SK 650b 1.9 on the rear. There’s probable just enough clearance to get a 2.1 Nano on the rear as well, but I feel a little more comfortable with the gravel king

This will have to do until I can find a vagabond at a reasonable price (might also be a FYI for any one else looking for a versatile & cheap adventure bike)

Medium Frame (5′ 6″, 30″ inseam)

Cambium C17, Jones Loop Bar, ESI Grips, Genesis 70mm/5deg stem

Avid Brake Levers, TRP Spyre Cable Disc Brakes (160mm rotors F/R)

Hubs and RIms: Stans 350, Crest 2.0*

Tyres: Vittoria: Mezcal 2.35(F), Borsa 2.1(R)

Hope BB & Headset, QR Skewers

Deore XT: Hollowtech Crankset 170mm, 40/34, 11-36 cassette, Front Mech, chain

Deore: Rear Clutch Mech. (long cage)

Great bike. I’m certainly not a down-hiller but this tramples over most things, and I completed the Ride to the Sun (Scotland) in great comfort with Panaracer SK, 1.6 fitted

*I would like to upgrade to wider rims when I can afford it!

^ not seeing the pic?  Wants pic 🤓

Forum ate my post 😒

Built mine up as SS to begin with  (38-18)  just to get it rolling.

Did the Badlands CX at the weekend, definitely a good bike choice, no punctures and could hammer through the rough bits and float over the mud.

Selcof bars are a bit stiff, I’ll be adding some extra padding on the drops and hoods. But the shape is OK, spent most of the time in the drops despite the photos!

SB8’s are dragy as hell.

Spyers were OK, swapped the pads to Race Matrix and they were adequate. Will have a better idea when I’ve had to do some more panicking braking whilst playing with traffic.

Future plans, 2×10 with 7800 bifters, a 26-38 chainset, 11-32 cassette and old 8 speed XT mechs. And some new tyres at some point (I’ll kill the SB8’s commuting over winter so they wont go to waste).

Still not sure which is getting guards though, this or the CAADX.