Genesis Vagabond – anyone got one?

Hej nisse – the bottom bracket on the Vagabond frameset is threaded, faced and ready to go, standard English thread 68mm.

Yup, the dent in the fork is for brake disc clearance (as long as you’re using 160mm discs).

If I was any taller than 5’11” I’d be on a large.

I’ve always had bullhorns/flats on my road bikes, this will be my first proper try since a kid with drops, but the frame geo just seems to ask for them. However, get the right stem, maybe go a size up on the frame if you’re close to the edge, and i don’t see why a flat bar wouldn’t work.

Thanks for the reply provdes. So, a Large it has to be for me and obviously I can start the project out of the box without fear for bottom bracket issues. Will take the definite decission the coming weekend (some more pictures of your nice build might work confincing) 🙂

Will also take a closer look to where to buy. Suggestions are welcome….

As much as you can compare two frames together swift and vagabond frames are pretty similar, apart from length and weight, EFF top tube is 620 on the swift 590 on the vagabond, but my hardtails are 590 / 600 so I am more than happy to give flat bars a go, swift frame is 2290g vagabond is 2545g both bare apart from seat post clamps, vagabond forks are 1395g uncut whereas the cromotos on the swift are 1055g – all based on large early geared swift & 2017 large vagabond frameset

Got mine built up today! First impressions were mixed – it’s finished badly, with the top tube gusset welded well off-centre. I was tempted to return it but I got it pretty cheap through a mate who works for a genesis distributor so just went with it. Maybe it was a factory second – or maybe the quality control guy had had a heavy night…
I raided the loft and used as many old bits as I could to build it up. Just needed wheels. Everything went on no problems at all. The headset it comes with is a good quality sealed bearing one. I didn’t cut the steerer down at all as I wanted it fairly high at the front.
I’ve only done about 10 road miles on it – 10 fast, comfy road miles! It surprised me how quick it felt especially in acceleration. The other first impression I got was how stable it feels. Easiest bike to trackstand I’ve ever ridden. I’m looking forward to getting racks for it and loading it up. It feels great with the flat bar so far – definitely on the short side but then its a 90mm stem so that’s to be expected. The big apples roll over anything – highly recommended!
Nisse – mine is an xl if you would like any measurements. Not to put any doubt in your mind but at 6″1 I think you’ll be needing a long seatpost if you go for the large…
Will get some better pics soon. I changed the white grips for black in the end – looks much better. The accidental colour scheme came together well 🙂

unlucky – looking good! I nearly went for those wheels myself, but ended up raiding the parts bin and building my own. Mine’s still not quite built… non-cycling-life keeps getting in the way.

Generally I am really happy so far – the medium size seems like it was the right choice, but I’ve got a bit of faff to do with bar/seat height and angles etc…

Got a couple of questions though if anyone’s got any thoughts.

1. I put in a bottom bracket with a 116mm spindle but had to add a 2mm spacer to stop the 42t chainring hitting the stays. My cranks are some generic cyclocross square taper jobbies, and have served me well on my single speed, but on this frame I can only just get a fag paper in between the ring and stay – a bad thing? Get MTB cranks?

2. Mudguards. I’m running tyres that are just over 45mm wide and want to put a decent set of fenders on this for the next couple of months at least. Any recommendations/advice? Any known pitfalls with the Vagabond? I’m eyeing up these: https://www.bike-components.de/en/Curana/C-Lite-Fender-Set-p28405/%5B/url%5D

I’d not trust that clearance, either go with a longer BB or MTB cranks.

SKS do blumells in 65mm (they’re listed as 28″ because that’s what 700c touring stuff is nominally), bike-discount.de have them. they fit around 2.1″ tyres perfectly. IIRC the only difference between blumells and chromoplastics is the clips, so I’d get some of the chromoplastic clips and fit those to be on the safe side (they pop in/out so release if they clog with a stick or something sending you OTB).

Aaargh, front mech hell has raised it’s ugly head, using a mtb triple (24, 32, 42) and a Hutchinson Python 2.0 tyre leaves only a gnats whisker between tyre & mech, tried low clamp, high clamp, even tried a flat bar triple road mech & all will result in “issues” what I think I need is a bottom pull (not dual pull) mech suitable for mtb gearing instead of road – anyone any ideas? or will one of those new fangled direct pull ones work?

Turns out one of the new fangled side swing front mechs solves all my problems even gives enough space for fitting full guards, but going to end up with a rather odd cable route

^ winning!

Thread Needs Pics 😀

I got my frameset from 18 Bikes in Hope, Derbyshire, UK.

Came with the BB and headset faced and chased, and with the headset inserted.

Great guys to deal with and they do mail order. Why not see if they ship to Sweden?

Alex

Thanx for all the tips and advice. I’ll definitely take a second look for the size “unlucky” and as 18 Bikes in Hope do ship to Sweden according their website and also has the Cotic Escapade (another frame I’m really interested in) as an option, I’ll surely get in touch with them sometime soon “Alexpalacefan”.

Looking to join this club.

Pics of front mech and mudguards fitted please! Would be good to know what size tyre and guards you are using too.

Front mech clearance with a 2″ tyre & side swing mech

IMG_20170127_182311029[1] by Dicky Boy 500[/url], on Flickr

Nearly finished article, mudguards not yet fitted but loose fitting with these tyres doesn’t look too much of an issue

IMG_20170127_182259541[1] by Dicky Boy 500[/url], on Flickr

Really enjoyed this thread, so much so I’ve been onto Genesis about the frameset, to see if the colour is due to change as I’m not keen on the white. They are reverting back to the purple with updated graphics. So I’ll be ordering one when released later in the year, anyone running theirs on sti’s as not keen on the micro shift changers

That looks sorted dickyboy, great job. Be sure to let us know how it handles with those bars 🙂

PS – Tan grips, shirley? 8)

Hello again,

totally forgot to post some reults here. So this is my custom version. The first bikepacking trips (for what it was build) are still to come. But on short rides it felt pretty comfortable and faster then i thought. If anyone got questions i look in here from time to time.

Greetings from germany
Sebastian

Sebastian that looks to be a great build. I’m thinking about maybe changing my drop bars to something like this. Have you tried any longer trips?

Hey,

unfortunately i haven’t got the time yet. August i’ll do a trip. But i can’t imagine that this Bar wont be comfortable on longer rides.
greetings

Anyone after a frameset ? I have a 3 month old 2017 frameset for sale in classifieds size medium dc

I’m considering dmc’s frame – but would want to move over 105 shifters and drive train from a road bike.
From what i can work out in this thread i’d not be able to run a 105 compact double crankset and hollow tech 2 would i? Or could i just run an extra spacer for clearance…guessing not?

Hi swe1

I think you would struggle there mate. It took me a great deal of tinkering to eventually get a balance between the chainring size that would fit and then a smaller sprocket size to give me a usable gear range when setting my vagabond up with alfine. The largest chanring i could get away with was 36T using a 118mm square tapered bottom bracket.

I struggled to get a road compact-double on.
Went w/ MTB 28/40 in the end. Glad I did, the lower gearing is better for a bikepacking bike IMHO.

APF

Hi Vagabonds

What size did people go for with this bike? I’m 5’9″ (31″ inseam) and from what I can tell, geometry wise, slap bang in-between a S and a M.

I love the look of this bike but the dramatic difference between the effective TT length in the two sizes makes me worry I’ll never get one to fit!

N

I’m 6ft with a 32″ inseam and on a large Vagabond.
Reach is spot on, and there is still a lot of post showing.
If you’ve got a 31″ inseam then I reckon that a small will have far too much post on show. I’d think the medium (or even large) would be better.

I’m 5ft6 (and a half!) and just shy of 30″ inseam. SMALL is just about right for me. Would agree that you would needing something larger

@swe1 , Hi Sebastian ,could you tell me what handlebar you’ve used on your build ? Thanks

That’s what I was going to ask too!

Looks like an inverted On One Mary, or Jones H Bar

[Quote]I’m 5’9″ (31″ inseam) and from what I can tell, geometry wise, slap bang in-between a S and a M.[/quote]

Same inseam just shy of 5’10” and M is like a glove with stock bars/stem

The 2018 Genesis are out the Vagabond frameset is looking pretty tasty. Not sure how long the candy style finish will last mind, they tend to chip pretty easily.

The full bike colour is very reminiscent of the original Salsa Fargo colourscheme.

Still loving my 2016, they really need to do an XXL though, im on a 120mm stem already and want a little more stretch.

Hi rustybolt and molgrips it´s an “ERGOTEC Aerowing II”, on long rides i change between 4 different hand positions, works pretty good. Also i was thinking about extra small Aero bars on top, for long straight road parts ;).

regards
Sebastian

Have any of you run with 700c wheels and 42c road tyres. I know theres clearance but concerned about ruining handling. I’m looking at getting one of these to run as a flat bar commuter with a wee ride on the front.

Have any of you run with 700c wheels and 42c road tyres.

It is a 29″/700c frame anyway, so this would be no problem. It comes with WTB Nano 2.1 tyres, which are equivalent to 52/53c tyres.

I’ve run mine with a range of tyres from 28c road tyres to a 2.4″ on the back and a 3″ on the front. It worked well with all the combos.

Sounds promising. They do look ace.

I’ve run mine with a range of tyres from 28c road tyres to a 2.4″ on the back and a 3″ on the front. It worked well with all the combos.

A bike like this makes me smile ^

Have only tried 35c or 2.1, both fine. And no toe-overlap on the 35c which is so far the only problem I’ve had with the Vagabond on >2″ tyres, it feels like a short wheelbase On the flipside this does make it super-responsive for this type of brute.

Im currently running 40c landcruisers and the ride is spot on, although i am probably going to upgrade to a more supple tyre (bought this cheap from halfords to try out for size). I have also tried 2.35 Big Apples (Good fun but ride a bit wooly at times) and 28c gatorskins (turns it into a heavy road bike, dont see the point). Im probably going to settle on something between 40-45c as i think that will be the sweetspot for the kind of riding i use Vince (erm i mean my vagabond) for (mix of road and gravel/bridleways).

As a side issue im looking to enter a few ‘gravel rides’ next year i.e dorset gravel dash/dirty reiver/Grinduro and my vagabond is the most suited for the job, just need to decide whether the alfine needs to go to make the weight a bit more balanced. Does anyone else find theyre a touch on the heavy side or is it my build in particular?

I still cant add a picture. Grrrrrr 👿

Sorry if it’s been discussed, but who’s running a road crankset on their vagabond? How does that work out with chainline on the 135/mtb rear? Thinking of building one up with a middleburn R02 running something like which, I assume gives a road chainline, but will also use a sram mtb cassette /mech.

Theres a pic erlier in the thread of a road chainset on a tapered BB which left no useable clearance.

If you want bigger gears you can run compact road chainrings on 5-bolt mtb cranks which usually have a wider chainline. Having said that a 44t on a tripple with an 11t at the back with 29er wheels will give a similar gear to most racing bikes.

I’ll be using an external BB option, but you’re right anyway, lowered tyre / mudguard clearance isn’t going to be good. I’ll get an older 10sp slx then can easily up the gearing with after-market rings if required. I’m thinking of an on/off road gravel type set up with mudguards for winter and full mtb guise for summer with bigger tyres and lower gears.