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Has anyone?
I obviously miss the Vagabond. Presumably because I like wide drops with some flare, yet at a ‘relaxed’ height for touring and off-road. Not sure if the geometry stacks up. Not getting on so well with loop bars as hoped. Will have to persevere until next summer to be certain, but keeping options open. Interested to hear any experiences with Longitude and drops.
Yeah, tried two or three. Did a few rides with the Genetic Digest and a 10cm stem, then briefly tried a Selcof Sterrato and 13cm stem (on an XL frame). The former was ok, but the Digests are so flared that I'd say they're more like loops than drops. The latter I didn't get on with: I don't find that drops or long stems work with slack head angles (it's 4+ degrees slacker than my drop bar bikes), but that's just me, and I didn't really want to try a short stem so I didn't 🙂
It's pretty subjective, though. It's not like it won't work with drops, it just didn't for me.
There is one in the bike racks at my office. Been like that a while so must work for them. Looks a bit long for me.
Buy cheap drop bars from PX for a fiver - fit them, see if you like it then splurge on STIs if you do.
Yes and agree with the ‘too long’ comment above. Large frame with 70mm high rise stem (ie shorter effective stem length) and flared drop bar. Found just too stretched even with saddle slid forward. Might of been ok with smaller frame size but large is right for me in normal mtb mode.
Bike designed for flat/risers will be too long for drops
I'd hoped this would work but even a 60mm stem on the not particularly long Swift was too long.
Even if you could make it work with a really short stem, what would the handling be like? I've been thinking about doing this with my Specialized Chisel which has a head angle of 69.8 degrees. I guess it wouldn't feel snappy like a road / gravel bike.
That is one rad looking bike BTW.
Thanks for all the input, appreciated
I guess it wouldn’t feel snappy like a road / gravel bike.
True 😂 One thing a Longitude isn’t is ‘snappy’ in any guise. I’m looking more at roughstuff tourer/ATB/utility which was the thinking behind keeping it.
It does have a radically short/high stem at present. Avert eyes, ye unwary:
maybe I’ll take molgrip’s idea and offer up a pair of cheap bars. Only sure way is to have the brakes working and get up on the hoods too. I have cable disks so that wouldn’t be too expensive for a pair of Promax levers. Wouldn’t use STI, more likely bar-end. Either way that would be the big cost.
Still plenty of time to tweak the loop bar until.
Love the Singular monstercross BTW 🤩
I bought a mint pair of Dura ace 10spd bar end levers off ebay a fortnight ago for £13 posted. Bargain. They were the 3rd pair I looked at. The cables cost more than that!
I found Soma Sparrow to be excellent, more internal curve than loops, you'll need a 1" stem to fit. Rode them off road for years, now on my fixed folder. Hands were always just in the right position - also allowed the use of conventional brake levels.
For drops, bar ends and single speed aero levels would be the cheapest option. I have plenty of 9/10 speeds lying around after an eTap and Di2 upgrade. I'd go 1x so you only need the RHS lever.
I bought a mint pair of Dura ace 10spd bar end levers
Ah but do they work with Deore?
re comparative length/geo here’s a rare fleeting pic of my Confused Vagabond next to the MK1 Longitude that replaced it. Both medium. Also a rough overlay composite of both bikes. The medium Longitude is 10cm longer in wheelbase according to Genesis.
My main bugbear with the (medium) Vagabond was toe-overlap with 2.1 or bigger tyres, especially as I have metatarsal probs so tend to ride forward on flat pedals. Looking now at the figures for a large Vagabond it seems I might have mis-sized, as the wheelbase is 27mm longer than the medium, and the Genesis sizing chart puts me in the mid-upper range of a large (5’ 9.5”). I did later suspect that may have been the case, but when I tested the medium it just felt comfortable. Schoolboy error. Proving costly in time and faff.
Bike designed for flat/risers will be too long for drops
Maybe, unless you're like me and (a) tend to like your MTBs on the smaller side and your drop-bar bikes on the larger side, and/or (b) find that most frames designed for drops are too short for drops anyway.
My shown below in full eye-bleach-please configuration with the Digests, which obviously position you less far forward than conventional drops; but even with standard drops on the XL frame with a 13cm stem I didn't find it too long, I just found that setup incompatible with the steering geometry.
As with most things: Depends, innit 🙂
oops
Bez I see what mean. It’s a wrongun squared. At least the Vagabond was a wrongun doing good 😂
If you want wrong cubed, I've seen at least one person on the CTC forum suggest (apparently with experience) dealing with long top tubes by fitting stems backwards 🙂
Maybe, unless you’re like me and (a) tend to like your MTBs on the smaller side and your drop-bar bikes on the larger side, and/or (b) find that most frames designed for drops are too short for drops anyway.
Agree but then it'd be useless with flat bars and I'd have permanently bruised knees and as a serial tinkerer I'm always swapping bars/forks etc
as a serial tinkerer I’m always swapping bars/forks etc
This hits home. In all honesty I’ve only been 100% happy with two bikes in my life. First was first road bike, custom built on to a 21” Carlton frame. Second was first brand new ATB. It felt Just Right ™ and I rode it long and hard every day for a year or more. Then the mid-90s and MBUK happened, and Tinkering Wrecked my ATB. Sounds like a book 🤣
but then it’d be useless with flat bars
Nah, it's fine for me, see point a 🙂
Actually it's by far the longest MTB I've ever had…
I was going to do this with my Fortitude before I decided to sell it, probably with a DMR Defy stem as they are super-short, have a tiny stack height, and a bit of rise, so could get the bars in the same place as a gravelbike.
I'll still do it if no one buys the Fortitude. It'll look a bit like this I hope:
Malvern rider - I’m same height as you and tried both medium and large Vagabonds and bought the medium, which fits very well. Yes it has toe overlap, but so do my Croix De Fer and carbon Defy - they aren’t mountain bikes and I think that’s just the way the geometry tends to make them.
I’m same height as you and tried both medium and large Vagabonds and bought the medium, which fits very well.
Weird isn’t? Above pics of mine are with seatposts set low-ish (owing to injury). Normally I’m at almost full extent, which first gave me pause for thought.
Genesis website height charts says that ‘L’ is suitable for a height-range of 5’7” - 5’11”(same for Longitude and Vagabond, and as a ‘rough guide’)
I’ve tried both medium and large Longitude and got on with both but M is better for MTBing scenarios. Not why I bought it.
they aren’t mountain bikes and I think that’s just the way the geometry tends to make them.
That being the case road bikes and ATBs traditionally fit me best with 21” seat-tubes (horizontal TT) yet the L Vagabond is 21” seat-tube (w/sloping TT)
Would need to try one. Might have to visit a Genesis dealer again. Will no doubt find that I’m ideally stuck between M and L 🤪
I tend my go on effective top tube and reach, and the Vagabond in medium is close to my medium CDF and my medium Defy. The Defy is bang on, both via the sizing charts and through a bike fit, as I was unsure whether I was a medium or a medium/large. Shop had both in stock and a 2 hr fit session left me definitely on the medium. The Vagabond is 22mm longer ETT than the Defy, but with a 20mm shorter stem. On reach, it is 2mm shorter. So for me, it fits bang on, both in numbers and feel. Similarly my CDF is 6mm shorter ETT than the Vagabond but with a longer stem, and 10mm longer on reach. So basically the Defy and CDF are both a bit shorter on ETT than the more off road oriented Vagabond, which is offset by a shorter stem and higher bars. Both road oriented bikes are a shade longer on reach than the Vagabond.
The Vagabond is 22mm longer ETT than the Defy, but with a 20mm shorter stem
Yes the reach of a medium Vagabond was the deciding factor for me with regard comfort, yet in use on long days on tarmac and gravel it was feeling cramped and the toe overlap in the woods bothersome.
(L)Vagabond is 20mm longer reach than (M). Quite easily dealt with (for me) via 10mm seat rail adj. and 10mm shorter stem-swap, without too much handling effect.
My longitude says you should all be ashamed of yourselves for considering defiling his brothers in such away.
He asked me to report you all to the Riser Bar Defence League.
Sorry for the delay,
10spd road shifters will work with all shimano road mechs except 8spd dura ace.
They will also work with 7/8/9spd mtb mechs, but not 10spd mtb.
My setup on the surly is 9spd XT mech, pulled by 10spd dura ace bar end levers, over a 10spd cassette. Works superb.
I have a road bike, 10spd tiagra mech, pulled by dura ace 10spd bar end levers, over a 10spd cassette. Works superb.
Ive used the same setup with a 9spd deore mech as well, worked superb.
Bar end levers are great, they can also be used with adapters to use them as thumbshifters.
He asked me to report you all to the Riser Bar Defence League.
‘Alt-bar Defence League’, Shirley? 😋
He asked me to report you all to the Riser Bar Defence League.
‘Alt-bar Defence League’, Shirley? 😋
Good point. Mines actually a member of another splinter group really. The Riser Alt-Bar Defence League. Where will it end 😂
Had a brief play on this tonight, like my Swift experiment but with the correct reach
Now that's a bike I could lust after, and I don't do that often.
