The Genesis Vagabond, the Wasp ;)

The frame is a 2019 Yellow frame set

It came with steel fork and headset bearings

I carefully chosen every component as to comply to my weight and to complete the Croix de Fer

The Croix de fer is a great bike for commuting, Touring and light gravel, the Vagabond is for tougher gravel.

It must have a higher capability in off road, so here’s my findings :

29 and 27,5 wheelsets, fitted with 1.5 and 2.1” tires

The 29” are based on Mavic XC821 rims, tubeless ready, welded (lighter and stiffer than connector + pins) and riveted spokes holes.
The hubs are XT 756 from Shimano, steel axles, large diameter spokes holder,  and with cup and cones. 
Spokes and bolts are both from DT Swiss
Fitted with Panaracer SK 35mm or Continental Cyclo King for the wet.

These are classified ATSM 3, that means they are suitable for engaged MTB up to 61 cm jumps !!!

The 27,5” are Mavic Crossride wheels, classical MTB cheap but effective wheels, fitted with Maxxis Exo 2.1” tires, a lot of air volume for very engaged and comfy gravel.

Those two wheel sets allow to change the Vagabond profile to suit the followed path.

The transmission is also a major point in a bike, as usual the brifters are a main issue in building a drop bar bike, life would be quite simple in a non limit budget, but also boring ;)

So let’s search for the best range, reliability and capability.

The Sora brifters appear to be the smart choice, 100% directly compatible with the 9s MTB derailleur siblings.
You can find them easily on the second hand market, many people upgrade their road bikes and sell them for cheap, same for MTB 9s transmission, you can find lightly used Deore, XT and even XTR in the same way.

I choose a Deore XT 9s M772 SGS rear derailleur, shadow powered, that mean you have a strong pull and a low footprint.

For the crank set, I choose the Hollowtech from Shimano, that mean a two piece crank set with standard 3x and 64x104 chainrings. The model is a Alivio 4060, cheap and very stiff.
I found a very cheap clearance chainrings set with raceface alloy 22x32x44 teeth.

The bottom bracket is a nasty part, very quick to get annoyed with (I had a bad experience with press fit full plastic in my last MTB…)

For that, I choose the BB80 from the saint series, a reinforced bottom bracket, the drive side (right when you’re on the bike), is doubled, so there’s a larger support where’s needed, the left side being the guiding of the axle. An almost bomb proof component at a very reasonable price (Chris king and others are definitely best, but a 10x ratio is quite hard to justify, at least for me yet).

The front derailleur is quite tricky to find right, the production Vagabond offers 10s Deore high clamp solution, but with a 44 maximum chain ring the high collar is blocked by the bottle cage nut.

So I had to change the mount and found a low clamp Alivio T4000 that suits me. 

Be very careful in finding the components because, sometimes you’ll find many different versions and they could be quite confusing.

For that front derailleurs here’s the parameters to consider : 

Max chainring : 44 at least
Low collar
Low pull (many are both compatible)
28,6mm frame diameter (most can be adjusted with plastic adapters)
Triple
Frame angle, there’s two kinds from Shimano, 63-66° and 66-69°, the Vagabond is about 72°, it’s not only an hestetic issue, you can have the chain rubbing on lowers gears.
9 speed (Many believes that front derailleurs are cross compatible, not that much, an old 8s triple can even be quite compatible with a newer transmission, but not a newer front derailleur with an older chain width, the more speed you have, the narrower is your chain and front derailleur cage … you may experience a lot of unpleasant rubbing with a 10s FD working on a larger 9s chain).
Then you have to carefully set up the limit screws in order to a nicely functioning transmission.

For the brakes, being limited by the brifters, the smart choice is again the TRP HY/RD

For the drop bars, I love the Ergo Max from Ritchey, but I would like to go for a more off road capable one, the choice naturally goes to the Venture Max, in 46cm. That mean a quite relaxed position and a lot of torque from that wide bar.

But be careful and remind you math lessons !!

When you enlarge the bars, shorten the stem !!!

The triangle from your shoulder to the brifters define your position, the more you enlarge the base of the triangle, the longer is the distance, so shorten your stem accordingly.

Pythagoras's your friend in that rare occasion (at least for us, mere mortals) !!!

The drop bar tape, is a totally new concept for a MTB guy, my main advice for newcomers is to choose a gel one, the bonding being of that adhesive is very forgiving, you can even undo most of the bar and tape it again properly. Also, when you have to change it, there’s almost no residues to wipe off.

Very important to look carefully at some very instructive youtube videos to get used to the proper setting of the bar tape, the best for me being the one from Calvin Jones, Park Tool.