Vassago Fisticuff

I just finished up Roch's new Vassago cyclocross/commuter/dirt road /do everything bike.....this was a really fun build and i was able to work with a few new products that i've never seen before. For starters, Woody's wood enlay fenders were a treat......i did have to slightly modify the rear fender so that the front derailleur could swing far enough to work with three front chainrings. I opted to use a small mallet and wood chisel to remove just enough material.....smoothed it back out with a couple of files and then finished it off with dose of varnish. I hated to cut into a $150 set of fenders, but hey....someone had to do it !

Also...since budget was still a priority (complete bike for under 2K), this was also my first experience with the knock off Nitto moustache bars. The Dimension bars were labeled that they were not compatible with shimano bar end shifters, a small gamble worked out on behalf of price reduction and our set of shifters installed just fine. We also saved a few pennies with the use of the Dimension seatpost. Ironically though.....the budget was blown wide open with the use of the Brooks B17 saddle and matching Brook leather tape (the 8 inches of spare tape was used to wrap the chainstay). The stem was a used Thomson elite that was laying around the shop....and before you jokers bust me about the amount of headset spacers used, we had to use a bunch to get the moustache bar level with the saddle height, which is where they need to be, UNLESS of course you're in yoga and have some serious flexibility. Roch.....he's big, stiff, and runs like a trotting giraffe. Trust me.....i've seen him run before ; )


The drivetrain was composed mostly with Shimano Sora components, three rings up front and nine in the rear (PG950 12-26 cassette). Shimano Deore disc hubs laced up to some of those wood grain Velocity Blunts that i showed in a photo and talked briefly about below. This wheelset kinda matched the hole character of the build, the new owner and seemed like a good fit. The pedals are Shimano's A530's with one side clip-in and the other side platform, perfect for those days when a clipless shoe is too bothersome. We used Avid BB5's and Tektro RL520 brakelevers to handle the modulation. This is a perfect combination for drop bar/disc brake applications.

enjoy the new bike Roch ! It was a blast to put together.