Genesis Vapour Dad Rat

Having recently bought a new road bike, decided it was too nice to risk locking up in town and needed something cheaper, sensible and low key but still fun to ride. Wanted it rim brake as all my other bikes are now disc, also needed have mudguard, rack mount and potential to put a child seat on having recently become a Dad.

Figured an older CX frame would be ideal. After a bit of hunting spotted this old Genesis Vapour f&f for sale and looked like the perfect candidate. Think it's from circa 2010. It's not pretty but has decent triple butted tubing and is reasonably light.

Rest of the build will mainly be parts bin and forum purchases.

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Main inspiration for the build is this Vapour I spotted on Reddit. Coincidentally I have the same drive train in my parts bin. But will be going with a riser or swept back bar

Really like the raw look and I'm not keen on the existing paint. Also figure this should keep it fairly low key, if not a deterrent. Have found a local place that will dip the frame for a reasonable price.

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The carbon fork that came with the frame is not original, it's not bad, the seller said it's from Paul Milnes but is a fair few years old now and has been raced a lot, so going to try out an equally ratty 700c P2 fork a friend has given me. Very quick mock up with it looks like it could be fun (saddle too low in photo but you get the idea )

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looks like it could be a lot of fun!

Nice!

Don’t see many of these around! Here is mine: quite heavy with 10s apex and 36h openpros, but super fun and versatile! Tempted to try 1x with a sram mtb rd.

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Nice! What tyres are those ?

Got the frame back from it being stripped. A fair bit of paint still around the cable stops and welds (was warned this might happen). Half an hour or so with a Dremel and wire brush attachment has cleaned it up.

Frame is still looking quite ratty, some yellowish residue, can't tell if it's the stripper or a bit of base coat left. Was planning to leave the frame as is to keep it ratty, but I did give the top tube a quick buff with a scotch brite pad and it's come up really nice. Damn, this could end up being something not so ratty after all! Hmmm which to go with ...

Before:

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After:

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Damn, this could end up being something not so ratty after all!

Classic

Another quick mock up

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Yeah tell me about it!

Specialized Sawtooth. They are okay in the dry, I am running them with tubes and on narrow rims, so probably not utilizing full potential.

Got carried away and ended up finishing the whole frame with a scotch brite, so not so ratty after all! It's quite addictive to see the difference it makes, hard to know when too stop but haven't gone to crazy, as it will still be a lock up in town bike. Really pleased with the improvement though. Just need to find that derailleur hanger I put in a 'safe place' a few weeks back

Before (after being dipped)

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After scotch brite. Also used some turtle wax but I think it's made it look a bit blotchy so may need to reapply.

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Finally found time outside of dad duties to build this up. First impressions is it's great fun to ride! Exactly what I was after. Really enjoying the On One OG bars, though fork steerer is a little short , could do with a few spacers underneath so will keep looking for another P2 with a longer steerer.

Really pleased with how the frame turned out. It does scratch easily but figure it'll develop a nice patina over time and is easy enough to touch up with a scotch brite. Kept the headbadge as it was as it had some nice patina to it already and contrast nicely with the frame.

A few tweaks I'd still like to make. I've misplaced the black grips bought a while back, had these yellow ones in the parts bin for ages. They aren't exactly low key but they remind me of old Magura brakes and as the bike has ended up looking like the mtbs I used to ride in the 90s I think they somehow work! So I'll keep them for now. Should probably also lose the purple if I want to make it unnoticeable as a lock up bike, though I might have gone past that point !

Also on the lookout for a narrow wide chainring, although the clutch in the RD seems to be working so far

If I'm being picky I'd swap the Shimano brakes and levers to something else as I have a SRAM drivetrain but that's perhaps just my OCD, it all works really well as is

Next up rear rack and also mudguards, although spring seems to finally be here so perhaps leave those till autumn.

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This looks fun to whip around on. On One OGs are such comfortable bars (as are Marys which are almost exactly the same but not quite)

The grips look great! Could you get away with a stem with more rise, rather than a new set of forks? Agreed about the On One bars, they're a great shape, really comfy.

Possibly, the frame has quite a short stack but maybe a 17 degree positive rise.