Project White: Introduction

Project Black- the Vassago Jabberwocky

Back in the Fall, I outlined a single speed build of a Vassago Jabberwocky I dubbed "Project Black". I tried, (in vain), to keep every component black and not spend too much doing it. Well, as you can see, a blue Chris King head set I had sitting around made its way onto this bike because the cheesy black one I had was about worthless.

Well, besides the sweet Thomson post, I didn't have to spend anything on this build, since I had everything else sitting around at hand. Once it was done, I was not all that taken with the looks of the thing. Well, as you can see, there is a lot of post sticking out, and a bunch of spacers under the stem too. Vassago, for whatever reason, builds with, what is in my opinion, too short a seat tube and head tube for the top tube lengths it specs. Since I go by top tube length, (I know- old school!), this puts me on a frame that has barely enough seat post insertion and more spacers than I like to see on my steer tube.

But looks are one thing, the way a bicycle rides is another. So I took out Project Black, (I think), on three rides which were, meh! Now before everyone goes off in a snit that likes Vassago bikes, I must say that there wasn't anything necessarily wrong with the Jabber, but there was not anything necessarily great about it for me. And as long time readers know, I have plenty of single speeds, so I can afford to be picky.

What's in the box?

So, the Vassago is on the chopping block. The parts will all be transferred over, (well mostly), to new frame. A single speed specific frame. The Jabberwocky, an 18"er, is now available to anyone that is interested. (Click the "Guitar Ted's Garage Sale" link for specifics.)

The new frame is not entirely something new to me. I used to have one of its predecessors. It is steel. It is white. It should be just as good as I remember the old one being, but we shall see.

My only question mark here is what I will use for a fork. Full rigid? I have the correct fork for that, by the way. Suspension? I have something I can put on this that should be excellent. Either way, it will be black!

Which brings up an important point. I am not going to try to get everything white on this one! No- I'll probably have plenty of black, and colored stuff here. I'll likely take a different tack with this build. I'm thinking trail bike. Sturdy, sure footed, wide tires and rims. I'm not worried about weight. If this comes out as I expect, I think it will be one of my go to bikes. A keeper, in other words.

So stay tuned as I detail out this build up and as the weather permits, I'll be back with some ride reports as well.