Emiliano's Rachel

Today I present to you my Bassi Rachel in the beautiful Monet Blue colorway.

I’ve been working here at Bassi / Cycle C&L for a little more than a year and a half and I really wanted to rep our own brand on the streets of Montreal. 

I was kinda indecisive to which model I would choose and to be honest the Rachel wasn’t really on my radar. That was until we received the new production batch and Simon and I opened a few boxes to photograph the frames. I was struck, I was in immediate awe of the blue colorway and the way it revealed a sparkling and iridescent green hue when the sun rays hit it. At that moment it clicked, everything made sense. What I was looking for was in front of my eyes the whole time. The Rachel would be my perfect commuter.

It truly has everything you need to make it the perfect commuter and the specs are widely common and as standard as they get :

• 700C wheels (for the 55 and 59 sizes)
• 1-inch threaded headset and 22.2mm quill stem
• Rim brakes (V-brakes only)
• 68mm BSC bottom bracket shell
• Diagonal dropouts (single speed baby!)
• A bunch of eyelets for accessories and racks

I have a history of buying bikes on the smaller side, being an avid roadie… and this time again I went with a smaller frame. Be reassured though, it wasn't for aero purposes, my partner is 5’9 and I'm 6’0 (91cm PBH) and the size 55 fits both of us equally and the idea of sharing a bike with her was appealing and fun.

Now for the build, I knew I wanted to go for silver parts and build it as a single speed, I wanted handlebars with backsweep and big tires but with enough clearance for fenders. I switched the handlebars a few times until I found the one I liked the most. I started with borrowed Rivendell Toscos (thank you Julian), then tried Magic Components Wormbar and finally settled on my all time favorite SimWorks Getaround.

Build Highlights:

Frame: Bassi Rachel 55cm Monet Blue
Headset: FSA Duron 1-inch threaded, installed à la Chris King
Wheelset: Hplusson Archetype polished laced to basic Novatec track hubs (rear axle modified to work with 132.5mm spacing)
Brakes: Shimano BR-T4000 mix matched V-brakes paired with Kool-stop salmon compound brake pads
Crankset: Shimano RSX with 42t Biopace chainring
Handlebar: SimWorks Getaround dull bright
Grips: Ergon GA3 Black
Stem: Profile design TITANIUM LOOK Crmo
Bottle cage: SimWorks John Cage in black
Reflector: The coolest reflector ever made, yes sorry blue lug.

So there you have it, my awesome, unisex, handsome and a little bit ratbike 4-season commuter (yes I’m going to ride it in the winter. Bassi's are made strong).