Not too long and well balanced with none of the ‘too much weight on the wrists’ feeling that sometimes comes on trail hardtails. Kit wise the Genesis is sensibly specced, Shimano Deore takes care of transmission duties with a SLX rear derailleur, brakes are Deore too. Genesis are a British brand that have been building decent bikes and a decent reputation so I was looking forward to a chance to see if the positive buzz about the company and their bikes was well earned. Specialized also launched a Peter Sagan collection with a largely gold frameset a few years ago.
So we came to the relatively dry, stone-paved forest road single track. After I felt comfortable with it, I aimed for a short uphill at about 50° or so. But I stood on the pedals and pedaled hard, not expecting the forward pedaling to be that strenuous. It was a stalemate for about 30 seconds, and without any incident, I fell off the bike.
Genesis produces bikes for all cycling disciplines, including road, mountain, cyclocross, gravel/adventure and commuting. Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer.
You could put 38c tyres on it and go bike-packing on some gravel, or you could put front and rear pannier racks on, throw in some mudguards, and take it on an around the world tour. You could even commute, go on road rides, use it as a utility shopper. With its steel frame and carbon fork, asymmetrical chainstays and 650b wheels with gargantuan 50c tyres, it’s perfect if you want a bike that will take you anywhere, but don’t want a mountain bike. The Genesis Bohe Men’s Gravel Bike is like a gravel-friendly version of the Saber model.
And as the brand has always insisted, a lower stand-up height would be more suitable for women. Smoothly adjusting the gears during the ride can have a good riding experience, especially on mountain roads with up and down hills. Mountain bikes are not just a means of transportation for daily travel. It is no different from both transportation and fitness equipment.
If you’re looking for a fun bike that can also do the grunt-work when required, this is the one for you. But if you want a dedicated workhorse, the Croix de Fer or Equilibrium will probably suit you better. In addition, the relatively narrow tires of the Huffy Marker Women’s Mountain Bike 26×2.13″ performed better on flat trails, but were more difficult to control on wet, muddy terrain.
genesis mountain bikeIn contrast to the earlier bike though, it offers 7 speeds, with 1 on the front and 7 on the rear. If you want more control over exactly what components your bikes is built with, both of these are available to buy as just the frameset. It can be rated as one of the cheapest mountain bikes with good value for money. Of course, we don’t need to introduce our best-selling CDA frameset, which features our hybrid double-butted alloy tubing, delivering high levels of stiffness in certain areas and compliance in others. The Core range is based around a 6061 aluminium tube set that is butted where needed with some gentle manipulation to ovalise the down tube as it meets the seat tube at the bottom bracket shell.