[Closed] Genesis bikes 2014, any news?

yes, but no. if you emailed me I couldn't possible say any more.

info@18bikes.co.uk

in response to your questions - some yes, some no 😉

My money's on 650b Cores...

[url= http://www.ukbikesdepot.com/m15b185s864p11175/GENESIS_2014_Core_10_Front_Suspension_650B_Mountain_Bike ]Oops[/url]

LOL at Mattrgees's link - that lets the cat out of the bag!

Wonder if the High Latitude Alfine is continuing?

Wonder no longer, it isn't. Neither is the grapil.

So there is the revised croix de fer, a fat bike and some 650b hardtails, I wonder what else? Sometime in September is the launch day?

Wonder no longer, it isn't. Neither is the grapil.

Blimey, that's bad news if the Grapil has only lasted 1 season. Saying that, it was always massively under spec'd for the money.

I used to really, really like Genesis - the bikes were spot on and the prices were very competative.

They seem to have lost it over the last two or three years though.
The pricing of the Grapil (awful, awful name btw) was laughable, which was a shame as it looked like a really well thought out bike.
If I had a spare £1200, I'd buy one tomorrow, now they've come down so much.

They seemed to want to become an 'aspirational' brand, in the mould of Orange or Santa Cruz, rather than the elegant, understated, design led brand they were previously.
Shame really, there's only so many idiots prepared to pay over the odds for something that's available for a grand less elsewhere.

From what I can see, Madison are almost trying to reposition genesis as the go between brand between Saracen and ridgeback. With Saracen supplying the mtb's, genesis the road/cross bikes and ridgeback the hybrid/touring bikes. There are some crossover models for those who are brand loyal but otherwise they're breaking it down slightly differently than they used to. The new Saracen range is very interesting.

Their Core rage has been watered down over the last 3 years. There used to the Core 10, 20,30,40 and 50 but down just two half hearted models now with lower than average spec.

Too many brands, too much confusion.

A nice steel all-round road bike?
That'll be the Genesis Equilibrium.

A cracking steel tourer?
Er, hang on, that's the Ridgeback Panorama.

Why not just have one brand?
Yes, Saracen and Ridgeback have historical significance to a few old farts like me, but to newbies their history must be a bit meaningless, surely?

Wonder no longer, it isn't.

A pity, that. Hub gears seem like a great idea for the local riding conditions...

I'm sure there's a 650b in the offing and I'm guessing steel. Core alu is 26, Latitude 29, so may have a new name.

High latitude LT 650b. Looks very interesting.
Oh and the core is 650b too.

Any lists of the range?
My Bike to Work is due and always liked Genesis. Was getting a Croix de Fer but if there's something new...

Nothing new particularly in the bike2work range. There's a new croix de fur 931 but that's a couple of grand. New equilibrium disc is £1500. There's a 650b cross bike aimed at younger/smaller riders.

Grapil 20 2013 at £1450, seems at that price it's not as badder buy as many thought at £2299

They do seem to have lost their way a bit, connected to Dom's departure? I have a 2011 Core 30, reasonable spec. just upgraded a few bits, but really happy with it now, the 40 & 50 back then were really good buys, since then, and this year the mtb range has got a lot poorer I think, no decent spec. 26" bike in the line up, a first attempt at 29ers & the grapil.......

I'd love a fortitude, but not at those prices!

If they had a decent 26" steel frame now I'd buy one to swap the bits off my core onto, I can't understand why they ditched what they did best??? Cotic & others still have a market for those type of bikes evidently. I'll probably end up with a soul frame as a result! 🙂

Have the 2011 Core 20 at the moment, and don't fancy the new HT line up! Think I could be tempted by a cut price Grapil 20 though...

Is the High Latitude 2x10 sticking round?

Nope. 1x10 at £999

I don't think I'd touch a Grapil with a bargepole, they all seem to break in the same place due to a design flaw.

What steel 29ers are coming apart from 1x10?

just that one im afraid.

We're popping down to Madison for a look at (most of) the full lineup this coming Wednesday. I'll take all the photos I can!

Hmmm, might have to rethink. Cotic Solaris full build is too expensive. Have a 2k limit for a steel 29er

Any info on the Volare would be rather good, thanks muchly...
🙂

So... Any news/pics? Looking at the sub £900 MTB complete bikes in particular 🙂

Ta.

This might be of some interest to the roadies

View this post on Instagram

£4999.99
Available as a frame set too in either a di2 version or external cabling option.

Haha, that sounded like you said 5 grand.

[url= http://shop.18bikes.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b0s442p0&tbv=_BIKES_Genesis ]Genesis @ 18 Bikes[/url]

i did. 😀

Here's our first news story on the new range - we'll be able to update properly with photos once Genesis have them all photographed.

It's a really great looking range - I'm well chuffed with their choices/tweaks for the coming year.

http://shop.18bikes.co.uk/news.php?articleid=114

Wow theres some mentally cool sounding bikes in that range. Never thought I'd say that about Genesis bikes. Fair play to 'em

Electric shifting, Alfine Day One and a Stainless Steel Croix de Fer. Cool. Shame about the loss of the steel 29ers though.

Alfine Di2, now that is interesting 💡

I'm interested in the Equilibrium disc frame - looks lovely.

Just read the Genesis blurb about the complete bike and seen that it's a spookily similar build to what I've got on my black Cotix X. They're using M756 (old Deore XT) 6-bolt hubs, which I find to be really smooth and durable - but be warned that they are heavier than most.

Shame that the fortitudes and Grapil have gone.

They will be heavy - perhaps with the exception of that 953 frame. And I'm struggling to see the need for Alfine di2. On a FS with odd cable runs, perhaps (if you can tension the chain w/o the tensioner), but Alfine shifts just fine as it is.

And I have a Genesis Alfine hubbed ioid which I love, despite the portliness. I struggle to lift my friends Day One Alfine though!

Pretty poor show for MTB'ers I reckon, the new 650b high latitude being the only high end bike in the line up, besides the caribou fatty.

Fortitude prices to go up or down now? I[i] really[/i] want one...... 🙁

Got the Fortitude Adventure Alfine 11 Excellent bike,nice one Genesis 😉

No so sure about the Equilibrium disc, interested in the 853 Volare though.

@simonbowns Do the Core/lower end Mantle look like decent starter bikes? Or am I best of saving for the High Latitude? Can't see from the spec but I take it the core & mantle aren't 10 speed? Not to fussed if its a 650b or a 29er as its so long since I've ridden that disc brakes are a novelty 😀

Cores and mantles are all 9psd while the high latitude is 1x10.

mrben101 - Member

@simonbowns Do the Core/lower end Mantle look like decent starter bikes?

i hope Si won't mind me chipping in...

the Core and Mantle are excellent bikes. Think of the High Latitude as a Mantle, but for people who wear sandals, have a beard, and think bikes made of steel are inherently 'better'.

i tick all of those boxes, so i bought a High Latitude. If i didn't have a beard, and read the guardian, i'd have a bought a Mantle, which is a bloody great bike.

Equilibrium Disc looks a great option for those who want a posher spec than the Croix De Fer - and won't be looking to use off road.

Fortitude - there's still a *few* available. Email me for a magic special deal price, we've just done a couple.

Core - they're being realistic with what actually sells for us/them, they're very popular as a mountain bikers second bike brand, the steel hardtails do a bit, but not enough to justify a larger range. We also have Cotic there fro that, so I think that has some impact.

MrBen - absolutely, we've got a hire place next door using Cores and they've held up really well despite the amount of use (and the fact that the hire folks don't service them as much as we keep suggesting!)

yes to 9 speed. Really impressed with the trickle-down technology, dual release now featuring on Acera.

Depending on your height and the use for the bike would dictate Core vs Mantle. Email the shop if you'd like to chat more? info@18bikes.co.uk

Thanks ahwiles.

I have a beard and own a nice pair of Birkenstocks. Looks like I should get saving 😉

Is the Latitude noticeably heaver than the mantle in your experience? No where near me has a core (the current 26") or a latitude in stock to throw a leg over so its all guess work for me atm.

Darn, shame the High Latitude LT (650b) is only available at £1500, if there had a £1000 version that'd be ideal for cyclescheme I've been looking into.

mrben, i bought my Latitude frame from 18bikes, and built it up myself.

my 20" frame weighed exactly* 5.5lbs.

(*on my highly accurate £4 luggage scales)

my built-up bike weighs a shade over 30lbs, and it's built from some of the heaviest components known to man, including some old 400gram Dh handlebars, and some 2200gram coil-forks.

it's chuffing ace.

Volare 953. £2300 for frame and fork???? You have got to be f...ing kidding me?

Custom Enigma Extensor in XCR + fork = ~£2k

Custom Rourke + fork in 953 = ~£1750

For a mass produced frame - surely that price should be the best part of £1k less? Somewhere between £1200 & £1500 would sound (more)reasonable?

JonEdwards - Member

Volare 953. £2300 for frame and fork???? You have got to be f...ing kidding me?

Custom Enigma Extensor in XCR + fork = ~£2k

Custom Rourke + fork in 953 = ~£1750

For a mass produced frame - surely that price should be the best part of £1k less? Somewhere between £1200 & £1500 would sound (more)reasonable?

Yeh, that's what I thought. Dunno, though, is it mass produced? Might be hand made by someone in the UK? Guess it's got a pretty good R&D history, not many steel frames could claim that.

Jon, you're a fair way off the mark there tbh. The Volare 953 is definitely not a mass-produced frame and has some very special tube profiles in it that the two bike you mentioned definitely won't have. 953 is hideously difficult to work with and hence the more work that goes into the tubes, the more expensive it gets. The Volare isn't really a competitor for the Enigma or the Rourke at all. They are relatively run of the mill frames but with custom geometry whereas the Volare is a proper race frame. The material might be similar but the design, level of detail and level of work is different.

I reckon the Volare frame is actually very well priced and has come in at a fair bit less than I was expecting.

As for the complete bike, I reckon that's a really really good price.

Jsut had a look at the frameset prices. £1750 for the Equilibrium 853. Now I'm assuming this should be £750, but still, that's quite a lot for a mass produced frame with a cheap fork. All the design was there aswell, all they needed to do was build it out of different steel.

Considering a company like Cotic can knock out an 853 frame for less than £500, it seems alot. Wish they'd crack on with a road bike.

I dunno, Genesis might have got it a bit wrong, liek they did with that full susser last year. I think everyone has come to expect good value from them, but over £2000 for a steel road frame? The chances are, if you want a £2000 steel bike, you'll get it hand built by a bespoke builder, and custom sized. If you want a bike to race on, you'll probably buy a cheap carbon or alloy frame.

Those two frames are listed as having Enve forks, which are what? 400 quid, so not a totally like for like comparison

Why is the normal equilibrium a mingin colour again? Who wants a semolina coloured bike with brown bar tape?

There are hundreds of options for carbon race frames or steel all day' frames, what Genesis have done with the Volare is try to create a totally modern, competitive race frame in steel, this makes it pretty unique.

Considering that most carbon frames have all the crash impact resistance of a wet paper bag, a raceable frame that'll last for years rather than until the next pile-up has a certain appeal to the privateer, even if the initial outlay is no less than a nice carbon jobbie and it's a bit porkier.

The equilibrium 853 is £749.99.

@ simonbowns

Thanks for the info. I'm 5'11 - I was an 18" on 26er and I suspect about a 17.5" on a 29er.

Will email you when I have the cash - don't want to waste your time when you have a shop to run! I need to sell my road bike that doesn't get used first - anyone near Birmingham fancy a 2007 Trek Madone 5.2 - 2 careful owners, one of them (not me!) a bike shop owner? 🙂

@ ahwiles

That's good to know 🙂 Couldn't afford to build one up though - it would be a 1x10 off the shelf job for me if I could stretch.

So when do we see pics of the new MTB range, anyone know? Really like the sound of the High Latitude LT but can only find a sneak peak on the Genesis FB page.

Merlin managed to make a profit selling Kinesis made 853 Rock Lobster frames for £300.

£750 is outrageous.

Still, the new Croix De Fer looks nice.

Are the cheaper Volare's in in 853, 631 etc the same sort of weight and/or strength as the top model?

Will any of the cheaper Volare frames be available frameset only?

Starley are going to be doing stainless frame and carbon fork for £1500, and claimed weight 1300g - wonder how does that compare?

Just ordered a Day-One Alfine for my bike to work. Oh how much fun this shall be 🙂

£2300 will buy you an advanced SL level Giant frame. Not steel, not custom, but I know which one I'd choose. Genesis are racing 953 because they have bikes to sell. One might argue the same for Giant, Cannondale, Cervelo, etc... But it will be a long time before steel makes a comeback in the UCI pro tour.

As hatter points out, crash alu or carbon and thats likely to be the end of a frame. 953 you pick the bike up and carry on.

The chances are, if you want a £2000 steel bike, you'll get it hand built by a bespoke builder, and custom sized. If you want a bike to race on, you'll probably buy a cheap carbon or alloy frame.

Right on

You might just have to look further afield than the UK though

As hatter points out, crash alu or carbon and thats likely to be the end of a frame

That is disposable society, a 2K frame in 953 is built for you ,its not a 500 quid On One off the shelf

Disclaimer other carbon brands are available

Yeh, that's what I thought. Dunno, though, is it mass produced? Might be hand made by someone in the UK? Guess it's got a pretty good R&D history, not many steel frames could claim that.

Didn't the chap that worked for genesis leave? It could be made in the UK?

Dom left for another company, be interested to know what he's doing as I liked where he's taken the brand. Fugio looks nice

Its not made in the UK according to this (but not necessarily mass produced either) [url= http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/blog/07/05/13/a-very-british-engineering-challenge-pt3-who-what-how-bloody-much ]Volare Blog Pt3[/url]

Binning a carbon frame cos you've crashed it isn't disposable society for the sake of it - say On One's cos they're fairly cheap - but often the reality that there's a big hole in the side of it or you've snapped it.