[Closed] Genesis Mantle (new bike content)

Because it's the first complete MTB I've bought in 14 years, I think I'm allowed a "happy new bike day to me" thread!

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a Genesis Mantle 30.  I've seen very little on t'interweb about these (other than a STW introductory piece), so thought I'd a little bookmark of my own:

You're probably thinking "XC" at this point, but I'm hoping that it's a bit more versatile...

I've been riding a Transition Scout for the last year, which has been a lot of fun and introduced me to things like low 'n slack geometry, dropper post and so on.  It was, however, a little overkill for my riding though and a bit of a drag on the climb to my local trails.  I'm fairly light on my kit and not a DH fan, so although I was taken with the XC full bouncers in the recent STW test, I decided to return to a hardtail again.  I mainly ride short laps of man-made trails from my door, with some longer classic loops thrown in further afield in Wales and Dartmoor from time to time and some trail centre visits.

I wanted a 29er with slightly relaxed geometry, which I could build up as a light trail bike.  The hardtail market seems to have polarised between a) slightly more burly, usually steel framed-bikes like Stanton, Cotic etc and b) those that are more racing focused like Cannondale FSI, Trek Procaliber, Canyon Exceed.  The Mantle seems to have geometry and weight between those two sets of bikes.

Due the wheel size swap and Boost - it was going to cost a similar amount to build from a frameset as it was to go with a factory build.  I've built most of my bikes in the last 15 years with a mix of Shimano, Fox and DT Swiss, so I was attracted to the the factory spec.  It's been set up tubeless and I'll almost certainly add my dropper post (comes with cable routing and a 31.6 diameter seat tube).

It's said to take 27.5 x 2.8 tyres, plus looks like it'll also take 29er rubber a bit larger than the 2.2 Forekasters fitted.  Other notes include the flat mount rear caliper mount and a weight of 10.3kg / 22.5lb for this Medium bike, with pedals.

The only thing I'm undecided on is the Fox 32 SC Factory forks, which do weigh less than a crisp packet but also seem to flex like they are made from loo roll and twigs (a quick grasp of wheel between knees and turn of the handlebar reveal a lot - perhaps I shouldn't worry!).  Other than that, the spec seems fairly agnostic of whether it's categorised as "XC" or "trail".

I supported my LBS, who made the cost a little less painful and set it up.  At 181cm height, I wasn't sure whether to go for a Medium or Large, but went with the smaller frame as the reach with a 70mm stem would be similar to the "Large" Scout and previous frames of mine.

I've only had the chance to ride it back from the shop, so will post proper ride impressions in times to come.  All I can say at the moment is that its pretty quick to accelerate!