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TECH NEWS

Sneak peek: Genesis 2013 bike range

...Including a new titanium Equilibrium and a new range of Volant aluminium road bikes

We’re just back from visiting Genesis and we can show you their new titanium Equilibrium, their new Volant aluminium road bikes, and the updates on the rest of the range for 2013.

Equilibrium

We featured a prototype of the Equilibrium Ti back in February when we visited the Icebike show. This (main pic) is the final version.

The rest of the Equilibrium bikes (see below) are steel so a titanium version marks a significant departure. It’s built to the same geometry as the steel models and, like them, it’s designed as a practical, do-it-all road bike.

The frame is made from seamless, double-butted titanium – see, it says so on the frame lest you be in any doubt. Ti of the 3Al/2.5V variety is the most common type used in bike building.

The headset is XX44 size so you can run a straight or tapered fork steerer. Genesis go with tapered, running a 1 1/2in external headset cup at the bottom for some extra front-end stiffness.

The fork is carbon-legged with an alloy steerer, built for long-drop brakes and with mudguard eyelets. There aren’t too many of those about so sourcing one to slot into the front of the Equilibrium was a bit of a challenge.

The back end, in contrast to the front, is designed to be forgiving for plenty of long-ride comfort – a key feature of the existing Equilibriums - hence the super-slim seatstays. They’re actually slightly flattened so the profile width is slightly greater than the height to give a little more in that direction.

The Equilibrium Ti is intended to be a four-seasons bike so rather than giving it a high-end racy groupset, Genesis have gone with mid-level Shimano 105: solid, reliable stuff that’ll last the distance.

The chainset isn’t 105, though. It’s a non-series compact option – Shimano’s R-565 – matched up to a 12-28T cassette. The brakes are another departure; they’re long-drop Tektro R317s so you can easily fit mudguards in there. The mudguards fitted in our pics aren’t part of the package, by the way. They’re just there to show the possibilities.

Of course, the step up to titanium means the Equilibrium Ti is far more expensive than any of the steel models in the range. The complete bike will set you back £2,299.99. The frame and fork package is £1,499.99.

As before, there are three steel Equilibriums in the range for 2013: the 00, the 10 and the 20 (pictured below), all of them priced the same as in 2012.

The £899.99 Equilibrium 00 is now made from Reynolds 520 steel rather than 725. The Equilibrium 10 (£1,149.99) and the 20 (£1,299.99) share the same Reynolds 725 frame, it’s just the builds that are different: the 10 has a full Shimano Tiagra groupset while the 20 mostly has 105.

Volant

More new models come into the Genesis lineup in the shape of the Volant aluminium road bikes – again, we first mentioned them back in February

There are four Volant models ranging in price from £649.99 to £1,249. The idea is that they have a more of a racy look and feel than the Equilibriums, with tighter clearances and a geometry that splits the difference between the Equilibriums and a road race machine. They come with straight frame tubes – there’s no hydroforming here – sloping top tubes and carbon-legged forks, and they’re designed for all-round road riding with an emphasis on speed. We can see them being used a lot for sportives and the like.

All four models come with oversized XX44 head tubes although Genesis have chosen to use internal lower headset cups and straight 1 1/8in alloy steerers throughout.

The entry-level model is the £649.99 Volant 00 (pictured above) which is the only one to be built from plain gauge 6061 alloy. It comes with a Shimano 2300 8-speed drivetrain and, like the other three Volants, it’s available in 50-60cm sizes.

The 10 (above), 20 and 30 are all built around the same 6069 ALX-9 double butted frame. The £799.99 10 has a full Shimano Sora 9-speed groupset – and Sora now uses two finger levers for shifting up and down the cassette, rather than one finger lever and a thumb lever.

The £999.99 Volant 20 comes with full Shimano Tiagra and the £1,249.99 30 is 105 with a non-series chainset. It looks like you’re getting exceptional value across the board here. The finishes make them look pretty distinctive too, unlike many Identikit road bikes in this price range.

The Volants will be available from November.

The rest of the range

The versatile Day Ones remain largely unchanged for 2013. The most notable is probably the Day One Alfine 8 which goes up 50 quid to £1,149.99.

This model is Reynolds 520 steel and the eight-speed hub gear is controlled by Versa STI drop-bar levers because Shimano don’t offer anything similar.

The cyclocross/commuting Croix de Fer goes up £50 in price too and it gets a colour change too – it’s now black rather than white. We should have one of these arriving at Road.cc for review any day now, so keep an eye out for that. It has become a modern classic so we’ve high hopes.

The Croix de Fer is made from Reynolds 725 steel and comes with a cromo fork plugged in up front. The drivetrain is Shimano Tiagra with Avid BB7 brakes acting on 160mm rotors to provide all-conditions stopping power.

Don’t get the Croix de Fer confused with the CDF – they’re two entirely separate bikes: similar, but different. The CDF has the same geometry as the Croix de Fer but it’s Reynolds 520 with a Sora group and Avid BB5 brakes. It gets the new, improved Sora groupset for 2013, in black rather than silver, but other than that it’s pretty much the same as before and if you want more of an idea what that's like check out last month's review of the 2012 CDF.

The other cyclocross bike worthy of note is the £1,199.99 Vapour Disc which has been updated with a new XX44 oversized head tube and a tapered (1 1/8in to 1 1/2in) fork. This is Genesis' no compromise 6069 triple-butted alloy CX machine although it still comes with eyelets for mudguards and a rack if you want to ride it on the road as well as on mud.

We're so darn early with everything that details of the 2013 range aren't on the Genesis website yet but they will be soon.

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. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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11 comments

Avatar
charlierevell | 11 years ago
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I've got my Equilibrium Ti on Order... YAY!

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mcj78 | 11 years ago
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The new Day One Alfine looks stunning! If only (as echoed by other posters) the smallest size they do wasn't a 52cm which has a 545mm (yep, 545mm) top tube  7

Plus - I also had a quick shot of those Versa shifters & they felt distinctly poor quality wise...

Maybe i'll pick up a Croix de Fer in the sale & stick a DH stem on it  39

Avatar
thereandbackagain | 11 years ago
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I do wish Shimano would make a compatible drop-bar shifter for the Alfine hubs.

The other half had a Planet X Pompetamine, but we sent it back before it'd ever been ridden because the Versa shifters were utter junk, and a design flaw means they don't work with cross tops. The cable retainer in the lever hops about if you have a cross top fitted.

The price of the Versa shifters was outrageous for the build quality too - they retail for £200 and only one of them has a shift mechanism.

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Karbon Kev | 11 years ago
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Couldn't they make the Croix de Fer a bit more exciting colour wise? Last year dull white and this year even duller boring old black. Yawn ... they can do the new Vapour in that lovely green or the Equilibrium in that great copper finish, why not their 'flagship' bike?

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Simon E | 11 years ago
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+1 Doctor Fegg. I like the skinny steel and plain retro looks of Genesis road bikes but have had to strike them from my wishlist / shortlist as they are too big.
 2

Maximo, if the CdF feels good to you then it is a good choice. The CdF is useful as an all-rounder. It has features that make it, like Audax models, a good compromise between race and touring geometry, a customised one helped Vin Cox set a new Round the World record. Road.cc don't appear to have a review but here's one over at Bikeradar:
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/cyclo-cross/product/review-...

Avatar
Maximo replied to Simon E | 11 years ago
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Thank you.

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Maximo | 11 years ago
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I have been looking at the Genesis Croix de Fer as an all year round commuter, weekender (family riding), and perhaps the odd sportive (novice) or charity ride. Was advised to look at Cross bikes. Living in Scotland need something robust (vs wind, rain and dodgy Edinburgh tram tracks) so leaning to steel vs other. Don't want a stable of Cross, road and hybrid but have outgrown my hybrid (which didn't cope with dodgy Edi tram tracks...).

Tested the 2012 Croix de Fer (liked the white) and am pretty convinced vs other cross bikes. Right choice?

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slow-cyclo replied to Maximo | 11 years ago
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Maximo

I've had my 2011 Croix de Fer for 18 months now. In that time it has done everything from regular commuting, bike camping with tent, Muddy Hell CX race, the cobbles in the Tour of Flanders sportive, the South Downs Way and regular hacking around the lanes. Only thing I did was swap the rear cassette out to a 28-11 which is roughly what they have these days anyway. I swap tyres depending on need but honestly this thing is bombproof. I can only afford the one bike and this has done everything I've needed.

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d_c_h_w | 11 years ago
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Shame the Day One Alfine hasn't gone electric and ditched the Versa levers.

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Doctor Fegg | 11 years ago
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And in a smaller size too! The other half was going to buy a Vapour but couldn't get one small enough... eventually settled on a Spesh (with which she's very happy).

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rjw | 11 years ago
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If only they made their road bikes in a slightly larger size.

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