Genesis Croix De Fer 30

The Genesis Croix De Fer 30 is built for gravel adventures. It’s not intended to be fast, but it’s very capable, tough enough to take on plenty of abuse, and makes the most of that lovely steel ride feel. It’s versatile too – you can use it on the road or away from it, as a commuter, tourer, winter trainer or just for getting out there and exploring.

Genesis’ Croix De Fer range has been around for over 15 years, tweaked slightly here and there to keep up with modern standards and trends. The general concept hasn’t really changed much, though – this is a functional bike that can handle a bit of everything, while rocking a timeless-looking steel frame and fork.

Genesis Croix De Fer 30: Ride

Reynolds 725 chromoly tubing isn’t as refined as some of the higher grades it offers, and while it’ll never build into the lightest of frames, it always delivers a great ride quality. I actually think its weight is part of the charm – that’s certainly the case here.

At over 11kg the Croix De Fer is never going to win a sprint, but once it’s up and rolling it feels nippy enough, and when it comes to any descents the added heft gives it an incredibly planted feel, which is very inspiring, especially on loose surfaces.

That pretty much sums up the Genesis in a nutshell – it feels dependable and surefooted and inspires enough confidence to ride basically anywhere.

Most of my gravel bike testing takes place on a single 30-mile loop which can get a little tedious at times (though great for consistency), but the Croix De Fer allowed me to have a bit of fun. I could take some lines that I’d normally reserve for the most extreme gravel bikes or when I’m on the mountain bike.

The 45mm tyre width as standard isn’t anything special, but just the whole feeling of the frameset made me feel like I could chuck it down anything Salisbury Plain had to offer. Tree roots, rocky sections, all taken in its stride.

With a 71-degree head angle paired to a 50mm fork offset, the handling has a relaxed feel to it which helps with that confidence. Whether travelling quickly or at walking pace, the front end remains neutral feeling, even when loaded up with some bikepacking bags for a bit of extra ballast.

When I was out for a quick blast for an hour or two, I found the Genesis a lot of fun, and rewarding for my efforts. For the kind of bike it is there is ample stiffness around the bottom bracket, with just a hint of flex if I was really stamping on the pedals.

Unlike some heavier bikes it still responds to out-of-the-saddle efforts well, and feels relatively nippy.

It’s a very comfortable bike, too, and I’m not just saying that because it has big fat squidgy tyres fitted. The ride quality from the steel frame and fork is evident, but things are also helped by the geometry. A relaxed, semi-upright position means that long rides are enjoyable thanks to no pressure being placed on the lower back, neck or shoulders. I’m not the type of rider who plans big epic rides, but the more I rode the Genesis the more I was drawn to extending each ride, just a little bit longer.

The only thing I recommend doing is fitting some slightly plusher bar tape. The standard stuff here isn’t that thick and not the most comfortable on rough surfaces.

Thanks to the availability of road tyres in ever increasing widths, bikes like the Croix de Fer can now be used as road machines without being ‘under tyred’. I swapped in a set of wheels with the 40mm Pirelli P Zero Race TLR tyres I recently reviewed fitted, and the Croix De Fer became a smooth-rolling touring machine and commuter.

I could dart from hardpacked canal path to road easily, and once on the smooth stuff the Genesis rolled along nicely. With the lower gear ratios of the gravel groupset offsetting the weight, I didn’t have to avoid the hills either.

Overall, this is a very capable machine, a proper N+1 for anyone wanting a comfortable, capable bike regardless of terrain, especially for longer rides.

Genesis Croix De Fer 30: Frame & fork

As I mentioned above, the Croix De Fer is manufactured from Reynolds 725 chromoly steel tubing. It’s a 0.3% carbon steel alloy according to Reynolds, and is a heat-treated version of its entry-level 525 grade, which produces a stronger steel, meaning a tougher frame for the same amount of material or a frame as strong but using less material, and therefore lighter.

The fork, the Amplitude G100, is also fully constructed from chromoly steel.

The paint colour here is very ‘outdoorsy’ and tough, which is great on a bike of this ilk. It’s a good-looking frame and fork, in my eyes at least, rocking that retro skinny-tubed look while being bang up to date with internal tube routing for the top tube and plenty of mounting points throughout.

There are multiple positions for mounting bottle cages – on and under the down tube and the seat tube – plus a bento box on the top tube.

A rear rack is catered for, as are mudguards, and you get plenty of points on the fork legs too. There is also routing for a dropper post. This thing is adventure ready!

One of the main changes for this latest edition are lowered seatstays, which are designed to add a bit more compliance to the rear end of the bike.

Tyre clearance is 47mm maximum, which is big, although not as large as a lot of gravel bikes that we are seeing, which are easily swallowing 50mm. Genesis has other drop bar bikes in its range that will take bigger rubber, like the Vagabond which Matt reviewed over on off.road.cc.

Genesis has gone for a threaded bottom bracket, which is great to see, not because I have an issue with press-fit, just that it’s more in keeping with the frame, and though reliable they are also easy to replace with just a couple of tools.

Looking at the geometry, there are five sizes in total, XS to XL, covering top tube lengths of 553mm to 589mm. Genesis says that covers rider heights of 156cm to 194cm.

Our medium test bike has a top tube of 558mm and stack and reach figures of 585mm and 385mm respectively. The head tube is 135mm tall and sits at an angle of 71 degrees while the seat tube is 73.5 degrees. The wheelbase is 1,043mm.

Genesis Croix De Fer 30: Finishing kit

The Croix De Fer 30 uses Shimano’s gravel-specific GRX groupset, with components from the RX600 and RX400 line-ups. It’s a 10-speed setup with 46/30T chainrings and an 11-34T cassette.

It’s mechanical and has a pleasant gear shifting action, not too light, with a solid feel as the chain steps from sprocket to sprocket.

I’ve used it on many bikes over the years and found it to be reliable in all conditions, with the shifting never getting messed up when the chain is coated in mud or crud.

The braking is powerful, thanks to hydraulic callipers paired to 160mm rotors front and rear.

The finishing kit, as in the bar, stem and seatpost, are all branded Amplitude G100, and it’s decent kit all round. Nothing flash but it does the job.

Each frame size gets different bar and stem measurements, with this medium using a 100mm stem and a 440mm handlebar.

The saddle is a Madison Flux Switch which I found pleasing to ride on. It’s quite a generic shape but I like the drop nose and found it comfortable overall for longer rides.

The wheels are also called Amplitude G100, and have aluminium rims with an internal width of 26mm, allowing for the wide gravel tyres to maintain their shape when inflated.

They’re decent enough wheels, and stood up to loads of abuse, which is what I would want on a bike like this, plus they didn’t show any issues with lateral stiffness when riding out of the saddle.

The tyres are Maxxis Ramblers in a 45mm size. Again, these are decent tyres that are usable on a range of surfaces. Their tread isn’t deep enough to cope with deep, wet mud but on hardpacked surfaces and loose gravel they work absolutely fine. They are a bit stodgy on the road but roll well enough for short trips on tarmac.

Genesis Croix De Fer 30: Value

At £2,299.99 the Croix De Fer 30 sits in the middle of the range, which starts with the £1,499.99 entry-level Croix De Fer 10 and goes all the way up to the range-topping 50 at £2,799.99. There are various full builds to choose from, and some frameset options too.

The 725 frameset used here is £899.99, which includes the headset, stem and seatpost.

That’s competitive for a frameset compared with something like the Fairlight Faran 3.0, which costs £999 before you add anything; with a headset and seatpost, plus the hardware needed for a 2x setup, the price rises to £1,034. Like the Genesis, the Faran 3.0 is created from Reynolds 725, with the tubing’s butting customised to Fairlight’s design, and the tyre clearance a very generous 53mm with 700C wheels. It also has multiple mounting points, including on its steel fork.

I’ve ridden quite a few of Fairlight’s bikes, but not the Faran – Dave did review the earlier 2.0 model, though, back in 2021, and was impressed overall.

When it comes to full bike builds, though, Fairlight comes out on top, with a Shimano 2x GRX RX610 setup, DT Swiss G 1800 wheels and FSA finishing kit as its base spec costing £2,199; also, the RX610 groupset, which uses RX820 front and rear mechs, is 12-speed.

Spa Cycles’ Elan 725 Gravel is also, as the name suggests, created from Reynolds 725, and has a carbon fork with carrying mounts. It has 45mm of tyre clearance, or 40mm with full mudguards. It doesn’t have as many mounts as the Genesis, but mudguards and a rack are all catered for. A build including 11-speed GRX RX600 2x is £2,360.

We are hoping to get one of these in for review soon, but I did ride a titanium sportive/tourer version of the Elan Mk2 set up as a road bike a couple of years ago and was impressed with the geometry and the build quality.

For more adventure-ready rides, check out our guide to the best gravel bikes.

Genesis Croix De Fer 30: Conclusion

Overall, the Croix De Fer 30 really works for me. The ride quality is brilliant, and Genesis has nailed the geometry for what this bike is designed for. It’s also not bad value. For the build, and quality, it’s a very good package.

Verdict

Versatile and capable adventure gravel machine that’s still nimble enough for some fun

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