Genesis Bikes launch 2015 range: More Equilbrium Disc & Croix de Fer models + Campagnolo specs too

Genesis Bikes have been busy for 2015 launching their biggest ever range of bikes all with a fresh new look. Following last year's introduction of the Equilibrium Disc, they now offer a range of four disc-equipped Equilibrium models which sit alongside the regular Equilibrium bikes with rim brakes, and which for the first time are offfered with Campagnolo builds. The Croix de Fer also expands to five pricepoints and there is a new CdA for city and commuting. Here our our highlights of the new range.

Equilibrium Disc range

The Equilibrium has always reviewed well on road.cc, it’s the sort of bike we simply enjoy riding most of the time, and it’s effortlessly versatile too. You could chuck it at an Audax, some multi-day touring, riding to work or simple weekend rides. 

Last year the Equilibrium Disc, then with a Reynolds 631 tubeset, was a natural evolution for the model, and they've followed that up with an entire range of disc-equipped Equilibriums. Genesis have also developed their own carbon fork and we're pleased to see that featuring across the range, because we questioned the choice of fork in our review earlier this year.

Equilibrium Disc Titanium

The top of the range model is the Equilibrium Disc Titanium, available as a complete bike for £2,899. This is the only titanium Equilibrium available this year. It’s a new double butted 3AL/2.5V titanium tubeset too with all the internal drillings for an electronic groupset, rubber plugs filling the empty holes when a mechanical groupset is fitted.

The bike is equipped with a Shimano 105 11-speed groupset and FSA Gossamer chainset with Shimano BR-RS685 hydraulic disc brakes with 160mm rotors.

A new fork, which we first revealed to you back in February, has been designed by Genesis. It features an alloy steerer tube with mudguard eyelets and has space for up to 28mm tyres without mudguards, 25mm with. Continental Grand Sport 25mm tyres are fitted to the production bike.

The wheels are Mavic’s new Aksium One Disc wheelset with a 17mm internal rim width and 23mm outside rim width, with regular quick release axles. This is the first time we’ve seen this new wheelset, so we’ve contacted Mavic for more information on it, as it hasn’t officially been launched yet.

Equilibrium Disc 20

Next down in the range is the Disc 20 costing £1,499. This model uses a Reynolds 725 frame, gets the same fork and 25mm Continental tyres and Mavic Aksium Disc One wheels, and swaps in a Shimano 105 groupset with TRP Hy/Rd hydraulic brakes.

You won't have failed to notice the colour scheme. Genesis hired a new graphic designer eight months ago and he has certainly been busy, and nowhere is his work more evident than on this range of bikes.

Genesis reckon the bolder colour schemes suit the disc bikes well and the sort of person likely to be buying one of the models. The regular Equilibrium's strike a rather more conservative paint scheme, perhaps befitting of the targeted customer for that bike.

Equilibrium Disc 10

The £1,099 Equilibrium Disc 10 has this smart British Racing Blue paint finish. Underneath the paint is a Genesis Mjölnir seamless double butted chromoly tubeset with the same new carbon disc fork as featured on the top model

Shimano’s Tiagra groupset is paired with an FSA Omega compact chainset and the wheels are Fulcrum Racing Sport Disc CX. This wheelset has a new wider rim profile, a 17mm internal rim width. Tyres are the same Continental Grand Sport Race in 25mm width as used across the range.

Equilibrium Disc Limited Edition

This Flash Green painted Equilibrium Disc is being produced in limited numbers and costs £1,849. It uses the same Reynolds 725 frame as the Equilibrium Disc 20 but takes the new Shimano BR-RS685 hydraulic disc brakes with 105 mechanical shifters.

Unless you really want a titanium frame, this is probably our pick of the new Equilibrium Disc range, a classy steel frame with Shimano’s hot new groupset combining mechanical shifting with hydraulic disc brakes.

Equilibrium non-disc range

With the Equilibrium Disc expanding to a whole new sub-range of models, Genesis have given the regular Equilibrium a bit of a makeover.

There are four models and each comes with regular caliper rim brakes and a more restrained colour palette than the bolder Disc models, giving them a more classical appearance. And for the first time, there are Campagnolo-equipped bikes.

Equilibrium Stainless Steel

The top bike in this range is now the £1,999 stainless steel model, but they’ve moved away from the Reynolds tubeset from last year and are using a new KVA MS3 double butted stainless steel tubeset.

KVA are a US company currently being used by a small handful of predominantly US brands. The likes of Cielo, Ritte, Alchemy, Waterford and Baum Cycles from Australia, all highly respected bicycle brands, are all listed as using KVA tubing.

This KVA MS3 tubeset is claimed to offer very similar properties to the Reynolds 931 tubeset Genesis Bikes were using last year, but is a little less pricey. MS3 was only introduced earlier this year, it’s a seamed tube like Reynolds 953 and made in the US, before being shipped to Taiwan to be drawn into butted tubesets. It has a tensile strength of 1400 MPa, compared to 1100-1350 MPa of 931 and 1650-2050 MPa of 953.

Onto this frame, which is Di2 compatible, Genesis hang a Shimano 105 groupset with Tektro R539 long drop brake calipers. Genesis have designed a new carbon fibre fork with 28mm tyre clearance and rack and mudguard eyelets. In fact this bike, and all the other Equilibriums in this range, come fitted with 28mm Continental Grand Sport Race tyres. And yes, there is space to fit mudguards around these tyres.

Genesis have made a number of specification upgrades too. They use a new Alex AT470 tubeless compatible rim which has a wider profile. It’s 17mm on the inside, 23mm outside. To offset the slight increase in weight of the wider rim, Genesis use Sapim double butted spokes with 32 per wheel.

The wider rim gives the 28mm tyres a really good profile, they look wider too, we didn’t have our caliper with us to measure their width sadly.

Equilibrium gets Campagnolo groupset for first time

Below this model the Equilibrium range extends to the £1,699 30 and £1,299, both using Campagnolo groupsets. This is the first time Genesis have used the Italian company’s groupsets, and they said they were inspired by many customers buying frames and building them up themselves with Campagnolo groupsets, so they decided to offer complete bikes.

The 30 combines a Reynolds 725 frame with Campagnolo Athena 11-speed groupset and Tektro R359 brake calipers, while the 20 has a Genesis Mjölnir chromoly frame and Campagnolo Veloce groupset with Tektro R359 brake calipers.

Croix de Fer expands to five bike range

The Croix de Fer, is Genesis' best selling model, expands to five models for 2015 with prices starting from £849.99 and topping out at £2,499. Last year’s CDF has been absorbed into the new Croix de Fer and now avoids the naming confusion. 

We can see why it's such a popular bike, it's the sort of versatile road bike that can be turned to any manner of road riding, be it commuting, touring, sportives and even bit of off-road adventuring. It's a do-it-all bike essentially, even if that doing-it-all attitude stretches to riding around the world, like Vin Cox did back in 2010.

The Croix de Fer was born from a cyclo-cross bike but over the years it has slowly moved away from those roots to a more road-orientated bike, and this year it takes another step away from those 'cross roots. A 5mm lower bottom bracket so it’s now 70mm, a longer axle-crown fork, now 401mm, and a taller head tube are the key changes. There is also a new carbon fibre fork with a 1 1/8in steerer tube, this will be available aftermarket, plugging a bit of a gap in the market.

Other changes they've made across the range include tidying up the cable routing and switching to wider range 11-32 cassettes.

Croix de Fer Stainless Steel

The top-end Croix de Fer uses a similar KVA MS3 stainless steel tubeset to the Equilibrium Disc. It’s Di2 compatible with a PressFit BB86 bottom bracket and a new carbon fibre fork which is lighter than the chromoly fork last year. It’s also longer between the axle and crown, increasing tyre and mudguard clearance, as well as lifting the bars a smidgen.

Fitted to the frame is a Shimano 105 mechanical groupset and Shimano hydraulic disc brakes with 160mm rotors on Formula hubs and Alex XD-Elite rims. Continental Cyclocross Speed 35mm tyres and an FSA Gossamer compact chainset complete the build.

Croix de Fer 30

This is the £1,749 Croix de Fer 30 model, with a Reynolds 725 frame and the same new carbon fork that provides increased tyre and mudguard clearance.

It uses the same Shimano 105 mechanical groupset with BR-RS785 hydraulic disc brakes, and a similar specification elsewhere to the Croix de Fer, you just save quite a bit of money in the frame.

Croix de Fer 20

At £1,199, this is a competitively priced bike. It’s up £50 from last year’s model, but looks to pack a better specification for the extra money.

There is the Shimano Tiagra groupset with an 11-32 cassette and Shimano R565 compact chainset. TRP’s excellent Hy/Rd mechanically actuated hydraulic disc brakes with 160mm rotors and upgrade Jagwire compression-less outer cable housing provides the stopping power.

CdA replaces the Vapour

Replacing the Vapour from last year is the CdA, available at two prices, the 20 at £799 and the 10 at £699. Both share the same 6066/6061 aluminium double butted tubeset with mudguard and rack eyelets and space 42mm tyres, such as the Continental Speed Ride tyres both bikes come with, or with mudguards that maximum size drops down to 35mm.

The Cda is modelled on the Croix de Fer, swapping the steel frame for an aluminium frame, and shares the same geometry, but hits lower pricepoints. It's got space for voluminous tyres and there are eyelets for racks and mudguards, so you could convert it into a daily commuter, but you could equally use it as a touring or Audax bike. The sample frame in these photos don't have the necessary seatstay rack eyelets, but production frames will have them.

The more expensive of the two, the 20, comes with an interesting mountain bike influenced 1x10 drivetrain. SRAM Apex shifters combined with a SRAM X7 Type 2 rear mech but a Shimano 11-36 cassette is fitted. A 42t single ring is fitted to the Lasco chainset with a chainguard, but not the one pictured, it’ll be a different one. TRP’s Spyre-C mechanical disc brakes with 160mm rotors are fitted with Jagwire compress-less cable outer housing to improve performance. The 42mm tyres run on Alex XD-Elite 32-hole rims laced to Shimano Deore 525 hubs.

We had a lot of fun on the similarly specced Pinnacle earlier this year and we know that while a lot of people don’t get the idea of a 1x10 groupset, there are many that value the simplicity of function and lack of maintenance. The wide range cassette should provide enough ratios for the most demanding off-road riding, and the clutch-style rear mech, which tensions the chain, will prevent dropped chains when bouncing over rough terrain.

One notch down is the Cda 10, which uses a conventional Shimano Claris 2400 groupset, with an FSA Tempo compact 50/34 chainset and 11-32t 8-speed cassette. Again TRP Spyre-C mechanical disc brakes are fitted and all finishing kit is Genesis branded aluminium parts.

More from the 2015 Genesis Bikes range soon.

www.genesisbikes.co.uk