Genesis Datum 10

And now completed PBP on it, 1220km. Comfy, fast enough. Now I am going to take the guards off it, change out the brooks leather saddle, swap the 32 gravel kings for something properly gravelly in 38 and spend autumn exploring Essex byways and outer London.  Short of racing this bike (and this type of bike in general) are bloody terrific.  Like this bike more and more over the years I have had it. Frames are now on sale for £800, though the field is now a lot more crowded than it was and Genesis are less bling as a brand now days. I would probably buy something like a Fairlight now, but still have no regrets with this bike and will ride it until it shatters or melts.

FWIW still have mine fromm 2016 and like it more and more over the years. I am about to do Paris-Brest-Paris on it (mudguards, brooksB17, bikepack bags) then will strip it back and pop some knoblies and a racing saddle on it for late season fun gravel rides. A sublime posh commuter and blast on winter lanes. It has been comfortable enough for 600km Audaxes with 32s on it and still feels good around the velopark - though no match for a good aero bike I suspect.

I upgraded it this year courtesy of ride to work to 105 hydraulic - blimmin great. 

Only saying as I see this model on discount all over the place. It's a good punt.  Just dont go near one with the Fulcrum Racing DB wheels, they are cack.

Downsides: I guess there is a perception that you need to have 12mm back axles, but not sure on that. 15mm front is a bit non standard now so you have to buy wheels that can be adapted.

Next spring the ride to work will be on some carbon wheels for it, then I will have fast road and gravel wheels ready to go.

In the interests of closure, bearing in mind some of the comments concerning value for money in this article got pretty heated... The Datum 30 is now available discounted to £1499 thats with Hydro 105 coming in 500g lighter than the model above hopefully that should please both sides.

Although the fact its discounted 38% would suggest the range wasnt priced very competitively to begin with.

It seems like lots of riders choose bikes from a spec sheet and bugger all else.

Ultegra/weight/cost.

All modern groupsets are great. Weight obsession is amusing and silly. Lose some weight, fatso.

No one ever got dropped because they didn't have a carbon bar. A few carbon bars fail catastrophically though!

Personally speaking, looks and being fit for purpose are of more importance.

This Genesis sounds like a winner to me.

I have a 2016 Datum 30 and use it every day to commute around 15 miles along the worst part of the A13 cycle path in Essex/ London , I have fitted 35mm marathon plus tyres. Full mudguards, Zipp 30 Course Disc Wheels, the bike rides superbly and my Strava times are reasonably respectable considering. I do a 40 to 70 mile ride most weekends and can honestly say that the ride is extremely comfortable and at times exhilarating. Downhill it handles well, gravel and uneven surfaces are taken in its stride. I love my bike.....

I was advised by my LBS that the Datum wouldn't take a rack or beam, so I ended up with a Cannondale Touring 2 which is about half the price with current discounts. With a triple it is a lot less racy but more versatile. 

On my early morning ride I saw the paper boy riding on a bike with an absent front  tyre, I suppose if he has an accident the papers will call him a cyclist

FWIW, I have the 2016 version of the Datum 10 and I absolutely LOVE IT. 

The perceived compromise of the TRP HyRd brakes over full hydraulics is pretty much that - perceived, they had no problem stopping my 14 stone after a 40 mph descent at the weekend.

The bike is supremely comfortable - the only thing I've changed is the saddle (for a Charge Spoon), I think this year's model has the Spoon-like 'comfort' saddle anyway, rather than the flat hard thing that came with mine.

The Fulcrum Sport DB wheels seem fine (probably lighter than the ones on this year's model) and I'm quite impressed by the bottom-of-the-range (60tpi) Challenge Strada Bianca tyres too.

The new Tiagra has been faultless too (set up beautifully by the guys at 2pedalz in Olney), but the star is the frame - it is just so comfortable and confidence-inspiring without being boring.

If, like me, you're after one 'good bike' that'll do just about anything you ask of it then I can recommend a Datum, it will definitely put a smile on your face.

Oh, and I feel sorry for 2017 buyers - the pillar box red of my 2016 10 is just something else!

Fair enough. 

I take your word for it and weird I do believe you. 

Thanks for your correction. 

Wow. I've never seen people get so viscerally upset over perceived lack of value. Or take so much time to score perceived points. I really hate to break it to you, but many gravel bikes are well over 10kg, and over £2k for similar performance. Most punters don't care, because like most of us they are 10+ kg overweight and prioritise a comfortable, reliable, safe bike over a whippet-thin face-ripper. If you think the RRP isn't good value, just wait a few months.

I shouldn't take it personally, but when people are saying I'm on the take that rankles. Editorial policy forbids me using the sort of language I feel appropriate when accused of taking bribes for writing high-scoring reviews.

Chill out and go ride.

Mike

I'm sure there is no active collusion anywhere. There doesn't have to be. The bicycle industry and the bicycle media are interlocked in a symbiotc relationship - one reliant on the other.

There is nothing wrong with this. A cycle journalist has to have one foot in the manufacturers camp and one in the consumers. This admittedly uncomfortable position only goes wrong when the journalist forgets that it is the consumer who ultimately pays all the salaries, including the manufacturers and the journalists and deserves to be treated with respect. 

Anyone is entitled to their opinion and I realise that post-Brexit currency movements have made bikes much more expensive per se. So how about  acknowleding this fact and stop pretending that a heavy, underspecced bike is good value at just under two grand.

I'm sure there is no active collusion anywhere. There doesn't have to be. The bicycle industry and the bicycle media are interlocked in a symbiotc relationship - one reliant on the other.

There is nothing wrong with this. A cycle journalist has to have one foot in the manufacturers camp and one in the consumers. This admittedly uncomfortable position only goes wrong when the journalist forgets that it is the consumer who ultimately pays all the salaries, including the manufacturers and the journalists and deserves to be treated with respect. 

Anyone is entitled to their opinion and I realise that post-Brexit currency movements have made bikes much more expensive per se. So how about  acknowleding this fact and stop pretending that a heavy, underspecced bike is good value at just under two grand.

My converted Globe Expert with Miche triple chainset/Ultegra 6700 and 32 spoke wheels, 2 cages, 2 full length mudguards, Velocity pannier rack, a specialized MTB Airtool plus a brooks swift, oh AND XT pedals comes in at 9.8kg.

Let's breakdown the Datum;

hubs 563g + QR of around 120g, Rims 1050g, spokes+nips about 400g

rotors/bolts 240g (Based on actual weights of the rotors from the manufacturers)

So 2,373g just for the wheels, add on the 32mm clement tyres plus tubes, that's a whopping 3.3kg!

Tiagra Groupset 3000g incl 170g premium of hydraulic levers over std levers and disc brakes + KMC chain cut to length.

saddle/bars/stem/seatpost, around 1000g

Cables/tape 250g

That's 7.55kg right there, add in frame, fork, clamp, headset so possibly around the 2000g-2200g depending on the forks/type of carbon layup, add in pedals and you're easily toward the 10kg range.

it all adds up when you're producing a cheap frameset with lower end components, frankly the £1900 price tag is a joke, that the Road CC reviewer rated this bike as a 9/10 for value is way off and some!!

On the subject of weight, the bike is listed as 9.68 k at the top of the review and 10.46 k in the 'about the bike' section and 9.6 k in the text. One of those weights might even be right.

All of those weights are heavy for a two grand carbon bike.

I really like Road.cc's  reviews, they are about as in depth as they get. However the star rating system is basically meaningless. At present if you click on a bike review in a PC browser you get a sidebar of 15 other recent bike reviews, all of which are 4.5/5 stars or better rating.  Clearly on this particular review the rating is warranted if the reviewer has since bought one of these framesets, but just making the comment generally in response to the other comments above as I think it is an area the site could improve on.

I know that the arguement will be that a prospective buyer is likely to use the review itself rather than the star rating to buy a bike, but in that case the star rating is basically redundant isn't it? Or maybe just to draw the reader in.

1) A well engineered frame is a lightweight frame.

2) Any idiot can design a heavy frame.

3) All carbon frames (nearly all) are made in the same two Taiwanese factories.

4) Painting the name of your favourite bike maker  importer on the frame doesn't make it better.

5) Just how do they make a carbon bike this heavy ? - my metal bikes weigh less - and cost less.

Yes but who bran washed the great road c.c. public? Road C.C. 

Personally I believe there is some kind of colluding goign on between Mason and Road C. C and Bike Radar. 

Steel bike to get 5 star at that price range? hmmm 

Then the Broken (Bokeh) also get 5 star.  Just the price it demands can't be 5 star. 

But hey they can' give it 10 star and I still won't buy it and I won't recommend anyone else to do so. 

I take everything they review now with scepticism.

First Brexit, then Trump, then an actual song winning the Eurovision Song Contest and now finally:

A 9.68 kilo bike, equipped with a Tiagra groupset and Tiagra level BR-405 brakes and costing just under £2000 has "a great value spec".

Post Truth has reached its apotheosis and the great road c.c. public are so brainwashed they lap it up.

Congratulations.

Rutland Cycling are doing the Datum 20 (the next one up in the range) for £1350 at the moment, which more than deals with the value for money qualms. I bought one a couple of weeks ago.

How would this compare to the Canyon Ultimate, which appears to offer a much better spec for slightly less money?

https://www.canyon.com/en-ie/road/ultimate/ultimate-cf-sl-disc-8-0.html

I'm asking for real life, genuine experience, not opinions of folks that haven't ridden the bike, please.

Would the Ultimate offer any (soft) off road ability, towpath, gravel etc (not hard mud plugging/slog or hard CX usage)?