The Genesis Croix de Fer is a steel gravel and adventure bike that has reviewed really well on road.cc over the years. It was last reviewed in 2025 when our chief bike tester Stu said, “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.” A pretty versatile bike, then, and perhaps even more so now with the news that Genesis has launched a new assisted version using the Mahle XS motor system. It’s the first time the Croix de Fer has been available as an e-bike.
Genesis says that the assisted version of the Croix de Fer has been in development for eight years, and it says the aim was to “deliver the unmistakable ride quality and versatility of the Croix de Fer while introducing electric assistance that complements rather than dominates the riding”. So we’re not talking about a heavy full-fat system here: The Mahle XS system pairs the company’s lightest hub motor, the X20, with a 171Wh external bottle battery, and the full system weighs just 2.6kg.
It might seem a bit counterintuitive to put one of the lightest available systems on a bike that’s not exactly a featherweight in its non-assisted form, but the idea is to keep the feel of the bike as similar as possible.
“The brief was never to simply build an electric bike”, said product manager Sam Lawson. “It was to build a Croix de Fer that happened to offer electric assistance. If it didn’t ride like a Croix de Fer, we weren’t interested. We stopped thinking about it as a motor and started thinking about it as another gear. It’s there when the climb steepens, when the headwind arrives or when your legs begin to tire late in the day. The rest of the time, you’re simply riding a Croix de Fer.”
The X20 motor is very compact, and barely noticeable on a bike like the Croix de Fer that’s sporting a wide-range cassette, but it’s capable of up to 65Nm of torque and a peak power of 275W which is handy assistance when you need it. You get Mahle’s e-Shifters to control the motor system; there’s no display, although you can use the Mahle smartphone app if you like, or add Mahle’s PulsarONE display. Mahle systems are ANT+ compatible so many GPS units can display your e-bike metrics. There’s an Apple watch app too.
The 171Wh EX1 battery weighs just over a kilo and takes up one of your bottle mounts (the seatpost one in the Croix de Fer 60’s case). It’s easy to remove, and you can charge it indoors using Mahle’s desktop charger. The claimed range is “up to 60km” with the “up to” doing a lot of heavy lifting there: again, the point is that this isn’t a bike you’re going to ride under power the whole time, but if you did you’d be lucky to get half that range from what is a pretty low-capacity battery. If you’re in the mood to ride the bike without assistance then you can just ditch the battery: there’s little to no drag in the motor when it’s not helping you, and the weight penalty without the battery is only about 1.5kg.
The actual Croix de Fer frameset is basically unchanged, with a Reynolds 725 steel frame and an Amplitude G200 carbon fibre fork. It runs a Shimano GRX RX820 2 x 12-speed transmission with 46/30T chainrings and an 11-36T cassette. You get Amplitude G100 tubeless ready wheels (with the X20 motor, of course) and Maxxis Rambler 700x45mm tubeless-ready tyres; the frame and fork can both handle tyres up to 47mm. It’s effectively the same spec as the £2,799 Croix de Fer 50, so with the 60 coming in at £4,499 you’re paying £1,700 for the motor upgrade. That’s a fair chunk, but it’s not significantly different to adding a different premium motor system such as the Skarper.
The Croix de Fer 60 is available now at www.genesisbikes.co.uk and will be in your local Genesis dealer soon.
