At around 27lbs the Core weighs in somewhere in the middle of the scale that you would expect for a 120mm trail blaster but it feels nippy and easy to spin up to speed thanks to the lightweight rims and fast rolling tyres. In collaboration with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, we have rated bike helmets using the STAR evaluation system. Our impact tests evaluate a helmet’s ability to reduce linear acceleration and rotational velocity of the head resulting from a range of head impacts a cyclist might experience.
The Montane Icemen (Pete Sissons and Paul Cosgrove) underlined the bikes capabilities as they used a pair of Croix de Fers to circumnavigate the 1600-mile coastline of Iceland in 14 days.
Deliveries will start in the summer of 2024, and Audi hasn’t clarified what it means by “limited-edition model” yet. Riders can also order Audi-branded accessories such as riding gloves, cycling jerseys, water bottles, and even bike racks compatible with some of the brand’s models, such as the Q7. Once rolling the true nature of the Genesis started to shine through, a lively agile ride that encourages you to push on and flick the bike through singletrack whilst looking for roots and rocks to bunny hop and pop off. Cornering is quick and precise with rear wheel drift easily attainable. The wheelset is lightweight with an internal rim width of 19mm that will take good sized rubber which means you could add some float to the ride with some high volume tyres.
Kit wise the Genesis is sensibly specced, Shimano Deore takes care of transmission duties with a SLX rear derailleur, brakes are Deore too. Genesis are a British brand that have been building decent bikes and a decent reputation so I was looking forward to a chance to see if the positive buzz about the company and their bikes was well earned. Singletrack uses affiliate services called Skimlinks and which means we may earn revenue if you buy a product after clicking a link to a retailer on our site. This special issue is heading for members but we have a very limited stock of copies for direct sale.
Plus, the lightweight alloy wheels add to the bike’s speed and agility. The matte black finish with neon accents is sure to turn heads on any trail. V2100 from Genesis Bicycles is just what the doctor ordered for on and off-road exercise, and fun. Aluminum four bar linkage suspension frame with a strong spring loaded suspension fork, front disc brakes, rear linear pull handbrakes, and a 21 speed drivetrain with Revo twist shifters from Shimano are the vitals.
The Core 26.4 came fitted with 2.2 Mountain Kings, the originals not the much improved Mountain King II. The Core range is based around a 6061 aluminium tube set that is butted where needed with some gentle manipulation to ovalise the down tube as it meets the seat tube at the bottom bracket shell. There are strengthening gussets where the down tube and top tube meet the tapered head tube and the seat stays are an old school wishbone style, the lack of a bridge gives ample mud clearance. The greatest restriction on how fast you can go when pinning singletrack is genesis bike the tyres, yes they are fast rolling but they lack bite, something with greater cornering grip would certainly show off bikes handling better. An impressive fork at this price point and sensible kit are great and the wheels finish the package off nicely but the main attraction here is the geometry. Point it downwards and speeds soon pick up, the Core has a tendency to encourage an attacking riding style but it is worth remembering that the bike is equipped with 120mm up front and can get out of its depth if you try to blunder through rather than use finesse.