Scott Pro Mountain Bike Team: August 2014

Here I’ll be reviewing the Genius 730 after riding on it for a season. My initial thoughts of the bike after my first ride on it can be found here...

http://www.scottrcmtb.blogspot.com/2014/05/scott-genius-ride-and-first-impressions.html

Here are the specs of the bike...

Frame

Genius Alloy / 6061 custom butted

hydroformed tubes / Tapered Head Tube

BB92 / IDS SL dropout for 142 x 12mm

U-Mono Link / rear 180PM

BB Height adj.

Travel

Front 130mm

Rear 130 - 90 - Climb / Shock 190 x 50

Fork

Fox 32 Float Evolution CTD Air

CTD remote damper with 3 modes

15mm QR axle / tapered steerer

reb. Adj.

Rear Shock

Fox Nude / SCOTT custom w. travel / geo adj

CTCD 3 modes: Climb - Traction Control -

Descend / reb. Adj.

Remote System

SCOTT TwinLoc Remote Technology

3 modes front and rear

Headset

Ritchey Pro Minus Tapered 1.5" - 1 1/8"

semi integr. OD 50/61mm / ID 44/55mm

Rear Derailleur

Shimano XT RD-M786 SGS

Shadow PlusType / 30 Speed

Front Derailleur

Shimano SLX FD-M670-A-E / DM

Shifters

Shimano SLX SL-M670-I

Rapidfire Plus / 2 way release

Ispec clamp

Brake Levers

Shimano SLX BL-M675-B Disc

Brakes

Shimano SLX BR-M675 Disc

180/F and 180/R mm SM-RT64 CL Rotor

Crankset

Shimano XT FC-M782

hollowtech 2

40Ax30Ax22A T

BB-Set

Shimano SM-BB71-41A / shell 41x92mm

Handlebar

Syncros FL1.5 Tbar

Alloy 7050 D.B. / T shape Flat / 9° / 720mm

Syncros Pro lock-on grips

H'stem

Syncros TR1.5

2014 / 4D forged / oversize 31.8mm

1-1/8" / 6° angle

Pedals

nil

Seatpost

Syncros FL1.5 / 31.6mm

Seat

Syncros TR2.0 / CROM rails

Hub (Front)

Shimano SLX HB-M678 / 15mm

Hub (Rear)

Shimano SLX FH-M678 Disc CL

12 x 142mm / DT RWS axle

Chain

Shimano CN-HG54

Cassette

Shimano CS-HG62-10

11-36 T

Spokes

DT Swiss Competition 2.0-1.8-2.0 Black

Rims

Syncros XC / Eyelets / 32H

XC69

Tires

Schwalbe Nobby Nic EVO / 2.25

67 EPI Kevlar Bead

PaceStar compound

700 series: with SnakeSkin

Weights in KG

12.90 kg

Weights in LBS

28.38 lbs

I can’t really make any comparisons to other trail bikes, as this is the only one I’ve owned and I’ve never experienced any other. So this review will mostly be comparing the bike to the xc bikes that I have owned and the pros and cons of my experience with it.

The times I was able to get somewhere where this bikes shines rocks, roots, drop offs it was a blast to ride. I could ride into technical sections without a worry. After riding a hard tail for so many yrs it felt strange to be able to ride so fast through sections without being white knuckled and jarred.

COMPARED TO FULL SUSPENSION XC BIKE

This was also the first yr I’ve raced a full suspension xc bike (spark 720)….

It has also made technical rocky roots sections much more comfortable but there were differences. My xc bike is carbon and had some lighter parts, narrower rims and tires so I was not comfortable trying to do the same stuff I did on the genius like big drop offs. The genius has a wider space between chain/ seat stays so it will accommodate bigger tires and the angles are steeper making it more comfortable on decants (made me feel less like I might go over the handlebars)

There were several times when I hit jumps and lost control, started sliding out around a corner or found my self going faster than I wanted into a technical section but the big tires, extra suspension and slacker angles made it all OK they save me. All the sections where I had in the past thought to my self “ I’m not sure about this” I was hitting without even thinking. The bike increased my self-confidence and made me feel like a superhero while riding it. Some footage of riding with teammate Jeff....

All the benefits do come with a down side. Trying to ride it at the same pace that I normally ride my xc bike was exhausting. The extra weigh and big slow rolling tires feels like I’m riding through mulch or sand on the climbs.

If your riding party pace with friends than it won’t matter too much but if your trying to keep up with your xc racing buddies it could be hard; especially if there are long stretches of fire road or pavement included in your ride.

While it may be a slower bike a cool thing about it is that you can ride it everyday. I could comfortably ride the genius daily off road even on super easy rest days without getting beat up. Being able to stay in the saddle and do a easy spin while off road was a strange feeling that I had never experienced before.

TIRES, DROPPER POST

An upgrade that I would suggest if you are considering purchasing this bike is a dropper seat post (the higher end geniuses come with one but the 730 dose not I put on a rock shock reverb dropper post) and some wider tires (I was using 2.4 continual trail kings, the bike came with 2.25 knobby nicks). I feel the dropper post and wide tires did as much (if not more) for making the bike handle confidently as the 150 mm of front/ rear suspension. Being able to move my weight around more efficiently improved my cornering abound ability to deal with steep terrain. The big tires improved breaking, cornering and improved stability.

REMOTE LOCKOUT

The bike comes with Scott’s twin lock remote lock out lever. It offers 3 modes of suspension (locked out, half locked out, and fully unlocked). I did notice that the lock out was very sensitive if I was in full lock out. If I bumped it by accident it would jump to half unlocked mode when I didn’t want it to. I thought this might have been an issue with just my bike (because I set it up wrong) but my teammate Jeff who was also riding a genius with twin lock also had the same issue. I’ve used the twin lock on my xc bike without this issue occurring. It’s possible Jeff and I both had this set up wrong but I think there may be another issue linked to dealing with the extra travel.

WHEELS

The Syncros XC67 rims that came with the bike were durable (no issues with the wheel coming out of true or broken spokes). They are 27 mm wide which is a bit wider than an your average xc tire (normally about 24mm wide). Jeff was riding Stan’s flows (which I also run on my training xc bike) they are 29mm wide. I think Jeff was happy with the way they performed ( i know i have been very happy with mine, they have lasted 2 yrs of hard riding with out any issues and are still going strong).

Unlike the flows the Syncros XC67 where very hard to set up tubeless. I installed Stan’s yellow tape on the Syncros rims and spent about 2 hours and when though the majority of a 1 liter Stan’s tubeless sealant container trying to make it happen. I finally got one wheel to hold air but ran out of patience before getting the other. I wouldn’t recommend trying to set them up tubeless.

SUSPENSION

Comes with a Fox 32 Evolution CTD air Fork and Fox Nude shock. This was an upgrade from last year’s genius that came with the same model fork but a DT Swiss rear shock. In my opinion DT Swiss dose not make suspension that is as smooth as Fox. You can read Nathaniel’s review of last yrs (2013) 730 Genius here…

http://scottrcmtb.blogspot.com/2013/08/scott-genius-730-detailed-review.html

WHEEL SIZE

I am 6 feet tall and I was on the fence about choosing to go with. I decided on the 27.5 size because I wanted a quicker handling bike. I was worried that with the extra suspension and longer chain stays that the handling would be slow unless I had the smaller wheels. I was happy with the decision but I think I’m at a height where 29” wheels would have been fine too.

CONCLUSION

I am overall happy with the bike. I think the 730 or 740 models are the best bang for the buck when compared to the other models in the genius line. However like I mentioned earlier in the review adding a dropper post and larger more durable tires would go a long way in making the bike handle better.

here are some pics of the bike specced the way it came (except for the ESI grips and the Continental Trail King tires)...

- Mike

Pages

August 30, 2014

Cam makes the cover of Bicycling Magazine!

August 24, 2014

Long Term 2014 Genius 730 Mountain Bike Review