Genesis Equilibrium

To be fair, the way the Equilibrium looks you could forgive it if it was an absolute pig to ride. You could ride to your local cafe, sit and have a coffee and just look at it. It really is a beauty to look at in that understated retro classic way that only the British can do. Thankfully it rides like a dream so you can spend as much time on it as looking at it.

Essentially designed with the big mile rides in mind don’t for a second think it’s going to be a sedate sluggish ride. I managed to ride the Genesis everywhere from an audax and fast commute to five laps round Castle Combe race track and it took them all in its stride. If you’re after a sportive bike that you can use every day make sure the Equilibrium is near the top of your shopping list. Not only is it comfortable for a whole day in the saddle, it can climb and best of all it can descend like nothing I’ve ever ridden. It’s no point training like mad and giving up beer and chocolate so you can climb 1 mile an hour quicker if you can’t come down the other side like a cheetah with its tail on fire!! This bike will let you do just that it's a phenomenal descender.

At the heart of the Genesis is a Reynolds 520 chromoly tubeset to provide a stiff yet compliant ride and using a 34.9mm diameter downtube to keep things tight for out of the saddle efforts and high speed descending and slim chainstays to reduce road buzz. With the way the road surfaces are at the moment the chain and seat stays do a great job of filtering out the harshness of the potholed back lanes. To keep things comfortable at the front the forks are carbon and they work well with no discernable flex felt during the test period. Good quality welding throughout and a great paintjob make for a frame that looks far more expensive than it really is.

Genesis branded finishing kit completes the high quality look of the frame. The stem, seatpost and handlebars are all 6061 alloy, the post and bars having a brushed finish which makes a change to the usual black and the stem painted white to match the bar tape and the Genesis branded saddle. All the kit works well, no flex through the bars or stem and the shallow drops are just right for getting aerodynamic without adopting a full racing crouch.

The transmission is taken care of by Shimano 105 excluding the crankset which is a non series FC-R600 compact with external BB. Everything worked in the usual Shimano efficient way with a slight tweak of the rear mech on day one and then nothing needed to be touched again. With a 50/34T chainset mated to a 12/25T cassette all terrains are catered for. Tektro takes care of the stopping with their BR358 dual pivot callipers, after initial reservations they actually performed really well especially when taking into consideration the weather the bike has been tested in. Braking was easily moderated and powerful wet or dry.

A set of 32 spoke three cross wheels complete the retro look of the frame using Alex AT400 rims laced to Tiagra hubs. These are no lightweights but they are good solid performers with a machined braking surface and stainless spokes. You can feel the weight penalty of the wheels on the climbs but under day to day riding and acceleration it’s barely noticeable. Even with hitting the odd pothole at speed no truing was necessary and the hub bearings were smooth from the outset. Continental UltraRace 700x25c tyres are grippy and resistant to cuts, wear rates are quite shocking though with the rear squaring off in less than 1000 miles but it’s a fair sacrifice for reassurance in the corners.

Verdict

The Genesis is a really versatile machine, a great climber, superb descender and all round mile muncher, add in full mudguard clearance and eyelets and you've got your commuter and weekend bike all in one. With its classic looks and balanced finishing kit its certainly one to consider, especially if the goverment are and your employer are willing to help out through the cycle to work scheme