Video Just In: Genesis Bikes Datum 10 adventure road bike

Arriving just in time for Mike Stead to ride it in the Dirty Reiver 200 last weekend is this Genesis Bikes Datum 10, the British company’s carbon fibre disc-equipped adventure road bike. 

The Datum has been around for a couple of years, coming out at a time when adventure road bikes were in their infancy. We tested it when it first launched and were very impressed with its performance, handling, capability and versatility, with space for wide tyres, mudguard mounts and a nicely designed disc-equipped carbon frame. 

- Review: Genesis Datum 30

We are revisiting it in a more affordable Shimano Tiagra build costing £1,899, which packs a punch and provides powerful hydraulic disc brakes with a Shimano Tiagra groupset. If you haven't ridden the new Tiagra (read our review), all you need to know is that it's a very good groupset and feels very similar to Shimano's pricier groupsets.  We like the combination of the compact 50/34 chainset and 11-32t cassette. All the spinny spin spin gears you need to get up the climbs.

And we’ll need them because at 9.6kg (21.1lb) it’s no welterweight. But weight isn’t everything, so we’ll see how Mike gets on with it on his local climbs. 

The equipment list includes 32mm wide Clement Strada tyres on Jalco rims laced to Formula hubs and a full complement of Genesis branded finishing kit. It’s all nice kit, the tyres are clearly aimed at road use and the large volume should help smooth out the roads, and they should be up to a little light dirt or gravel road usage. We’ll see. 

The Datum is an interesting bike because it blurs the line between an endurance bike and a gravel bike. With a change of tyre, it can handle a 200km gravel event, as Mike Stead found out last weekend in the Dirty Reiver, but it should be right at home on long road rides and sportives if that’s more your thing. 

- 16 of the best 2017 gravel & adventure bikes — super-versatile bikes that are at home on lanes, potholed streets and dirt roads

Rivals

What else could you consider in this category and price range? There’s the excellent Raleigh Roker Pro at £2,000, a similarly wide tyred bike but with a SRAM 1x11 groupset. 

There’s the perennially popular GT Grade, and for £1,699 you can get a carbon frame with a Tiagra groupset and TRP HY/RD hydraulic disc brakes and Stan’s NoTubes Radler Disc wheels. 

A cheaper option is the Norco Search 105 (£1,399), which while swapping carbon for aluminium in the frame, goes get a groupset boost to Shimano 105 and matching hydraulic disc brakes.