My Genesis Croix de Fer

Went into cross mode this weekend for the rapha ride.

It was great fun, and leaves me wondering if I should get this:

On cycle2work and then I dont have to rip the mudguards and rack off every time

Or Genesis Day One Disc?

Nah, the Pinnacle is better, especially with brake, tapered steerer and carbon fork.

Also easy to put gears on the Pinnacle if i wanted too.

Fair enough. Why is tapered and carbon better @edscoble, surely just an alternative, not necessarily better?

It's an advantage with disc brake, tapered steerer help with stiffness and the carbon fork allow a lower weight while being stiff enough to deal with the braking force on the left arm.

TL:DR it'll track better under severe braking.

The other main reason why I says it's better because it's two different CX bike, rather than having two similar bike (I know I know, pot calling the kettle black).

Also has a splatter paint job which is well rad.

I want one of those so flipping hard! The geared version is a great ride too. They have a few well thought out details on the 2015 model.

If I had more cash to work with I'd get this:

which is amazing value at £1200

That's a better value (SRAM hydraulic is cheaper than Shimano on OTP bicycle for some reason), but having gear would mean your Genesis may get neglected.

Hydraulics were endo-ing straight off the block. Groupset is well balanced and to add to it all, sealed cartridge bearing hubs and bolt through!
Tempted to sell the long distance tank and learn how to bikepack on this.

No relearning is needed with bikepacking, just ride it as you would a normal bike.

@spotter they are on heavy side tho. I have the XL 2014 Arkose 2 and its well fun in mud. Would not like to carry it on shoulder :/

Already got hauling equipment though, and I dig my rack bag a bit too much.

I'm not massively worried about that, i'm more interested in dicking about in the mud than racing and even if i did race, I think a heavy bike would be the least of my worried

Would be a great choice for you then.

Had one of these ordered into my local Evans (ss arkrose)... Going to check it out on Thursday. Slicks and guards for commuting, knobblies for w/e

Let me know your impressions

So, went ahead and checked it out. In between reserving it and going to see it the price had gone back up to £800. So, If I wanted it at the £680 I had to buy it then and there... which I did.

The paintscheme looks pretty good in the flesh and seems durable (none of the 'flecks' came off with the crappy Evans stickers). The finishing kit is a bit cheap feeling, saddle, stem and bars will be changed in short order, but otherwise the bike is pretty nice. My small version came in at 10kg off the shop floor (incl big plastic pedals), once it has proper pedals and the reflectors and gubbins are removed it'll be about 9.5kg. If weight is your thing, it would be pretty easy to get it under 9kg at a minimum of cost.

Haven't had a long ride as my knee's busted, but the short 'round the carpark' ride felt nippy and responsive. Brakes are great. Also it comes with gear cable mounts and a derailleur hanger spare in case you want to run it geared in future.

Overall, happy with the purchase!

Oh, thanks for that, good to know. I wasn't expecting a fantastic finishing kit tbh, not at that price at least. Interesting about the weight, its heavier than I thought, but i;m not that bothered as I wouldn't use it for racing

Do you have any photos of it in the flesh please?

The weight likely to be the wheels, easily remedy.

Np, I'll try and take some this w/e

Finishing kit is absolutely fine...

I looked at upgrading wheels to Kinesis CX which are 1550g

Slightly losing my mind at not being able to ride this. Just waiting on the hubs from aliexpress, it's been two weeks and I think the seller might have given me a fake tracking number (he's 'looking into' why the tracking isn't showing on the china-post site - anyone else experienced this?)

Shifting on 5800 really is amazing. I was sceptical about the long reach front mech arm being a big step up, but it really fucking works.

Saddle to bar drop looks much more than it actually is btw.