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e-Bikes

Scott E-Genius 700 tuned

Scott adds a long travel ebike to its line up

For us, Scott’s previous e-Genius was best suited to trail centres and exploring. It was a fun and fast ride but it was a bit lightweight and not really specced for pushing you out of your comfort zone on a descent – it didn’t even come with a dropper!

For 2018, Scott has completely overhauled the bike and added some really nifty features that show they finally understand what e-biking is all about.

Shape and Purpose

The frame is pretty obviously modelled on the new Scott Genius, that was unveiled to the public last week, except the downtube has been beefed out to incorporate an integrated battery and motor. Despite being 30mm shorter than the previous E-Genius, the chainstays are still a bit longer than on the push bike but this really is no bad thing in our book.

This is designed to be a longer travel version of the Scott E-Spark but we would argue it kind of makes the W-Spark redundant. Why would you want less travel on an ebike? Certainly not for pedalling efficiency…

The linkage is carried over from the Spark and Genius

It’s very similar to the new Genius with a trunnion mounted shock on a Horst link system. It’s a platform that’s been proven on the Scott Spark and we had very positive first impressions on the new Genius.

The motor comes from Shimano (a change over from Bosch last year) which allows for the integration of Di2 shifting. The modes are ‘Eco’, ‘Trail’ ‘Boost’ the new ‘Walk’ mode that has the motor moving the bike at up to 5kmh as you push it – a big help when you’re faced with hike-a-biking in big Alpine terrain.

Suspension

An ebike specific Fox 36 takes care of things up at the front. These Speed Pedelec versions are a bit stouter and obviously a bit heavier, but they should better withstand the rigours of an e-bike a bit more. And yes, you will apparently be able to get them in orange next year.

The rear suspension uses Scott’s own Fox Nude that incorporates the Twin Loc system. If we were ambivalent about Twin Loc on the standard Genius then we’re skeptical about it on the E-Genius – we simply can’t understand why you would need to worry about pedalling efficiency when you have a 250watt motor surging you to the top.

Specification

Shimano Di2 controls the power of the Steps motor. It makes sense as the integration between the two systems is totally unique.

There’s still a lot of Syncros kit on this bike from the bar and stem (although it’s not the one piece design from the standard Genius) even through to the bottle cage.

The DT Swiss Wheels are completed with some nice, fat Minions – a choice we would quite like to have tried on the standard Genius.

Limitations

Scott is getting ridiculous with its controls at the moment. We had: 2x brakes, 2x Di2 levers, 2x Shimano Steps levers, 2x Twin Loc levers and a dropper to worry about. The configuration of the Twin Loc means that you have to mount a dropper on the right, which just felt wrong.

The Di2 levers were programmed the wrong way round as well so the top lever shifted down and the bottom one shifted up, but we’ve been told this is something that can be adjusted using the app.

Shimano Zee provides stopping power for this hulking beast

Feeling

We only had one top-to-bottom run of Pila on the E-Genius so we’re hesitant to draw too many conclusions but we reckon this is one of those occasions where adding a motor could actually improve the feel of the bike. We know already that the Genius is light so the motor adds a significant chunk of weight to really plant it down. The ebike is also a bit slacker and longer which only adds to the stability.

The Minions seemed to dig in to the deep dust of Pila a bit more and the slight vagueness of the Genius was totally gone. It’s a real fun ebike to descend on.

It seems that brands are finally catching on to what makes for good e-mtb geometry. Expect to see a whole wave of sorted ebikes coming in the near future.

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