Another long travel trail bike with a four bar rocker linkage, same old, same old you’re probably thinking. Well, not quite. The new Scott Genius is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. A radical bike hidden in the guise of a carbon copy. There’s a lot going on here.
Shape and Purpose
The 2018 Genius represents a complete overhaul of the long-standing range. The old one, with the shock mounted to the top tube and questionable suspension performance (something even Scott admitted in their presentation) is long forgotten. Now, hoping to piggyback on the success of the Spark, the Genius has thrown itself right into the long travel trail scrap.
The bike is available with 27.5+ or 29 inch wheels. Scott has jumped in feet first at the deep end with plus wheels and will now only be speccing its entry level bikes with standard 27.5 tyres – every other bike gets plus. You’re looking at 2.8” tyres in 27.5 or 2.6″ in 29 here, both interchangeable thanks to a flip chip in the frame.
Full carbon, Scott reckons this is the lightest trail frame on the market. The frame, shock and hardware all come in at 2,249 grams (about the same as a four pint milk bottle). Scott’s figures mark this significantly lighter than any other frame out there. Put it this way, putting a full water bottle onto the frame increased the weight by nearly a third. This thing really is feather weight.
It was possible to do this thanks to a totally redesigned suspension layout. They have moved to a four bar rocker with a trunnion mount on the downtube. This means the top tube no longer has to be so reinforced and weight can be shaved. On top of this new lay ups and carbon know how have shaved further grams.
