Assuming that since these seemed to be pretty good VFM and the tendancy for 99.9% of people on here to be mad about gravel riding that someone will have one of these!

I’m tempted to get one – don’t need something mega expensive or flash as it’ll only be used for cross town jaunts as well as allowing me to get some miles in on bike/farm tracks when I don’t want to drive to proper riding.

I assume that given the popularity of the Genesis CX/gravel bikes over the years, there won’t be any downsides to one for the price?

I had an older CDA and really got along with it. It wasn’t light, but it was sturdy and still felt pretty zippy to ride.

Before I sold it, I ditched the 2×10 setup and installed a wider range 1×10 with an oval N/W chain ring. Rode really nice with that setup too!

I bought one earlier this year on the cycle to work scheme and i’m really happy with it. I haven’t ridden any expensive gravel bikes and don’t own a road bike as such, so it doesn’t feel heavy to me, feels super-light and nimble compared to my MTB.

Downsides – it’s all low-end components, 2 x 8 – chain clatters around off-road as it’s a budget road drivetrain (hasn’t come off at all so far though), cable disc brakes, and has QR axles, so it’s not the sort of bike that will be cost-effective to make incremental upgrades to. I got a pinch puncture on the tubed 37c tyre the first time I decided to see what it’s like over a few small drops! Cable disc brakes take a bit of effort to stop when you’re on the hoods, but spot-on when in the drops. Could do with a couple more gears in the lower range for those steep rocky bridleways.

Upsides – It was a bargain, geometry is spot on, looks great, and as my “gravel” riding seems to be 70% tarmac/ 30% off-road (bridleways, singletrack, surfaced MTB trails) the gearing is actually fine, I love having the big second chainring on there, i’m finding pedalling downhill a fun novelty having ridden only 1x drivetrains on my MTB for the last few years, where there is no point pedalling above 20mph. I’m actually tempted to fit a triple up front to get some lower-range gears, rather than fitting a 1x drivetrain.

I might use it for some old-skool touring in the future, so i’m viewing the 2 x 8, square-taper BB, QR axles and cable (rather than hydraulic) disc brakes as sensible options for finding spares and repairs in remote places. The only imminent upgrade is wider tyres (I have a thread on here somewhere, looking for recommendations how wide I can go) and maybe tubeless. It’s a keeper as far as i’m concerned 🙂