Hi

Anybody have, a or ridden a Genesis IO ID. It comes with an Alfine fitted. Any comments on the bike and how well does the alfine perform off road??

Cheers

I do.

’tis brill.

You may get some people who have done a carpark test and say it’s not good, but I’ve not seen negative comments from anyone who’s used one in anger.

More here: <http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/genesis-io-id-anyone-got-one&gt;

Peppa

If you are anywhere near Glentress, The Hub have them as hire bikes.

Thanks. It certainly looks the business..

blobonastick – you got the medium – is that the 19 inch?

Ride with a guy occasionally who’s got an Alfine on his Santa Cruz Chameleon, he highly rates it. I was after one before Christmas, but just missed out on the Cheap Planet X stock sadly!

Oh, and FWIW, I’ve got a Genesis Altitude frame myself, I love that too. Should think the io will be just as good to ride, only with hub gears it’ll be all the more simple too!

Well I’m definitely someone who’s only done a carpark test on an Alfine hub but I reckon that I know enough about bikes to at least make fair comment.

I started this thread to discuss it:
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/alfine-short-test-ride-impressions

To summarise, IMO it’s not as good as some reviews seem to have suggested but it’s perfectly useable and it’s not put me off getting one (which I may well do if I can find one at more like pre-price rise price)

i just fitted an alfine to an inbred. only one ride so far off-road. obviously i can’t comment on the genesis frame, but the hub is pretty good IMO.
setup with the help of our local pioneer of the alfine, shinythings, of this parish. thanks Jim. 🙂
shift is slick and quick. sometimes you need to back off a bit to let it go in, but i haven’t found that an issue.
the lever is rapid-rise orientated. this is going to pi55 me off when i ride the bouncer with sram.
pick-up is a bit slow sometimes. seems like the pawls/teeth are a bit few and far between. in tech riding this sometimes means that your lead foot is a bit further down than you might like when the thing actually engages. this might grate a bit.
bike is obviously a bit heavier at the back when you pick it up compared to normal gears or ss, but this really isn’t that noticeable when riding at all. it balances the extra couple of pounds you carry up front running a suspension fork. i found i was still quite happy to bounce the thing around and hop it ( though ultimate altitude gained may not be quite the same 🙂 ).
i ran a bit more air in the back to avoid pinching. this did not appear detrimental to grip – i guess the weight offset that. i did not feel as though i was clanging it into things at all. when i did stick it into things accidentally it reacted very much like the ss. note i run a maxxis FR tube in the back, both on the alfine and my ss, as i run about 30psi in the back on the ss, and found i was pinching frequently over one particular jump on local trails, but wanted the grip lower pressure gives over rooty climbs.

the bike felt very ‘solid’ descending and on level singletrack. it’s given the bike a sort of unstoppable feel over rocks and the like ( in a good way ).

i’m pleased with it. it’s geared to spin fairly low, as my reason for getting one was to give me the low gears i sometimes want on rides with very steep or very long climbs, otherwise i take the singlespeed through choice. slightly irritatingly i don’t seem to have quite the same ratio available – ie i’m either a little bit lower than 32:16 in one gear, or a little bit higher in the next, but that won’t hurt me in the long run. ‘top’ is a fair bit longer a gear than the ss.

HTH

Thanks for your comments chaps

I took my custom build

for its first off road jaunt today, and bloomin loved it. The forks will be lowered from 140 to 120mm, 20mm longer than the recommended 100mm, as I like ’em slack.

I’ve ridden full bouncers (Whyte 46, Cove G spot and a meta 5) for the last 5 years, this has been my first hard tail since my Giant terrago many years ago.

So… The frame, firm at the back, but not so bad that every root had to be negotiated out of the saddle. Once I realised that corners had to be taken tipped in, the handling worked too.

The hub, well it just worked. It doesn’t like shifting to easier gears under load, but neither did my mech. A quick lift of pressure and it shifts. Shifting down from 4th -5th takes alomst a whole pedal revolution too. But overall, in very muddy conditions, it just worked, everytime.

My gearing is perfect for me, 32-21. I can nearly spin out on the flat, but it gives me a nice low gear to haul my 16 1/2 st up hill.

I run it tubeless to combat annoying punctures on the back, and at 28lbs all in, it’s bang on my target weight for a 20″ frame. Verdict: surprisingly good!

Just seen a picture of the 09 ID. It’s visual terrorism I say.

AndyL’s custom job ilooks much better IMO.

andyl, please do reduce those forks!! it looks so wrong like that )

and “visual terrorism”, i like that!