New (old!) Genesis Fortitude Race

I’ve wanted one of these frames for ages, I used to have a full rigid Kona years ago that was great fun. I decided to retire my drop bar CX as I only really enjoy riding round the woods and park on it anyway so a rigid MTB is better suited. Nearly all from ebay, dropped lucky on the wheels on here which were a bargain and perfect being the rarer XC rim and orange hubs! Well impressed with how nice the newest Deore kit is too, can’t wait to ride this later in the week. Suspect I’ll ride it much more than my ‘main’ bike next year.

Genesis Fortitude by simonholehan[/url], on Flickr

Genesis Fortitude by simonholehan[/url], on Flickr

Genesis Fortitude by simonholehan[/url], on Flickr

Genesis Fortitude by simonholehan[/url], on Flickr

Like it, geo looks sorted and the colour is cracking. I do like an orange bike.

Good choice, I had the adventure version and enjoyed that old school kind of vibe. Have fun!

I’ve had an Adventure now since they came out …. I love mine.

I’m always on the lookout for a 20.5″ Race.

Is that a 2.4 on the back 😯

I found a 2.25″ to be about the maximum width I could run with space for mud.

I have a Fortitude Race, a truly great frame if, like me, you wanted a simple, robust but lively bike. I had mine powder coated stealth black when the orange got too tatty. Love it!

Looks spot-on, that. Been on the lookout for a 19″ for a while but they’re either asking silly money, or 17.5″..!

Thanks guys – they are 2.3″ tyres, clearance seems fine but the rims are quite narrow which helps.

They come up quite regularly on eBay – set yourself up a repeat search and it will alert you, that’s how I found this one.

I’ll say what I say every time one of these pops up on the forum – I really wish I’d never sold mine. I used it as a towpath commute machine for a couple of years, a job it was perfect for.

^^Me too.

I had a single speed one, fantastic bike but now have a Stooge Mk1. Another superb bike.

Looks lovely!

I had one of those, it was awesome, sold it to get a CX bike which only gets raced……hmmm

Hmmmmmm, I have a 20.5″ fortitude frameset hanging up in the garage…. didn’t realise it was a collectors item.

There’s a nice 17.5″ frame & fork on Ebay at the moment.

hatter – Member
Hmmmmmm, I have a 20.5″ fortitude frameset hanging up in the garage…. didn’t realise it was a collectors item.

Want to sell it?

I had one briefly, was cheap and a bit tatty, gave it a parts bin build, sold it quite quickly as just didn’t have a use for it at the time. Really regret it, I’d rather it than my cx bike now…..

I have a 19.5 race frame that is part with. It needs a re-spray as I had a framebuilder add a cable adjuster so it could take a front mech if needed. But then never got it respayed where the weld is, only rode it once after that too 🙄

I also bought one about a year ago and really rate it. I always regretted not buying one when they were discontinued as there were some great deals around

£200 start on the eBay one. Now I really wish I hadn’t sold mine. It went for £600 with XT drivetrain, XTR brakes and XT tubeless wheels.

hatter and Rik – any more details on either of this frames?

That looks great.

To bring this Fortitude love in back to a more STW-esque level, OP you need to sort those cables out 😯

O.K. been agonizing over this as I’ve had this frame for ages and it was given to me so I felt it would be good form to get clearance from the guy who gave it to me before I put it up on here.

Thing is, it’s actually a fairly special beast, it’s one of the original handmade prototypes in the Genesis guild livery that would end up becoming the Madison Genesis team colors. As far as I know it’s the only one left as the other one was sent for CEN testing.

Apart from the paint it differs from production 20.5″ bikes in 3 ways: It has slightly shorter chainstays, it has routing for a front mech (the only Fortitude with these) and….. and this is the killer… the BB shell is welded in backwards, the only practical downside of this has been making it Shimano/Raceface only, but GXP fans should look elsewhere.

Still hugely conflicted about whether to sell it as it’s rather special but some bugger scraped down the side of my wife’s car yesterday then scrapered so I need to find the cash to get it repaired. Real life sucks sometimes.

What do you think gents?

I’d be interested as as above I’ve been after a 20.5” for a while. I can’t quite get my head around the BB bit – could you elaborate either here or via email 😉

Basically, the threads are the other way round, so you need to screw the left hand BB cup into the right an vice versa.

Not an issue with Shimano as both cups are 24 mm internal and basically symmetrical and I happily ran Shimano cranks on it with no ill effects but only fair to mention it.

The joy of prototypes.

Ah okay – Thank you.

What sort of money are you after for it?

Very interested also, what kind of money are we talking? 🙂

hehe, interestingly enough – we (18 Bikes) have one in the very same colours. It’s a 19″. I was only thinking the other about how it doesn’t get used and ought to find a new home where it’ll get some riding.

I’ll have to have a ponder…

Might be interested in that 19″ Simon……

Ha!, so that’s where the other one went!

Still trying to make my mind up about selling it at all, if I do I’ll post a link to the ‘for sale’ listing on here.

It would make a lovely bike packer, hmmmm,, hmmmmm, hmmmmmm.

Love mine (17½” Race), have used it for Mountain Biking and set up as a commuter (with full guards via P clips, shh, don’t tell the cool kids).

Been thinking about 650B wheels 2.5″ rubber and a low stack, short travel fork; had a brief scribble and I think HT angle would slacken a little and can’t remember what happens exactly to BB height and BB drop, but either way, it might help my wrists out… Any thoughts Fortitude owners?

loving the prototype colour scheme (adding to favourites for future reference) …& reverse bottom bracket, that would certainly confuse you if not in the know

Be VERY interested in the 20.5″ too Hatter….

It’s got an Iron Maiden lyric on the seat tube ffs!

Only one way to sort this out…

FIGHT! 8)

It certainly confused the buggery out of me the first time I built it.

Arrrgh, need to make my mind up whether or not to sell it.

*Dithers furiously*

I’ve got a lightly used 20.5″ Alfine Fortitude I could be persuaded to sell? Bought it as a winter bike but Zwift.

simonbowns – Member
hehe, interestingly enough – we (18 Bikes) have one in the very same colours. It’s a 19″. I was only thinking the other about how it doesn’t get used and ought to find a new home where it’ll get some riding.

I’ll have to have a ponder…

Oh my

Oh my

Oh mine* 8)

* Not really but I’m sure 18 bikes won’t mind if I join the queue