Scott Genius ST thoughts

There are some very tempting offers on the top Genius ST models at the moment.

What are people’s thoughts and are there any owners on here?

The combined bar and stem and headset cable routing don’t appeal but the price and suspension element does. I hear it’s easy to replace the bar and stem with separates so that’s that one ticked off.

Cheers

I dont have a Genius, but I do have a bike that uses all the same tech and comes out of the same factory – see my thoughts here:

Unusual NBD – Bold Linkin Ultimate

Bar/Headset/Cable routing : Unless your a Pinkbike commenter who likes to get all frothy about things without actually having experienced it yourself, no, its simply not an issue. Will it take you longer to replace your lower headset bearing? Yes. How many times have I replaced lower headset bearings in 25 years of MTB riding? Dunno, 2, maybe 3? Its simply not an issue. And it does have genuine benefits – the bike is silent, for instance. It looks fantastically neat, really clean and tidy, very well sealed, and really not actually that hard to put together. No others bkes I’ve had, including those with ‘regular’ internal routing have been this good.

And yes, if it really, really bothers you, can can use whatever parts you want instead.

Built and frame quality from Scott is excellent.

Tracloc is excellent, and use it as much as I use my gears and dropper. I disagree slightly with Benji here: https://singletrackworld.com/2023/12/scott-genius-st-900-tuned-review/and whilst the susepnsion kinematic is slightly different to mine, the damper is the same, and I think tracloc on a ~150mm travel bike really does work. You can run the bike very plush, without compromising, with the traction mode working really well for climbing or for support on flow trails, and the climb/lock giving you that lovely rigid, energy efficient, instant response style helping hand like a hardtail on the tarmac or flat drags.

I’m a scott guy but my primary bike is currently a Linkin “LT” 160/150, so my version of the Genius ST without the Nude X.
My ST910 order ended up being delayed so the distributer switched me onto the bold instead. As snotrag says, lots of similarities in build/spec

My Eldest has an ST920 with all the cheap bits torn off and a kashima, XM1501 and carbon bar build.
Acros parts used to switch out the cheaper syncros stem. Still internal cables and no bother.

I “cheaped out” for last summer knowing he’d grow out of a medium in a season, so the next bike can be more spendy.

He loves it and its a beast of a bike on the DH and climbs really well for a 35+lb trailduro bike. The trackloc (as on any scott) is superb and he’s smashed out a season of enduro racing, trail riding, park days etc with nothing out of place.

I also have a Spark 910 with internal headset cable, I actually added the 1 piece hixon carbon bar to the spark in pace of the alloy and its actually my favourite bar combo. More compliant than the Oneup on my Bold and even feels better than my previous fave, the FSA Gradient 35 carbon.

At teh right price, I’d order a 900 tuned without question, I don’t need to replace my bold though rightnow, particularly as colors for both brands are all carryover for 2025.
If you’re looking at the 910 ST, consider that the 2023 910 was the only bike to see an update and in 2024 the 910 ST “TR” came with the TR AXS groupset… it was also cheaper at retail.

I wouldn’t personally buy the 910 ST as its HMF/alloy and Scott are significantly better with full HMX carbon builds.
My Spark 910 is a rarity in that its HMF/HMF and they’re not mixing HMF fronts with HMF rears on any other bike.

I’ve been on scott since 2006, have ridden pretty much all iterations of their carbon and alloy.

Tracloc/Twinlock is a great thing about the Scott product. Period.

Thanks @snotrag and @BearBack for the detailed thoughts and feedback, much appreciated. I’m pleased to hear you have only good things to say about the Bolds, particularly around the headset routing and general build quality.

Im looking at the 900 tuned. I prefer the colour of the 910 but agree on the full carbon frame, and wheels. I think there’s only about £250 between the two with how I’d be financing it.

I’m currently riding a Starling Murmur with a coil shock – the antithesis of a Genius – so it’d be a pretty big weight saving and from a lot of compliance to what I hear is a very taught frame.