The Croix de Fer comes in three steel options (10, 20 and 30) as well as a titanium model. The angles are steep, the front end is low and there aren’t mudguard or pannier mounts. 33c tyres are specced (the maximum genesis bike permitted in UCI sanctioned cyclocross races), while the maximum tyre size recommend is 35c. There aren’t mounting points for front or rear pannier racks; strap on bike-packing bags are the weapon of choice here.
None of these things alone would be an issue but add them up and they mean you have to push hard to get the bike really moving. You get out what you put in though and once up to speed the bike is a different animal. The adjustable Revelation forks up front give you the option to wind down the travel to sharpen up the handling through singletrack and help you up the steep genesis bike stuff, turning the Alpitude into a true all mountain steed. Steep technical drops are taken in its stride and on fast smooth downs the Alpitude feels stable so long as you stay out of the saddle. Genesis give their geometry figures with the bike at 25% sag, so you can take just over a degree off the stated numbers to give you the figures of the bike unweighted.
Some adventures are about taking your time and drinking in your surroundings, others are about getting there fast. This bike is designed for lightweight bike-packing, able to tackle ultra-distances on mixed terrain. Despite being already expansive, the Genesis Bikes brand continues to grow, with the British company striking out even further to the gravel/adventure cross market. If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.
The Alpitude needs to be ridden hard to get the best from the frame, if you hit rough sections too slow then the bike can stall and you have to work to get back up to speed. The Revelation fork is simple to set up but it is worth remembering to go back and reset them after a couple of rides as they begin to sink into their travel once bedded in. Specialized also launched a Peter Sagan collection with a largely gold frameset genesis mountain bike a few years ago. We’ve got to say, though, that we’ve never seen anything like the head tube on Adam Blythe’s bike. But more than that, there’s front and rear dynamo lights, so you never need worry about forgetting/neglecting to charge your lights. An internally geared hub goes a long way to weather proofing the drivetrain, as do the full housed gear cables that help stop dirt degrading your shifting performance.
The Alpitude is a serious bike built to handle serious terrain but not many of us get to ride truly hardcore trails all the time so it is important that your bike can handle your every day trails well. Rob Hayles is another former racer, of course – a double world champion and three-time Olympic medallist on the track, and a national champion on the road. These days he works with carbon, hence his involvement with this bike. Product PresentationFrom free-ride, long-travel mountain models to fun city bikes, the presentation is a key attractor on the sales floor.