2013 Scott Genius 910 Review

[bedell99]

I figured I would give a detailed review of the bike and start a new thread.

The main reason I got this bike over other bikes is the ability to lockout the rear suspension and change the geometry. I recently came off a 2012 Specialized Epic. I was in between a medium and large. I ended up going with a large and a shorter stem. The bike never quite felt right, especially descending. My other bikes are a single speed Specialized Carve and a Trek Remedy. My main goal with this bike was to have a bike that I could trail ride, race, ride Moab, etc. One bike to rule them all. I will never give up my single speed though. That is bike that is so much fun to ride. I ended up selling the Epic and I'm in the process of selling the Remedy.

When I finally received this bike, the shop forgot to give me the tubeless conversion and Reverb kit. No big deal however the DT Swiss conversion kit is terrible. I have been running tubelss for 7 years now and I never had a harder setting up these tires and wheelset to tubeless. The Nobby Nics leak like sieve. Combine that with a leaky rim strip and tire and you are talking hours to convert. I gave up and went the stan's method. Quick and easy. Took an hour but then an additional 3 days for the tires to stop leaking and sealing up tight. In my expereince with tires the Nobby Nic is the worst tire I have ever encounted, but more on that later. Each tire had ~50 pin hole leaks with crap beads that leaked air also.

The bike was also set up with the longest hoses and cables I have ever seen on bike. I ended up cutting them down significantly. I should of had the shop do it, but I enjoyed learning about the bike and how easy it is working on SHimano brakes. The only hose I haven't cut down is the Reverb post. The twinloc hoses were so long, but it was a great learning experience to see first hand how the twinloc operates the fork and shock.

The bike with XTR pedals weighs 27.4 lbs and with my heavy flat pedals weighs 28.3 lbs. The (3) modifications I made to the bike is I put ESI Chunky grips on, set the bike tubeless and put on my XTR trail brakes.(These are seriously the best brakes out there)

Ok enough rambling. How did it ride?

I ride in Colorado and consider myself an advanced intermediate to expert. I race Cat 2 MTB in Colorado.(10-12 races a year) I'm 5'10.5 and I weight 147lbs. I take biking very seriously. I also take the training aspect very seriously. I love it and I can say I'm addicted to riding a bike.

So....... the bike rides very well. The strongest point is it climbs like a 4" travel hardtail that weighs 28 lbs.The lockout is great. In its lock position the bike is hardtail, it doesn't move. Really. You can get up stand on the pedals and the bike is rigid. Maybe a clydsdale can move the bike, but I can't. Trail mode is great for rocky climbs. Works as advertised. I rarely ever used the descend mode while I was climbing. The bike rips going downhill where there a smaller bumps and straighter lines or sweeping curves. I didn't feel any immediate flex in the fork, compared to other forks I have ridden. I thought this was going to be a concern. It wasn't; at least for a guy my size. If you weigh 250 lbs , your results may vary. The bike was solid and very stiff. I initally had the bars way to high. I took out all the spacers and slamed the stem. It still feels high and I want a -10° stem to lower it even more. After a while the twinloc became second nature and I use it way more than the reverb.

Now the bad. First the Nobby Nics are terrible. I know they might be good somewhere(I wish I knew where somewhere was) but for Colorados varied terrain they suck. I have never encounted a tire that is as bad on rocks(think moab) or water bars. They are like ice. The side knobs flex alot. I also blame this on the skinniest rims I have ever seen on a trail bike. They are 17mm. Yes that is correct, a 17mm rim on a trail/All Mountain bike. What was Scott thinking? I can't wait to try this bike with my Specialized Rovals SL's. I only use these rims for racing but might give them a try real soon.I have tried the Hans Dampf and know they are a good tire. I'm selling these tires ASAP and either putting on Ardents or Purgtory's. I have a lot experience with these tires. I have used Ardents, Purgs, Ground Control(Great all around tire), Fast Traks, Renegads, Bontrager XR4 and FR3's. These NN are the worst. I'm going to write Schwalbe a quick email and tell them about these. They are not tubeless ready as advertised unless your ideas it wait 3 days for the tires to finally plug with sealant.

The next problem is the shock. Alot of what has been said about the shock is true. It is not supple, but I don't think this is bad. You have to go about 5-7 lower on the PSI than the softest setting they recommend. If you use the twinloc the bike works well. This shock is stiffer than a RP23,but what it gives up with it small bump complience it makes up climbing. The other problem I have been having is with the fork. This fork needs alot of time to brake in. I downloaded the new Fox iphone app and been using it religiously but I have a major problem with setting up the fork to eliminate fork dive and small bump performance. If I go heavier on the PSI it works great for high speed descending, but hates small bumps. If I lower the PSI it works great for small bumps and is plush but is terrible at braking and get too far it it stroke and packs up. It has been getting better though as it breaks in. I'm at 75PSI. I started at 80 PSI and went down to 70 PSI. Next time I go out I bringing up the pressure back to 80 PSI.

So here are the things I would change for the 2014 model. A plusher shock would be nice, but I don't think it is a deal breaker. The shock has some real nice qualities. The next thing is I would ditch those Nobby Nics and put any other tires on the market on the bike. I don't care if they a Cheng Sung slicks. They are probably better. They are that terrible. DT Swiss puts out a 19.5mm rim for 29"bike. Use that rim. I'm offended you put a 17mm wide rim on a trail bike. I also think if you pay $5000 dollars and the wheelset is a DT Swiss it should at least have the ratchett system. The other thing is the Fox fork likes to dive alot during braking in descend mode. I have seen reviews on this and it is true on this bike. I don't blame this on Scott. This is a Fox problem and I bet you they will revise their damping curves for 2014 on the CTD forks.

So in a nutshell this bike is real good, but does have some flaws. (Wheelset, tires, fork) I personally think the shock is good. I know it has gotten bad press but compared to the Epic shock, it is way better. The bike fits like a glove in a medium. I'm guessing the bike will be around 26lbs even when I set it up for racing.

Thank you for reading.
Erik

[LukeSPOOK]

Thanks for your comprehensive review.

[craigstr]

I have a buddy with both a Spark Expert and a new Genius 710, it amazes me that Scott puts such crappy wheels on decent bikes, they are thin, soft, & heavy. I wonder what your bike would weigh with a decent set of American Classic or Stan's Crest wheels (which really cant cost Scott anymore then the DT Dwiss crapola) plus remove the twinloc and extra 7 feet of cable and housing. I cant stand looking at 7 cables coming off the handlebars. With the rear shock in its current location, using your hand to switch lever positions is not difficult.

[bedell99]

Next week I will put on my Roval SLs on the bike. I'm waiting on a 180mm rotor for the rear. I currently have a 160mm rotor on the rear. I have the Roval set up with 2.2 Maxxis Ikons. I also have -10 stem coming. I personally love the Twinloc. On the Rovals I also have a XTR cassette.

I agree with you. The wheelset for how much this bike costs sucks. If you compare this bike to a Specialized Stumpie it has a crap wheelset while the Genius has a much better component specification.

Erik

[craigstr]

Twinloc is just too gizmo for me. Wait until you crash and snap it off your bars and you have to wait two weeks to get one from Scott or you strip one of the tiny set screws or the DT Swiss reducer ball joints blow up. What I'm trying to say is they use too many proprietary parts on their bikes, break something and you just cant go down to the shop or jump online and order one, my buddy has been on Scott's for a few years now and I've seen all these things happen a few times.

[weaverwins]

Great write up.

I haven't used the stock tires or wheels and I hear ya on the fork. How much travel do you get out of the fork in locked out mode? Mine seems to have softened up and I checked psi and its still same.

Rear shock is great for reasons you meantioned even for a Clyde. True lockout when on and I'm 245lbs. I've got it setup soft... The recommended setting was way too harsh and I never got through half the travel on gnarly stuff.

I'd live for magura to come out with a compatible fork. The fox is great but for reasons as mentioned you have to make a compromise when deciding on setup.

I destroyed my rear rim embarrassingly by falling knee first into it when crossing a fence. Chinese carbon wide versions in the way so flow ex width should work nicely. Currently have arch ex with ikon 2.2 f/r. Was running chunkier tires and have some purgatories on order but the ikons at the right pressure are hard to beat.

Let's see some pics of that thing on the trails!

[weaverwins]

One more thing. On the twinloc, I use it a ton. That and the dropper both. But I'm hoping to swap the fork someday. Would prefer to retain a lockout on the fork but would settle for a properly tuned setup that i just leave be. Wouldn't give up the three settings on the shock for anything though.

[bedell99]

Same here with Ikons. I use them as my race tire. I have the bike set up with my Rovals and XTR and the bike weighs 26.8 lbs ready to race. Not to bad. I can't wait to try out the bike but it won't be until mid next week until my next ride due to the large storm we just had. i will take some pics and post them.

I'm still undecided if I'm going to race with Reverb this year. It will drop another lb but I give up decending time. I think with the time you gain on the decents it is worth a 1 lb.

Erik

[weaverwins]

Same here with Ikons. I use them as my race tire. I have the bike set up with my Rovals and XTR and the bike weighs 26.8 lbs ready to race. Not to bad. I can't wait to try out the bike but it won't be until mid next week until my next ride due to the large storm we just had. i will take some pics and post them.

I'm still undecided if I'm going to race with Reverb this year. It will drop another lb but I give up decending time. I think with the time you gain on the decents it is worth a 1 lb.

Erik

what did you change besides wheels? medium?

what tires you running for non race? not the nobby nics i take it after your report!

ive got some new time carbon 8 xc pedals coming to swap my boat anchor time atac that ive always run since switching over from bmx type riding.

i dont think i could give up the dropper. understand losing a pound but the freedom it offers is worth it id say. what races do you do? xc or other stuff as well?

[weaverwins]

I'm working on weight weenie status to contest you Erik

After replacing the rims with Chinese carbon widers:

[bedell99]

what did you change besides wheels? medium?

what tires you running for non race? not the nobby nics i take it after your report!

ive got some new time carbon 8 xc pedals coming to swap my boat anchor time atac that ive always run since switching over from bmx type riding.

i dont think i could give up the dropper. understand losing a pound but the freedom it offers is worth it id say. what races do you do? xc or other stuff as well?

Wow its getting lighter. I'm not really into the weight thing however I will use this bike for some races this season.

I haven't been riding this bike in the last 2 weeks because of the snow and mud in Colorado. I will get out on it tomorrow and Thursday. I'm running a medium with Ikon's and almost all XTR except crank and front derailleur.

I used the XT stuff to put on my Carve SS. I'm setting that up as a 1x10 for fast XC courses this summer.

Erik

[weaverwins]

Wow its getting lighter. I'm not really into the weight thing however I will use this bike for some races this season.

I haven't been riding this bike in the last 2 weeks because of the snow and mud in Colorado. I will get out on it tomorrow and Thursday. I'm running a medium with Ikon's and almost all XTR except crank and front derailleur.

I used the XT stuff to put on my Carve SS. I'm setting that up as a 1x10 for fast XC courses this summer.

Erik

you cant say youre not into the weight thing when youre running rovals and XTR

blow us up with some trail pics when you get it out. I'm hoping to get an out of state mtb trip in after Summer