With 160mm of travel at either end, and 2.8in Schwalbe Nobby Nic rubber gripping the ground, the Genius LT Plus is a big-hitting aggressive bike – all that separates it from Scott’s enduro race bikes are the wider tyres.
The carbon frame helps keep weight in check to a reasonable 14.3kg and there are two geometry settings – low and high. The low setting gives a slack 65.8 degree head angle and a BB height of 345mm, offering predictable stability at speed, even if the 439mm reach isn’t super long and the 832mm standover is high.
Flipping the shock mount chip in the linkage shifts the BB height by 7mm and adjusts the head angle by half a degree
A quick change to the high setting raises the BB by 10mm and steepens it by half a degree. This is in addition to the fork/shock compression damping and rear travel adjust lever on the bar, which stiffens then limits rear travel to 100mm for climbing via the custom Fox Nude shock.
Quality spec list
On the frame there’s a smorgasbord of decent quality, standard trail bike fare including a SRAM GX drivetrain and 40mm wide Syncros rims in Boost hubs. The Syncros finishing kit performs well (although the Torx 25 stem bolts are a pain).
The Syncros finishing kit is good stuff
Point the Genius down a hill and it picks up and holds speed doggedly. The TrailStar compound Nobby Nic on the front has an aggressive shoulder tread, capable of holding a line through corners.
At the back, the PaceStar version rolls a touch faster, with the tread offering vast amounts of traction on all but smooth, wet surfaces, where it’s prone to slipping out.
Rowdy intentions
When things get rough, rocky and rooty, the bike allows you to get rowdy. It’s not the most naturally agile machine, but you can smash through obstacles at speed, while its light weight means you can still pop over bits you really want to avoid. Wide bars and short stem allow the bike to be wrestled round corners far more convincingly than you might imagine, given the weight of tyre plus tube.
Unfortunately it’s also a bike that shows the Schwalbe tyres’ weakness all too easily – the sidewalls are too thin, a product of trying to minimise weight. If there’s ever a bike to run tubeless straight away, or even invest in ProCore, it’s the Genius – we punctured its rear tyre more than pretty much any other bike in the last year…
Point this Genius downhill and you'll soon be moving very rapidly
While punctures are a pain though, they're a signal of what this bike encourages – pure hooliganism.
It’s not the fastest bike ever, although point it in a straight line on rough terrain and you’ll think otherwise. It is, however, bags of fun on virtually every downward pointing trail we took it on. Big travel and big tyres do work.
Also consider:
Rocky Mountain Sherpa
Built for bikepacking deep in the backcountry, the carbon framed Sherpa was one of the first full-suspension plus-size bikes. See our full Rocky Mountain Sherpa review.
Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Comp Carbon 6Fattie
Let the good times roll with this insanely fun bike. With its plus size rubber and carbon frame, it's far more capable than you might give it credit for. See our fullSpecialized Stumpjumper FSR Comp Carbon 6Fattie review.
