Scott Genius 940 review | Trail Bike of the Year contender

Despite appearances, the Scott Genius 940 is neither a hardtail nor an electric mountain bike – both comments I’ve heard about it while riding the bike in the wild.

Instead, Scott’s Integrated Suspension Technology sees the rear shock of this full-suspension mountain bike tucked away inside the expansive junction of the seat tube and down tube.

The Genius is Scott’s trail and all-mountain platform, delivering 150mm of travel at each end. It utilises Scott’s own TwinLoc and Nude suspension technologies to control the bike’s bounce.

The 940 is the base-model Genius and features a parts package from Marzocchi, X-Fusion, SRAM and Syncros.

It’s a super-efficient machine that makes the most of a stable pedalling platform to ensure it crosses ground with ease.

However as technicality increases, the cheaper suspension starts to struggle, leading to an unsettled ride when you’re really hauling.

Scott Genius 940 frame and suspension

Not only has the frame’s shape garnered much attention out on the trail, thanks to its hidden shock, but so has the attractive-looking raw aluminium finish.

Look closer, and the welds are arguably a little on the industrial side, but the logo-free, no-nonsense finish certainly has its fans.

With such an integrated look, the frame is easy to clean, while there are no worries about marking the shock’s stanchion as you store the bike or move it about.

A 6061 alloy is used front and rear by Scott, while it has called upon sibling brand Syncros’ Cable Integration System to draw the hydraulic hoses, dropper cable and shock cables under the stem, through the stem spacers and into the frame via the headset.

It’s undeniably a tidy-looking system, and once you’ve set bar height, it does its job well. However, the extra steps required to swap or replace hoses and cables is going to add time in the workshop.

There are a trio of bottle boss bolts and the rear derailleur is held by SRAM's Universal Derailleur Hanger, while the cranks spin around a BB92 bottom bracket.

Secreted-away suspension

The Genius’ standout feature is the Integrated Suspension Technology.

The IST is a 4-bar system, featuring a pivot in the chainstay and a neat rocker assembly that activates the internally located shock. An external sag indicator sits around the rocker’s pivot.

The shock is accessed via a door in the base of the down tube. During my testing, the mechanism didn't get bunged up with mud.

The top bolts of the shock can be accessed via a port on the side of the seat tube, if you need to remove it for servicing.

The shock’s adjustments aren’t as accessible as those found on an external shock, but once set up, its hidden nature makes it a very tidy-looking system.

The TwinLoc remote works with the Nude shock, on this model provided by X-Fusion.

TwinLoc’s levers shift the shock and fork between three modes – Descend, Traction Control and Lockout.

The fork has a ‘standard’ 3-position low-speed compression adjustment, to keep it open on descents, stable when you’re pedalling on trails and locked when you don’t want any movement.

The shock is a bit more developed. It has two positive air chambers, as well as low-speed compression control.

In Descend mode, the shock’s low-speed compression circuit is open, while the shock has access to two positive air chambers.

In the Traction Control mode, one of the air chambers is blocked off, which acts in the same way as adding a massive volume spacer. It reduces the size of the air spring, making it ‘ramp up’ much sooner, effectively limiting the travel to 100mm.

It allows for similar levels of small-bump sensitivity in its early stroke, but won’t enable full use of the shock’s travel.

In this mode, low-speed compression damping is also added, to slow it all down.

The idea is there’s plenty of traction, but limited pedal bob.

In the Lockout mode, the shock’s low-speed compression circuit is closed, as is the fork’s, locking out the suspension completely. This is designed for smooth ascents.

The system is controlled via an on-bar lever arrangement, which also adds a third lever to control the dropper.

Scott Genius 940 geometry

I tested a size-Large Genius 940, and it’s fair to say the geometry is very much up to date.

The headset has +/- 0.6 degrees of adjustment and comes in the steeper setting. It’s still pretty slack, though, at 65.1 degrees, and is matched with a quoted 77-degree seat angle.

However, with my 75cm saddle height, I measured the seat angle at a super-steep 78.5 degrees, which is excellent.

Swap the headset cups and it slackens the head angle to 64.5 degrees – as slack as you’ll find on a trail bike.

The Large comes with a very roomy 485mm reach and a bottom bracket that’s 33mm below the axles, dropping it to 335mm from the ground. The 1,249mm wheelbase is pretty long, too.

Scott Genius 940 specifications

While the Genius range goes up to superbike levels, this 940 model is much more modest.

The aforementioned suspension comes in the form of a trunnion-mounted X-Fusion Nude 5 RLX, offering rebound adjustment. Up front, you get a Marzocchi Z2 air fork, with the three-position low-speed compression adjustment controlled by the TwinLoc and rebound adjustability at the bottom of the fork.

The drivetrain comes from SRAM, with an SX Eagle groupset featuring an 11-50t cassette. The SX shifter’s wide band doesn’t sit nicely with the Shimano MT501 brake levers, making cockpit setup a little trickier than I’d like.

The integration at the Syncros cockpit looks tidy, although you’ll have to battle with the stem bolt cover to tighten the Torx 25 bolts that hold it all together.

The Syncros grips are also secured with Torx bolts – T15s. I’m not a fan of this – T15 bits aren’t commonly found on multi-tools, so mid-ride fixes of slipping grips are going to be a pain. Plus you can’t get ball-ended Torx bits, making access to small bolts in tight places difficult.

Syncros features heavily outside the cockpit – the dropper, saddle and rims also come from the in-house brand.

Maxxis’ dual-compound, EXO-cased Dissectors adorn the 30mm-wide rims.

This £3,000 bike comes in at 15.8kg (Large) on my scales.

Scott Genius 940 ride impressions

I’m a fan of the hidden shock in general, though understandably it adds a step to any rear-shock adjustments you might want to make.

The cover pops off easily and didn’t gunk up during testing. And, after plenty of UK mud, the shock is still as clean as the day it came out of the factory, which is a real plus point for longevity.

Threading a shock pump onto the shock is a more protracted process, unless you can deftly feel the shock valve’s thread – otherwise, you’re likely to be flipping the bike over. It’s the same for adjusting the rebound.

Fortunately, sag measurement is easy thanks to the dial that’s mounted around the main rocker pivot.

I found setting the shock’s damping settings trickier than others in this year’s Trail Bike of the Year test.

There’s only rebound adjustment on the shock. However, fully open was a touch too fast, with a clunky top-out, and only one click felt bordering on too slow for my liking.

Having ridden a Fox-shocked version of the Genius, I know this is an issue with the cheaper X-Fusion shock, rather than an inherent issue with the Genius.

Adjusting the bar height, with all the headset-routed cables and associated stem spacers, is an elongated process.

Scott Genius 940 climbing performance

With its three-position TwinLoc on-bar remote, there should be a setting ready for whatever trail you’re on.

The lever is a little clunky and is a hefty chunk of material to have under your bars. However, the three modes are easy to toggle through (if a little stiff to push to get to the full lockout), so long as you don’t hit the dropper lever by mistake. With time, your thumb’s muscle memory will kick in, though.

Even without the Traction mode or lockout engaged, the Genius is incredibly efficient uphill, with stable suspension that barely takes any notice of your pedalling action, stood or sat.

It stays high, keeping that super-steep seat angle in its most effective position.

Despite this, the bike doesn’t feel tall or ungainly.

Click the shock into the Traction mode and the bike stiffens noticeably – it’s not quite locked out, but it’s pretty stiff, and the bike hardly sags into its travel. I used this mode only on the steepest pitches – outside of those situations, it’s not needed.

Likewise, the full lock was saved only for tarmac and mostly so I could assess the Genius’ climbing performance in all states, rather than because I was desperate for some respite.

The pair of Dissector tyres roll fast, with their low-profile central tread barely putting up a fight to forward motion.

On sloppy climbs, this hampers their traction, though, and I occasionally found myself slipping and sliding.

However, if long days in the hills, monster fire-road climbs or extended loops to and from the best trails are the order of the day, these tyres will serve you well.

When things get tricky, the pert suspension ensures you’re driven forward and it’s easy to use the directness to lift the front wheel over steps and continue that momentum forward.

However, the slammed BB meant I experienced more pedal strikes on the Genius than other test bikes.

SRAM’s cheap drivetrains – NX and SX here – don’t feel as robust or premium as the GX found elsewhere, however they work smoothly when covered in mud.

Scott Genius 940 descending performance

Even in the steeper headset setting, the slack head angle, long-ish 820mm front centre (centre of the BB to the front wheel axle) and low bottom bracket ensure the Genius’ geometry is spot-on for aggressive riding.

Flip the cups to the slack setting and you’re on a really radically shaped bike.

The front wheel’s position ahead of you gives confidence on steep terrain, while the low bottom bracket anchors the bike to the ground when you sling it into a berm.

The Dissector tyres’ rolling speed means trail-centre laps are dispatched in KOM-setting times. However, in loose dirt, their low-profile tread lacks bite, hampering confidence, and their dual-compound construction isn’t the grippiest on slick rocks and roots.

While trail bikes with a bit of a speedy focus may benefit from a Dissector out back, I’d say the tyre isn’t suited to longer-travel, more aggressive application on the front wheel.

If I owned this bike, I’d purchase a more aggressive front tyre and keep the second Dissector for when the original wears out on the rear.

While the Shimano MT501 brakes are two-piston versions, and from the lower end of the range, they go to show just how good Shimano’s brakes can be.

I never really found them lacking and they have the customary Shimano bite. Upgrading the rotors to non resin-only versions would be high on my to-do list, though.

Swap a tyre and the signs are good for the Genius on the descents.

However, in back-to-back testing with its category rivals, it was clear the suspension wasn’t quite up to the quality found elsewhere.

The shock, in particular, felt over-damped. This helps give the bike impeccable pedalling manners, both on climbs and on rolling terrain, where the Scott absolutely flies.

However, when the trails get chunky, the shock feels slow to react, leading to an unbalanced and unsettled ride.

The 150mm-travel Marzocchi Z2 is okay, although at 150mm it's pushing it in terms of chassis stiffness, thanks to its 34mm stanchions.

It’s also a little stiff in its damping, and I struggled to get the front and rear ends working in sync nicely when pushing on over rocky and rooty tracks.

This wasn’t helped by the skittery Dissector tyres, in their thinner EXO casing.

Reducing the pressure in the shock below 30 per cent sag helps smooth the rear end, though at that point pedal strikes are much more common and the Genius loses its perky, speed-generating nature.

To compensate, I tended to ride the front end of the bike harder – putting more weight through the bar, rather than centralising my weight between the wheels.

How does the Scott Genius 940 compare to the Whyte T-160 RS?

Both these bikes cost the same, however on paper they offer very different propositions.

While travel numbers are also similar, the Scott feels much more like an all-day moorland epic, trail-centre slayer, rather than one that’s begging to be taken to the most technical tracks around, as the Whyte does.

Both bikes climb well, but the Scott’s steep seat angle, rock-solid suspension and fast rubber mean it’ll get you to the top fastest. Likewise, show it a man-made slither of smooth singletrack and it’ll zip along with no complaints.

However, the Whyte’s top-spec RockShox suspension puts the Scott’s X-Fusion shock and Marzocchi fork in the shade, as do more aggressive tyres on the Whyte, whenever you need to tackle anything technical.

Smooth, controlled and more than capable of hitting serious lines as fast as you dare, the Whyte T-160 RS means business.

Scott Genius 940 bottom line

The Scott Genius 940 shows tons of promise, and if chassis alone could be assessed, it would score higher. The frame is lovely and once you’ve got your suspension pumped up and the bar height set, it’s wonderfully easy to live with.

Despite killer geometry and 150mm travel, the Genius 940 can’t keep pace on technical terrain thanks to suspension that just doesn’t deliver a smooth and composed ride.

The next model up’s Fox suspension is a more attractive proposition.

I’ve ridden a couple of Genius bikes and always come away impressed – the ST versions in particular are excellent trail and all-mountain bikes.