Fun, fully rigid 29er
So we’ve had a Genesis Fortitude Race in the shop for the last week or so as a demo bike. Quite a few people have been down to test it out so we thought it was about time to let you know how they got on.
With the Fortitude sharing much of its geometry with the High Latitude that we are so fond of we knew roughly what to expect from the ride. The slack angles really help you feel ‘in’ the bike rather than perched up on top of it which makes for a very confidence inspiring ride. This is a bit of a departure from the typical 29er geometries that we’ve seen over the last few years and if you currently ride one you’ll certainly notice the difference.
The fully rigid set-up is surprisingly capable and we didn’t find that we were lagging too far behind our bendy-fork equipped counterparts, although we suspect that if you planned to go flat out it might become a bit of a handful. The clear benefit of the Fortitude though is its simplicity. It is pretty light (given the lack of a suspension fork) and has very little that can go wrong (if anything, given the fantastic reliability of the Shimano Deore components that are fitted to the race model). We can see it fast becoming the go-to bike in the shed that’ll guarantee you’ve got a smile on your face when you get back home no matter what the conditions!
If you want to thwart the worst that mud can throw at your gears you could opt for the adventure version which has an internal geared Shimano Alfine hub.
Be sure to get in touch if you want to try one for yourself! (or if you’ve just got some questions of course)