Worthy of Einstein?
Words by Cam McRae. Photos by Scott Markewitz.
Sun Valley has been on the list for some time. Like Moab, it’s one of those places riders rave about that I hadn’t yet ticked off. Add those to Downieville, Williams Lake B.C., Fruita CO, Costa Rica, Chile, Pemberton B.C. (I’ve only scratched the surface in Pemby)… The list is long and it feels great every time I scratch something off. In my dreams Sun Valley was all laptop-width singletrack upholstered with fine Corinthian suede. Here on the Shore a big ring is just decoration so I was hoping to put one to good use down in Idaho – and to stay off the brakes as much as possible.
I found this older Genius parked outside the SCOTT offices in Sun Valley - unlocked of course. This bike wasn't available in North America because of a patent dispute. The previous bike also used a pull shock but it pivoted in a place that didn't please Specialized. Photo ~ Cam McRae
SCOTT's big launch this year is the Genius. This bike was in the line when SCOTT returned to North America but it used a pivot that could be described as a Horst Link, which Specialized has a patent on. SCOTT tried to license it but Specialized founder Mike Sinyard was apparently not keen on that idea, despite having licensed the design to 30 other companies.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it...
Scott Montgomery, who has been leading the charge since SCOTT’s return in 2004, decided to fight the patent in court. After 18 months and a cool mill out of their coffers SCOTT was faced with a summary judgment, which meant the suit would have to go to trial to be resolved. The prospect of two more years and another 2-3 million in court costs was enough to send SCOTT engineers back to the drawing board to re-design the Genius for North American markets (Specialized’s patent is for the US only).
The Genius Limited tips the scales at only 22lbs - with 150mm of travel. It comes at a hefty price though - and is perhaps the most expensive production mountain bike ever seen in North America.
The new Genius is the fruit of that engineering labour. Their goal was un ultra-light – world’s lightest in fact – marathon/trail bike. The frame came out at just 4.05 lbs with shock and 4.96 with shock. While there may be bikes that rival this weight, finding one that also manages 150mm (5.9”) of travel is more difficult. To achieve this SCOTT went to their happy place; carbon. Scott is now branding themselves as ‘The Carbon Experts’ and few would disagree with this claim. The main triangle is manufactured using a new process SCOTT is calling IMP4 – or Integrated Molding Process. Rather than bonding pieces together after fabrication, carbon is wrapped around forms for the entire front end in one step. There are clearly some details SCOTT won’t share about this process, which is why everyone else isn’t doing it. The Caramilk secret has nothing on IMP4.
This frame uses carbon in places we don’t normally see it – like the chainstays and rear dropouts - and there are other tricks to save weight as well. The pivot for the rocker doesn’t rotate on a full-length axle. Instead short axles stop on either side of the frame before penetrating the seattube. This system – which SCOTT calls IAP or Isolated Axle Path - allows for generous saddle height adjustment and saves some girth to boot. You may have guessed that there is no Horst Link on the new Genius. Instead the pivots are found about an inch up the seatstay from the rear dropout. Proponents of the Horst link design – as well as Trek with their new pivot location – suggest that this positioning produces a stiffening effect in the rear suspension under braking. Engineers and marketing forces on both sides of this argument have put forward compelling arguments about whether the average rider can actually feel this effect but that's another article altogether...
The Genius shock, the Equilizer 2, uses and Oil Transfer System (OTC) to tame the bony bits of the earth. The shock has three settings controlled by a handlebar mounted lever.
The rear shock on the Genius is truly unique. Rather than controlling the rear suspension by compressing a piston into the shock body, the Genius Equilizer 2 extends when a force is applied to the rear wheel; it’s a pull shock. Co-developed with DT Swiss, the Equilizer 2 has three distinct modes, and you can choose your attitude from the bar-mounted ‘Trac Loc’ system. Heading down you’ll likely want all 150 mills but you on the way up you may want to either lock things up or put it in Traction Mode with 95 mm of travel – and each setting is available with a flick of your left thumb. I preferred Traction Mode to full lockout on the way up – particularly on the one rough climbing section.
The component spec of this bike - like most I've been on lately - was dialled. The XT group works extremely well and the Fox fork - although not the actual spec - performed flawlessly. The actual spec will be a 2009 Fox Talas 32 150 with 15 QR which is the nicest air sprung fork I have ridden to date. The only issue I had with the spec was the handlebar which was narrower than the correct bar will be - and the actual spec probably would have been too narrow as well. I haven't gone to the massively wide bars yet but I'm pretty happy on a 710mm/ 28 inch bar these days.
The Equilizer 2 and the Oil Transfer System. When a force is applied to the rear wheel oil moves from the main chamber to one of the two smaller chambers. In Traction mode one of the valves leading to the smaller chambers is closed and in lockout both are closed - although there is a blow off for larger impacts.
I was only going to be in Sun Valley – Ketchum to be exact – for three days and two nights and I was keen to squeeze in as much riding as possible. By the time I arrived there were already journalists there and the riding for the day was done. Fortunately it wasn’t hard to convince Scott marketing kingpin Adrian Montgomery to saddle up one more time. We started out from the Scott offices and pedaled to the bottom of the ski area and then began our ascent. It was beginning to dawn on me that Sun Valley is a paradise for riders and snow sport enthusiasts. In Ketchum you can easily go for a fantastic ride or do a few runs on the ski hill on your lunch break. Scott's beautiful new offices are a stone's throw from the trails and the lifts.
From the first pedal stroke I was aware that this wasn’t your average 6” travel bike. Weighing in at a spoke nipple under 26 lbs, the Genius 20 was lighter than more than a few hardtails I’ve ridden and certainly lighter than most 100mm travel machines. For a bike with 6” of travel this ride was obscenely light.
The climb up the River Run switchbacks was a pleasant grade – aside from the ‘Hershey Highway section - and three thousand smooth vertical feet later we were looking down the sort of trail I’d been dreaming about. Adrian lead out down Warm Springs and set a blistering pace. There were spots on the trail you could double things up and long sections were you could fist the bars, push up to the big ring and go as fast as your nutsack would allow. Rocks were completely absent and hitting a root was a rarity. Did I mention berms? The trail was a traverse so every turn that lead you toward the mountain could be ridden high and fast. It was the silky antithesis of riding here on the North Shore and I was all grins.
Katrina Strand following Niki Gudex through some Idaho wildflowers at Fisher Creek. Photo ~ Scott Markewitz
Normally we journos are put on top of the line bikes but the highest zoot Genius – the LTD – isn’t the sort of bike you let dirtbags like us ride. It’s got a DT Swiss fork with carbon lowers and it weighs an astonishing 22 lbs (9.97 kilos). Thomas Frischnecht, who is the archetypal rider for this machine, has his down to 21.6 lbs. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the LTD will bend you over for $12,999 here in Canada and $11,499 south of the 49th parallel. We were on Genius 20 bikes which are a comparative bargain at $5499 in the US and $6499 in Canada.
There is also a Genius just for women - The Contessa Genius 15.
The next day was our big ride. Ketchum was hardly out of the rear view mirror when our surroundings started to feel very wild west – complete with gold rush-era rough-hewn log homesteads and pre-war farm equipment. We drove north along the Sawtooth Scenic Byway until we reached the Fisher Creek trailhead and unloaded bikes from the trucks.
A fast moving fire at Fisher Creek in 2005 left a black forest of sorts in its wake. Photo ~ Scott Markewitz
The climb up from the highway felt like cheating. The temperature was perfect and the incline was about rail grade. Until the last pitch it almost didn’t feel like we were gaining much elevation at all - an effect that was surely aided by our feathery steeds. We arrived at a gate where a sign informed us that motos and bikes were permitted but quads were not, and then we were on singletrack for the rest of the day. In many places the soil was like brown sugar and a burn in 2005 left blackened skeletons in place of trees. Again the trail exceeded my expectations and trying to keep up with the very fast riders on staff at Scott was so much fun it would have been illegal in Utah. Adrian was part of a trio that also included Scott staffers Moises Mexia and Silas Hesterberg. Moises and Silas are very fit like Adrian and they also post some impressive results racing semi-pro DH. Luckily we re-grouped often so I could hook on to the train after they dropped me.
Bermalicious. This was about as rough as the trails got on my trip to Idaho. And I wasn't complaining a bit. Photo ~ Scott Markewitz
As fun as this ride was, it wasn’t the ideal testing lab. These were trails that would have been glorious on a hardtail and just fine on a full rigid machine. Never have I seen such trail perfection. Chasing the fast lads and riding a little faster than I was comfortable with gave me a solid opportunity to test the handling of the Genius and it was snappy when it needed to be but still amazingly solid and predictable at speed. At first I was a little nervous about tipping it into corners going full tilt, but the Genius 20 soon won my confidence. (note - the production version of the Genius 20 will be even more solid. The bike is spec'ed with a new Fox 15 QR fork but this pre- production spec had a standard QR up front). The 67.7 degree headtube is perhaps a little slack for a bike in this category but it never felt sluggish or floppy up front. The new Genius has a longer top tube and thus a shorter stem when compared to previous incarnations and this likely helped the handling as well.
In terms of the suspension I can say that the small bump performance – and I mean very small bump – was great and the few times there were some g-outs the bike handled them well. It’s well balanced front to back to be sure but beyond that it’s tough for me to say much. Bottom outs were absent as were braking bumps, rock gardens and consecutive hard impacts. This wasn’t that kind of riding. Nothing told me the bike wouldn’t handle gnarlier trails well, but really until the goods are sampled in those conditions I'd be making it up. This is a bike designed to be ridden long and hard and when you cover a lot of ground you are bound to encounter at least some nastiness. While there is no question that 150mm of travel will get you out of a lot of trouble it remains to be seen whether your chamois will be soiled or not after the experience.
The Genius 20 enjoying the view. The 20 costs $5499 US or $6499 here in Canada. Photo ~ Scott Markewitz
Besides the carbon models - the Limited, 10, 20, 30 and Contessa 15 - the Genius is also available in aluminum. You don't have to be one of the first employees at Google to afford one either. Scott lists the weights of both the 40 and 50 at under 29 lbs which is still extremely light for a bike with 150mm of travel front and rear. The 50 will ask you to part with $3499 Canadian or $2999 US.
The new Scott Genius is aimed at XC riders looking to enter the long travel arms race. There is even a spot for a water bottle on all but the small frame and there’s no space for more than a 2.4” width tire. If your gig is long rides on in the back country or marathon racing – especially if you are a weight weenie – this could be the bike you’ve been looking for.
The New Voltage.
The new Voltage YZ0 LTD features the shortest chainstays in the business. The LTD goes for $2399 here in Canada and $2199 US. Click for a larger version of this bike.
Scott sponsors dirt jump legend Timo Pritzel and rising star Lance McDermott so they have a fair amount invested in that riding style. To that end they are unveiling a brand new dj frame for 2009 to replace the previous Voltage. Lance and Timo both had fingers in the design process and the result is a frame which Scott claims has the shortest chainstays of any 26” dirt jumper at 385 mm. It’s apparently so easy to manual it almost does it for you. This frame is available on the top two Voltage models – the YZ0 Limited and the YZ 0.5 and it also serves up Scott’s new ‘Full Nelson’ head tube design that is cold forged to optimize weld consistency.
Scott already has the 2009 bikes on their intraweb home. Have a look at specs and more photos here.
Are you the weenie Scott is looking for? Is this enough bike for you? Could it be built up Shore-worthy? Ever ridden in Sun Valley? Do tell...
