Gear of the Week | Scott Genius 30 LT

When I bought the Genius in 2012, I had no idea about modern mountain bikes, single trails and everything else you need to know when deciding to buy a mountain bike for a few thousand euros. But yes: I wanted a bike, a friend said it was a cool bike and that he could get it cheaply, and I already had the Genius at home. After being completely underchallenged on various flat forest trails in eastern Austria, I was soon completely overwhelmed on the single trails of the Innsbruck Nordkette. My youthful age, good fitness and excellent protectors meant that I never lost the joy of biking, despite a number of major crashes. Equally amazing for me was the fact that the Genius coped quite well. Just like on skis, I only ever put up with the uphill because of the downhill, so the climbing characteristics of the enduro bike were perfectly adequate for me right from the start. Downhill, the Genius was completely oversized for me at the beginning. Over time, I gradually caught up. In the meantime, the limits only become apparent in bike parks on rough downhill trails. On single trails, my technique and fitness remain the limiting factors, the bike definitely isn't.