Scott’s Twinloc lever-equipped, big-wheeled Genius 940 holds the potential to transform from a trail smoothing big bouncer into an efficient cross-country machine. We hit the hills to see if we could unlock this potential.
Ride & handling: Let down by suspension
Toggling between the three suspension modes is simple and effective thanks to the easy-to-use Twinloc lever (more on that below), and certainly makes lugging the 13.6kg (30lb) 940 up long climbs more than bearable.
After extended use through various conditions, the release button on the lever needed some TLC because it was getting a little sticky. On fast, undulating trails, the Genius holds speed reasonably well in its middle platform setting and feels lively enough to be chucked about, but as soon as things get rougher, steeper or faster and you flick the Twinloc lever to open up the shock and fork fully, things can get unsettled rather quickly.
Although the non-FIT Fox fork performs okay until pushed, the DT shock lacks support, disrupting any balance the 940 might have, making descending a more conservative affair than we’d have liked.
From what Scott have told us though, these rear shock woes should be sorted next year when they switch to the Fox rear damper. This should really help make the most of the well proportioned geometry and let you push the Genius to the limits it was really designed for.
Frame & equipment: Twinloc benefits and good gearing
At the heart of the custom-butted 6061 alloy hydroformed frame sits the custom Scott/DT Swiss M3 rear shock, which controls the 130mm (5.1in) of rear wheel travel.
The shock has three modes, which are accessed via the Twinloc remote, letting you toggle between fully locked out, the efficient traction/pedal platform and fully open for descending. The Twinloc lever simultaneously adjusts the fork too, switching it between the Climb, Trail and Descend modes.
A nice touch, and one that is featured on many of the Scott full-sus bikes, are the ovalised chips at the rearward shock mount. Simply flipping these around allows you to drop the bottom bracket by about 7mm and slacken the head angle by roughly 0.5 degrees.
Although this particular Genius comes with a 135mm quick-release rear axle, thanks to Scott’s IDS SL dropout system it will accept 135x12mm and 142x12mm should you want to upgrade your wheels to a stiffer setup.
The triple Shimano non-series chainset and 10-speed cassette give a wide enough gear range to get up or down just about anything. We’d have liked a clutch style rear mech to quieten down the chain clatter, though, even if it meant dropping down to an SLX offering. It would also help with chain retention – we seemed to drop the chain pretty regularly.
This article was originally published in Mountain Biking UK magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.
