Genesis (Ridgeback) 853, is it any good?

Just saw a new skool old skool frame I like, The Genesis (Ridgeback) 853 frame, nickel plated. £350ish.

I figured that with some Sram X9 or new XT and a pair of Fox forks it would make a pretty wicked new bike with an old skool feel.

Has anyone got one of these or heard anything about them good or bad?

Cheers.

Weird!!

I was up the chase on Sun and spent a good while speaking to James (designer) and the other guy who are Genesis!! :shock:

They had a frame there, a ss specific to see, but no demos.

James seemed quite knowledgable about the design, going through the specific tube diameters and geometry changes between ss and geared frames, chainstays with no crease, brazed gussted under downtube etc. Nice guy. Frames are not designed around wopping forks, and more a sensible ride.

I had a good look at the 725 ss frame he had, and my impressions are..
- welding looks tidy
- Geometry pretty std
- Couple of nice little touches
- But downside for me was the paint finish, bit rough for me. I know its a cheap frame, but the demo frame on show did not have a uniform smoothness. I told the guys this was my only concern, and essentially they are making to a cost, and better paint costs more!
- Also frame only comes in same colour as full bikes, which are not expensive, so loses some pimp value there
- The 725 and 853 apparently ride very similar, butthe 853 is just stronger and a touch lighter
- The 17.5" ss frame weighs about 4.74lbs

Would I buy one? Maybe. Look good, but would need to sort the paint.

Oh, and they stole the Rocky name - and called some 'Altitude' :twisted:

very good! simple as that. i spoke to our rep. about them, he said they were rebranded genesis because the ridgeback brand was much more hybrid-townbike focused nowadays.
the genesis bikes will be seen alongside more premium brands in shops that sell high-end bikes as well as hybrids.
although i wont be selling them, i think they are great, good to see steal coming back

Anyone got a link to the 853 frame?

just spoke to them,
they are doing two frames, one singlespeed made from reynolds 720 tubing rrp £250
& the geared frame (altitude) made from 853, (main triangle) rrp £350! :shock:
all in stock.
dont think they are on the website as seperate picys, just as complete bikes.

yep XEO, cheap enough!!

The std geared bike is a 520 tubeset, so don't buy this thinking its the same as the frame only!

The ss has removeable (chunky) canti bosses, adj dropouts with neat set screw and slotted disc mounts, the geared is disc only.

All sounds good, I must admit the nickel plate looks really nice, as I said, some XT, hope brakes and sensible bits would make a nice bike, Might be my next project as I cannot justify a Independent right now.

That Altitude 2.0 is the first bike I've seen in a while that made me start fingering the wallet, so to speak. That's 853 tubing right..

So how much would one of those set you back ??

It's about £350ish, or Orange Prestige in old money