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The time, care and precision devoted to each frame is spectacular.

BIKE OF THE MONTH JUNE '09 - GURU GENEO

CUSTOM, CARBON, AERO, EH? By Phil Cavell

Hands up - I am not a natural fan of carbon fibre. Most especially when it comes to bikes. Teenage memories of seventies horror news stories of Scimitar and Lotus cars exploding into millions of fibre-glass shards is mixed with the reality that now again over the years we have seen some household-named mass-produced and respected carbon frames and components failing due to impact or apparent act of god.
Shit this test has started on a negative note that I never intended?
Feedback not Interference
Plus to be really honest I have never particularly appreciated the 'Dolby' high-frequency filter that carbon puts between me and the road. I don't necessarily want interference but I do like feedback that allows accurate judgements on the margins about grip and traction. Both steel and titanium are good transmitters of this information, whilst in my experience some feedback with carbon is lost – note with poor aluminium frames much of fine quality response is lost in the course chaff and chatter.

BUT- Carbon technology is getting more sophisticated and in turn more creatively applied to bicycle frame, with its myriad of competing stress angles under load. And there are not many frames alive that are as packed with technology and innovation as the Geneo right in front of me made by Montreal 's famously self-effacing Guru bike company.

Slippery Bling Eh?
Individuals who covet kit that is both on the forefront of technology, and lets be honest on the prominent side of bling, seem to worship the Geneo and its slippery TT cousin, Crono. On show together at CycleFit the two bikes have shown unrivalled ability to stop certain folk in their tracks mid-sentence – normally accompanied by a slack-jaw and thousand-yard stare as they imagine themselves astride the Guru's seamless, aero, carbon curves. They did the same to me a few years ago, before I even found out they were custom-made in Canada and made of hand-made high modulus carbon and, and, and….

Handmade Eh?
I don't want to talk too much about how Guru hand-craft these frames – there is some information out there on Guru's own website and a lot of it they won't share, even with us. But check out their little video The Making Off  - this will leave you in no doubt that there is a bewildering amount of care, technology and man-hours in every single frame. In some ways the opening scene where the carbon material is patiently pattern-cut from the carbon roll is the most impressive - although I do also quite like the wierd bit with man in a space-suit?

The Ride Eh?
Just getting astride a bike like the Geneo makes you feel a wee bit special – the smooth aero curves and deep flawless sheen suggest lighter-than-air efficiency. Our test bike is equipped with SRAM Red, FSA carbon bar/stem duo and a set of Mavic Cosmic Carbon wheels, which also helps ratchet-up the tension.
All my pre-conceptions about carbon evaporate in a protected bubble of devastating effectiveness. The Geneo does isolate out more of the road response than say the Serotta HSG or MeiVici, which themselves do have more of a metallic feel than any other carbon-tubed bikes we have ever ridden. But the inescapable fact is that Geneo whispers along with barely a ruffle of breeze or buzz with alarming speed and silkiness. And in that sense the Guru is both a fantastic escape artist for racers who routinely like to win in a breakaway situation; or the perfect bike for breaking self-authored records around your favourite training route of sportive event. Ergo you will almost certainly be faster on a Geneo than the bike you are already own, if you intend to ride very fast in mixed conditions and road-surfaces, either on your own or pulling at the front of a grupetto. And you will probably be all the more effective because of the inherent damping properties of Guru's true monocoque construction and the few degrees of separation it brings on less than perfect roads. The fact that Guru also lay-up the Geneo with a 70/30% (60/40% is standard) fibre-v's-resin ratio seems to benefit both acceleration and comfort in equal measure.

Small Intrusions
The perfect ride was intruded upon by a couple of issues – first I don't like the fact that you can't multiple up-shift with SRAM Red – neither can you with Shimano but you can with Campag Record and that is what I usually ride. I also found the Red a little slow to shift under extreme loads (or as extreme as I could muster), but this could be a new bike with cables on the stretch? Nor do I like Cosmic Carbons much – the fact that they are Jules and Warrick 's favourites must mean there is something to commend them, but I rather suspect they like them for the faux-jet sound-track? Me, I just find them prone to side-winds and a little cumbersome when accelerating and cornering.

Squaring The Circle
The supple and fluid perfection of the Geneo shows that Guru has actually realised what many thought impossible - squaring the circle of ‘custom', ‘carbon' and ‘aero' in one bike.

Category - Road Racing

Frame Weight - 1250gms

Guru Geneo - Custom - £3800 - frame and fork inc. VAT

http://www.gurubikes.com

Read Warrick's Glider WingTip test ..more
Read Jules' Pop-Up Ottrott Test ..more
Read Phil's Pop-Up Guru Praemio Test ..more
Read Phil's Pop-Up MeiVici Test ..more
Read Phil's Pop-Up Serotta CDA test ..more
Read Marcel Wust's review of the frame we designed for him ..more