Genesis Equilibrium - bad luck or poor quality?

[Ugo51]

Hi guys,

In a fit of optimism, I purchased a Genesis Equilibrium 10, just before Xmas. It was delivered, upon my request, after the holidays.
While unboxing it, I noticed the the front wheel was out of true and the rear hub was not straight. I actually noticed this only riding it for a few hundred meters. It felt like I was riding on a jagged surface. Upon close inspection, turning the wheel while holding the hub in my hands, I can see that the spindle has a precession motion, visibly noticeable by looking at the drive side.
Worth mentioning that the bike is new, from 2016, so old stock, but advertised as brand new (which later turned out to be ex-demo, but still, it doesn't have substantial mileage on it).

Do Genesis come with especially crappy wheels?
The rest, frame and groupset aside, didn't seem to be super high quality too. The seatpost and seatpost clamp are awful, the bar tape too.
The groupset is Tiagra, good enough for me, but the brake calipers are some unbranded type, very low quality and cheap.

I have the feeling that I just spent £600 on a frame and a Tiagra groupset, while the rest belongs to a much lower end bike.
Do you reckon this is the case? Or it might just be me, being used at the feel of vintage bikes, which are more "solid" than their modern counterpart?
OK, £600 is not a huge amount for a bike, but it's not peanuts...

Cheers,

Ugo

 

[coomber]

The frames are always good quality from what I have seen. A friend has a 2018 version and it is lovely - good welds and paint.

The points you mention are always cheap and to the point, because they are easy to change for personal preference. So I would always expect a cheap seatpost, seat, seatclamp and bar tape on a bike even if the equilibrium had a decent RRP when new. Seatclamp just has to do it's job on a road bike so I wouldn't expect any bling or quality when you can buy decent replacements for £5-10. Likewise bar tape comes in so many variants, a cheap set on there will do the job as no manufacturer will spec something quality when it is personal taste and it is such an obvious place to cut costs. I think the brakes will be unbranded or promax avid copies, so should be ok.

If it were me I would just ride it for a bit and then see what contact points work for you or dont and then spend a little changing the areas you mention and that would make a big difference.

 

[coomber]

The frames are always good quality from what I have seen. A friend has a 2018 version and it is lovely - good welds and paint.

The points you mention are always cheap and to the point, because they are easy to change for personal preference. So I would always expect a cheap seatpost, seat, seatclamp and bar tape on a bike even if the equilibrium had a decent RRP when new. Seatclamp just has to do it's job on a road bike so I wouldn't expect any bling or quality when you can buy decent replacements for £5-10. Likewise bar tape comes in so many variants, a cheap set on there will do the job as no manufacturer will spec something quality when it is personal taste and it is such an obvious place to cut costs.

I think the brakes will be unbranded or promax avid copies (if it is the disc version), so should be ok, but if not, then some decent brake pads would tighten up the braking better so I would change to something decent once you have worn through the original pads (if rim brakes).

If it were me I would just ride it for a bit and then see what contact points work for you or dont and then spend a little changing the areas you mention and that would make a big difference.

 

[firedfromthecircus]

I bought my Genesis as a frame and fork but certainly no complaints about the quality. I think they are decently specced bikes for the price point. I think the issues with the wheels need to be taken up with the shop as they are clearly not fit for purpose and standard buyer protections, especially distance selling regs should have you covered.
In terms of whether modern stuff is flimsy in comparison to vintage, not in my experience. I have had issues with some machine built wheels but nothing that 10 minutes with a spoke wrench hasn't fixed. This is of course with traditional lace pattern wheels. I don't have any experience with the modern minimal spoke efforts!

 

[Ugo51]

Re:

Thanks for the reply.
It seems that the issue with wheels is indeed bad luck, but easily solvable.
As for the rest, I get the concept of having cheap equipment so that owners can replace it with what they like best - it's just not what I was expecting. I guess it would have been better to buy the frame and then build the bike up with the components I like.

 

[mattr]

I have the feeling that I just spent £600 on a frame and a Tiagra groupset, while the rest belongs to a much lower end bike.

Nope, you just bought an 900 quid bike for £600. It's exactly as i'd expect it to be.
Christ, even 3000 quid bikes come with down specced wheels and finishing kit.....

 

[Ugo51]

I have the feeling that I just spent £600 on a frame and a Tiagra groupset, while the rest belongs to a much lower end bike.

Nope, you just bought an 900 quid bike for £600.

The way I see it, I bought a piece of junk for £600.
Luckily, I was able to send it back for a full refund.