Genesis Croix de Fer 30 review: a bike for life and all of life's adventures

The newly updated Croix de Fer stays true to its 'do it all' roots but with an eye to the future. It's now more capable than ever.

Woman riding a Genesis Croix de Fer offroad
(Image credit: Future/Andy Jones)
Cycling Weekly Verdict

This is a bike that's more about having fun adventures than suffering fear-fuelled adrenaline spikes. It's not race bike fast but it is quick, versatile, dependable and robust. It's a bike that will put a smile on your face every time you ride it whatever the terrain.

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Durability and reliability

  • +

    Balanced geometry

  • +

    Comfortable ride

  • +

    A versatile bike that can handle almost anything

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    Weight, but that’s the price you pay for robustness

  • -

    Lacks the speed and reactivity of dedicated gravel race bikes

  • -

    Smaller frame sizes are relatively long to mitigate toe overlap

You can trust Cycling Weekly. Our team of experts put in hard miles testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

The ethos of the now iconic Croix de Fer hasn’t really changed since it was first released in 2009, but the bike has just undergone a thorough update this summer.

Popular features, like the steel frame, generous tyre clearance and an array of mounts for bags, bottles and racks are still key components of the bike. But, on the latest version, clearance has been extended to accommodate up to 47mm wide tyres, while cabling is now semi-integrated.

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Rachel has been writing about and reviewing bike tech for the last 10 years. Cynical by nature, Rachel never really trusts the marketing hype and prefers to give products a mighty good testing before deciding whether they're worth buying or not. 

Rachel's first riding love is mountain biking where she's been European and UK 24hr Champion on more than one occasion. She's not just confined to the trails though and regularly rides - and occasionally races - on gravel and road too.