With harsher weather around the corner and the dangers of theft luring everywhere, I am very lucky to have gotten my greedy fingers on my new traveling companion, the Genesis Flyer 2018. Why did I choose this one? Let’s have a look!

THE BUY

I recently moved to Holland to pursue a career in the world of bikes. Not knowing where I would end up or what I wanted to do exactly, I figured that being in the bicycle capital of the world, ought to be a good starting point.

Upon first cycling through Utrecht, my new hometown, it became very clear to me that my Fairdale Weekender’s disc brakes and SRAM brake levers are going to stand out a bit too much among its grandma-bike counterparts, making it a target for thieves. Another thing that occupied me was that I wanted a bike that required as little maintenance as possible. The fewer things that can break, the more aesthetically pleasing and the happier I would be. This, needless to say, without compromising the joy of riding. Taking these factors into consideration brought me to Genesis and their beautiful Flyer 2018.

THE RIDE

The Flyer is praised by two main groups of riders. As it is labeled ‘the ideal single speed warrior or winter trainer’ you’ll find the all-year city cyclists on one hand and the road cyclists, looking for a price friendly winter trainer with low maintenance, on the other. Undoubtedly, versatility really is the lead motif here. The spectrum ranges from competitors to commuters, and nobody in between is going to have difficulties justifying ownership of this bike. It is fun, easy and sharp.

The single speed comes with both a fixed and a freewheel cog, straight out of the box. This smart move from Genesis makes the Flyer feel very natural in their MY18 lineup, covering a lot of marketing ground. I’m using the toe clips both when riding fixed and free, and I doubt that I will go back to SPD:s. My feet are tightly enclosed between the platforms’ fluted surface and the robust rubber and chords on top. To travel light and for everyday purposes, it’s much easier not having to carry around two pairs of shoes and clipping in and out more slowly is a price I’m happy to pay for that. The steel tube set is stamped with ‘Mjölnir’ rather than ‘Reynolds’ and is fabricated in Taiwan rather than in Birmingham. The first ever Flyer frame to be built of these tubes was the 2015 model and it has since then come with better components, every year. Admittedly, the thought of riding on British steel is a much more appealing one than knowing your frame has been shipped from the other side of the planet, but if nobody told me, I wouldn’t have felt the difference. Besides, they covered it up quite neatly by naming Mjölnir, which is the name of Thor’s hammer.

The custom mudguards invite you to ride to work even on the darkest and wettest mornings. It might even make you want to set your alarm an hour earlier to take the scenic route to work, and maybe you even want to stick on a carrier and take it out for some light touring on the weekend. For bigger and more demanding tasks I would consider upgrading to stiffer wheels of a higher price class.

The lightweight, the snappy geometry, and the agility are a few of the attention catchers. The relatively short chainstays make for a quick response when pushing the pedals and moving through traffic happens in a very swift way. This bike is as fun as it is beautiful but with 65-ish gear inches, maintaining high speed is hard on the flat, Dutch landscapes. Don’t start the next paragraph with a sour feeling because we ended on a negative note in this one. Just get a 14T cog and have fun.

THE LOOKS

With its minimalist elegance, the Flyer is a very appealing bike and balances between the aesthetics of a retro road bike, and that of a more punk rock inner city fixie, without being too much of one or the other. The old school pedals are fun to look at and they make a lot of sense with the Celestiesque “Tarka Green” of the frame.

DICTUM

An all-in-all very enjoyable bike. It is without a doubt a complete single speed and the most versatile bike I have ever owned, and I cannot wait to modify it and push it as far as it allows me to. This has become my main bike for everyday things. Let’s see if it will suffice for coming adventures too! For more information, visit Biketart or Genesis.