Louis Garneau Gennix R1 Ultimate with Shimano Di2

With the feathery push of a button, the Dura-Ace 10-speed drivetrain makes a robotic sound as it shifts into a harder gear. The speed increases as the hill in front of me steepens and seems to narrow. It’s a twisty back road running along a hilly escarpment and a tight right-hand turn nears. With confidence, the Louis Garneau Gennix dives into the bend and accelerates with ease.

This test ride comes on a scenic route on Canadian soil, but if the company’s namesake has his way, this is a bike that will be put through its paces under the backsides of WorldTour-level professionals.

Louis Garneau, the Olympian-turned-entrepreneur who started his business in the 1980s by outfitting Canadian cycling team members, dreams of one day seeing bikes with his name on them ridden in the Tour de France. For now, he’ll have to settle with his helmets, clothing and shoes making it to the pinnacle of the sport. The Garneau brand is one of the partners with Team Europcar, and its riders, including French hero Thomas Voeckler, rode the Canadian company’s apparel in the 2011 Tour.

Garneau knows it would take committing huge sponsorship dollars to get his Gennix line of road bikes into the Tour, but with the R1 Ultimate, his designers have certainly created a bike worthy of competing at that level.

The Genn.R1, a name-shortened version of the Gennix racing bike in the Garneau stable, is the top of the food chain for the Canadian brand’s offerings in 2012. The complete Gennix line includes six variations of road bikes and three triathlon bikes. Both styles are also available as framesets only. What makes a Genn.R1 stand out from the less-expensive Gennix R1 Pro is simply the build. The Genn.R1 is like the factory-tuned performance car offered by sports car companies. Sure, you could have the Porsche 911, but why not go after the stealth black 911 Turbo S if it’s in your budget?

Using the Gennix carbon monocoque frameset as a base, the top-end Ultimate starts with a foundation built for racing. The Gennix R1 frame uses UHM carbon fibre, which Garneau says is twice as stiff as its own HM carbon used on its Gennix R2. It uses a pressfit bottom bracket, a tapered head tube and uniquely-shaped, almost twisting tubes that provide extra stiffness where the designers felt it was needed most. The frame is mated to a Garneau monocoque carbon fork while the top of the headtube is notched to allow the headset to sit lower. For the Di2-equipped Genn.R1 Ultimate, the frame has full internal wiring with special plugs covering any unused cable entry-points (which would be needed for standard drivetrains). The Di2 battery sits neatly under the non-driveside chainstay while a large access port under the bottom bracket provides an area for the extra wiring to be hidden in the frame.

For components, the Ultimate gets the full Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 treatment, including the gorgeous FC-7900 crankset and standard Dura-Ace brakes. The wheels are the aero, yet convenient, C50 carbon clinchers with aluminum braking surfaces. Mounted to them are Vittoria Corsa Evo Cx 23c tires, which we found offered plenty of grip in a variety of riding conditions.

Cockpit components were almost exclusively from 3T’s Team collection, including the handlebar, stem and seatpost. The saddle is Garneau’s own Airstream, which was comfortable on long rides and matched the bike well. We would have picked a more ergonomical handlebar than the spec’d 3T Rotundo Team, but that’s more personal preference.

On the road the Genn.R1 was thrilling. It’s massive downtube and bottom bracket made the bike feel stout and secure and the shape of the seatstays provided just enough compliance for a racing-oriented bike. The geometry was spot-on, and with an out-of-the-box weight of just slightly over 7 kg (15.5 lbs), it floats up hills. Handling is sharp and responsive, even when bombing down twisty descents on country back roads.

Graphically, the bike is stunning – almost. The natural carbon frame colour is accented by gloss carbon graphics and lettering providing a stealthy, expensive look. The 3T components, Garneau saddle and (most of the) Dura-Ace bits all look great together. Holding this bike back – appearance wise, at least – are the cheap-looking, logo decals on the downtube, headtube and chainstays. The bright red stickers are thick enough to seem like afterthoughts in the design. We also would have liked to see the stock Dura-Ace grey brake cable housing replaced with black to match the rest of the colour scheme. Garneau almost hit a home run with the Genn.R1’s appearance, but fell just short.

Fortunately for Garneau, they got everything else right. This is a bike that could easily be used by a WorldTour team. And if Louis Garneau has anything to say about it, a future generation of the Genn.R1 Ultimate likely will.

Components Shimano Dura-Ace Di2

Wheels Dura-Ace C50 clinchers

Sizes XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL

MSRP $12,000