Kinesis G2 £1,500 | 9.7kg (size small)
Michelle Arthurs-brennan puts a mixed terrain model through its paces
The Kinesis G2 is designed to be your ideal ‘go-to’ bike for road, gravel and anything in between. The target is versatility, as opposed to some of the more burly gravel bikes we’re seeing of late, many of which seem to float dangerously close to the hardtail mountain bike genre.
Unlike the majority of Kinesis’s offerings, this one is a full build as opposed to a frame-only option.
The G2’s metal heart is constructed from double-butted alloy, while the tapered fork is carbon and flat-mount ready. Kinesis uses a semi-sloping frame on the small models, which both reduces the standover height and provides more comfort so that the experience should match that of taller riders on the larger models.
This is a bike that’s all about stability and comfort. The tall head tube and shorter reach (377mm), paired with an 80mm stem, provide a fairly upright position.
With a suitably long wheelbase at 1,022mm, the numbers are very much in line with the likes of the Cannondale Topstone and Specialized Diverge so there were no surprises or unexpected quirks.
There’s space for tyres up to 45c tyres (42c with mudguards). I tested the bike both with the 38c Schwalbe G-one Allround rubber fitted, later swapping on a pair of Hutchinson Touareg 45c tyres.
Kinesis has provided routing for internal cables, plus pannier rack mounts and two sets of bottle cage mounts. The brand has used a threaded bottom bracket.
This model comes in just four sizes: small, medium, large and extra large (to suit riders ‘over 6ft’). At 166cm I’m quite an average height for a woman, but I’m on the smallest model.
It feels like an XS and an XXL would be welcome additions to the range.
Hitting short sections of road, the G2 rolled smoothly over potholes and speed bumps that usually cause my teeth to chatter. However, when attacking short road climbs en route to the trails, it was abundantly clear that this bike was never meant to be a powerhouse – it is slow to respond to pedal inputs when really trying to hammer it and immediately felt less stiff than a true road-goer, but that’s no bad thing if you’re looking for a comfortable all-dayer.
Flared cockpit
Up front, Kinesis has specced an alloy handlebar with a distinct flare, measuring 42cm at the top and 51cm at the bottom. The shallow drop meant that getting low for road descents felt a bit odd, since my upper body didn’t actually sink much lower, but off-road this wider position provided an excellent power base for techy trails, which had me