First Look At Cotic’s Flare Max

It’s the season of new bike reveals, and Cotic came to see us earlier this week with a new bike that is launching today – the new 2018 Cotic Flare Max. We managed to get out for a decent spin on this fun 29er trail bike and then pinned down Cotic’s Sam the Demo Man for a chat about this new, steel, full suspension bike.

The Flare Max is Cotic’s big wheel trail bike. Less travel than Rocket, but with room for bigger tyres – whether those are 29ers or 27.5+ – while it has always been Boost from the get-go, there are a number of improvements on this bike that bring it right up to date. The whole geometry has been given the longer/slacker/shorter treatment, dubbed ‘Longshot geometry’ and Cotic has been experimenting with various combinations – finding that you can’t just stick a shorter stem on a longer bike, the front has to be slackened too. Likewise, you can’t just slacken a head angle without allowing for a shorter stem. Cotic is speccing all of these new bikes with a teeny 35mm stem from the get-go.

We got Demo Sam to explain all of the differences for us in this video below

(Can’t see the vid? Click here instead)

Of the new FlareMAX, Cotic’s official release goes something like this:

For some years now, Cy has been continually testing and refining his big wheeled prototypes. Changes to angles, stem lengths and BB heights have resulted in his smile getting wider and wider till he was ready to present you with the new FlareMAX, featuring ‘Longshot’ geometry. He realised a very long time ago that one change effects another and they don’t work in isolation. The new FlareMAX is longer, lower, slacker; but it all works in harmony, creating an even more intuitive rider experience.

Silver isn’t the only option and the FlareMAX will come in this neat mid-blue colour, with hints of orange to it. We think it’s rather splendid.

As a bonus we can now offer a small size frame, opening up the world of 29 or 27.5+ wheels to shorter riders. With 120mm of rear travel, the FlareMAX will trounce all trails from local hillocks to the Himalayas. The adjustment in sizes and geometry has changed our own approach to riding. The whole team has been attempting (and cleaning) climbs they’ve previously failed on, PB’s have been broken and the tidal waves of loam (well, mostly mud) have got bigger and bigger. Just like Cy, our smiles have got wider too. Any bike can be fun but the FlareMAX make that feeling last, long after you put it back in the shed. We can’t express how excited we are to share these new frames with you.

The other changes for the bike include an extended fork range, allowing the bike to be run with forks in the 120-140mm range. Gone is a provision for front mechs, so it’s one-by only now, but it has meant that Cotic could design a neat plate to mount a One-up top guide to the drive side pivot cap.

The new FlareMAX now runs on larger main pivot bearings, with relocated bottle bosses to allow for a greater range of rear shocks. The alloy swingarm has been beefed up now for greater stiffness, while the cable routing has been improved to clear wider tyres better.

It wasn’t all new FlareMAX bikes, we also got to play with the new 2018 Cotic Soul. More of that later…

For more details on the new FlareMAX, check out our video below – and then go and visit cotic.co.uk/product/flareMAX

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