Can anybody give any feedback from riding a Cotic Rocket with 160mm forks upfront?

I’m downgrading from my heavy freeride rig to something that can cope with enduro, dh and the resr, and the rocket seemed ideal.

The only thing is, I think I’m gonna need 160mm forks, as I do most of riding on the downhill trails at FoD.

The bike was designed for 140-160, but 150mm is ideal, so I want to know how it would ride with 160mm.

I knwo some people will think, it’s only 10mm it won’t make much difference, but the axle to crown is higher and the suspension will change the feel.

Thanks for any input!

Spaced down 160s? Does that not reduce a2c ? Plus you will get 35/36 mm stantions

Have you tried one yet?

They’re plenty slack already with a 32mm 150 fork on – handle lovely downhill, but still climbs really well. Bunging a 36mm 160 on will involve quite a lot more slackness as the axle to crown dimension is quiet a bit more than just 10mm.

That said, even at 10stone, I did find the Fox 32 on the demo bike a bit weedy compared to the stiffness of the back end.

Not bought one yet, but its on the to-do list for 2013, and I’ve got the same conundrum to face then!

No, I haven’t tried one, I live way too far from any demo days places.
Yeah, I’m not worried about the head angle, the 66.5 with 150mm forks is fine.

It’s more that I don’t want my forks to break on me…….
That said most of the DH stuff is at FoD is pretty tame bar Endo and tGtBtU, so I may be able to get away with 150mm.

I also have the opportunity to buy some 2011 Fox 36 Float 160mm for £325 – an opportunity not to be missed I think!

Anyone know how it’ll climb as I’ll be wanting to do gravity enduros and I don’t want to die of exhaustion!

While spacing down 36s would be far too sensible, I’d like to either benefit from the full travel of the 36s, or the better climbing and weight of the 32/34s.

Float 34 160’s are shorter ac than the 36… I’m putting either lyriks or 36’s on mine.

Nice, can you let me know how it rides?

Will do.

They climb superbly, no front end lift whilst seated, even on steep climbs. The Rocket I tried had 140mm Fox 32s on and didn’t feel too low at the front, didn’t try it on anything properly steep or lumpy though.

U-Turn Lyriks would seem to be the answer.

2nd the U-turn Lyriks.. i rum em on my Orange 5 and usually around 140mm but fully extended on proper dh trails. Lovely plush stiff forks 🙂

I’ve got a rocket with BOS devilles at 160mm travel on and a vipr on the back, and it seems to cope with anything I’ve thrown at it so far. I played about with the TRC for the fork and the shock, but on recent rides I’ve only been flipping the rear over for the longer climbs. It’s loads of fun on the trails, you can feel a little overbiked for a second or two here and there, but as soon as the bike picks up any speed up or down it feels great. Not had chance to hit any really rocky runs, but the sections that it has run through it’s felt well planted and it will pop off anything given very little encouragement.

I’ve run lyriks on other bikes and still have some but I’m favouring the devilles by a long way so far

I had an uplift booked in at stinkydog but it got cancelled, and the way its been riding so far I’m wondering about which bike to take to the alps next year…
…. and I’m thinking I might use it with the TRC switched on for a multi-day xc ride early in the new year, just so much fun to ride.

The only problem I’ve had with it so far is leaving the trc on the rear shock seems to change the feel of the bike so much for jumping that it can throw you if you’ve not flipped it back when you hit a kicker.

Will let you know. Just bought one but not built it up yet. Will be running Lyrik coil U-turns on it.

OP I have just sat next to you at dinner! Good luck with the build, if you need help get my number from Lucy LW.

Hmm, I’ve a mate who is running Lyriks on his and he loves his Rocket so it’s not going to kill the ride for sure.

The extra height will slacken off the HA to ~66 deg which is as slack as I personally think you can go without killing things climbing wise. I’ve not tried the rocket at 160 myself but I had a Laby Agile for a decent demo (over 10 hours put in on the saddle) and it had devilles and a 1 deg angleset. The front whelk did *tend* towards wheel flop on the steep ups but it was manageable and didn’t detract from the ride.

The other effect of the extra travel is raising the b/b a touch. As the Rocket is pretty low to start with I doubt this would be an issue either. I set my rear pressure by increasing it until the number of pedal strikes becomes negligible. This is around 25% for me.

If you want something that is rock solid up front then go for the 36’s. If you want a more all round, lighterweight bike you could probably pick up a set of Rev’s off Merlin or the likes for ~£300.

PS in an ideal world I wouldve gone for a fully Bos’ed up one myself.

Spent the last year at FOD on a 140mm bike as DH bike died. And found I wasn’t much slower there than a lot of the chaps on big bikes. So you don’t necessarily need 160s for there.

That’s interesting, so you reckon all of the DH trails at FoD would be okay on a 150mm travel bike?

Ordered a fork now so it shouldn’t be long now…

I have! 😉

The only thing the 160mm forks do is push the bike back a little so that for REALLY steep seated technical climbs it’s more wandery, but that’s the only downside apart from the weight being higher on 160mm forks. With a short stem the feel is fine. I wouldn’t bother with 34’s. I had a set and although they keep the geometry a little steeper Fox are having a deeply weird set up year for 2013 on the forks. They blow through incredibly easily even with the CTD turned all the way up. Tried for ages to get a nice supportive set up and couldn’t. Gone back to 150mm forks (Magura TS-8’s) which I do prefer for all round riding. I like being able to get said really steep tech climbs, and I’m no DH monster, so the 32’s strike a nicer compromise for my preferences. I also seem to be able to live with 32mm forks stiffness better than others. A couple of my mates said they’d want 36’s on one when they tried our demo bikes.

Another option is spacing down the 36’s if you want the stiffness and you want something a little shorter. My mate Andy’s Blingrocket has 36’s at 140mm with a BOS shock and it’s pretty mint.

I did the DH routes at FoD with 150mm Fox Floats, no problems at all (on an Intense 6.6 tho)
It was slippy in the mud and coped really well with all the off-camber roots etc. Didn’t feel hindered by the forks at all..

and I’m 14 stone… 😉

Went for the fox 36 160 RC2 fit in the end,.. I knackered my 32 floats. I am rubbish though.

I’ve got 160mm u-turn lyrics on my Pitch.

67deg HA with Pikes, 67.5 with Sektors, 66-66.5 with Lyrics (not my numbers, off google). So I’m presuming it’s arround 0.5-1deg steeper than a rocket.

For climbs I find I have to wind it down to 140 on technical stuff to keep the front end under controll, downhill 140-160mm are both good, different, but both good in slightly different ways (140 feels more involved, 160 is like riding a battering ram).

I’d probably not want it fixed at 160mm.

I know HA isn’t the only variable so the Rocket is probably different.