*Quite fancied a no-fuss hardtail for the winter months, so picked up a BFe. It was a great bike, but a little too much for our local trails, so I replaced it with a Soul.
*SLX Drivetrain with XT shifters and brakes. Reba forks set to 120mm and an XT/Mavic wheelset.
*Great bikes both!
I rode the Soul for the first time today. A much more ‘lively’ ride than the BFe and a bit more fun on the local trails. I’m hooked!
* Great brand
* Fun easy to maintain HT
* 1×9, 150mm Revs, Stinger and N-Gear jumpstop.
* Great so far – lighter than I was anticipating and easy to throw around 🙂
I enjoy and appreciate supporting a UK brand, I wanted a light steel frame with track ends and geometry suitable for a rigid fok.
Mono Mini’s, 160mm floating rotors, Pro 2 hubs (NRB SS on the back), Crest rims, Schwalbe tyres (TL), Middleburn Cranks, UN74, griplock CK headset, point one stem/ integrated top cap (70mm), Syntace carbon flat bars with a bit of back sweep, Thomson seatpost, Selle SLR. Now running 455mm eBay carbon forks, previously had the ti Pace RC31’s, I think the RC31’s looked nicer on the frame (especially don’t like the frame/ fork interface on this one), however with the limited riding I’ve done I think I prefer these.
Lovely, beautiful bike. Makes me ride like a hooligan whenever I get on it. Might be tempted to the the 29er version in the future if it gains a tapered headtube (not a fan of how the 44mm tube looks on a steel frame) and some more interesting colours!
Thread steal….what size Bfe for a 5′ 10 rider, bike to be flickable..small frame with 50mm stem, large with 35mm stem? How easy is the Bfe to manual? ( I’m considering a Bfe or NS Surge )
Since this thread last bumped, I’ve Cotic’d again twice 😳 Hemlock and me are still bestest buddies, but I picked up a very cheap, cracked ’07 Soda from the classifieds here, got Enigma to weld it up again, and built it back up with the bits from my rigid Carrera:
Still playing with parts for it, once the new forks arrive I might just call it Finished.
Oh and a poo-brown Roadrat but so far it’s been a pain in the arris, took ages to build and every time I ride it something falls off or breaks so it’s in the doghouse 😆 I don’t think it’s going to be my favourite Cotic.
Why, because the geometry was what I wanted, and it didn’t weigh any more than my alloy hardtail. Wanted to see if the ‘steel feel’ guff was actually valid or not (it is, where this is concerned).
Built it up as a single speed initially, but it’s now 2 x 10 XT, with some 07 Talas 140’s and Hope X2 brakes. Love it. Might just have to invest in a later frame at some point though, to add a reverb into the equation. Oh, and it’s actually white!
A few changes (for the (even) better) since my BFe last appeared in this thread. Now got some XT brakes, a Reverb, and a Spoon. Still an astonishingly versatile and fun bike.
Thread steal….what size Bfe for a 5′ 10 rider, bike to be flickable..small frame with 50mm stem, large with 35mm stem? How easy is the Bfe to manual? ( I’m considering a Bfe or NS Surge )
I’m 5’9″& went for small Bfe with 160mm u-turn forks. With a 40mm stem its tight (have caught the bars with knees when climbing out of saddle). But it means if feels very maneuverable. Built to be a fun freeride bike & it is. If I get sick of the tight cockpit I’ll stick a longer stem on.
I got a large classic soul in orange as I wanted a quality hardtail frame with big clearance for mud but no temptation to get weight weenie.
Built with xt, 120 rebas, hope/xc717, thomson and flat bars. Ride with skinny mud tyres and alloy post much harder than expected so will be trying slightly bigger tyres and maybe a cabon post.
Some lovely bikes on here…love the Hemlocks. I never paid any attention to them when tehy were in production which is a shame.
I have an XS BFe set up as a play bike…1×9 X9 gearing, old school Hope bulbs on D321’s, Diabolus stem and post, Deus cranks, Superstar Plasma chain device, Answer Pro Taper bars, Z1 freerides etc. I love it although it’s not been ridden in anger yet because of the poo weather and crappy M4 brakes.
I’ve just ordered a set of Deore brakes from CRC so am hoping to get out on it properly next week whilst I’m off (and the weather looks like it’ll be OK, cold but dry).
I chose the Cotic because it was brand new and cheap…it’s a classic BFe seconds frame. My original Tazer cracked so I needed something to replace it quickly. The guys at Cotic were super helpful and it got sent out quickly. Overall I’m impressed with the service and hop it lives up to the hype.