I’m considering a new bike and have decided on 29er hardtail. I like steel bikes, and Cotic offer a complete build with XT groupset and brakes. Being a shimano fan this appeals…

Any reason not to?

None what so ever, love mine:

I would like a 2Souls Quarter Horse though – but we have just moved house…..

Loved every second of building it up (bits & bobs have changed many times…..)

Bum… looks like they’re out of stock on the completes anyway….

Fantastic bike,angles spot on,great fun.It will be well worth the wait.

There is a new size L just come up on the bay. Sadly I need an xl and they don’t make them anymore

Noticed that the XL had gone from the website, assumed it was just a stock issue. Any reason why they stopped doing it, I guess it didn’t sell well enough?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-cotic-solaris-hardtail-29er-large-top-spec

I think so Jeff – they sold the last lot of XL’s fairly cheap in feb/march and I missed it. Also missed a couple of other ones too.

Sorry OP, I might have grabbed one of the last builds of the current batch then:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/calling-all-cotic-solaris-owners

It is a great bike. It has me looking forward to the next ride.

I absolutely love my Solaris, its a keeper for sure. Looks great, angles are great, Ive got 120mm forks and its pretty capable for what it is. Id consider a custom build, you can spec it exactly as you want and probably come in cheaper..

Right, reasons not to buy a Solaris:

1. It could render the rest of your bikes obsolete. To be fair, this is a danger with many bikes. How often have we heard “I’ve not ridden X since buying Y”? But the Solaris is one of those jack-of-all-trades bikes that makes this danger more acute. It eats up miles like you’d expect a 29er to, it has that efficiency that you get from a hardtail, but is still comfortable enough to ride all day. It climbs well with good traction and is fantastically stable coming back down. Most of all it is fun.

2. You start buying into the whole “feel of steel” crap. Personally I’ve always thought that those who rave about the feel of steel are deluded. At best it’s a placebo effect and geometry is far more important than material. However, it is hard to describe the feel of the Solaris without using words like springy and compliant. I’m still not a convert (yet) but even I’d have to accept that steel is still a viable material from which to make a mountain bike.

3. You start thinking about pre-ordering the full suss version. And we all know how that ends 🙂

4. You turn into another raving Cotic fanboi and frankly we’ve got enough of those already.

So, just don’t, OK.

^^^^^^ superb guy

Kudos to Roverpig..

Nothing like swimming against the current ….

I had one. I like it but didn’t get on with it..

I loved my Soul (mk 2 version) and I hoped that the Solaris would be the 29er version of the Soul.

For me it wasn’t. Felt more like a 29er Bfe. It was snappy and stiff like an aluminium frame and didn’t appear to have the give/flex of the Soul.

I sold it and bought a Pipedream Skookum (I had previously owned an PD R853) and the Skookum, to me, is more of a 29er Soul.

I really wanted to love the Solaris, it got/gets rave reviews but it wasn’t for me.

I ran mine 2×10 with a 100mm Reba and a Reverb.

I like the sound of letmetalktomark’s writings. I love my BFe and have always wanted to move to Solaris

reasons not to buy a Solaris:

– Rear tyre clearance is OK but not amazing.
– front mech clearance (if you still go in for those) isn’t great.

I cannot think of anything else bad at all. Had mine a couple of years, very keen. Getting rid of it only because of a major rationalisation and change of wheel-size.

Without getting into a full-on wheel-size discussion, apparently the Soul275 is also lovely.

I love my BFe and have always wanted to move to Solaris

I moved from a BFe to a Solaris. It’s not as stiff despite the Solaris = big BFe claims. In fact I found the extra flex a little unnerving at first, especially combined with the extra cushion of the bigger wheels. Now I’m used to it though it’s a bloody marvellous bike. I’ve yet to find anything it can’t do and it’s been ridden on every sort of terrain apart from full-on downhill. The BFe is now being ridden by a mate, and my poor Ibis Mojo sits in the corner looking pathetically under-used. Good job they haven’t done a titanium version of it as I’d be a lot poorer…..

A question slightly off topic but I have often wondered if anyone knows, why no 853 sticker on the Solaris as there is with the Soul? It is an 853 front is it not?

I asked them that. The reply I got was purely aesthetic reasons / colour clash.

They popped a sticker in the post for me to add.

Any reason not to? Well the paintwork on mine is poor. Chips very easily and had half a dozen areas where the paint came off when it was washed. Rides nice but I wouldn’t buy another cotic. I’m pretty sure I’m just unlucky as I’ve not heard of this happening to anyone else.

Any reason not to? Well the paintwork on mine is poor. Chips very easily and had half a dozen areas where the paint came off when it was washed. Rides nice but I wouldn’t buy another cotic. I’m pretty sure I’m just unlucky as I’ve not heard of this happening to anyone else.

The paint on my Soul chips all the time.