sorely tempted to replace the alu dolan cross frame with one, jsut wondered if anyone has gone for it yet or actual sen one of the prototypes

Kate Potter raced the prototype in a few rounds of the SRAM Notts/Derby league last year.
Very smart it looked too in it's bright orange livery.

Just stumbled across it on their web site – personally I think it would make a lousy towpath commuter bike and no doubt it would be as disappointing as my Soul.

I'm not really convincing myself here……. 😳

saw one at the cycle show last october, lovely looking bike

Waiting for Cycle to work to finally happen at work then the order'll be going in.

VERY VERY TEMPTED!

Anyone know what weight the Cotic X is coming in at?

Anyone know what weight the Cotic X is coming in at?

Frame weight stated to be 4.1lbs, which is a little portly for a race frame. Needs a decent build put on it (and so it ought to at £450 for the F&F).

Interesting that it's also been specced as a bit more of an all-rounder with bottle cages.

That said, I'm also tempted – though I'm sh*t at racing cross, and I have no money. So I'll have to sit on my hands for the time being.

Once the big manufacturers manage to put together a decent STI and disc brake combo (which they surely will now it's UCI legal), this will be an absolute no brainer. No doubt plenty of other manufacturers will be on the bandwagon by then, but given the smiles my Soul has given me the X will definitely be on my shortlist.

Well that's me sorted then, lovely

I'm in two minds. I don't need a cross bike for my commute and I'd be as well getting a mountain bike out for other riding so I've been leaning towards a Specialized Secteur for the cycle to work scheme. Just can't see whether I'd use a cross bike enough to make it worthwhile carrying a heavier bike around for the time I'm on the road. The X does look great though, hence my problem 🙂

I'm feeling that.Bit portly for a race bike but I've already got one for that.I have ended up riding the cx bike more and more on 'proper' offroad tho and this will be ideal with 40c tyres and discs…just a shame its not ss,can't have everything.

Singular's Kite looks nicer (read 'more like a proper cross bike') than Cotic's X. An email to Sam the other week told me there might be a disc version as well thanks to our friends at the UCI.

But…they're all soooo heavy. I can't see the X being much lighter than my Roadrat, which I can't get below about 21 lb even with stupid lite parts and SS.

The market for these steel cross frames is people who don't race cross.

Tis a valid point Dyffers, anybody know what weight the boutique US frames come in at?

Emailed Ibis enquiring about a disk brake version of their Hakkalugi and was told they'd like to do one, but it wasn't their top priority at the moment.

get a fixie inc instead. much nicer imo

Fixie inc is nice, but the Pure Blood frame is 300 quid more than the Cotic

The new pure blood is BOGGIN!Old one is lush-but £750.Sam…you know you want to (put disc mounts on that is)…do it!!

It’s not really aimed at serious racers. You can race on it, and it’ll be great. In fact, if you’re not looking for every last second for a podium placing I’d suggest it’d be more fun and nicer to ride than an all out ‘cross race bike. It’s a cyclocross bike with some other fittings which means it’s a super-versatile bike for riding around on. Kinda like the drop bar version of the Soul.

If I was obsessed by weight I’d have never designed the Soul, but that (and the >X<) are about having a nice ride feel, plenty tough, fun-to-ride bike. Obviously I’ve not slung metal where it’s not needed, and I think the weight of the frame is about is low as it’ll get without sacraficing durability or massively increasing the price. The big win on the >X< compared to the RoadRat is the fork, which knocks about 1lb off the steel RoadHog fork, and the superlight dropouts off the Soul which are WAAAAAAAAAAAAY lighter than the multiple option plate frame ends on the ‘rat which along with other things save around 0.5lb over a Roadrat frame.

I’ll have the first couple of production frames airfreighted this week and photoshoot on Wednesday so there should be shots on the product page by the end of the week.

Cy, noticed the trial frame pictures have the lovely Reynolds tubing but the production one do not. As simple as cost or something else?

I’ve ordered one. I reckon that I can get it in at a weight of around 21lbs with pedals for around £1400, which will be plenty tough enough for the North Wales cross courses and about 3lbs lighter than the tricross I’ve raced for the past 2 years.

A steel cross bike is a different beast from a 17 lbs racing cross bike, which are raced by fast people. I’ve been beaten in the past by guys (and girls) on MTB’s etc which weigh a dam site more than this. Cross is about speed, power and smoothness both on and off the bike; most of the time the bike makes very little difference. Most people (myself included) would be better consentrating on loosing 5lbs off themselves or training to get faster rather than worrying about a couple of 100 grams.

The prototypes were race frames for Kate which we needed to get done fast, which meant doing them in 853 as it’s something I’m comfortable with, it’s crazy strong, so I could design it quickly without worrying about it falling apart. That frame went from request to drawing board to delivery in 10 weeks! However, Kate’s frame had ProTeam tubing and some other 853 bits which would have pushed the production frameset price up towards £700.

Over the last year I’ve been working with a tubing supplier on a heat-treated cromo tubeset which I’m using on the >X< which is nearly as strong as 853, but just doesn’t do the air-hardening thing. For this application it’s ace, as it allows me to get the frame close to the weight of Kate’s frame (Kate’s was 3.8lbs for a small, the >X< is 4.1lbs for a medium), but at a much keener price, which means I can also squeeze a bike2work priced build in, and based on the tubing I’ve used I doubt any of you would be able to tell the difference in ride feel.

Kate will actually be racing a one off (well, 2 off, spare bike and all) aluminium frame with >X< geometry this winter because as she is racing World Cups and we’ve had the time to do it now, she wanted the lightest thing she could. I can guarantee it won’t feel as nice to ride, but that’s kind of secondary to Kate this winter.

Hi Cy

I’m well interested in this ‘1lb lighter than the RoadHog’ fork. Will it be avaiable to buy on its own, and will it drop straight into my Roadrat?

This might sound daft (and sorry in advance Cy because I loved my old Soul) but why would anyone pre-order an unproven, unreviewed frame? I’m not saying it’ll ride like sh*t but surely you’d want to compare an independent review against other similar frames? Or are people really that gullible to order a frame based only on the brand name?

Dave (ex Soul and Roadrat owner – loved them both)

why would anyone pre-order an unproven, unreviewed frame?

Given how shite most reviewers are, seems fair enough to me.

For the same reason people by wine before it’s been bottled, or comission art before its been created. They believe in the person producing it and have faith in what is being produced.

We’ll have the carbon forks for sale aftermarket/RoadRat upgrade in December. All the incoming forks are committed to >X< frames.

Id dearly love a new X and with a bit of luck will be able to scrape together the spare cash for one this winter.

I doubt there will be hardly any all up weight diference between this and my Soda but my local riding if fairly tech free so the x is going to be a lot faster for cycle path- bridal way blasts.

I dont want to race- I just want to go faster and have fun and preferably not on an alloy frame.

I dont want to race- I just want to go faster and have fun and preferably not on an alloy frame.

Nail. Head.

i’ve just ordered one 😀

un-decided on the build, cantis or discs? road or mtb hubs? (it can take both) – anyone got any suggestions?