I’ve had a handful of Cotics, new and used*, over the last couple of years and haven’t had a problem with quality or strength on any of them.

* XS BFe 26, S Soul 26, S Flare, M Rocket, S BFe 275 (nicked 🙁 ), S BFe 275 (going nowhere!)

^ quite. I’ve had a few over the years also, and I’m currently down to a Soul275, Solaris and an old X that will be going soon. They’ve all been ridden long and hard and really haven’t had any problems at all. The Soul275 and X in particular have both been very good at giving me that “I could get rid of all the rest and just keep this one…” feeling.

I see robdob’s point that if you’ve spent a bunch of cash and been burnt you get angry about it but if he’s going associate that boycott on the strength of whether someone from a company has ever had a conversation with someone else from another company and made a decision as a result, then that’s going to cut his future buying options down drastically. Almost certainly no British companies and probably a fair chunk of the rest of the world too. I’d say that was being blinded by bitterness personally.

I’d say that was being blinded by bitterness personally.

I couldn’t watch the video so wasn’t sure of the actual connection. Thankfully it’s minimal. Not really much of a connection really!!

Brant deserves praise for helping someone else get started.

This, helping a potential competitor get started, what a ****… 😉

newrobdob – Member

I couldn’t watch the video so wasn’t sure of the actual connection. Thankfully it’s minimal. Not really much of a connection really!!

So you can get that Cotic now 😉

Really like these but Christ they’ve got expensive! Remember when a Soul was about £350.

£600 now for a steel frame with nothing but a seat clamp… That’s getting serious cash!

Brexit, innit bruv. The pound to dollar exchange is borked.

First batch of Souls were £400 … that was nearly 15 years ago.

Just googled and found this handy little tool…

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation

What would goods and services costing
£400 in 2002 cost in 2016?

£597.1514889943893

That’s very impressive considering the latest Soul has thru axle dropouts and how much GBP has fallen vs USD since then.

Yeah, I was going to add that the bolt through axle added £50 to cost.

And the latest version has more metal and decnals… that’s all got to cost too… 😉

A bit more from Guy on the Soul

[video]http://youtu.be/B1tEq5RU-Wo[/video]

Nice objective review there.

I think he likes it. 🙂

After being battered racing my carbon HT yesterday I am wondering whether – after ive swapped my Anthem to a Spark next year – using the Spark as a race bike only in the main and having a HT like this as the go to fun do everything non race bike would be perfect. Ive never ridden one but so many people with great opinions of the bike cant be wrong.

But you know me, I’ll still no doubt be thinking about that when the gen 6 Soul makes an appearance… 🙂

I was hanging off for one and really like the look. I solid my 26er Soul that I’d had since new, 4 years ago, a few weeks back.

Struggled a bit getting my head round the cost of a nice Gold build though and ended up getting a similar specced Bird Zero TR the other week. I also have an Anthem..

Nice objective review there

I nearly ordered one after watching this. Then realised it’s a very biased video. I’m sure it does ride great, but it’s really a marketing video not a review.

Should be labelled marketing imho.

The demo days seem a great way of sorting out any doubts, one way or the other- the only way is to have a go yourself, then you can decide whether an enthusiastic review (or marketing vid) matches your experience. I plan to do that in the new year and decide whether a Solaris or FlareMax would suit as an all rounder (I’m def an XL so Soul a little small). It certainly entices me to attend a demo.- so its done its job well.

I nearly ordered one after watching this. Then realised it’s a very biased video. I’m sure it does ride great, but it’s really a marketing video not a review.

It’s a really peculiar video. Maybe it’s because I’m spoilt with trails where I live but I kept wondering when he was going to really try the bike out. All it seemed to show was that the bike works well on muddy bridleways. And Guy seemed pleased that he safely negotiated a couple of right angled corners around a building..

I never really saw it as a review. More a explanation of what had carried through from the original through to today. A bit of DNA trace type thing.

That said, in terms of reviews, generally I don’t always like bikes Guy likes and give versa so maybe I hope it wasn’t a review 😉

Who is this Guy?

Excuse the pun

chilled76 – Member
Who is this Guy?

Excuse the pun

A tester from BikeRadar and from the MTB mags it does/has done.

Hey brant, you’d best not let on what other frame designs you’ve “assisted” with or someone on here will have their head explode.

It is marketing – we pay for GuyKesTV content, and it’s clearly marked as sponsored content on the Youtube page, so all above board really. That said, Guy doesn’t do these videos unless he’s into the bike, and I thought it would be a nice angle riding new verses original because Guy did one of the first Soul reviews back in 2003.

Souls are in the demo fleet now if you want to book on. Happy to answer any questions on here as well if you have specifics.

Cheers.

That vid is annoying as f*ck, don’t get me wrong Cotic Souls are nice bikes, but the amount of over hype in the vid is ridiculous. Despite what Cotic’s marketing may say, they’ve always followed and never led the innovation of where bikes are today.

My main question – I have a pretty new, well specced hardtail which I love, and have zero need of another. But I also have hubs, reverb, pedals, grips, bars, stem, cassette, chain and fork to fit a Soul. How do I stop myself?

How do I stop myself?

Wait for the updated Solaris instead?

Despite what Cotic’s marketing may say, they’ve always followed and never led the innovation of where bikes are today.

Bit harsh, they have certainly gone their own way with steel full-sus frames. If the new Soul is anything to go by, the next-gen ones will be spot-on.

I like it. The only thing stopping me buying one right now is I don’t think my forks will fit 🙁

173mm steerer on it (pike I’ve taken off my sb6 as I’ve fitted a Lyrik), is there a really low stack short stem anyone does?

Ragley Stubbing stem is very low stack, 30mm.

That’ll maybe do it.

110mm headtube plus 30mm stem leaves 33mm (plus a bit) for the headset cups to take up. Prob got 36mm to accommodate top and bottom cup maybe?

Anyone know the depth of hope headset cups for a tapered steerer?

All listed here.

http://www.hopetech.com/product/picknmix-headsets/#tech

You should be fine mate, remember you gain another 5mm or so that you need to preload the steerer.

Used a Stubbing myself to “rescue” a bike build that I hadn’t researched properly earlier this year.

Looks like you need a “1” top and a “H” bottom. That’s 31mm total stack height for the headset.

Thanks Scot. That’s really helpful.

So from what I can see an E2 has really low stack and would work.

Only question is whether this would cause fork crowns to interface with the downtube. From what I can see Cotic usually spec externall cups on the bottom.

Edit. You’ve posted again.. will have another look

Cotic specify an external cup for the lower – and the upper.

Headset: 44mm external cup lower, 34mm traditional standard upper

http://www.cotic.co.uk/product/soul#compatibility

That’s really helpful lads. Thanks!

Need to just mull this over… Think I need to start a different thread now rather than hijacking this one… alternatives???

The orange one, surely??

chakaping – Member
Bit harsh, they have certainly gone their own way with steel full-sus frames. If the new Soul is anything to go by, the next-gen ones will be spot-on.

I hope so, I’d love a longer, slightly slacker Flare.

Talking about cotic’s marketing of late they have definitely changed tack a bit a few years ago it was #26aintdead “no need for thru axles” etc where as now the latest Bfe is advertised as “longer lower slacker” 😕 I must admit they no longer seem to be the brand I thought they were and this is from someone who’s owned 5 of their previous models

Do the new steel frames have any of the old “magic” of the pre CEN ones or are they now just selling based on a cliché? The ones I have tried may have had sorted geometry, better looks and more strength but they had lost much of their inherent steeliness (compared to an original Soul).

Conversely I have always been indifferent to the brand, albeit pleased that they seem to be doing well. Cy popping on here does himself and Cotic credit as well I think, however their full suspension offerings and the latest Bfe and Soul have got me pondering a purchase in the next year. Surprised at some of the comments above, although everyone is entitled to an opinion 😀