As title really, need some encouragement

Nobody got one then?

Coatsey has one built up a a rigid ‘retro’ ( 😉 sorry that stem 😀 )
commuter

They look good but I’ve never seen one on the trails and I reckon that’s because of the price, when there are more affordable 853 frames around (Latitude etc).

Cotic Soul FTW

£399 for a limited edition frame is pretty good isnt it?

I’ve got one, have done for about a year. No pictures though!

I think the geometry is pretty similar to the Soul – I only chose it over the Soul as I’m too inexpert to build my own bike. However, I really like it on the basis that the stable handling suits me, and its very comfortable for long days in the saddle. I am almost middle aged so these features score highly with me.

£399 for a limited edition frame is pretty good isnt it?

Yes, great price but full price is £600, which is more than its rivals.

where is it £400?

It’s a lovely frame to ride with a good 100mm fork in- maybe just has the Soul beat as a pure XC machine, it’s got slightly more neutral handling with a short fork. And it does feel instantly “right” like Oranges tend to do. I had a Soul at the time and did a back-to-back comparison and the Orange did feel more suited to the short travel. Then again my Soul was biased towards having the fork set at a longer length, maybe with a different build that wouldn’t have been the case.

But it’s a more limited design, far less flexible. The Soul comes alive at 120mm, and excels at 130mm, and thrashes nicely at 140mm, which seems to be where the headtube comes off the R8.

And you can’t overlook the price- especially for frame only, you don’t even get the seatclamp! Orange stickers must be much more expensive to make than Cotic stickers.

I got one at start of this year. She’s been raced at 10 under the Ben and
Glentress 7, and can handle most things you throw at her. Rapid on the climbs too!

I’ll hunt out a piccy….

I’ve got one too. Standard R8 Pro set up apart from the pedals and a slightly longer stem.

For me, it’s great; light, quick, comfortable and enough versatility that I can tour on it if I decide to. I can’t tell you what it’s like for bombing around the woods on or for those trail centre days out because, as you can see, the terrain in Jordan, where we have lived since I bought it earlier this year, is a little bit different to that around Dalby. However, I have an old (98) Orange 02 that I used as my main MTB up until 2006 and subsequently relegated to commuting when I moved to a Marin Mount Vision. The 02 makes a great commuter but the R8 is leagues ahead as a hard tail mountain bike. It may share some DNA and has a surprisingly similar geometry but it feels so much more competent. And I would go as far as saying that I am as confident on it on fast descents as I was on the Marin – plus it’s easier to ride up the other side too, which when you have dropped to 400m below sea level is a bonus.

And it’s from Yorkshire. The real Promised Land.

What weight are they coming in at, gona be building mine up with 120 Sids and fairly light ish spec. What weight can I expect?

heres mines looking a tad manky.

aaaaaaargh. i give up

dan, go back to flickr, click on the “all sizes” button, and select medium, then copy url from there.

The url will be something like “static.farm.ak.. blah 45678 blah ” rather than http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmtb/6034884478/in/photostream

Don’t know why there’s the difference, but that’s why it’s not working.

Edit: you need the “+” button at the top right, then “all sizes”

The url is http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6204/6034884478_d2bed0444c_b.jpg

Liking you local trails Angus! Guessing you need to carry a fair bit of water 🙂

Yep, lots of water required, especially as it’s Ramadan so drinking or eating anything in public is frowned upon and the cafes don’t open before sunset. It also gets hotter as you descend towards the Dead Sea (around 40 degrees at this time of year) so you need to take on a good dose of fluids before you go. Fortunately you can be quite seruptitious using a Camelback so no one has taken offense yet.

By the way, I am enjoying the UK miserable weather thread but looking jealously at the cake v beer debate.

Has anyone ever seen a frame weight for these things? I got a wee bit suspicious when Orange refused to tell me

Nice one. Cheers Ned!

I’ll post the frame weight on Monday hopefully!

I’ve got one and love it, built up with top notch kit to a value of about £3k, for what that matters. One year into a long term relationship. No photos at hand though.

Weight isn’t the issue with steel frames surely? I’d have another in a second.

Tell me why?

What about a pace RC104 in Morris Blue – lovely. No idea how it compares though.

Aluminium frames can be made lighter, but they don’t have the Soul.

OTOH my carbon frame is much lighter and seems to have a soul. In fact it has the soul of a Soul, in the body of a melted waxwork