cotic rocket longshot bike check

Bike Check: Richard Baybutt’s Murdered Out Longshot Cotic Rocket

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Richard Baybutt is Cotic’s marketing man, he’s also a wheelie machine and Megavalnche slayer, and this murdered out Longshot Cotic Rocket is his current ride of choice.

Richard didn’t know he was going to be doing this bike check with us when he arrived at Singletrack Towers, but as soon as we opened the hessian sack and removed the gag he was quite forthcoming with the details.

cotic rocket longshot bike check
Loves back wheel.

The Longshot Cotic Rocket is the current generation Cotic Enduro bike, one which the Cotic team will be running in 2019, and continues Cotic’s tradition of building bikes with the latest geometry from steel.

This all black bike is Richard’s personal Rocket Longshot painted in the same Cosmic Black we saw on the new Solaris Max. Look closely and you might spot the stealth black Cotic graphics.

cotic rocket longshot bike check
Black is the new black.
cotic rocket longshot bike check
The colour is actually Cosmic Black and has a metallic finish.

Richard is riding a medium sized frame, which is progressively long, low, and slack. With a 170mm travel fork plugged into the short 110mm head tube, the 2019 Cotic Rocket sports a reach of 453.6mm, a 64º head angle and 74.5º seat tube angle.

cotic rocket longshot bike check
Got to love the look of that Cane Creek bounce!

The 170mm Cane Creek Helm fork is matched to a Cane Creek Inline rear shock with 500lbs coil in place. We tried to eke out Richard’s suspension setting but he kept shtum.

cotic rocket longshot bike check
Rideworks prototype stem.
cotic rocket longshot bike check
Custom Yorkshire Rose head cap was made by a silversmith in York.

Getting up close with Rich’s bike we soon spotted a few very cool and rare items like this Rideworks stem. The is prototype no.3, has survived 1000’s of machine test cycles and even a trip to Alp D’huez without missing a beat. Another trick item is the Yorkshire rose stem cap made by Chris Perry, a silversmith based in York (wonder if he would do an STW cog?).

cotic rocket longshot bike check
Carbon Joystick Analog bars attach to the proto stem.
cotic rocket longshot bike check
Long Sensus grips give Richard plenty of room to manoeuvre.

Attached to that prototype stem are a set of 800mm wide Joystick Analog carbon handlebars shod with long Sensus grips. The additional grip length gives Richard plenty have scope for moving around the bar, and he tells us when things got a little sketchy out in the Alps he found he gripped his bars further in, effectively cutting down bar width on the fly.

cotic rocket longshot bike check
2 Pot XT brakes provide enough stopping power for Richard.

Shimano XT brake levers give plenty of 1 finger stopping power despite being plumbed into the standard 2 pot calliper and not the newer 4 pot model we reviewed earlier in the year.

cotic rocket longshot bike check
160mm Bike Yoke Revive dropper with Charge Spoon saddle.
cotic rocket longshot bike check
The Bike Yoke dropper has a cable operated lever.

An XT 11-speed shifter lives on the right-hand side of the bar while a Bike Yoke lever lives on the left. The dropper is the same Revive model as we reviewed last year, has 160mm of travel and is topped with a Charge Spoon saddle.

cotic rocket longshot bike check
Not 12-speed Eagle but this Sunrace cassette costs much less and offers a similar range.

This being Richard’s own bike there are a few items that he is particularly chuffed with. A Sunrace 11-50t cassette is one of them and was fitted to the bike in preparation for the Mega. Richard wanted to be able to run the largest chainring upfront he could, a 34t Superstar ring in this case, while retaining enough of a range to tackle the up’s and downs of Alpine racing.

cotic rocket longshot bike check
Every Cotic Rocket ships with one of these tidy chain guides.

A OneUp integrated chain guide, supplied with all Rocket frames, keeps the chain in place while a Unite bash guard from Hookit Products is in place to fend off rock and log strikes.

cotic rocket longshot bike check
Sick Bicycle Co. trying to steal the show again.
cotic rocket longshot bike check
Burgtec pedals are a popular choice for good reason.

3-year-old set of Burgtec Penthouse Root Beer pedals look like they’ve had a pretty hard life but are still going strong. Interestingly the middle pins have only recently been installed, and previously they had been run without to minimise the chances of a nasty shin to pin interface.

cotic rocket longshot bike check
BB by Hope.
cotic rocket longshot bike check
Headset also by Hope.

Hope Technology makes a few appearances on Richard’s bike. The headset and bottom bracket both hail from Barnoldswick, as does the seat post clamp and the hubs which are laced to WTB 35 asymmetric rims. Will Swindon laced these hoops up, and the fact that they’re 12 months on and still going strong is a sign of a good wheelsmith.

cotic rocket longshot bike check
12 month old WTB rims still running after a lot of abuse.
cotic rocket longshot bike check
WTB tyres front and rear to match rims, while hubs are from Hope.

WTB also handles tyre duties. A 2.5in Convict up front and a 2.4in Riddler on the rear. The Riddler might look a little lacking in the grip dept, but Richard assures us that it offers enough and it rolls extremely well.

Rich uses his to carry a few trail essentials such as a single Pink Pedros tyre lever, inner tube, Fabric multi-tool, brass valve adapter for using petrol station pumps, red electrical tape, a BikeSure free Buff, a chain link and a Stanley Blade because “cutting tiptoes with teeth is well hard”.
Cotic x Restrap frame bags coming soon.

Cotic riders and fans will have noticed the Cotic x Restrap collab frame bag. Apparently, these digital camo bags will be available very soon from Cotic so keep your eyes peeled.

Rich uses his to carry a few trail essentials such as a single Pink Pedros tyre lever, inner tube, Fabric multi-tool, brass valve adapter for using petrol station pumps, red electrical tape, a BikeSure free Buff, a chain link and a Stanley Blade because “cutting tiptoes with teeth is well hard”.
What would you carry in yours?
cotic rocket longshot bike check
Richard’s trail essentials.

Rich uses his to carry a few trail essentials such as a single Pink Pedros tyre lever, inner tube, Fabric multi-tool, brass valve adapter for using petrol station pumps, red electrical tape, a BikeSure free thinking Buff, a chain link and a Stanley Blade because “cutting zip ties with teeth is well hard”.

cotic rocket longshot bike check
Tiny LED blinker clings on for dear life.

Finally, the pièce de résistance is a set of Decathlon lights. One little LED blinker for the front and a red one on the rear, just like an F1 car.

cotic rocket longshot bike check
Although long, the steep seat tube doesn’t make it look too long.
cotic rocket longshot bike check
Rich felt a little funny before returning to the “interview sack”

We would love to hear your thoughts on Richard Cotic Rocket Longshot. If you have any questions let us know in the comments section below and we’ll try to answer them for you. Also, let us know if you would like to see more bike checks like this.

Andi is a gadget guru and mountain biker who has lived and ridden bikes in China and Spain before settling down in the Peak District to become Singletrack's social media expert. He is definitely more big travel fun than XC sufferer but his bike collection does include some rare hardtails - He's a collector and curator as well as a rider. Theory and practice in perfect balance with his inner chi, or something. As well as living life based on what he last read in a fortune cookie Andi likes nothing better than riding big travel bikes.

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