New Cotic FlareMAX | First Ride Review

The new Cotic FlareMAX is launched today, once again at a Cotic CC event rather than a far flung media launch with canapes and jacuzzi. Luckily for us, Cy at Cotic was happy to join us for coffee and mud baths to give us a quick sneak preview and a first ride out on the latest iteration of this mid travel 29er.

When the FlareMAX was launched in early 2018, it was the first of Cotic’s Droplink bikes to get the Longshot geometry treatment. Cy recalls 2018 as being quite the year, with Cotic launching a new bike every nine weeks that year, as the entire range received the Longshot treatment. The 120mm travel FlareMAX proved popular – indeed since its introduction it’s been one of Cotic’s biggest selling items – which was something of a surprise in a world where riders often go for more travel than perhaps their local trails truly justify. With another three Droplink Longshot bikes launched after this one, and lead in times of around 18 months to deliver bikes once designed, the final Longshot bikes were landing even as this latest iteration of the Cotic FlareMAX had been tweaked and new orders placed.

Cotic FlareMAX Specification

• 125mm rear travel
• 120-140mm fork
• 29inch wheels
• Steel front triangle/alloy rear triangle
• 4 sizes: S/M/L/XL
• 3 colours: Supernova Orange, Red Dwarf, Dark Grey
• Weight: 33.5lbs (our medium test bike)
• Frame only £1499.00 with X Fusion O2 RCX shock & Hope seatclamp
• Complete bikes from £2,749

What’s New?

In short, not a huge amount, as Cotic figures it got the Cotic FlareMAX pretty spot on first time around. But what has changed could well have a significant effect on your ride experience – particularly if you like to sit and climb. The key alteration has been to the seat tube angle. When our James reviewed the first generation Longshot FlareMAX, he found himself shunting his saddle forward in order to steepen the seat tube. You’ll not find yourself needing to do this now, as Cotic has shifted from the previous slack angle of 73.5° to the new steeper (but not mega steep) effective seat angle of 75.3° with a 130mm fork/ 74.8° with a 140mm fork. Cy told us that he and the team had tried out different seat tube angles on different sized bikes, by using an inverted Specialized Command post to give the offset needed to check out the effect on pedalling without building a heap of different prototypes. Lucky for Cy, he has a staff team on hand that ranges for small-bike riding men and women to XL-size Cy himself.

As well as the steeper seat tube, there’s a touch more travel at the rear, a little more reach across the range, and three new colours: Supernovae Orange, Red Dwarf and Dark Grey.

With the changes to geometry and resulting progression rate, Cy says he’s delivering a range of bikes that will deliver a wider tuning window to allow easier set up and tuning for a broader spectrum of riders. The progressivity inherent in the frame allows the use of large aircan shocks, which means there’s more room for tweaking and tuning to suit different rider weights, preferences and riding styles. Oh, and of course you can still choose from 29er or 27.5in Plus setup, plus a whole array of build choices – right down to the saddle. Women may be happy to note that Cotic offers a women’s specific saddle option as a free build option.

Anyone who has their own favourite saddle, grips… whatever… may also be pleased to note that if you don’t want them from Cotic, you can either send your own in to them and they’ll put them on your build, or you can have the bike shipped without them. Either way, Cotic will offer you a discount on the complete build price – Cy says he’d rather have the unwanted items still on his shelves and waiting for someone that does want them, than have them wasted and sitting around in your garage.

We had the ‘Supernova Orange’ bike in a size medium in a not-quite-gold-spec (it was minus the Cane Creek fork) for a quick spin round a familiar local loop. Read on for my first impressions…

The Ride

This was my first trip out on a Cotic mountain bike. I’d ridden the Escapade for a grit.cx review, but never experienced the Cotic droplink suspension or the Longshot geometry. I was expecting to feel stretched out, perhaps with my arms a little too far out in front of me, maybe wrestling the front wheel a little. I could not have been more wrong.

Climb on, start pedalling, and… start talking. Cotic’s ‘Women of Steel’ project. The nature of bike marketing. Pick and mix build options. ‘Ard Rock enduro. Lots of stuff – but not really about the bike I was riding. There just wasn’t anything weird or curious that distracted me from the action of just riding along. I climbed up a seemingly endless steep hill, the colour of may face darkening to red and clashing with the disco-orange (there’s a sparkle to that Supernova Orange finish) paint. Whether sitting to spin, or standing to mash my way up for a little extra oomph, the FlareMAX kept on rolling. The ride position felt really natural, there was no fatigue in my arms, and no wrestling of the front wheel. In fact, on the whole ride I had only one slight pedal strike – on an awkward water bar jutting up out the trail – and I cleared every one of the niggly little nadgery bits that highlight the difference on this regular loop between a bike that climbs and goes where I want it to, and one that stalls or isn’t quite so nimble. No back pain, no bum pain, just natural climbing.

How about pedalling along then? Would it be any good having delivered me to the top? Willing oxygen into my legs I kicked off and acceleration ensued. Perhaps I’d not like to enter a drag race against a whippet on a carbon hardtail, but hit those lumps and bumps and they could eat my dirt. Getting changed for the ride I’d thought that maybe I was over-dressing adding elbow pads to my attire, but pedalling along the uneven packhorse trail as hard as my quads would allow I was glad of the protection:speed ratio. Looking for opportunities to add in some hops and jumps, despite some very sloppy landings, I certainly wasn’t having any trouble getting off the ground. It was playful in a fashion that reminded me very much of my Editors’ Choice pick for 2019, the Bird Aeris 120 LT. But that had 27.5in wheels. Was this really a 29er? I admit I double checked the sidewalls on the tyres.

How can this be? How can it be long, yet feel so small, and so nimble? Even the 780mm bars felt entirely in proportion to my body. Was it really actually all that long? Has ‘Longshot’ geometry become ‘Averageshot’ in a bike industry that’s gone ever longer-lower-slacker? I have no answers. I can only tell you that, comparing it to other bikes I have ridden in the last 18 months or so, it’s longer reached, longer wheelbased, lower stacked… and yet it felt like a much smaller, more agile bike than all of those bikes.

Maybe it would prove to be noodly on the descent? Maybe I’d be hauling on the brakes and death gripping the bars? Nope. Once again I found myself being glad of those elbow pads as I sped down a rocky descent, only reaching for the brakes upon reaching a gate. Maybe I should have worn the chin bar on my helmet too. 140mm fork, 125mm shock… I was travelling at a speed where you want to know that the front end is going to track where you point it, and the back end will follow. And it did. The O-ring on my fork showed I’d used full travel, though I couldn’t recall bottoming out at any point. That’s not to say I like the forks so much – the X-Fusion McQueens made an annoying (to me) wheezing donkey noise. Distracting on gentler stuff and drowned out by wind on faster stuff, nonetheless I think I’d rather go for the Helm build option if I could find the money down the back of the sofa.

And, down the back of the sofa is exactly where I’d have been looking had this been a test ride for potential purchasing purposes. Before taking the hammer to my piggy bank, I’d have wanted to extend my ride to take in some proper steep trails, just to see how they went, and it was with somewhat reluctant pedalling that I turned back to the office to complete this first ride experience… school wouldn’t really mind if I’d been a bit later due to needing to take in an extra bit of slither? Would they? My kids would understand why I wasn’t at the school gate. Wouldn’t they? Hmm… school run duties may have prevented me from taking the FlareMAX onto the steeps, but they’ve probably saved me from making an unintended purchase.

Overall

I really really like how this new Cotic FlareMAX rides. I took in a route I know well, with sections I’ve sessioned over and over on photo shoots, in all different weathers. This test ride was sloppy and slippy and yet I flew down these trails, accomplishing that sense of skipping from rock to rock (and over a few in between) that I didn’t really know I had in me. Point the front end, let the back end follow, skip and hop along. Feet staying on my flat pedals, suspension preventing any sensation of being bucked off or kicked about. Certainly suited to the kind of trails I ride regularly, I’d love to to take it to the kind of persistent steep insanity offered in the likes of the Golfie. I’d also love to throw it in the air over and over again at the local BMX track. This is the most instantly comfortable I’ve felt on a bike while still being playful rather than simply stable. Dammit. I want one. Any chance I can replace the satsuma in my stocking with this Disco Orange? Please? I’ve been really really good this year, honest.

Review Info

Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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