Cotic Cascade Drop Bar Bronze review

BikesGritcxRecommendedReview

by Hannah Dobson April 27, 2025 14

It’s very hard to fault the Cotic Cascade. I am sad to be sending it back. Do you need to know more? Well, OK then. But I reckon you’re still going to want one by the time we get to the end.

• Brand: Cotic
• Product: Cascade Drop Bar Bronze
• Price: £2,249
• From: Cotic

Pros

• Confident descending for drop bars
• Attachment points galore for big adventures
• If you like your rigid drop bar steel, what’s not to love about this bike?

Cons

• Remember to give all those attachment bosses a lick of grease from time to time.
• You might think ‘why not just ride a mountain bike’ (You’d be wrong).
• 1x only might put you off. (You’re probably wrong).

The Cotic Cascade is a steel gravel bike that comes in flat bar or drop bar builds, and is compatible with a 100mm suspension fork, or you can have it with Cotic’s ‘Alpaca’ rigid steel fok. It takes up to 29 x 2.6″ (27.5 x 3.0″) front and 29 x 2.4″ (27.5 x 2.8″) rear tyres.

It has bosses all over for mounting accessories to meet your particular life-carrying requirements:

• Multiple bottle boss spaced bosses on the down tube
• “Anything Cage” bosses under the down tube, under the top tube and on either leg of the Alpaca fork
• Bottle bosses on the seat tube
• Rack mounts for full racks or mini Nitto M18 style racks both front and rear
• Lo rider rack mounts on the Alpaca fork

It’s for 1x set ups only, and takes a maximum 38t round /36t oval chainring. Boost148 12mm thru axle at the rear, Boost110 15mm thru axle up front. Build options start at £1,849 for the ‘bronze’ flat bar build, and £2,249 for the ‘bronze’ drop bar build we have here.

This Cotic Cascade came to me out of Cotic’s demo fleet, as a rig to ride a chunk of the Pennine Bridleway for a magazine feature. As such, the bike and I have done plenty of miles, but I’ve not had it for the usual journo-spec-fiddling period of time that many test bikes are subjected to.

But on the flip side, it’s nice to test a bike that’s not box fresh – it gives a few hints at any potential durability issues.

Since I was loading it up for an overnight bivvy mission, I got to make full use of all the bosses on the bike. If there’s a downside to this bike, it might be that you should plan to give all those bosses a bit of TLC every now and then – grease them up and keep the rust at bay.

I was riding a Medium frame, and that gave plenty of room for luggage. I wished I’d ordered a couple of feed pouches for my handlebars – there was plenty of room there for me to add them without catching my knees on them.

The sizing seems a little different to the Cotic Escapade, it’s slightly less burly sibling. I usually ride a Medium gravel bike, but when testing the Escapade, Cy from Cotic had recommended the Small. Dubious, I tried out both and found the the Small was indeed the right size.

This time round, with the Cascade, my 175cm height put me in the suggested size range for the Medium. This felt comfortable, although I think if you were shorter than me (the suggested height range for a Medium starts at 172cm) I think you’d want a slightly shorter stem for that comfortable cruising position.

All that said, I got on this bike after just one short set up ride, and headed to the Pennine Bridleway to ride further than I have in ages, two days in a row. The only thing that hurt afterwards were my lips – the ones one my face, before you ask – because I forgot my lip balm. Everything else just felt normal levels of tired, and nothing annoyed me. I think that’s pretty exceptional.

The standover is low enough to make riding more technical trails fun – or getting your leg over a heavily loaded bike a bit easier. It’s not so low however that you can’t fit a frame bag in there, although I found I had to choose between frame bag and double bottles inside the frame. I suspect with more careful compact bottle choice, and perhaps some side loading bottle cages, this could be overcome.

It’s a nice touch that the seatpost clamp is forward facing, away from all the muck sprayed up at the rear. Incidentally, there’s dropper post routing there should you want to add one, and it’s a 31.6 diameter seat tube. Personally, I’d have appreciated an extra spacer or two’s worth of length on the fork, just to allow for a bit of flexibility when adding things like bike computer mounts, and adjusting the ride position.

For the Pennine Bridleway, this was the perfect tool for the job; fast enough to eat up the smoother sections, burly enough to ride even the roughest ones.

Loaded up, my bike weighed 23kg (without my weight added!). I rode many very steep climbs, on tarmac and rough off road, and yet time and time again I found myself happily spinning my way up.

For those worried that the 1x only set up would make loaded touring too tiring, I think you could relax. Climbing was a non-issue for me with the 11-51 cassette (you can choose from a couple of options for the bronze build) and 34T chainring, and I really liked how balanced the bike felt when just sitting in the saddle and spinning your way upwards.

The only time I’ve reached the limit of the gears is at the other end – spinning out on descents where perhaps I could otherwise have continued to push a bit harder. But unless you’re racing, why bother? Tuck in and give your legs a break.

As I said, the bike had come straight from the test fleet, and I think there was an internal fault with the SRAM Apex brakes – the reach adjust on the shifter didn’t work at all, and adjusting the reach on the brakes caused me to have zero brakes (and a close call with a canal!). Even after a bleed they still wouldn’t let me adjust the reach and felt a little underpowered, but I’ve used SRAM Apex brakes before and not had the same problems so I suspect this is down to wear and tear rather than a design flaw. However, if you have small hands, you will want to check the positioning of your levers before you wrap the bars – the shifter needs to be angled away from the bars to stop it bashing the bars when the reach is shorter.

Being a bit paranoid about getting a flat in the back of beyond, I rode the 2.4in WTB Ranger tyres a little firmer than I might on a local ride – plus I had the extra weight of luggage. Preference would see me adding a tyre insert for a little extra peace of mind when running lower pressures.

Closer to home, I did go softer, which made things a bit more comfortable. Not that it was uncomfortable, but I did feel like my wrists were fatiguing more than any other part of my body on the Pennine Bridleway ride. Perhaps not a surprise with all the damn gates I wrested my loaded bike through. But lower pressures, a refresh of bar tape, perhaps even different bars altogether might add comfort, if you had the inclination to fiddle.

A little firmness in the ride is the price you pay for having a fork that doesn’t flex and shy away from the rough stuff, and for me that’s a price worth paying. Plus, you’ll pay it with pretty much every steel fork that doesn’t flex when you hit the rough stuff.

The Cascade isn’t just a big load hauler for packing up your life and escaping to the hills. Bags whipped off, I got a few fun-way-round commutes in before I had to return this bike. Here, the handling shows itself to be fun as well as reassuring.

What made me feel totally safe all loaded up and trundling along the Pennine Bridleway became faster and more playful when freed of the bags. Popping the front of the bike up and over obstacles – or perhaps off the odd lip – is plenty of fun. It’s been a while since I’ve ridden such a ‘I’d take this almost anywhere’ drop bar bike. It’s also been a while since I’ve felt quite so torn about giving it back.

Add to the mix that Cotic is one of those companies that really seems to be trying to do good things – building communities, supporting new riders, considering their environmental impact, and trying to build closer to home… it adds up to a package that should give you the warm fuzzies on and off the bike.

Overall

If you don’t see the point in a bike like this, I’d suggest you get yourself along to a test ride. If you still don’t see the point, fair enough. But if a drop bar 2.4in drop bar bike makes sense to you, I struggle to see how you could be disappointed with the Cotic Cascade. I hear it’s going back to someone who wants a demo ride… If they don’t buy one afterwards, I’ll eat my hat. Recommended.

Cotic Cascade Drop Bar Bronze specification

• Frame// Reynolds 853
• Fork// Cascade Steel
• Wheels// HUNT XC Wide 29
• Front Tyre// WTB Ranger 29×2.4in
• Rear Tyre// WTB Ranger 29×2.4in
• Chainset// SRAM Apex 1x 11sp
• Brakes// SRAM Apex, 160/140mm
• Drivetrain// SRAM Apex, 11-42T
• Stem// Cotic
• Handlebars// Cotic Valley
• Grips// Bar Tape
• Seat Post// Cotic
• Saddle// Cotic

Geometry of our size Small

• Head angle// 68°
• Effective seat angle// 74°
• Seat tube length// 435mm
• Head tube length// 100mm
• Chainstay// 438mm
• Wheelbase// 1092mm
• Effective top tube// 561mm
• BB height// 70mm BB drop
• Reach// 388mm

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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