[Closed] Anyone got (or had) a Cotic X?

I think the reviews said the front end was jittery

[url= http://road.cc/content/review/28748-cotic-x-weekday ]Roadcc[/url]

What I noticed most was horrendous brake judder. Initially, I got the most frightening chatter under braking I've ever experienced. I tried the usual tricks of raising the too low straddle-cable, replacing the brake blocks to some of better quality, and toeing them in madly to try and minimise the problem. But it never really went away

Thanks would be disc brakes if I got one

What're you gonna be using it for?

They look boring btw

I reckon that if you did a search on stw you would find the long winded comments I made recently. Not repeating that whilst eating brekky and using a tablet! Maybe search from my profile. Had since Feb 2011.

I had one, it was great in a go for a ride 'oh where does that go' type way. Pretty good mile muncher over mixed terrain reasonably competent over technical stuff. Got me back into just riding for going interesting places as opposed to building in technical trails.

It's gone now replaced by a 29er but deffo worth a go for the right price.

Worth noting that later models with the full carbon fork were much better under braking.

Hi Cy - so there was a full carbon fork and a version with alloy steerer?

Love mine, running with Whiskey carbon fork, 105, trp spyres and Salsa finishing kit.
Happy doing 100 miles+ on road, mixed trails, Dorset gravel dash etc etc

I owned an X. A really great bike. Also the comments about juddery feedback from the brakes usually come from journalists who can't even wrench their own bikes so take the review with a pinch of salt. I never owned the revised carbon fork but owned the steel jobbie, running hope evo hubs on open pro with Sammy slicks. Brakes were BB7 road and I can tell you now the bike was brilliant.My brother has it now and he loves it. As all things with bikes get informed decisions and if poss demo. Cotic have always been great at this.

[img] [/img]

rumbledethumps - Member
Also the comments about juddery feedback from the brakes usually come from journalists who can't even wrench their own bikes so take the review with a pinch of salt.

but not always 🙂

i'd read the whole review rather than just concentrate on this one single aspect of the bike, especially as it's not relevant if you're running discs

Here's my imput based on owning one since Feb 2011 with at least 20,000 miles on it, almost all gravel. 54cm frame.
Mine came with carbon forks with alloy steering column as standard. Never had any judder. Disc brakes though, but who would want rims brakes on that bike when there are plenty of better bikes cheaper?
It should have had a thread in the BB shell for a mudguard but that didn't exist. Cotics attitude was so what? The same could be said about their attitude when I suggested that the paint lacquer was very soft. Maybe things have changed. That hole by the way needs blocking as it fills the BB with water otherwise.
Now have the steel forks. Road Rat type with the brake on the right. Hefty and less handy to set the brake up. Cheap though when my carbon forks looked a bit rough and I decided that 15,000 miles of abuse was enough. The carbon forks didn't have much clearance. 28mm semi slicks rubber through the paint eventually. Most likely from mud build up but the forks were not very stiff which didn't help.
Like almost every modern steel bike the steel has a fancy manufacture only name that suggests everything but delivers not a lot. They are all heavy and the X is most definitely clunker. My bigger framed 531 Raleigh road bike weighs noticeably less. Gas pipe were the words we used to use.

At the time Cotic were trying to push the bike as a CX bike. Hmm. As a racer it was too heavy. The two bottle cage mounts re both on the down tube. That means that you can only fit smaller bottles in the top cage and large ones fit the lower ne only if the top cage is empty. Like I said 54cm frame. I suggested to Cotic that a seat tube mount was needed and their, typical , response was that that setup would get in the way of carrying the bike. Daft. It wasn't a race bike, and the other mounts get in the way anyway and who carries bottles in a race?

The standard spec disc brakes were in those days Tektro Lyras. Death traps. With a bit of wear in the pads they went "over cam" and you went from pretty feeble brakes to nothing. Letting them off and re applying brought feeble back. Not really the frames fault but the whole bike? Yes.
The vertical hole for the rear guard mount is great but keep it blocked when no guards are fitted.
No chainstay bridge means you either use a bolt into the BB, mine used a very thing headed one from the inside out or better use an old fashion single down tube gear lever clamp below the front mech and bolt to that.
I have gone to 40mm heavy road tyres on mine which fit nicely. More would work but not in mud.
I did spend a wheel camping/touring with mine, very overloaded. It worked well. I used a plastic clamp around the wish bone for the top pannier mounts.
This sounds a bit negative but I do still have the bike. Shame it wasn't stolen in stead of my Kaffenback though! That was a nicer ride although still gas pipe.
My X has had a lot of use and paint apart survived well but its a bit of a slug and nowadays there are better bikes out there. The Kaff being one of them at half the new price for the frame.

^^^ that's comprehensive!

It also echoes my beef with my Soul which is that the paint finish didn't warrant the premium over a 456

On topic, my mate had an X and quickly sold
Too nervous for technical cross and too agricultural for a winter roadie was his verdict

Cheers

Too nervous for technical cross

I'm not sure what 'technical cross' is, but I had a loan X for a month or two and I thought it felt oddly sluggish at the front, like a sort of cross bike for mountain bikers - I'd kind of agree with Jo Burt on that front. A sort of commuting bike with added beans if that makes sense, not remotely 'nervous' ime unless you're comparing it to a mountain bike.

I like the steel feel enough that I bought a Soma Double Cross DC that felt instantly together in a way that the X never did for me. And then I swapped that for a Dirty Disco which comes complete with a lot of added speed...

Other memories were that the original brakes - as above - were bloody awful and the OE tyres were appalling and flatted at the merest hint of an undulation, but that won't matter now.

Ultimately I guess it depends on what you want and expect from it. I wouldn't buy it to race or ride on the road for fun, but for mixed-up pottering and commuting it'd be fine and they look nice in orange.

I like mine. Great on rough roads, in fact I don't get enough time to ride.