[Closed] Cotic Rocket [PICS]

Bike number 58, or is it more now?

Looks good though, but you'll need to hit Wales/Scotland to 'stretch' it.

Good to see I'm not the only one to struggle with getting big tyres on arch ex. Looking forward to the ride report

Nice. Enjoy.

You may want to take it back to the bikeshop to have them line up the logos properly on the front wheel.....! 😉

nice build, that, Al.

Do you think you can keep the red clag off it until Alps trip?

Phwooar. That's looks lovely. Enjoy your new bike.

Very nice! I have tyres that size on my Soul, all the better for shredding the gnarr (TM). Don't forget to put the chainstay protector on before you take it out!

I daren't take it back to the bike shop. Poor old Nic the mechanic was cutting a very knackered figure when I picked it up. He didn't want to mark my nice new rims so had very sore thumbs! I'm sure they'll be better tubeless.

I think it'll be muddy tomorrow Mark. And we'll see how stretchy I'm feeling when chucking it down the worcester beacon.

Bike 58? No, No, No. It's no more than, at most, 30. I'm done now. For a bit anyway.

Very nice....

Just how big is that front rotor though, looks massive!

Not convinced about white rims myself, you do know they weigh more doncha?

Do they? I care not 🙂 Rotor is a 180 ICE. Same as the rear. Need to go steady on those XT brakes tho, a bit like having a wall thrown at you!

Chainstay protector... er yep good point, got one somewhere. Hope it's black 🙂

Putting the chain protector on is a bit of a bitch... best done before you put the cranks on... Ooops. (ETA: well with a massive hangover it was...)

Old inner tube and a coupla zip ties, jobs a goodun.

Must just be shimano rotors, deeper than hopes.

Have fun tomorrow!

That looks really good. I do wish people would stop posting Rocket pictures as I keep getting tempted.

Love these bikes, I will have one next year.

Not sure about the white rims either.

But worried about you having trouble with tyres, maybe I should have gone with Flow EX instead? hmm

Black cable outers would be better.

I have the same bike same colour. I thought long and hard over white or black flow rims, I went with black, but looking at yours, white looks a lot better. I thought it would be too tarty, but it looks ace. Seat looks made for it too and the black crank looks great. I avoided black crank because they eventually look shit when the paint wears off, again I'm regretting not going for black. I think your build is almost aesthetically perfect, perhaps a white stem would look good, looks perhaps a bit too black up top. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy mine.

Love it. Almost thinking I should've gone black rather than orange.

You should have got a branded chain stay protector with the frame??

Like the white cables.

Ha, you need white grips, that's what would set it off perfect 😀

And cheaper than a stem too, win: win.

Black and white bikes are gorgeous, you have to be careful with coloured cables though as they stand out a mile and look a bit like an Italian threw up over your bike.

It looks absolutely brilliant IMHO. Loving the white rims.
I'm very dubious about the weight claim though.

You should have got a branded chain stay protector with the frame?

I didn't get one either 😐

That looks well mate and the white rims defo suit it. Had mine up at lee quarry today and realised i had taken off my chainstay protector to clean it. It now has many paint chips on it 🙁

I'm very dubious about the weight claim though.

Don't be. It's been established as fact that the demo bike earlier in the year was 29lbs sans pedals. My rocket weighs more (just over 31 iirc, but then I've got old 321 rims...)

Although you don't care, it seems there's only a 20g penalty for white Arch EX rims, down from 40g for Flows. I washed my Soul (vaguely) properly for the first time in months - I'd forgotten what an awesome shade of orange it is!

what seat is that? I want one.

Never been a fan of white rims, but they look just, well, [i]right[/i] on that. Good job that man.

Cor. Yep, win for white rims, extra 40g be damned, tis lovely. Still don't like the white bit on the seatstay though, neither one thing nor t'other. And yeah cables are a wee bit chavvy. But still, like it a lot!

(older Rockshox decals would look a lot better on that btw, cheap wee tweak. TBH is there anything that the older Rockshox decals wouldn't look better on? New ones are pure mince)

I'm not talking about the demo bike. I'm talking about that bike with huge tyres, triple chainset, reverb, and an 8 lb frame and thinking; probably not. That's not to take anything away from it, as I said its lovely.
My 5 spot was about 30 with a lighter frame, lighter wheels, lighter tyres (tubeless), carbon bars and 1x10.

I was going for Orange. Until I saw the black. As for the white bits, couldn't restrain myself 😉 I appear to be the only person who likes the white cables... still I did fit pink to my daughter's bike so it could have been worse!

Saddle is SDG Bel-Air.

Ride report tomorrow.

I'll have to try it on some proper scale. Frame is 7.5 I think. Being a bit sad, I weighed all the bits when they turned up (including tyres) and it came out to 30.85. It's a double BTW 😉

Demo had same tyres that's why I went for them. Will see how it pedals uphill it the real world. Anyone who knows the Malverns will vouch that the grind up to the Beacon is a good test...

what width tyres are they?

PS hadn't noticed the white cables until people said about them!

That does look nice.

I find it pretty good at climbing. I got a small frame with a 70mm stem (very compact), with 160mm fork and its a bit of a handful on rutted/rocky climbs, but its fine on smooth surface climbs. On the downhill its REALLY good fun.

Good to see one in black with black forks.

Actually not good. I'm going to have to get one.

Rubbish time to buy a new bike but I've been working hard and think I deserve some new shiny.

Lex

Rear is a 2.25 Ardent LUST (currently with a tube)
Front is a DHF 2.5 🙂

But the 2.5 comes up quite small, well 2.35 ish. Rear will go Tubeless, front won't.

Yep, the 2.5 seems no larger than a xr4 2.2 to me, let alone a high roller 2.4

That looks great. I really want a rocket. Think I might be turning into a bit of a Cotic fanboi since I got my BFe, that hasn't happened with any other make of bike.

What size it by the way?

And has anybody put 160mm forks on one?

The fella who did the demo with me was riding Cy's bike with Fox 36s on it. He seemed to love it to the point where he and Cy were having a haggle over possible frame and fork purchase.

That's a Medium. It's pretty close in terms of standover and TT length to my ST4. Long and low. Which is what I like.

Lovely looking bike

Ta 🙂 bit of backstory here: http://pickled-hedgehog.com/?p=2746

Funny blog. Which RockShox forks are those?

Make sure all is secure when you go on holiday. We recently came back from a sunny two weeks to find we'd been burgled 👿

RS Revs 150mm fixed. 2013 so Solo Air. Have the older dual air on my hardtail and think they're the best value trail fork out there. Didn't go for the tapered steerer on the ground that it was a couple of hundred quid which I could better spend on beer 😉

Bikes are all locked together in a bit secure shed. Next door Neighbour has a shotgun. It'll probably be fine 😉 Sorry to hear about you having your bikes nicked tho. That's a proper downer.

Nice bike, shame about the big ring, the rims and the seatpost. But I like the head angle 😀

Be carefull though, you have a stick in your frame 😉

[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8050/8108350580_5d51f75324_z.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8050/8108350580_5d51f75324_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexleigh/8108350580/ ]Cotic Rocket[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/alexleigh/ ]Alex Leigh[/url], on Flickr

It's been ridden. Took it for a Malvern loop early this morning. 200m climb followed by the slabby, rocky mess that is the Worcester Beacon descent. That certainly woke me up. Four more climbs, three off road, one on, four more descents, some slithery singletrack, few little jumps and drops, a set of cheeky steep zig zags and a final punt down the Wyche over my favourite rock step.

It's hard to rate a bike on a 2 hour ride, especially with the 'new bike, spent a lot on it, need to like it' partisan glasses on, but here's what I've learned:

- It's very stiff. I know the hills well and there's a few places where the rear wheel gets deflected. Just doesn't happen on the rocket. Bolt thru fork is the least stiff thing on the whole bike!

- it's (going to be) very fast. Chasing my mate on his 5 was fantastic, he get's a bit of trail deadening experience (his words and he likes that), I got loads of feedback about what was going on under the tyres. It's horses for courses but I much prefer that.

- It's properly 'poppy'. For a 150mm bike it just loves to jump off things. Even with this old duffer on top. Definitely a bike for hitting the fun lines not the fastest

- It has a weight to it. TBH 150mm travel bike at 30lbs is blooming amazing when you consider what we were riding even five years ago. 38/26 with a 36T cassette is going to be fine but I'm glad I went with the 36.

- The slack head angle/low slung frame/big fugging tyres give you loads of confidence. I might trade the 2.5 DHF down to 'only' a 2.35 but wow they have so much more grip and braking authority than my Advantages on the ST4

- XT brakes with ICE rotors are bonkers.

I loved it. I've done that loop on a few bikes. The rocket won't be the fastest up hill but it's the fastest down. I'm trying to think of some counterpoints to my FanBoi-ism, but other than it'd be lovely if it was 25lbs I can't think of any right now. And if it was any lighter, it'd lose the stiffness than makes it so great.

When I'm back off hols it'll be off to Wales and the Peaks. But I'm happy riding it in the Malverns as it's such a laugh. Getting back onto the HT is going to be interesting 😉

@Alex: I'm very happy for you that you like your bike so much, read your blog too, keep writing mate 😉

Seems that this bike is not only beautiful but does what it says via the designer. Very nice.

Black looks amazing, any comment on your wheels? I'm glad that you went for the Arch EX after all of the talk. What do you think though? I didn't realise that a 2.5 would fit, will try it out.

Cheers Rob. I'n not really the right man to be giving an unbiased review on many counts. But so far, so good and it should be a blast most of the places I ride. Might even give the FoD DH tracks another go.

The 2.5 fits and didn't roll off. But I'll probably go for a 2.35 as I said and save that for the alps trip. For which I have a set of flows on my HT so will take those. Converted rear 2.2 Ardent to Tubeless today no problem. Happy with the Arch Ex, less rotating weight always a good thing 🙂