As an outsider, and if it's not too late to can your order, how about the Sour Bad Granny?
https://sour.bike/en/candy-shop/bikes/bad-granny/
Nope, it was hard enough making up my mind to get to the ordering stage - I don't think I can go through that again!
Drop bar mountain bikes are great! I love my Kona Sutra LTD, running 2.25 XC tyres on it which are nice and fast rolling on tarmac but still allow me to ride some proper off road singletrack. Only thing I’d really like is a dropper post; I bought the year before these became standard on the build.
*UPDATE*
NBD has come and gone with me finishing building my Cotic Cascade and managing a single, short shakedown ride before heading off for a family hol. I took it with me and made use of the SW Coast Path, managing many 1-2hr rides which away plus quite a few more on my usual local trails since getting back. It's all good!
No regrets moving to drop bars - I'd always shied away from them as a MTBer with a didgy lower back, but no issues. It helps I'm using Ritchey Beacon XLs: 52cm width across the hoods, 36deg flare and 670mm wide overall, with minimal 80mm drop (thanks to those earlier in this topic who suggested them). Only major expense was the GRX800 levers and mech: 1x11 plus a dropper controlled by the LH lever. All all just works.
Currently using everything else from my previous bike including eXotic fork for ease when building. Might try the Cotic fork to see for a higher stack height (I'm limited with the steerer length on the eXotic) although current position is comfy. I've got spare wheels with 29x2.4 Rekons to use sans mudguards although 700x50 with full guards is a useful setup at the moment.
Looks good. It's the first Cascade I've seen with guards fitted and it looks much better than I'd have expected it to.
The Beacon XL bars are an odd one. I tried them on my Cascade after running it with flat bars for a long while then picking up a set of Sram Force AXS shifters for a bargain price. I was wholly expecting to hate the bars and already had someone lined up to buy the shifters and bars if I didn't get on with them. Turns out the bike's an absolute hoot with the wide flared drops. I'm running mine with a 100mm SID fork and it's brilliant. I'll try a Firestarter carbon fork one day when I find some for a good price.
Thanks. It'll mostly be wearing that setup with the full guards - also used for commuting and there's enough tame local trails that 700x50s are sufficient.
I know I could've stuck with flat bars and barends on the Cascade but sizing would've made it feel shorter in reach, even in XL, compared to what I'm used to. You're right in saying its a hoot with flared drops. At times - such as last night on a wilder descent over many roots - I wished I had bigger tyres for more comfort/grip, but at no time was I missing having a flat bar. Very grateful for the suggestions made to try out a wide flared drop bar.
Now trying not to start looking for a 100mm travel fork to use instead of the Cotic rigid fork...
Which guards are you using, out of interest?
Ritchey Beacon are brilliant.
Ritchey corsalitos are better
There's no warranty on the Titus?
Kona Unit – yes.
Sold mine and regret it. Think I might buy another. Wish it was a bit lighter though. Great geometry.
I had a 26” Unit as a bike-to-work bike. Was fun. Liked the sliding dropouts.
Ended up putting gears and suspension forks on it. Was better.
Gave it away to a bike charity last year. I wasn’t riding it and instead was riding a ‘proper bike*’ an Orange Crush.
Karate Monkey looks very cool.
*27.5” so others may disagree
Edit. Late late late to the thread. Interested in the various bar ideas though. Got some drip bars with some ‘flare’ on my gravel bike but much prefer flatter bars. Don’t want to ditch the drop bar levers though (££) so some of the weird bars are … interesting.
Really like that Cotic Escapade, that colour looks great. 🙂 I have been playing with a fully rigid hardtail (on-one Huntsman) for exactly the type of stuff you are using that Cotic for, firstly with a 130mm fork, now on the classifieds 😉 and currently have a Cotic Alpaca fork to try.
This thread has really got me interested in the drop bar MTB idea though, especially as my Ti Tripster only has room for 40mm tyres. The thought of a drop bar MTB between the Tripster and Orange Evo I have seems the ideal option. Especially if the wheels from my Orange can swap to the Cascade type bike. keep the photos coming.
I meant Cascade 🙁
