[Closed] New Bike Day: Cotic FlareMax

The reasons you ride, what you ride, why you ride and why you wanted to build up the bike yourself.... are amazingly similar to my own mate. Though I've not rode a recumbent!

Love the build and the colour by the way.

That's a great looking bike and write-up.👍

Thanks. The downside of bimbling around on your own, especially when the mags are full of rad dudes riding in groups, is that you can end up thinking you are weird. In fact, it would seem that there are lots of us out there.

You hear that clunking, whirring sound? Like a washing machine full of clogs? Thats Capability Brown spinning like a drive in carwash brush in his grave.

Bike almost makes up for it.

🙂 The garden can wait until I'm too old to ride. Anyway, the chickens like it. Guess that shed is going to need another coat of something this year though, but that too can wait. First we ride !

OP, solo rider here too.  There are a lot of us to be sure!

Also don't bounce as well as I used to so really don't mind taking it show on the steep stuff either. I give the ups a good go though but quite happy to get off and push when I'm beaten. 😃

That's lovely that (Rocket owner)

Glad you've got the shed patina in mind.

It is very, very nice.... however I'd feel like I was neglecting my stw duties if I didn't point out those cables. What cha' doing there fella? Temporary?

Isn't it common practice to come round the headtube from the opposite side for brakes/shifters/droppers. Otherwise you'll just rub the shit out off that nice paintwork,(and possibly rip out the cables if you twist the bar).

Great stuff RP. You know I'm a bit of a Cotic fan so will be following your thoughts with interest.

Good to see a few more solo riders who just got out for a ride too.

As others have said  my riding sounds very much like the type of riding you do. I'm also a Cotic fan and my only mountain bike at present is a Solaris.

I would love to get a full suspension bike to run along side it but for me the geometry of the older shape FlareMax made more sense. I'll be interested how you get on with it. It looks bloody lovely.

Isn’t it common practice to come round the headtube from the opposite side for brakes/shifters/droppers. Otherwise you’ll just rub the shit out off that nice paintwork,(and possibly rip out the cables if you twist the bar).

Yes, I've always done that "wrong". I don't like the cables crossing over on the down tube. This way they all run nice and straight. I haven't even run them through the shock mount shuttle like I'm supposed to so they are straighter. Plus this way I don't cover that lovely head badge. You are right though, it probably is form over function although they are long enough that I can twist the bars right round and I put some protective patches on the sides of the head tube.

The dropper cable is too long, but that's going back on the fatbike once the one up dropper arrives

As for the shed/garden; a Hungarian friend of mine once told me how funny he found it that the British would spend Saturday manicuring their gardens then head off to the countryside on Sunday to enjoy something natural.

FlareMax made more sense.

Yes I agree. It's hard to believe that this longer slacker geometry will work as well as the original for a talentless mincer like me. But I'm willing to suspend disbelief for a bit and give it a go. I can always sell the frame to a proper mountain biker and go back to something more sensible if it doesn't work 🙂

It is a real leap of faith though. Everything I "know" about bike geometry tells me this won't work, but Cy says it will. Of course the logical answer would have been a demo, but I wanted to give it a proper test and not just dismiss it if it felt weird at first. So I'll ride it everywhere that I normally ride, at least until the winter comes and see what I think then. It's just a bit of fun.

Nice rp, I’m probably (ie definitely) going to get a LS geo SolarisMAX. I have no quandaries about the geo, it makes perfect sense to me to solve my specific problems. 🤣

as always I’ll be interested in how you get on (but, please, keep it brief 😉 ).

my mate David ordered pretty much the same bike the other week, no doubt I’ll get a shot on his at some point.

but, if you find yourself not liking it, give me a shout I might be interested in checking out FS again...

I'm about to replace my Jekyll and after much internet 'research' I think I've decided the FLareMax is the bike for me, and seeing yours only reinforces that feeling.

Nice bike mate.

That’s a very cool looking bike.

I have never owned a full sus bike. My Solaris is all the bike I need, but I'm interested how yours rides.

It looks pretty, now get it ridden and report back.

I haven’t looked at the geometry of the Flaremax, but I’ve got a Bird Aeris 145 which is also long / slack / low (not a 29er or steel though). I’ve found I’ve had to adjust my riding style to very much getting your weight forward onto the front wheel and riding a bit more aggressively. It’s made me massively faster on fast trails and I’ve also found I’ve going up steeper / more echnical climbs quite a lot quicker.

Things like draggy fireroads are more draggy though - but that’s probably mostly because this bike is about 3lbs heavier than my last one and has bigger stickier tyres.

I've had the original geometry Flare Max* for a year now. I can ride pretty much anything on my Solaris but I was pretty shocked at how much more you can do on this. Makes it all a bit too easy to be honest. If the LS geometry is an improvement again then you'll be amazed at what you can ride and how easy it is. Just be careful when you get back on a 'normal' bike. I made that mistake and was launched over the bars in no time at all 🙂

*Bregante if you ever want a go just let me know. Be warned though you'll want to buy one after.

DAMN MAN! now that makes me want a Cotic and to go riding which is surely a win win.

Good looking bike that enjoy !!

Matchy matchy! Nice work. Not a shy build.

Thanks. I wimped out on the orange Hope bits though. Partly because the shade of orange is different and I wasn't sure it would work and partly so I could re-use those bits if the whole bike doesn't work. Should probably have gone with the orange headset and seat clamp though.

I'm not that keen on the Orange Hope either.

The orange Hope bits work better with the old grey colour I think 🙂

Yup. Or the Mercury.

Also a solo rider.  Also want your bike.  😜👍

Looks lovely

Is that grey one an old flare max too is looks very long and low too. The new geometry looks mad as a box of frogs

<div class="bbp-reply-author">metalheart
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Nice rp, I’m probably (ie definitely) going to get a LS geo SolarisMAX. I have no quandaries about the geo, it makes perfect sense to me to solve my specific problems. 

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It has an electric motor?

Love this bike.

When I move somewhere with mountains and green this will be a definite inspiration. 29 in wheels, slack, cool frame, perfect.

RP - we really must have a recluses get-together at some point. We just need to agree a safe minimum separation distance while riding (and to sit at separate tables in the pub/cafe).

I also ride alone but I don't really like people 🙂

Now I want one. Fab build, looks great.

Lovely bike ! Also another lone rider checking in.

Sounds as though we've got enough people for an antisocial gits day out. Maybe we could all go on different days 🙂

Thanks. The downside of bimbling around on your own, especially when the mags are full of rad dudes riding in groups, is that you can end up thinking you are weird. In fact, it would seem that there are lots of us out there.

Not weird at all. I reckon most people who own 'mountain' bikes spend most of the time bimbling about. We took our gnarpoons up NCN 1 today for a cup of tea and a watch of some cricket. #rad? #nope #scone? #yesplease

🙂

Finally RP, finally :o)   That looks lovely and I sincerely hope after all the deliberations it rides how you're wanting it to ride.

It has an electric motor?

et tu brutus?

nope, anti-gravity drive...

Nice bike Roverpig, I look forward to seeing your tyre tracks.

That's exceptional.  I reckon that's my perfect bike.  Off to Google.  Enjoy it!

My new Flare Max is in the shop being built today, Mercury, full XT, and 2.8 Minions!

Cant wait

Looks great that does.

How did it ride ?

Another solo rider checking in.

OK, that's the maiden voyage out the way. Time for some rambling initial thoughts, with apologies to @metalheart. Brevity is not really my strong suit. You can always just look at the pictures though  🙂

I took it for a four hour ride around Corryhabbie hill. So a mix of surfaces from loose rocks, through farm tracks to smooth trails and a bit of road and some steep ups and steepish downs. But the main reason for picking the loop was that I rode it exactly a year ago to the day on my Five in similar conditions.

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I'm not really into "best bike ever" reviews. They are all good and on the initial rides I'm hyper-sensitive to the small differences and whether the bike is marginally better or marginally worse than other bikes on that particular section. It takes me a while to just accept the bike as it is and start trying to get the best out of it. That said, initial impressions were very positive. The bottom line is that it gives me the same sense of stability and security that I've learnt to love on the fatbikes, but without the drag on smooth sections and with that lovely progressive suspension feel. I'm as far from a riding god as you'll get, but even I could just pump the rear and get it to hop over little ditches and off lips, which was rather addictive. It was certainly more playful than I expected for a bike that looks like a tank on paper.

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It's slack and I definitely noticed the extra wheel flop when I was building it up. For the first few minutes spinning along some broken tarmac I also felt that the steering was a bit different. Maybe a bit more of a caster effect. But riding back along the same section at the end of the ride it felt totally normal.

Letting the brakes off and bombing over rough ground it's brilliant as you'd expect really. Very stable. Usually my (lack of) nerve is the limiting factor, but here it was more a case of having to back off because I was going so fast that my vision was getting blurred.

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I rode through one stream crossing that I've always walked in the past. It just has a bit of a drop into it and the rocks seem that bit bigger than all the rest. Of course, once I pushed the bike into the section it rolled through with no problems as would no doubt have been the case on any other bike. It's just that I felt more willing to give it a go.

I'm not qualified to talk about the nuances of the x-fusion shock, but I really liked the simple 4-position lever. All four positions are useful and different enough that they change the feel of the bike. It's basically climb, trail, descend but with an extra firm setting for road or smooth climbs. The new Pike also seems to "finally" have a useful middle setting. On previous RTC3 forks I've always just ignored the middle position, but I used it quite a bit yesterday.

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One big surprise was the climbing. I expected it to be pretty good on rocky technical stuff and it was, but I thought I'd be fighting it to keep it on line on longer drags. In fact it was easy just to sit in and pick a line. I managed to ride up a climb that I walked on the Five last year. At one point I almost came to a halt while I lined up for a section and it still felt totally balanced. I did position the saddle a bit further forward when I built it. I've not tried it in a more central position, but it feels so good where it is that I doubt I'll bother.

I also found myself using the "no 2" position for off-road climbing rather than the stiffest, which was a surprise as I usually prefer the rear to be as locked as possible on a climb. There is a nice spring to the feel of the bike in that position. So it doesn't feel harsh and seems to flow over things nicely, but doesn't feel as though it's sucking away any power either.

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One thing I didn't really notice was the length, which was strange as that's supposed to be one of the more "radical" things about the geometry. It just felt like it fitted really. Maybe having the bars a bit forward is what kept it stable on those slow climbs though as it naturally pulls you forwards a bit.

It's definitely a bike that gets more fun as you go faster, but it was still a pleasant place to be just spinning along and admiring the view. Unlike the Smuggler that I had last year I didn't feel that I had to ride aggressively to make it work. Maybe that's the longer chainstays or maybe that's because (following a bit more coaching) I naturally ride with a bit more weight on the front wheel.

So, playful and fun, motors up the climbs and offers lots of confidence on the descents. Not a bad start and if nothing else, at least I got it dirty 🙂

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Cheers for the read!

I'm beginning to dream about full suspension bikes again but being a short arse whos used to 26" wheels i think i might have to stop at 27.5s

Glad you liked the bike it looks great

Thanks for taking the time to write up the first impressions @Roverpig.

I spent an afternoon on one a couple of weeks back, and ragged it around the Surrey Hills - albeit with the Cane Creek shock.

For a steel full suss - it's bizarrely quick and efficient to pedal, I found. Even around the carpark, on tarmac, on fire road climbs. It just felt like it had real zip. I can't explain why.

Completely agree with what you say about it getting you to try things too. It made me feel (maybe too) confident straight off the bat. as a result I checked Strava at the end of the day and, on trails I ride a fair amount, had 18 of my quickest times - in less that perfect conditions. Proof that the feeling wasn't just in my head.

The front wheel does seem to grip and give bags of confidence. The flip side for me - it felt a little more nose heavy and less neutral in the air than my current bike, and a little more exaggeration required in the movements  - particularly manualling (not that I am great at them anyway).

I came away with a big smile. And just trying to work out how to afford one myself having already bought a Full Suss around 12 months ago...

Good points @mccraque  I can't manual for toffee, so it didn't feel any harder than any of the other bikes that I can't manual and if I'm in the air it usually means I'm about to crash 🙂