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Had a Cotic demo over the fod today. Wow that Longshot business is crazy good! FlareMax was so fun and lively like a mountain bmx, not sure I would want it as a race bike though. Rocket was crazy good. Think the rocketmax was my favourite. Just so stable and planted. It was a handful on mellower, flatter stuff though. Don’t know if that would ever be a problem or not. Anyone running one yet? Steep flat out trails would be killer on it but I’m worried about mellower stuff. The transition patrol has a competitor now! 29ers have entered the equation!
Basically you actually need two bikes. Sure, one could do, but you then end up picking a compromise.
I found myself in the same position when I had a Capra. Ended up buying a 29 Jeffsy to go with it so I could pick either for whatever terrain / mood I was in.
Basically you actually need two bikes. Sure, one could do, but you then end up picking a compromise.
Was going to say exactly this.
A long slack bike with long chainstays will be brilliant on steep, fast stuff but dull and heavy on anything tight and pedally. So you also need a shorter, light bike, with less travel and shorter chainstays to be the playful, fun bike for twisty flat singletrack.
OP, did you ride the RocketMax in 29er or 27.5+ guise?
Rode it in 29er guise, actually wonder how it would feel with 27+?
A second bike isn’t really an option, I’m on a one bike deal! Wish I could have 2 bikes though!
I’ve got a non long shot rocket max. I don’t think it is a handful on mellower stuff, sure it’s a bike you need to grab by the scruff of the neck sometimes. It I like that, it responds very well to your inputs and when you do something right it rewards you. It’s a definite quiverkiller with a slant to the more lairy stuff. I love it though maybe the long shot might compromise the handling at the slower mellower stuff, I don’t know but i’ve got a test ride booked for next month. I suspect the loner lower slacker geo is better for the more lairy stuff at the expense of the more mellower stuff so maybe the non long shot geo version might turn out to be the better all rounder.
Try a Sentinel 🙂
Mellow is my natural home and I love the longshot FlareMax. Just saying 🙂
Depends where you ride, Not the same bike but my Vitus escarpe 29 has long stays (450mm) and a 2 degree slackset fitted (63.8 Deg measured ha). She feels great on everything that I ride (lakes), granted it is a touch less reachy than a rocketmaxx but still fairly long. Not noticing any adverse effects on any type of trails even the really tight singletrack since i have got used to it - took a while to master flat corners again though!
Mainly ride fod. Good bit of South Wales/bikepark. Some local stuff around Dursley and North Nibley.
For the steeper off piste stuff I ride it’s the perfect bike. It’s just the rest that worries me! Certain flatter trail sections felt slow, I don’t know if that’s down to the slack as geo or if I was going slower. According to Strava I wasn’t much slower than race runs on those trails from summer time. Add in waiting for people and showing to show the way I guess it might have just felt slower not been slower?
Really want to try a sentinel. Struggling to find time to demo stuff at the minute as I’m in full house diy mode!
Anyone run a rocketmax with 27+? Is it less of a handful or?