[Closed] Solaris Max

My order went in last night 😆

Delivery week Friday!

I did a little man wee

black and orange looks ace

Looks v nice, but I think I'd rather have the Carbon Transmitter for that money.

Nice, but fairly expensive in my mind. Not to say it's not value for money but for my tastes a little pricey frame only. Having said that similar to others so maybe I'm just tight. Cotic do seem to be in the top of their game at the moment.

Nice, but fairly expensive in my mind

I thought that, then decided the price was as expected if I add the 20% the £ dropped in the past year

Black and orange looks gorgeous. Would look great next to my Mk1 Soul. Could have Cotics in 26, 27.5+ and 29er flavours with two frames and 3 sets of wheels.....

*Heads out to buy lottery ticket*

I'd like brands like Cotic and Stanton (and Orange to an extent) to bargain basement(ish) builds, but I guess it would devalue the brand a bit, and might not be possible for a business of their size.

You know the sort NX/Deore Group, basic but serviceable fork (sektor silver or similar) and budget finishing kit.

If you could get a complete basic but upgradable hardtail for a grand I'd probably snatch their hand off.

I was seeing a rant on FB this morning by the owner of an Orange Alpine 160 in relation to the price of a new Orange. He was having issues reconciling his blinded out Hope and Renthal build of a couple of years ago (just the wrong side of 3.5k) with the price of an LE Orange.

Forget what, but £7k was being tossed about. Just had a quick peep at Orange's site and can't see what that might have been - Stage 6 LE seems to be around 5.5k. Cotic's are generally quite reasonably priced IMO. It would be missing the point to expect off the peg OnOne style builds, although there's nothing to stop you whacking a Deore build with Sektor together after you buy the frame, if that's what you want to hit a price.

I agree to an extent, but without the economies of scale a proper business could provide I'd struggle to hit a grand (then buy the right tools to put the thing together)

They're not a volume business though really are they, I should stop moaning and pony up if I want something decent.

Although Orange really need to have a look at themselves, £1600 for their cheapest mass produced alu hardtail?

SantaCruz, Orange, Cotic etc have much the same starting price for fully built hardtails… I'm sure they could all start slightly lower by downgrading forks and groupset, but they'd never hit the figure you're talking about Prawny, it's just not realistic. The big big big players like Giant, Spec and Trek can hit that price point, or brands only selling direct with no dealers, if that's the way you want to go. All depends on whether you want a frame form SantaCruz/Orange/Cotic etc…

@kelvin: did you ever get my email or PM?

Literally just emailed you!

Cool, I'll respond 🙂

Another boost back end. It may limit those who (like me) might have wanted to use existing wheels.
And yes, I know there are solutions for making an existing wheel boost compatable but none are particularly satisfactory for my wheelset
Nice though

Anyone know if there are 2 sets of mounts on the new frame?

Don't think so, just Boost...

That's a pita. What's the point of a xc frame with only one set of bottle mounts?

Sorry, misread original post clink, but only one set of mounts that I know of, plus they're still in the middle of the downtube...

I think stealth droppers have become more important, sigh.

Cotic dropped (pun intended) seat tube bottle bosses years ago, so that people can get their seat down & out of the way.

Fair enough but not everybody runs a dropper or drops their seat. All day marathons or xc for example (which according to the blurb the Solaris is also good at).

I've got a mk2 solaris, only one set of bottle cage mounts, and the height up the downtube is annoying, interferes with frame bag. Most dropper posts should surely allow for a low down boss on the seat tube, though some people still slam a normal post I guess.

I'm using my solaris for xc, not 'trail' riding, but I think the time may have come for them to do two 29ers, one xc/bikepacking machine for 100mm forks, lots of bosses and mounts and possibly a bit lighter, and a 120-140mm trail machine. I'd say it's compromised at both at the moment.

I've got elite bottle cage mounts, DMR ones available too, on my Mk1 Solaris so I can run two bottles for bikepacking

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That orange and black combo is lovely. If I could afford I'd have a Flare, Solaris and Escapade. Would cover all the riding I'd like to do.

Like the look of it and sort of half looking for a new frame but would be a backwards step in geometry for me...

I think the new graphics look rank.

If they did an orange, green and blue with the black/white or white/black decals they'd sell through them much quicker. I'd have a green one.

In fact if they did the purple or translucent red with black/white (or vice versa) decals I'd have either of them too.

I loved my 26" Soul, wasn't inamered with my Solaris, bought a Sherpa.

Love my Sherpa but it's not very long, Solaris Max is longer but it's 148mm, Sherpa V2 is 142mm or 148mm

Why are things so complicated 😆

The black and orange looks fab.

no black Cotics since the MkII Soul and now two at once!
yes I agree the Boost bs is annoying. Road bike standards do not suffer such changes.

Massively underwhelmed, I was looking forward to the new Solaris but I don't want boost!!
I'll reserve judgement in the colour schemes until there are actual photos as well.

Yep. I'll second the underwhelmed feeling. Been waiting for ages for the new solaris (owned a mk2 but thievery) as a trail/bikepacking rig but unlike most I'm not at all excited by the colour schemes (though I'll wait for pics) and I'm disappointed by the lack of cage mounts (though that's not the biggest problem all said and done).

That and the price. You can grab a full carbon Santa Bruise 29er with better kit for less. (or a decent second hand car - but that's bikes all over nowadays).

Love steel and cotic tho. Just feel a bit *meh* 🙁

Edit: Happy with boost tho. Stiffer wheels on a 29er is good.

Edit edit: Karate Monkey may have jumped to the front of the queue again tho 🙁

Black and aqua for me. Boostinators on my Hope Evo wheels and we're away.

I think the time may have come for them to do two 29ers, one xc/bikepacking machine for 100mm forks, lots of bosses and mounts and possibly a bit lighter,

[url= http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/mountain/mountain-trail/longitude/longitude-fs ]Here you go[/url]

Cotic fan here but lost interest in the email when Cy got onto various "standards". Just so bl00dy complicated

Another boost back end. It may limit those who (like me) might have wanted to use existing wheels.
And yes, I know there are solutions for making an existing wheel boost compatable but none are particularly satisfactory for my wheelset
Nice though

The 'old' solaris takes 27x2.8" tyres and has normal hubs.

The new solaris takes 27x3.0" tyres and has boost hubs.

So it's not like they've done it for no reason.

Ok so the need for 27x3 tyres is a different matter, but it's presumably what new customers are after. Cotic made a big deal about 26" ain't dead, and how they were going to continue to supply frames for that market (people who already had wheels). Before dropping it like a stone when presumably people didn't buy them so the upgrade market maybe isn't as big as they thought.

Cotic made a big deal about 26" ain't dead, and how they were going to continue to supply frames for that market (people who already had wheels). Before dropping it like a stone when presumably people didn't buy them so the upgrade market maybe isn't as big as they thought.

Looking at the homepage, I wouldn't say dropped like a stone:

http://www.cotic.co.uk

I'd agree that this new model isn't perfect (I had a go at Cy to try and get the bottle bosses dropped for frame bag clearance for instance) but the way things are going people want clearance for up to 3" tyre clearance on the back. The industry seems set to go down the Boost road at present (and at least it's appropriate for,both 29ers and B+ so there's reason to). I'm sure Cy's done his homework and has reasoned it out and ultimately it's his gig, if he's wrong it him that pays the price.

There is a continual 'if only Cotic did a 26" soul...." Except that I think they struggled to sell the last batch so that's why they don't make them now. The soda struggled to sell out a limited run (they ended up flogging off the last couple at a significant reduction) and it's completely disappeared. Sentiment doesn't pay the wages and he's 7 sets to pay these days. The initial updated BFe small run sold out, hence why they've done a second. But I'd say there's a limited market for even that.

I was excited when I first heard this announcement. I couldn't buy an XL frame at the end of last year so was waiting for new ones. I had written to Cotic to say how much I liked the Fast Red colour of one of their other frames and would love it if the next Solaris had it. Then I see black and champagne. I've already got a black Soul and the champagne looks the same colour as a Claude Butler my wife had in the nineties. I know it shouldn't matter that much but I think it's put me off getting one altogether.

Not a fan of the Champagne either. Apparently it's really difficult to photograph properly (I think the escapade is available in this colour?) I thought it might be a bit more like my Klein Attitude Race from years back.... But black will tape up more stealth and that suits me for bikepacking....

FWIW I like both the black course schemes (I'd buy the orange). The champagne is just anonymous, which will attract as many buyers as it repels.

For all the "if only"s, I've seen/heard it all before. These are the folk who are never likely to buy one anyway but just want something to moan about.

The champagne is supposed to be sparkly (ha) and change colour dependent on the light I believe. Cotic seemed pretty keen on it and that it's supposed to kind of special in the 'flesh'. I may have been a little disparaging about getting a beige bike though.... 😉

The orange thing kind of snuck up on me, that was news. Still, there's a couple of days left to change my mind if I want... (Currently Aqua for me...).

jim1970 - I liked the Fast Red colour

The black/aqua combo reminds me of a Kinesis. Nice though.

I like. Seems ideal for the riding I do. Shame about the cost - but it's not excessive compared to competition - it just moves it for me from C2W'able to just too high.

Has anyone seen any pictures of the frames in real life? Can't really tell how the colour will really look from their website

Frames are due Monday so I'd expect pretty soon after that they'll stick up actual photos.

They should have at least one built up by Thursday (albeit a non standard setup that officially they dont do... cheers Cy!). So if there aren't any official ones up chances are I'll have something up on the Saturday...

I had a Mk1 Solaris and much preferred it to my Mk1 Soul. In the same way I much prefer my FlareMax to my old rocket. There is no possible reason to own the SolarisMax (in the Orange obviously) other than I could convert my Stache back to 29+ leaving me with wheels and forks for something else. I've got most of the other bits I need.

The price is the price. Cy's got a business to run and I think the price represents the time, effort and economics of a small-ish volume bike manufacturer.

looking forward to seeing MH's pics...

Cant quote as on the phone but Alex's the price is the price paragraph... That +1.

Sometimes, the saying about knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing springs to mind...

Would of been good to have had same colours as Rocket and Flare bikes. In the meantime will wait to see one in the flesh...

I shall wait and see some more photos of the champagne. If I'm still not convinced then I'll just go for the Shan GT Rothmans although it does have a press fit bottom bracket. Some folk are never happy 🙂

They look lovely.

Why not just buy a Back Country Research Super 8 strap for 2nd bottle duties? Way more flexible than a cage.

There's pics of the Escapade in champagne.

All the pics I have seen were night pics taken with flash. Hard to really appreciate the colour. Got links to some others? Yes, I did try google.

I'll update this thread as soon as there are any photos to share…

Sounds good Kelvin 8)

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Very nice! *Now* I get the champagne colour - good call.

It's quite silvery. That phone shot isn't very exciting, but does show the colour/finish quite well.

Thanks Kelvin 😀

I take it you work at cotic kelvin? any chance of a pic of the full frames?

Like that blue decal. Might see if can get one for my Soul if I get it powdercoated this year.

Oh Kelvin...you tease..

I take it you work at cotic kelvin? any chance of a pic of the full frames?

I've done work "for" Cotic from the very start, but not really "at" Cotic. A subtle distinction that.
I popped over yesterday to meet Hannah, the latest Cotic employee, and to catch up with the others.
Quite a few of them now, and all lovely people, always a pleasure to go over.
I checked over the SolarisMAX frames and took a few detail shots for myself, I'll pop some more up later.

Hannah has taken some full frame snaps and put them in a news story:
http://www.cotic.co.uk/news/2017/2017solarismax

No doubt Richard will do some ace bike photos in the next few weeks. The ones he did for the previous Solaris were fantastic… it's almost a shame that model has been replaced, the photos were so nice:
http://www.cotic.co.uk/news/2016/newnewsolaris
Still 3 of those yellow ones left (medium) if anyone is bargain hunting.

Love the black and orange. 8)

how nice is that?
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Blurry detail phone snaps of that black/orange version:

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View this post on Instagram

I took earlier today[/url]

Here you go Si:

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[quote=Normal Man ]Love the black and orange.
Absolutely!

The Champagne looks much better in these photos too.

Si's photo looks more like what I was expecting for champagne, still it's not for me though...

Was tempted to change to orange but, tbh, I kinda have more pressing matters on my mind atm and I guess it's too late now. Plus I'd need to change the shirt spec too so **** it, aqua it remains.. 😆

I drove a (perfectly preserved) 1983 Vauxhall Cavalier in that "champagne" colour for a year or so in the noughties.

Would need a brown velour saddle for the full effect though.

It's nice, but I'd probably have the black with electric blue decals.

What size is that frame in your pic Jekkyl?

it's not my pic mate, it's from the news page on the Cotic site that kelvin linked. I think it's a large though.

I like the new colours, although have to say probably still prefer the yellow frame that they did in the previous version

I like the new colours, although have to say probably still prefer the yellow frame that they did in the previous version

There are 3 yellow ones left. Reduced to clear.

Picture of a black/aqua SolarisMAX with 2x11 SLX and chubby tyres now been posted up on the Cotic Facebook page.

I'd hazard a guess that it's a 60mm stem and that them tyres are tough casing....

Looks good to me 😀

Probably just as well really!

Don't know if this'll work:

Will I be seeing it on Saturday or has the worlds production of helicopter tape not arrived on Deeside yet?

Somewhat embarrassingly I seem to be decidedly negligent in the tape department (I know, despite knowing in plenty time).

Probably not the smartest move to take it out untested on a BAM night though.... 😳

Hopefully available for viewing if you fancy a short deviation from the RP in the pm

There are 3 yellow ones left. Reduced to clear

Unfortunately in medium. Try as I might I can't quite get it to fit at 6' without too long a stem.

I'm 6ft on a large and even with 70mm stem am more comfortable on my crank bros joplin dropper with a setback head