Haha. I need to meet you MrSmith. You are my **** hero. Let’s go for a walk about Soho in our brogues sometime soon.

You missed your chance, I was there today, buying maraschino cherries for my old fashioned’s, picking up,some tallegio cheese and having a leisurely piccolo in Milk Bar while reading Jocks & Nerds magazine.

I’ve got an early model of one and its great for riding around the North Downs. I also have a Dialled Alpine and that’s great too. Each have strengths and weaknesses. I think I need to change the forks on the Soul (its an old Revelation u-turn) as I have never really got the best out of it – in as much as I will always take the Alpine somewhere I don’t know as it seems more secure and planted. That might be down to the longer wheelbase or the geometry or the fork; who knows.

I had recently thought about selling the Soul, but I nipped out on it the other day and I think I’ll hang on to it as its still fairly light and nimble and ideal for a quick blast out of the door and onto the Downs.

Sorry; that’s all a bit rambling but its the best I can do atm.

I bought a 2nd hand mk 1 about 7 years ago on a whim and built it up rigid with 5cm stem and it was fun in the woods for a jeyer like me. recently it has sported 100mm forks and done work horse duties in the hills. In the meantime I have enjoyed my Anthem and Cannondale F700, both good fast xc machines, but the Cotic ticks more boxes – not as fast, not quite as comfy as the Anthem, but still comfy enough, fast enough and robust enough for day to day rides…. and lots of fun too. Now i live away frm the hills and it may go back to rigid woods bike, but I would never sell it.

the RF SixC Carbon Risers are a great match in orange too, and light as a very light thing.

Now that would be taking the colour matching way too far

wouldn’t it 😉

P1040973 by eastham_david, on Flickr

David I just looked through the RF website – they don’t do that colour any more. We’re special!

Bought my Mk2 frame off ebay having killed my Rockhopper & liked the soul my brother has. It started out as a winter hack to be built up out of bits & bobs I had accrued over time.

Emailed Cy for sizing advice vis-a-vis a medium or large frame as I’m always in between. Despite it being a s/h purchase off ebay, I got a comprehensive (geeky) answer.

First four rides were in snow & ice and I wasn’t sure about it. Rode my 575 a bit more. Rode the soul again one saturday morning, stopped after half an hour to fettle the bar, seat and spacers around a bit. Got back on.

Came home 5 hours later with the biggest grin on my face. It’s a bit heavier than some alloy bikes, it doesn’t glide over rock gardens like a 6″FS bike. It possibly looks a little petite on me. The chainstays are chewed up and battered and its scratched to hell.

However, it puts a massive smile on my face whenever I ride it. More so than any other bike I’ve had.

In light of which, I really don’t care what people think of me for having a Soul. It rides like a bike should & thats enough for me.

I’ve got an ancient Mk1 Soul (bought 2nd hand from the STW forums years ago) and it really is a lovely bike. I’ve got a BFe as well (also 2nd hand from here) and that’s nice as well but the Soul suits me better.

My Soul has been built up all sorts of ways – heavy duty, light and nippy and all sorts in-between. Works all ways but probable preference is lightish with 120mm air forks.

I’ve also got an Inbred (and had others previously) and while those are fabulous value the Soul is noticeably better and a lot lighter.

are cotic souls that good?

Only if you can afford it.
You can get a new whole bike with a decent steel frame for only a coupla hundred more than the bare Soul frame new.

Would like a Cotic one day but would be a BFe or Solaris.

David I just looked through the RF website – they don’t do that colour any more. We’re special!

thats what my mum tells me 😉

I even get to travel on a special bus 😯

Snapped through the breather hole on the chainstay.

That is a problem which results in a 2 night stay in bike hospital with a reasonably competent welder.

First time it happened to me I took it to a local garage who did it for free. That lasted a year but when it went again I got it properly sleeved (in a piece of old 531 apparently) by ST’s dad who is some sort of master craftsman.

I’ve got an ancient Mk1 Soul (bought 2nd hand from the STW forums years ago) and it really is a lovely bike. I’ve got a BFe as well (also 2nd hand from here) and that’s nice as well but the Soul suits me better.

I have a Soul and a BFe – both mark 1s I believe. I prefer the BFe – but I’m a bit of a carthorse, so the BFe feels a little more solid.

Thought about selling the Soul frame and getting a Solaris – but should really use the ones I got first !

hey like to be on chummy first name terms with the balding awkward person who owns the business who just like them is a bit geeky. They feel like they are being looked after, this and the affirmation of their vanity purchase by their peers makes them feel good about themselves.
If any doubt creeps in there is always the tease of the next improved sycophant MKIII with the slightly beefier downtube coming out (nobody talks about the significant number that had the head tubes fly off)

Right analogy, wrong company. I think Cy makes some quality steel products. Plus hes very patient with questions, his passion for riding/his products comes across on email.

Absolutely love mine 😀
Bought it to replace a Kona Cindercone.
Wanted something a bit different to everything else on the trails and really fancied building up a bike to my own spec. Cy was a great help when I asked for help and so were the guys at 18 bikes.
I have very little talent when it comes to riding it, but it puts a bloody big smile on my face every time I ride it and at cake stops I can sit and look at it and think “I built that” 😀 😀
And its from a British company!!

I never really got on with mine. Never seemed to quite fit but it was a long time ago. Ended up having my worst ever crash (sliced knee, four days in hospital) on it but that was due to rider ineptitude and nothing to do with the bike. Everyone else who I’ve ridden with who has one is a) more than a little in love with it and b) annoyingly fast.

But I have a rocket and that’s FANTASTIC 🙂 And I’ve just bought a Solaris which fitted fine when I had a quick go while demo-ing the rocket. This brings me to the conclusion that a) it’s a different shape b) i’m a different shape or c) i clearly know nothing.

It’s probably c)

As a Bontrager addict, I love ’em simply for the fact that they have steel wishbones.

I used to own one along with other hardtail frames made of Steel. To my mind its just another hardtail, not really wildly different from the competition.

You’ll get more admiring looks at the cafe stop than if you had a Specialized, which I imagine is the one of the primary reasons for a lot of purchases.

But if your are interested in the admiration of people who like Specialized bikes, then surely you wouldn’t be part of the STW massive? 😀

No, I ran off to google to find some DJ frame weights. Could you link me to some DJ/4X frames which are lighter? I’d like to see some facts rather than opinions.

I’m still waiting…

I recently bought a Soul to replace an £800 alu Scot hardtail that I had for over ten years but never really liked the ride feel. I decided to go for steel because I love the way my 1985 531 framed Raleigh Royal rides. I decided against full suspension because didn’t want all the wight and complexity of it and I quite like feeling more connected to the trail. If you look around for a lightweight steel hardtail then there aren’t many options in 853. I couldn’t afford to get a full custom build with a budget of around £2000 so Cotic were the natural choice. I decided I wanted the bike to be as British as possible so it’s all Hope, DMR, Carradice etc and also I loved the fact that I could design and spec the bike to my exact preferences rather than buying something off the peg.

It was brilliant dealing with Cotic because they answered every email comprehensively and even made suggestions to modify my proposed spec. I’ve ended up with a truly lovely bike which rides every bit as well as I had hoped and I’m out on it every other day – maybe even everyday. I’m blessed to live on the South Downs but I don’t really do hugely technical stuff – mostly exploring the countryside via bridleways, getting caked in mud and riding the odd long distance trail like the South Downs Way or the Downs Link. In truth the machine is far more capable than I am and the ride is sublime – I’m in love with the darned thing! In truth I never thought that any MTB would mean as much to me as my Royal tourer which I had from new when I was 16 and which I still have at 43 but this bike does.

They’re a very special ride. I most certainly didn’t buy it to impress anyone – indeed I would have thought most people would have been more impressed if I’d bought a high end Scott or Specialized but then I like knowing my own mind and not following the herd. It’s the same reasons I love British Hi-fi and British cars when everyone else buys Japanese or German. I can’t say I’ve compared the Soul on a ride to many other boutique alternatives but they don’t seem any more expensive for what you’re getting and £400-£500 for a frame is about the going rate.

Airborne

I’ve ridden full sus trail bikes for the last 10 years (stumpy, heckler, bullit, superlight, etc etc…) and bought the latest Soul 3 months ago. And i have to say (for the riding i do), it’s probably the best bike i’ve ever owned. But that’s just my opinion.

I agree with Airbourne above, too.

Bought a frame recently to replace my Rock Lobster frame, which was bought for nostalgia as I used to own one in the 90’s, but found it was too XC for my liking.
The Soul is far more to my liking. Back end feels a lot more forgiving and angles are more upto date. Love the longer top tube, yet smaller bike (small as opposed to medium RL), bike feels so much more composed on techy descents, its also far easier to capture and control a slide on the front. One place I did find hard work on the RL was a local descent that was fast and rooty, but requires a lot of peddling to keep up with FS bikes. I used to get pinged about on the RL and not able to pedal much. The Soul is more forgiving and I can gain pedal strokes where I used to not.

I’m well chuffed with it and am loving the very tricky conditions on the descents at the moment. But roll on the summer and some dusty fast trails!

Just flicking through rongil’s pics from Hit The North 4 and I couldn’t help noticing that Guy Martin was racing on a Soul:

Black with green wrap I think, under all that mud. Impeccable taste. 😉

I love my Soul. It’s sure footed, really capable and very, very orange. They really are awesome bikes.

Cy – I want the new Soul frame in black!!!
Now it either looks like I go for a classic in black or get the Orange one but I got blue hope hubs n brakes! Booooo!
Decisions!!!!

I read a lot of threads like this before I finally bought mine.
Expectations were mile high. It didn’t disappoint.

->

puts a massive smile on my face

It helps if you like hardtails made out of steel, though.