Hello! I am new to the forums and have only been riding for around a year. I currently have a Trek 6500d, but have started riding on slightly crazier terrain around the Peaks lately and have been talked into building a bike that can take more abuse.

After lurking around the forums here and elsewhere and doing some research, I have settled on a Cotic Bfe. So far I have a Rockshox Revelation U- turn fork and will be ordering the Bfe later this week. Going to run the bike with 2 x 10 for the gears, as I have the legs of a battery chicken.

Basically, everybody on here seems to know what they are talking about, so I am seeking advice on what parts to use. Bear in mind I am a stereotypical Yorkshire man, so the cheaper the better!

Apologies for writing War and Peace 😀

Best thing i ever fitted to mine was a dropper post.

Not cheap, but worth every penny.

Can you use the Trek as donor bike?

I am veering more towards keeping the Trek for longer XC rides, Trans pennine and other stuff like that. I was considering robbing the brakes and handlebars from it though.

funkmasterp – Member
I am veering more towards keeping the Trek for longer XC rides, Trans pennine and other stuff like that.

Probably wise. I love my BFe but not a bike id want to be riding sat down on for any length if time. Hence why i find dropping the saddle a touch helps on rougher trails.

I love mine too. never had a full sus so dont find it harsh. I’ve ridden some far harsher HT’s in my time! I’ve got a mix of SLX and XT for the groupset on mine. Then got random bits of finishing kit. I did have a long stem but swapped it for a 60mm one from on one which makes it handle much better. Then I’ve got 150mm Revelation RLT forks, stupidly big 203mm avid elixir cr brakes 😈 and on-one’s max adaptable wheels. Had it for a year now and the build came in at £1260 which I think was a cracking deal 😀

Pic of mine and loads of others

I built my Bfe with Fox 140mm forks and SLX 3×9 drivetrain with a 60mm stem and wide’ish bars – not so daft that they get stuck between trees 😆

I love HT and don’t currently see any need for anything else on any of the terrain I’ve ridden in 15 years of mtb riding.

Oh… and I just spent 8 hours in the saddle doing Sundays HONC ride 😛

Thanks for the input so far. I have been looking at SLX and Deore for the groupset with Avid Elixr 3 brakes, all from CRC. Run a 70mm stem on the Trek from Superstar Components, along with their Nano pedals. I have been looking at getting the wheel set (Mavic XM719), rotors etc from Superstar, but keep reading wildly varying opinions of them. The free Haribo blinds me to any wrong they may do 😛

PeaslakeDave, there are some cracking looking bike photos on there. I am tempted by Superstar due to being a massive wuss ad wanting to colour co-ordinate the Bfe. Green and white for the win!

JAG, I have not been riding long, but tried a couple of friends full suss bikes. Each to their own, but they just didn’t feel right to me. I’m with you when it comes to the HT love.

I’ve very nearly finished my BFe build. I’m just waiting on the mech and shifter to be delivered.

I went for Rockshox Revelation RLT Ti forks dropped to 140mm, 1×10 with just a top guide and clutch mech, a 50mm stem and 750mm bars Shimano Xt brakes with 180/160mm rotors and a Rockshox Reverb. I can’t wait to ride it. The only thing that I think might need changing is some higher rise bars because the drop from the saddle to the bars is massive, due to my long legs.

I wouldn’t worry too much about riding it all day.

Mine was built with Fox Float 140mm which I already had, Hope wheels, SLX drive train from an existing bike. I added Hope Race Evo X2 brakes and a load of Hope finishing kit including bash guard and pedals in Gunsmoke. Nukeproof bars and seat post completed the job.

It is here.

bullroar, if you don’t mind me asking, what did your build end up costing minus frame? I already have a fork lined up for it. Your bike looks sweet by the way, the green is an awesome colour

Haha I looked at that picture for a while when it came up on my news feed earlier! small world… got a feeling that there are rather a lot of cotic owners on here though

Well the original build cost was about £1100 but that excluded the fork and drivetrain (except the bash guard and one shifter pod) and my original Hope wheels. So taking off the frame cost would give £770.

Late in the build I flogged my old P7 including the Hope wheels for a good price, so got a new set of the latter with Gunsmoke hubs to match the others stuff. So I think the final cost minus frame was about £1100.

I should perhaps add, the original pedals were DMR Vaults which I got from a Christmas present. The gunsmoke Hope pedals went on last week after a won a certain raffle prize 🙂 So neither bits of bling are included in my prices above.

My Bfe is 2 x10, use a reverb and run tubeless. Ride it around the Peaks etc, it’s far more capable than I am! 150mm Sektor solo air forks make it wander a bit climbing, but worth it for the grin factor coming down.

Use my BFe for every thing. First built using slx double and bash slx drive train deore brakes hope headset hope wheels pike forks ardent tubless tyres nukeproof bars and build was around £910.00. Now I’ve gone 1×10 hope chainring shimano zee shifter and mech second hand hope tech M4 brakes. I bought a Orange five frame a while back but haven’t got round to building it as I’m having to much fun on the HT. I ride mostly Lakes and Dales. 🙂

Appreciate all the feedback 🙂 and now have plenty of ideas for the build. I’ll post some pictures as I go, but it’ s going to be slow, like a bad ass version of one of those magazines where you build a model T-Rex over a period of six years!

My BFe is built up for mucking about on…it’s an XS frame with 130mm Z1 Freerides, Race Face bars, post and cranks, Answer bars, Superstar chain device, X9 mech and shifter, Deore brakes, old school Hope bulbs on D321’s and Maxxis High Rollers.

It rides pretty well and is good fun, although its a shock riding a hardtail after spending so long on bouncy bikes. Mine didn’t cost much at all, but it does have a few older bits on it.

Avid brakes do seem a bit hit and miss and there’s not an awful lot of love for hem on here. I you want to keep costs down I highly recommend the Deore brakes. Eighty sheets fir the pair excluding rotors is a steal and they work really, really well.

I have been looking at SLX and Deore for the groupset with Avid Elixr 3 brakes

By all accounts the lower-end Elixir brakes are complete pap. I’ve had 2 pairs of the CRs and never had a problem with them. I think the newer 9s and 7s are supposed to be better than the lower-end ones too.

I’m building up a hardtail (Prince Albert) at the moment and will probably go for an xt or slx groupset (including brakes) from Merlin or one of zee German stores. I’ve looked at more “exotic” component selection….. but you can’t beat the value of the shimano groupsets at the moment it seems

Have the deore’s on my Bfe, very impressed overall, if lacking the feel of some avids (when avids work). I think merlin are doing slx for £50 an end?

only been riding for around a year…
I currently have a Trek 6500d…
have been talked into building a bike that can take more abuse.

You’d be suprised just how much abuse these sorts of bikes can take. I had the marin equivalent of yours and used it for all sorts, from xc to dirt jumping and even dh (it was crap at dh but it didn’t break). If you really want to save money, just upgrade the forks and see how you get on. Wheels might be next and then frame (but you won’t break it – honest).

Bfe is a great frame by all accounts, but it’s far too much bike for a lot of riders who have them.

Deore brakes are ace for the price, in fact full stop: brilliant short levers, just like XT and you can always tap the calipers and replace the annoying pad-retention split pins with bolts from the higher level calipers.

SLX drive-train, really good value for money. Ditto Hope Hoops, as cheap as just buying the component parts individually if you shop around – Flow rims if you’re clumsy and big, Arch if you’re not.

One-One tyres on a budget – Chunky Monkey front, Smorgasbord rear – or Maxxis if you’re not, Minion 2.5 DHF (f), Ardent 2.25 (r) if you’re not.

Merlin has some really good deals on Easton bars and stems that kind of come and go, I really like the shape of their low risers, but that’s kind of personal. Unlike all the other stuff which is, of course, ‘the law’… 😉

Cheers for all the advice everyone! Now have more choice of components and places to buy from. Will be going with SLX and Deore kit I reckon, then shop around for deals on wheels, bars etc.

I was considering just upgrading the forks on the Trek, but decided against it, new and shiny is always fun. In all honesty, on my local routes (Macc Forest, Cumberland, Marple) I am finding that, going down stuff, I am pedalling like a demon to try and get more speed, but the bike seems to have reached a plateau (probably lack of skill on my behalf).

The ‘fear and know your limits’ sections of my brain, have sadly been eroded from years of skateboarding and climbing. I am hoping the Bfe will take me to new levels of awesome or stupid, depending on your point of view. Basically I want to go faster and jump off more stuff 🙂

see y’ve made up your mind mine is built as follows

fox 32 110-13-150mm
1×10 SRAM (Cassette PG 1080 11-36)
raceface chainring 34T
BB/Crank Raceface
wheels Mavic ex721
tyres Minions
brakes Hope V2 203mm rotors
Reeverb dropper
bars raceface AM 780mm

she’s a heavy beast 32lb but it works for me

Enjoy your build

I think that XT brakes are the biz. On a tighter budget I’d go for Deore brakes. They’re simply superb. The others you’ve mentioned might be equally good, but the Deore/SLX/XT brakes are outstanding in my opinion.

It’s one of the best bikes I’ve owned. Looks great and way more capable than me.

Mine is built up quite burly, but I find it still rides fine on the twisty undulating stuff.

Sektor Coil U-turns, (mostly set to 130, but 150 for going down)
Hope Pro2s with Flows
Hope V2s
Reverb
Middleburn RS8 Sq Taper
Sram 1×9
Blackspire stinger/bash
Minions or SB8s
Easton bar/stem

Comes in at 28lb (with SBs) on my scales, if you can believe that.

As a lot of people have said give merlin a try. Bought most the parts for my build of them and the are hard to beat on price. Hope build goes well enjoy 🙂

The BFe is a brilliant bike, I built mine up cheap but it deserves much nicer kit on it. However the Deore brakes, gears and drivetrain work so well that there is no point upgrading them until parts start breaking.

I built up a BFe on paper for my mate the other day and it came to something like £1300 for everything new. All cheap but perfectly serviceable components.

If cheap is what your looking for, I managed to build my whole BFe for £450 – picked up the finished bike from Harry Hall in Mcr yesterday. Cant really afford to buy new/better components at the moment, so I took all the parts off my second hand Kona Shred (£195 from PinkBike) and swapped them onto the BFe frame (£195 from STW forum), and Harry Hall put it together for £50. Only new part that I needed to get was a seat post – HH gave me a second hand one for a tenner, so I got the full bike for £450.

Obviously I will gradually upgrade the parts as and when I have the money/second hand deals appear (the dirt jumper forks aren’t ideal), but I took it for its first ride last night, and its great!

Hols.

Build it burly and don’t worry too much about weight. No point having a very strong and capable frame and bolting on weak lightweight parts. These things are designed to be ridden hard and soak up some stick.