Cotic Rocket Max 29er – a fashionably late to the big wheeled party review.

I’ve never reviewed a bike before (if you can call what follows a review) but as these are pretty new i thought i’d share my initial thoughts on the bike. I should say I’m not one for reading mags/reviews so if it’s full of cliches (and grammar/spellings errors) then i apologise – it’s purely coincidental. I have read a couple of rider reviews on here, but take them with a pinch of salt as without knowing the ability of the rider, i find them hard to trust. I know what i’m like on a bike so that makes this reader review different 😛

OK, intro over, time for another….. intro…I’ve had it a few weeks now after i impulse bought this after seeing it on the home page on here. I had been looking for a new bike to replace my trusty Stumpy Evo, but my patience was wearing thin waiting for the 2017 releases. I loved the look of the Cotic and went for the Silver Hope Enduro spec in XL with added Vigilante/Trailboss tyres. A fairly straightforard e-buying process but Cy was very helpful when i changed the spec a time or two and gave good advice on getting the right kit to suit my big self (5’17”). Sadly for me, i’d not been able to ride it as i damaged a disc in my lower back while on holiday and had only managed a few gentle ‘street’ spins to see how it fitted. I did manage to manual it fairly successfully and throw down some steep steps but that was about it. Oh, and i test it’s tubeless capability by riding through a shit load of downed wind bushes in the field across the way. I plucked a total of 6 (2 front 4 rear for the statos) hissing thorns from the tyres but after a few minutes they sealed all by themselves. Magic! (never had tubeless before – it’s very good) Late to that party too it seems 😀

So, on to today’s ride. I still can’t sit in a proper seat for any length of time, which is usually a puntastic pain in the arse, but since the family were off on a long road trip (long for Norn Iron anyway) i was given a pass. I’d already watched the 202 (go Cowboy!) so as the rain let off, i thought i’d hit up a genlte loop round the trusty Lough Neagh and Six Mile River. Other than a pair of padded underpants, i went bike kit free (gentle remember?)

Not from today’s ride but …baby jetsam!

You can’t tell an awful lot about a bike just pootling about enjoying the views and counting the swans and as my back felt ok i took a few diversions once i hit the alternate ‘traily’ part of the ride. Straight away there’s a section of washed up rocks and roots (perfect fat bike fodder) that i usually ride just for fun in the 26er Stumpy. It’s normally a slow affair but good for slow speed balance and the occasional dab if you don’t watch were you’re going. Well, the Rocket isn’t a fat bike but it was very good at this. Probably just like any 29er i guess but as this is new to me, it was a pleasant surprise. It’s like the rocks and logs/roots had all got smaller! More magic. Suspension probably help and i’ve posted before how good the X-fusion stuff is. It’s basic but that suits me. The forks do a good job of being forks (they have lockout but don’t need it – there’s very little bouncing about while pedaling hard standing and none that i noticed while seated (i’ll expand on this a bit later) and the rear, with it’s 4 way thing, goes from plush to firm in 4 noticeable steps. According to the Cotic blurb it’s a custom tune and i believe it. Its very good.

Not a place for shorts

Enthused by the my initial success in off-roading, i decided to take on the full loop, so again i peeled off the gravel path and ventured into the first bit of real wild. It’s an area that heavily wooded and being near the shore seems to change with every ride – newly downed trees or various bits of flotsam make for an interesting time. I usually do my bit to keep it clear but being off the bike for a while, i expected to find different from last time and heavily overgrown. I wasn’t disappointed and very glad to was wearing jeans (though gloves would have been nice too). Jebus, The Max flies along this type of trail. Fairly flat with plenty of wide corners but going from firm to downright marshy underfoot/wheel. Old familiar logs were dispensed easily and the odd new one was only noticed by my keen eye – never felt a ting. Another pleasant surprise, but i’m sure this is just more 29er magic. Uphills too, it really did fly. It’s 1×10 setup with a tiny front ring* and during my ‘street’ ride i was concerned it would need changed. Nope. In the wild it was perfect and i only got into the wee cog a few times on the trails and it’s a decent cruseing on the roady bits that link up the good stuff. There’s not many big hills on this loop but i think i still had two big cog on the back on the biggest hill so the the gearing should work just fine in the mountains * Sorry not much of a nerder so don’t know the ratios – best i can do is wee front and big back 😀

Speaking of hills, there’s a few short, steep babies on this loop and they’re doable when it’s bone dry. They take a bit of effort mind you, and always require a bit of standing up stomping for the last third but today, in damp conditions, i cleaned them easlily. And i didn’t leave the saddle once. Might be down to having an XL for the first time but still. By now i’m starting to get a bit fed up of this 29er magic now.

Hills dun – time for fun

I was supposed to be going easy but the bike wasn’t having it. The super tech xc section of the ride (i’ve described this before as a flat world cup DH course – it really is that hard) was dispatched with relative ease – again a first for these conditions and it was less tiring than ever. Taking the high line in the damp is madness, but i was doing it and it felt very secure. Thanks Rocketmax.

The next detour on the loop is all man made (dirt jumps) but i just rolled them to see how the back would cope and decided i leave it for another time. There were a few very young lads having fun, so i offered a few encouraging words and made my way back to the trail new ‘enduro’ section of the trail. There’s a 20′ gap to clear at the start that i made a few months back so i flew at it, only to realise the top foot of the lip had been removed! No matter, i was going much faster than ever so carried on and managed to land a little short, but safe. Some fast off camber sections and some lumpy rooty bits that can be doubled up if you hit them fast and that was that. It’s a rally nice bit of trail if i do say so myself (i made it 😀 ) and it was over in a flash, without fuss. Can’t ask for more in a bike really. Just a matter of turning around and do the whole thing backwards until home.

Hill!

The Max was brilliant. It did all the things i heard 29ers are supposed to do except make my hair grow back. And it seemed to make flies wanna commit suicide in my mouth which i wasn’t keen on. That must a new feature. The bars are a bit wider and the stem a bit shorter than my Stumpy (780-750 and 50-70) – so it didn’t feel any slower to turn. It’s not the kind of trail that has flowy berm after berm bits but no surprises on the corners it has. It jumped well enough (there are several little kickers on the way home that i whipped off without issue. It seemed to make all the things i don’t really enjoy easier and i had more energy at the top of the hills to keep going on the funner bits. I gave me more confidence ( i don’t lack confidence on a bike btw – but more is good) on the tricky stuff and i really, really enjoyed my ride today. I lost count of the number of times i yelled out things like bloody hell! or **** me, this is soooo easy! Granted the RocketMax can’t take all the credit for today. First big go on big wheels. First time tubeless, first time NW chain ring, clutch mech, first time 150mm Reverb (much better than my old 3 possy command post and a perfect fit) and first time on an XL bike with the modern neo-geo slackness.

It’s not all happy bunnies though. The seat isn’t that comfy in my SDG shaped hoop and i still prefer the feel of Avids over the Shimanos, oh and the grips are just ok. Minor stuff that’s easily remedied.

Easy peasy rocket squeezy

So there it is. Turned into a bit of a XL ramble, so sorry about that, and the conclusion is… i can’t really say how good the Rocket Max is. Compared to it’s rivals? No idea. I can say I honeslty didn’t think it was possible to make a better all round bike than my Stumpy, it’s a brilliant bike and i love riding it. But this is better. Not by a little – by a trucking loads! A few times on the ride i kept asking myself ‘why didn’t i do this years ago?’ The honest answer is i didn’t think 29ers would be like this – and to fair (looking the the angles and stuff) they weren’t. They are now though and the monster of a bike is a fantastic piece of kit. And a lovely colour too 😀

Enjoyed reading that 8)

I bought a BFe without ever having ridden one and its the bike I ride now 90% of the time. Cy / Cotic know their stuff

Nice write up mate! Beautiful colour!

Nice one. Glad you’re in love with it

Cheers chaps. I got a bit excited and it was a bit of a ramble, but sure 😀

I bought a BFe without ever having ridden one and its the bike I ride now 90% of the time. Cy / Cotic know their stuff

He/they sure do. Great guys to deal with too. No test ride here either but no regrets either. Might be turning into a bit of a fanboi – even have the Cotic branded mudguard that i could have done with a few times today.

Nice.

It’s like an amazing new world where XL bikes no longer look like gates, 29ers actually handle right and can be ridden hard without trying to kill you and full-sus bikes don’t have to be garish colours on weirdly swoopy alloy or carbon frames.

I’d be very tempted with one of these if I was bike shopping now but fortunately for my finances my full-sus and I have been getting on very well for the last 2.5 years (though it was almost one of the second batch 26″ Rockets that never happened).

Do you think the number of responses to a thread is inversely proportional to either the word count or the amount of bike related content? 😉

in this case, i think the number of responses is indicative of the number of people too busy shaking upturned sofas to write a reply.

Great write up.

Sounds like you’re pleased with your purchase 🙂

shook my sofa. found enough in there to make the DHL man leave a parcel a week later. wasn’t the ketchup red one though.
edit: PS pretty good service from the German dealer (Eaven cycles) too, and neither the UK nor German demo weekends hindered the delivery (think German rep is a 1 man band?).

😆

Wasn’t meant to be a word fest, but the were so many revelations with this bike that it all came spewing out. And reading it back there’s loads i left out. As i said i’ve no idea how much of the magic i experienced was down to the Rocket or a combinations of many factors (including new bike syndrome). I do know it’s by far the best bike i’ve ridden and can’t wait ’til the weekend to take up the Mournes and tackle the big ups and downs.

i think the number of responses is indicative of the number of people too busy shaking upturned sofas to write a reply.

My kids clean me out on a regular basis doing this – serves me right for falling asleep on the sofa i supose. Call it destiny or something, but giving up smoking <10 a-day-more than covers the finance deal on offer. Had to physically pull myself away from the keyboard to stop an upgrade binge.

How you finding yours Andy?

Is anyone else having problems reconciling “20′ gap” and “gentle”?

Do you think the number of responses to a thread is inversely proportional to either the word count or the amount of bike related content?

Excuse me, some of us have our fingers in our ears shouting ‘I’M NOT LISTENING, LA LA LA…’

I priced up what I fancied and it hit £4k, no amount of shaking the sofa is gonna spill that out… 😥

@landslide – inches or centimeters 😉 vs feet ?

Is anyone else having problems reconciling “20′ gap” and “gentle”?

I really should have had my lid with me but got carried away in the moment 😳 If it makes you feel any better, i cased it a bit 😆

Here’s a clip i made on my first run after finishing it – it just takes a bit of speed and it’s nicely shaped – or was until someone took half of it away 🙁 You can see he entrance to the dirt jumps on the right at the start of the clip.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpkNaR0WgbE&ab_channel=MartyMaguire[/video]

Not built mine yet. Having to jiggle several orders around vacations, so will start building it next week. Will have it ready just in time to get it muddy as heck on the first ride out.

Nice colour.