I may be just getting over-excited cos I've got a new bike 🙂 and haven't actually done any proper mountain biking since November… but I finished building up my new Soul today and took it for a quick hack. And it was just stunning – was leaping about. The old one was good but this was just ace. So have I finally gone stark raving bonkers or has anyone else had the same experience?

Pics please

Of your Soul or Helen Chamberlain

🙂

I'll let you know tomorrow! I had a mk1 for nearly 6 years, till it broke a couple of weeks ago. Mk2 will get it's maiden voyage tomorrow, twice around the red at Kirroughtree. Canny wait.

Pics of both of your new Soul's are now essential.

A pic of Kate from CBeebies "I can cook" will suffice till then.

Cannot wait, mine comes on monday so will let you know

bike and totty piccies (the later with their 'bob's out') will do just fine.

Common thread running here I think

pics of souls and hemlocks + pics of nina (from the neurons) or totty pics off milkshake

It is of course better. As well as hours and hours of slaving over a hot CAD screen annd FEA terminal making it better, I got the factory to pour even more awesome in when they built the new ones.

You know you've got it right when you break a bike and buy another one exactly the same only stronger. I (heart) my Soul. It is 110% ace and when it breaks, as it will as it gets ridden loads and I don't see myself ever changing it, another one will be ordered.

Pic from last weekend:

Mine is the Custard one in the middle.

Here's mine , built up yesterday

Medium 2010 Soul

In what way do you find the new frame so much better? Curious myself, I do love mine and I've no desire to replace it with anything else but I might be tempted to replace it with something the same only more so…

Cy wrote "I got the factory to pour even more awesome in"

I'll give you that one for free, from now on that'll cost you £1 per use like the channel 4 jingle

I love my 2009 black Soul but I'd love an orange 2010 one, even with the extra gussets etc. which hopefully I shouldn't need for my 100mm Sids and less mental riding.

I still hate Cotic 😀

So just pack up yer the 2010 Soul is even better nonsense and go home…

(yup I'm still hankering after a new orange one!)

LOL@Northwind.

Am loving my new orange one. Haven't taken any pics yet, but will try and do so – if only to irk Metalheart and nowt else!

Only had it a few weeks but, yup, more awesome than the old Soul I had.

I can see that now that the trusty Inbred model is no more, when my beloved singlespeed Inbred frame finally breaks, it's going to be THE LAW that I replace it with a Cotic Simple frame, isn't it? Just thought I'd get that thought in now while there's plenty of time.

dam im ill today. i want to go and ride mine NOW.

bike looks sweet denis! good job 😆

I love my 2009 black Soul but I'd love an orange 2010 one, even with the extra gussets etc. which hopefully I shouldn't need for my 100mm Sids and less mental riding.

Chappers how does the Soul ride with 100mm forks?
Suitable for XC racing?

ackie, XC is all I really use my soul for so I think 100mm forks are great. Nice quick steering and no nasty or unexpected traits. Works great for fast singletrack and technical stuff. I don't feel I need any longer forks for cross-country racing and I'd buy sid race's again. Light and easy to look after. I would post a pic but I'm still trying. I haven't got a flicker account and my hotmail photo try last night didn't work.

Cheers Chris (cycleworlduk), have to say Cycle World gave me excellent service (I bought the frame from them last week).

Just a bit of advice if anyone is thinking of a similar build (2010 frame with Middleburn cranks), the normal 73 x 113mm Shimano square taper b/b isn't long enough. I've got a 118mm fitted and this works fine.

Haven't ridden for six months due to an injury, first ride was yesterday, nothing more than riding along fire road but I was suitably impressed with the Soul.

Still haven't fully recovered from the injury, so this might take sometime till I'm back riding properly.

ackie, with 100mm forks the bike is great for fast singletrack type riding. XC racing? Why not? With some light wheels and forks you'd easily get a Soul down to the 22-23lbs mark. If you want another vote for the suitability of the handling, the Soda has identical geometry and Kate Potter (my tame XC racer) has used a Soda with 100mm forks right up to the World Champs. I think that probably covers it 😉

Oh, and whoever asked "what's better?" about the new Soul, the biggest difference in ride feel is due to the ovalform top tube and stiffer head tube which both make the bike feel more accurate with bigger forks on. There's little difference with shorter forks on, but I've managed to keep the weight pretty much the same as the old one (production medium with bottle boss bolts in was weighed at 4.35lb on my digi scales), so it's still light and zippy. It's also just plain more refined – the dropouts are neater and more slick, the finishing is the best we've ever done, the chainstays are now bent asymmetrically so there's loads of tyre clearance even though there's no nasty crimping. All sorts of little things.

Took mine down to Kirroughtree on sunday for some red action. No huge difference to the mk1 (I'm glad to say), the only difference for me is that it seemed to be nimbler, more direct. Purely subjective though, just my opinion.

One thing I really like is the underslung cables on the top tube. Looks great, and I don't need to think about securing the brake hose in the middle any more.

The gussets up front make it look more robust, the whole frame is lovely. Loving it already.

Anybody looking for a mk1 with a cracked rear chainstay? 😉

sun is out, and all this talk means im out on mine(old one) right now. 😀

sold my mk1 cos the forks caught the down tube, only had it about 8 months this year loved it, uld not find a decent 2nd hand mk2 when i finally decided to sell. bought a scandal instead which i like but i can't see it being that long till i have saved up enough for one of the new ones, they look lovely. Hopefully the c2w scheme will run again in June 😀

I am also being (sorely) tempted by one of these.

Bontrager-esque (and therefore a good thing).

noteeth:
Yes indeed, my thoughts too. Great minds such as Cy and KB obviuosly think alike!
I came from a Race OR to the Soul. Only thing missing now is the anti chainsuck plate underneath the chainstays. Having had suck for the first time in donkeys years on the Soul, I miss it. But I do love the Soul!
Cy – any thoughts about incorperating an anti chainsuck plate at a later date?
cheers
Q

my large black is in its box in the front room while my shoulder heals and I decide what stuff to build up with. Choices, choices…

Frame itself looks nice.

I came from a Race OR to the Soul.

I'm still riding a Race… and I'm a sucker for wishbones. My Bonty is a large and I'm 5'11 or so, but I'm guessing a medium Cotic is probably my size, given the TT length.

All this is idle speculation, mind… I'm still quite taken with the idea of getting Paul Sadoff to build a "Nontrager"… 😀

Interested to hear that the Soul and Soda share the same geometry, I'm gonna have to have another look at a Soul.

Any chance of some more colour options?

Anyone riding the new Soul with 130 or 140mm forks? I think What Mtb tested it with 100mm's.Think they said you need lots of sag with 130mm or 140mm? I thought the original intent of the Soul was for long travel forks? Would like one and would probably use some 130mm Floats so would like some opinions!
Thanx Max

I thought my Soul was very average with a fork longer than 100m.In fact theres an article on the Cotic website where Cy recommends exactly that.I swapped out and got a Prince Albert which is a far better bike with a longer fork although its a bit heavier

I still have my Mark 1 and can't justify changing it as it is still great, just a little worn now – and I've never liked it with longer than 100mm forks, just felt too light at the front when climbing, though that could be my fork set up.

I remember unwrapping it when it arrived – my first niche/boutiquey bike purchase. MrsSwadey looked at me holding the frame and said "I wished you'd look at me like that"

I've been using 130mm forks for ages now, and used Magura Thors most of last year during the development. The key thing to making the bike work with longer forks is altering your position to suit. I pushed my saddle forward 10mm and it made all the difference, and actually doesn't make it feel as short as you might think. I was sceptical myself before doing it, but as the bike angles back with the longer forks the effective top tube increases, and the front end is raised, so you need to compensate. Sliding your saddle forward and dropping your bars 10mm will keep things sweet. Worth noting on the WMB article that although it was a lovely write up, they didn't actually try the bike with longer forks so the setup thoughts were opinion rather than tested 'fact'.

No chance of a chainsuck plate. You're the only person who's ever asked!

Funny you should mention KB. When it was all getting very horrid with dealing with the CEN regs early last year, he gave me a lot of time when I needed to get up the learning curve on gussets PDQ. Good guy.

Colours-wise, it'll be black or orange for the foreseeable future. We'll always do black as it's been proven to be commercial suicide not to! We'll mix it up a bit about once a year from now on I reckon.

Cy:
I'm surprised that no one else has ever asked. For once I'm unique!
I'd have thought it would have added a lot to build costs, cos it's sort of fiddly. Must have a weakening effect on the chainstays too, having a hole in each for the bolt to hold on the plate.
oh well….. never mind, always wanted to ask though!
cheers
Q

Cy wrote, "Oh, and whoever asked "what's better?" about the new Soul, the biggest difference in ride feel is due to…"

I wasn't so much wondering why it's different, I'm wondering what the result is on the trails. I mean, I would you say if I transferred all the kit off my old one onto a new one, would it feel particularily different?

Turnerfan1:

"Anyone riding the new Soul with 130 or 140mm forks? I think What Mtb tested it with 100mm's.Think they said you need lots of sag with 130mm or 140mm?"

I've run my old one with 140mm Revelations briefly- I know it's verboten but it didn't snap 😉 I liked it very much, I wouldn't run it at 140mm the whole time but it was good to have as an option with the u-turn. I found 110-140 a little more useful for a trailbike than 100-130.

Oh, that WMB review, it seems to me that they were simply talking total c**k. They seemed to think that you'd want to get the exact same geometry with a 140mm fork as you do with a 100mm fork, that's the only way their comments really make sense as you'd need a load of sag to do that. But why would you want that? To me half the point of the longer fork on the Soul is to change the geometry! And if you're going to sag all your travel away you may as well not have it at all. It was a very strange, MBR-esque comment.

karnali – Member

sold my mk1 cos the forks caught the down tube,

you can buy headsets that over come this problem! it wasn't the frames fault!

🙄

No chance of a chainsuck plate. You're the only person who's ever asked!

Only thing wrong with mine is the chainsuck – tried new kit but now swopping drivetrain from another bike to see if that cures it.

Ever so slightly off topic , but …
My mate bought a 2nd hand Soda of the Ebay . Classic case of guy buys frame with best intentions of building it up / cant afford it / external ( spousal ) influences , etc .
So , my buddy gets a deal on a MK 1 Soda , but then has to hide it from his less than sypathetic GF .( in this instance I am referring to GirlFriend , NOT Gary Fisher ) so , 12 months ,at least ,pass , and it's still in a box in the loft .
He's still hoofing around on his top spec GF Cake ( this time it's Gary Fisher , OK ), and I suggest , " Simply " swapping all the bits over = no GF stress , and the GF wont catch any harm spending a bit of time in the loft . In a box .
Now , he's not Au Fait with bike spannery , and whilst I'm not qualified , I'm OK with hammers . So I swapped it for him .
It came out to be one of the nicest bikes I've ever , er , spannered . V. Nice .
He's made up with it .
The thing is , I convinced him the forks would be alright . " Suck it n see " .
Theyre the maverick 5" ones .
It looks a bit tall , but it could be an optical illusion , due to the lack of fork brace . I dunno . Whatdya think . ?
Would it be more suited to 4"

Oh , the punchline is , I have his GF in my shed .She's a bit dirty.I think it's fair to say , she's seen some abuse .
I look at her from time to time , but I'm not sure if she's my kind of ride .

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/muddyfox1/DannysCoticBuild#

Just built my new Soul up with U turn coil Pikes and it is superb, keep it a 140mm all the time, have thought about getting some Revs or Thors to lighten it up a bit but for the time being the Pikes seem to be spot on (just a bit heavy) for my riding.

This is my first Cotic and always liked the look of them and my other hardtail bikes are a Curtis FR a Dekerf Team SL (now sold) and a Inbred slot drop out, must say the build quality and ride of the Soul is easily as good as the Curtis and Dekerf (which are both superb) at a fraction of the cost, seriously thinking of replacing the On One with a Cotic Simple whilst they are still available?

Anybody got any views/comments on the Simple?