Cotic X – Any reviews yet?

As title really – after real world opinions on the frame/bike.
Oh and does anyone know if it have rack/mudguard mounts?
Cheers!

My mate has one and loves it

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gavinlc/sets/72157625353580204/%5B/url%5D

Nice photo’s there.

Do the canti studs screw out of the forks or not?

I dont think so

Canti studs do screw out, they just need a bit of gentle oomph due to some pretty fierce trhreadlock. Big adjustable spanner does the job.

No rack mounts, but mudguard eyes, or use the mudguards eyes to mount a rack with an adaptor at the other end and get some frame fit ‘guards.

road.cc have just relinquished their Weekday test bike, so expect a full test there soon. It’s at Bicycle Buyer mag right now.

FWIW I love mine, and I hate drop bar bikes 😉

ah, crumbs i really do not need another bike, but that is tempting, i’d stayed away from the cotic website too, grrr!

Cheers for that Cy,

FWIW I love mine, and I hate drop bar bikes

Please don’t take this the wrong way but thats part of both the attraction and also what’s putting me off.
I’m really after a jack of all trades – I want a road bike for winter training, light touring and a commuting so the X seems to fit the bill. I take it you’ll link from the Cotic homepage when the reviews available?

Magowen100 – that’s exactly the kind of bike I’m after as well!

My mate has one and loves it
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gavinlc/sets/72157625353580204/

And the build pics here are pretty much perfect – decent groupset, disc brakes, drops, slicks. I reckon that’s around £1400 of build kit… will have to see if Santa is feeling generous 😕

Edit: VVV You’ll notice I didn’t mention the saddle in my ‘perfect’ list 8)

Nice – but saddle fail on that build..

SamB,
I’d jump at the X if the disc caliper was on the chainstay and the frame had rack mounts. I haven’t been able to find anything out there that ticks all the boxes yet, if you’re after the same have you got any suggestions?
I like the look of the Genesis Equilibrium but again no rack mounts (mudguard only) and no discs. The Croix de Fer is close but apparently is really heavy and while I’d like to do some touring the main use would be winter fitness road riding.
Cheers
Matt

magowen check out edinburgh bike coop they do a steel tourer, with rack and discs looks pretty good solution and aroun 600-700 quid can’t remember exactly how much

We’ve already given him some stick re the saddle

SamB,
I’d jump at the X if the disc caliper was on the chainstay and the frame had rack mounts. I haven’t been able to find anything out there that ticks all the boxes yet, if you’re after the same have you got any suggestions?
I like the look of the Genesis Equilibrium but again no rack mounts (mudguard only) and no discs. The Croix de Fer is close but apparently is really heavy and while I’d like to do some touring the main use would be winter fitness road riding.
Cheers
Matt

This might be up your street…

http://www.sidewayscycles.co.uk/products/index.php?id=101&clid=10

MAgowen if you don’t need discs then Salsa Casserol?

May be a Salsa with discs too.

Kinesis Tripster maybe for a do it all bike ???

I race mine every weekend but pretty sure it would make a light tourer/fast commuter/winter trainer.

http://salsacycles.com/bikes/vaya/

Shame about the stupidly sloping top tube.

Be warned though, my Casserol was 20% over the claimed weight.

Cheers guys, definite food for thought.
Glad to hear Sideways is going strong – if I remember rightly I bought one of my first ‘proper’ mountain bikes from you in 2000/2001. It was a red/blue Gary Fisher Big Sur, you threw in a pair of Specialised shoes as I didn’t have a pair of SPD shoes. FWIW it was the only bike I have ever bought that was actually set up correctly from the outset :-)(I hope I am remembering rightly and Sideways is based in Alsager….)
Cheers
Matt

There is always the Roadrat. I have commuted on it and use it for winter road training. I have toured (Berwick to Derby on sustrans route) and also HoNC.

Guards, rack and discs can all be fitted.

Does a frame exist that is stiff enough to tour fully loaded but light/racy enough to be run as cx in winter?

yep, roadrat fits the bill … bit more hassle to fit a rack to a bike with a disc, but once it’s on it’s on. The chainstay mount disc thing is talked about too much – it limits singlespeedability with trackends and in practise seatstay mounted discs don’t actually pose THAT many problems.

Roadrat is a great frame if your touring is occasional but if it’s going to be regularly loaded with touring weight get something stiffer. It’s as noodly as noodly flexy thing.

Sideways Tim wrote:Whoop diddly ping pong.

my new phrase of today

Funny, I’m sure I’ve heard folk say the Roadrat rides heavy…

Like the idea of the ‘Rat but I’m won’t be using singlespeed so the horizontal dropouts are a bit redundant. It’s actually why I’m looking at the X, because they use the same rear triangle but the X has vertical dropouts.
I really like the look of the Vaya and the Kinesis Tripster though so thanks for the suggestions, keep ’em comming!
Cynic-al understand what you’re saying re light/touring so to qualify what I’m after I doubt it’ll be used for fully loaded touring more ‘credit card’ type stuff.
Cheers!
Matt

Cheers guys, definite food for thought.
Glad to hear Sideways is going strong – if I remember rightly I bought one of my first ‘proper’ mountain bikes from you in 2000/2001. It was a red/blue Gary Fisher Big Sur, you threw in a pair of Specialised shoes as I didn’t have a pair of SPD shoes. FWIW it was the only bike I have ever bought that was actually set up correctly from the outset :-)(I hope I am remembering rightly and Sideways is based in Alsager….)
Cheers
Matt

Hullo. Small world eh? We’re still here, but as for going strong, that would be pushing the boundaries of descriptive writing a bit.

I’m planning to build a Vaya up in the next week or so – I’ll let you know when it’s done if you like and you can come and have a look/ride/whatever.

I’m planning to build a Vaya up in the next week or so – I’ll let you know when it’s done if you like and you can come and have a look/ride/whatever

Would love to, but I’m now based in deepest darkest west wales (about as far as you can go without falling off) so a bit too far to travel.
Any chance you’ll stick up pictures etc on your website blog?
Many thanks
Matt

I will if I don’t forget 🙂

This looks very nice in the build pics.

Anyone know what the reasoning is behind having 2 sets of bottle bosses on the downtube and none on the seattube? …or am I just being dim…?

Ease of carrying I would guess.

Any idea on frame weights (56 cm size) and can CAMPAGNOLO E/power shifter / brake levers be used with teh stock Tektro or Avid disc calipers? Theres really only one suitable road bike groupset afterall! (also if i did swop my existing farme to a Cotic X Id want to transfer over all teh Campag kit etc! 🙂

jamesb: Campag STIs are fine with the Tektros. However, if you’re using the Cotic wheelset, there’s no Campag freehub option so you’d need to source wheels elsewhere.

Bottle bosses…

…you can run just one small bottle on the furthest forward bosses with a side loading cage, leaving loads of room in the frame to get the bike on your shoulder.

…or two bottles for long rides, but still have now’t on the seattube digging in when shouldering.

Cheers for that Gary, I was reckoning if / when I get a Cotic X on using Hope hubs , discs option, built up with Mavic 700c Open Pros with a campag 10 speed freehub, hopefully should be doable!

Mmmmmmmmm…

personally I prefer the high gloss black version 🙂

Mmmmmmmmm…

Jazz, NICE!
Please let us know how it rides!
TIA
Matt

My soon to be built cross bike will also be orange. And made of steel.

But it will be SS and very, very niche.

😀

magowen100 – Member

SamB,
I’d jump at the X if the disc caliper was on the chainstay and the frame had rack mounts. I haven’t been able to find anything out there that ticks all the boxes yet, if you’re after the same have you got any suggestions?

Seatstay mounted disc, but [otherwise] what about a Singular Peregrine ?

There’s the very tempting Soma Double Cross DC too, but I couldn’t get one in at a sensible price back along …

Looking good, makes me want to find my credit card and go shopping! Just can’t afford to pay for it!!

Nice looking bike, not sure about the swastika on the fork though….
Will the forks be available separately as that looks just the job for my tourer?