Deals on Souls – or is Brant the better wheelerdealer?

Im still looking to chop in my Orange 5 and go back to a HT

The Ti 456 looks lurrrvly but at 1100 quid for the frame is a lot of money for sure

So, and not as a second choice, just as a different choice, I started to check out a Cotic Soul

Its been a bit of a shock actually

Everything has gone up lately as we have ranted about
The Soul is now 470 for the frame

But the difference in price between bikes built up isnt actually that great

On-one have some stunning deals on bits
The XTR bundle is shockingly good value
An OEM Rev (poverty spec but all I need) less than half price etc etc

At Cotic I can get a token offered on some Hopes and a Magura fork

I havent done the maths to the exact pound but I can get a Ti456 for roughly the same as a built up Soul

Am I missing some deals on the Soul?
To be fair I can only find a couple of places selling them besides Cy and they dont seem to want to deal that much

Ta

Try Craig @ Swinnertons for a build price….08448112299

Cheers snakey will do
Have you had much of a deal there?

And do the rest of you pay full list price on Souls?

I mean lovely bike and everything but when you add up the price of a build at full RRP (or 5% off wow) it really is a lot of money when the big chains are freely discounting mainstream brands – not to mention the Ti lovelyness I can get for similar money from the back of a shed in Todmorden 🙂

talk to Craig…..see what he can do. He put my Soda and Roadrat together 😆

damn 50 quid price hike? I missed that. I’m putting the pennies together for a Soul as we speak. Looks like I need to find 50 more notes from somewhere now :/

You could buy the frame and bits from here. I built up a xt/Revelations/juicy 7/crossride build from here for well under a grand.Not as nice as having a new one, but a lot cheaper. They are brilliant, in fact I preferred my Soul to my Soda. Don’t discount the 456 either just because the metal isn’t 853, a bit heavier, but still really comfy.

If you’re looking to build a bike up of any sort soon, then act fast, all the components will be going up in price, if they haven’t already.

Ti356 built with Brant’s great bargain basement kit is about £2k isn’t it? A very good price, but I’d imagine you’d get an ace build on a Soul frame for that (or less) as well. Magura Menja forks and a SLX build kit? You’d have to shop around rather than click the buy button on one website though.

£470 for a steel frame? Get a 456. I can’t see a Soul being worth over twice the price TBH. Unless your some sort of gearqueer. No I dont have my tongue up Brants bum as Im more a fan of his steel 456 than his ti456.

with the £ on its arse I can see prices going up all over, really.

buy now if you’re going to would be my advice also.

A Soul and a 456 have quite different geometry though don’t they? It’s not just a matter of cost.

Good point. I sold a 2nd Soul I had as I couldnt get on with its seat/head angle. The 456 feels like your sat ‘in’ the frame (IMO)

There are still some great bargains about in discounted last years models. IMO the best route is to stump up the money on the Soul, then pick up a last years bargain, swap all the bits over and then flog the frame. Pauls Cycles are doing a Diamond back Axis for just over £500 with XT and Recons that would bring the Soul in around the grand mark, then upgrade as bits wear out.

Or buy one of those Genesis Altitudes off the peg.

Nice 853 frame, modern geometry, well specced, fairly priced.

I don’t work for Madison btw.

The 456 feels like your sat ‘in’ the frame (IMO)

So can a Soul if you build it that way. Mine does anyhow.

Wheres Lecht rocks? he could talk you through their ride ‘characteristics’..how they ‘ramp up’ etc 😉

Merlin for an SLX group and some wheels, Soul frame + menjas and headset from us, some good finishing kit would run you about £1,400. Great bike. Still good value, and I still believe the frame is good value. We’re all being driven to higher prices by the dive in the pound exchange, but I firmly believe the Soul is the best hardtail frame you can buy. Yes there are cheaper frames; they aren’t as good.

It’s not just steel frames, my Chameleon was £539. It was £499 in the summer last year

Luckily my Simple is still in one piece and I sit on top of it.

In true tongue up Cy’s arse stylee, I never thought i’d be quite as amazed about how different two HT frames could feel until my Cotic replaced my old Ally HT. I got it a few months back, and with Thomson, CK, carbon bars and XT, it’s bretty bling spec, and worked out at easily less than £2k with the parts from CRC and merlin

thing is for the same amount of cash for a built up bike (with roughly the same bits), would you have a Soul or a Ti 456.

I suspect most people would go for the Ti bike.

I think it is horses for courses, my wife has a Soul and wouldn’t swop it for the world. I had a Soul and also loved it, my best mate bought it so I still get to ride it, it feels like your in it just as much as my Ti456 and I still love it. I also had a Soda which was great too but I made the bizzare decision to get a short travel susser for enduro and xc and a hardtail for stonking down stuff, as well as singletrack but i wanted it to be light so I went TI456 (I know I’m wierd) Iknow several people who use their Soual for similar duties and have no problems, I also have an Inbred SS which I really like.

Upshot is see if you can get a ride, I think the 456 and the Soul ride quite differently, the Soul feeling more ‘attack’ in the woods,but I can do it all, the 456 more ‘whatever’ perhaps just less aggresive ffeling naturally unless you tke it by the scruff of the neck….I’m rambling now..I really like all of them but I can’t ride them all and the garae isn’t big enough…. 🙄 BUT I do advocate supporting the likes of CY and the british cycle industry….the pound may be dropping but so has the price of steel by over 50% it should filter through…

the pound may be dropping but so has the price of steel by over 50% it should filter through…

Tell that to Reynolds!! 🙄

I appreciate all the kind words though. It was the such a hard position to be put in with the pricing, as I’m sure anyone else working in the industry would tell you. To be fair, my factory have held their prices for nearly 18 months now; it was purely the dollar/pound exchange that drove the rise.

And regarding a 456Ti, if you can get one built nicely for £1,400, more power to your elbow. Great bike.

And regarding a 456Ti, if you can get one built nicely for £1,400, more power to your elbow. Great bike.

Not quite what I said which was I can buy one with an XTR build, a set of Rev’s for under 2k or somewhere around that mark with a set of nice wheels

Good on you for being nice about the competition too 🙂

I firmly believe the Soul is the best hardtail frame you can buy. Yes there are cheaper frames; they aren’t as good.

Quick get me a chair and someone page Brant.

But then again they probably go drinking at the weekend.

Ive just bought a Soul after spending a couple of years reading about people ravEing on.In the mean time ive owned a Hummer and Lynsky both ti frames and a few nice sus bikes as well.Let me tell u after three good rides on the Soul its a real keeper.Lovely combination of speed,agression and still with a lovely forgiving ride.Theres enough in this bike to make any short travel fully redundant.As a bonus cheap as chips here in NZ.

Yes there are cheaper frames; they aren’t as good.

STW. Time for a magazine comparison, expensive versus cheap(er)

456 versus Soul etc.

I wonder who would win.

>456 versus Soul etc.

Quite different design considerations. The Soul is Cy trying to make a perfect iteration of an 853 tubed bicycle, lightweight and efficient.
The 456, well, isn’t designed around “lightweight” really. It’s designed to be strong enough not to fall to bits (I’ve still not seen one fail at the head tube, except once have a small weld crack with a clear manufacturing defect ), and designed to be very affordable, using Taiwanese chromoly, not UK made 853.
Cy pares weight out of headtubes and BB’s. I don’t on the 456. As it all costs more.

The Cotic is a lot more than a bunch of 853 tubes welded together. There’s a bunch of thought in there that for my mind, doesn’t always get recognised.

Could you not just stage an argument for the cameras?

PS. I bought a 456, ‘cos I’m 16st and I wanted to stick tha child seat on it giving an all up weight somewhere around 19-20st. Sounds like I went the right way strength wise and it’s still a riot to ride round a trail centre.

There’s a bunch of thought in there that for my mind, doesn’t always get recognised.

Unless you ride one of course. Even if you don’t understand why it’s so nice to ride, you sure appreciate that it is. 🙂

I love my Soul, it’s great to ride, even if I’m not good enough to match it’s abilities. And I don’t really care WHY it’s such a good ride.

Interesting to see Cy and Brant talking honestly about their/each otherss products and the industry position. None of the high horse and bitchiness that “regular” forum members usually bring to such debates…

Doh! All this talk of steel hardtails is making me go all dewy-eyed for my 456/Soul. Never mind them, when is Cy going to build a “proper” road frame? Ed authority is coming into Cyclescheme and I would love to be having to make the decision between those new frames Brant has, and a similar option from Cy.

I think his marketing is shit, and he thinks I use gaspipe for frame tubes.

Brant, when are we going to see a short travel full susser?

May

I bought a Soul at £420; unfortunately it went back due to a defect and no replacement was available. So I bought one of Brant’s 853 Inbreds at £250. My first On-One and, as it was cheaper, I wasn’t expecting the overall finish etc to be as good. Turns out it was better finished in my mind and still the one frame I doubt I’d sell. IMHO I think Cy is lucky that Brant doesn’t put a standard Inbred geometry frame in 853 in his line up.

Having said that, relative to other brands around I think the Hemlock looks to be good VFM at around £1k and is on my new frame wishlist!

IMHO I think Cy is lucky that Brant doesn’t put a standard Inbred geometry frame in 853 in his line up.

The 853 frames we did were a bit of a reaction to Cy doing a Singlespeed frame, I’ll admit.

But I won’t be putting an 853 frame in the on-one line up longterm.

I think his marketing is ****, and he thinks I use gaspipe for frame tubes.

I reckon that about sums it up 😀

Duckman – what do you mean by proper? We have a short top tube drop bar version of the RoadRat[/url]. Has road bike fit, but with proper brakes. What’s not to like? You can get one through Bike2Work from Halfords. Drop us a line if you want more info.

Ta. Its my birthday in May so I may be treating myself to something 🙄

What Cy should’ve said is to have a chat to his dealers[/url] who may have demo bikes to try out/size up on. We can offer 0% finance, along with a decent price on a build- which’ll be built too.

Cyclescheme is also available.

Si

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ll pension her off this year but has`nt happened yet