Man I really want a solaris!

Need to get rid of the white brakes! Awesome bike though.

[/url]Cotic Solaris by Cheryl, on Flickr[/img]

[/url]#Cotic Solaris #Kirroughtree by Mackrory, on Flickr[/img]

I’ve literally just finished building my new flare with as much hope as I could afford! First ride on the South Downs tomorrow….

.

Here’s mine, anyone guess where?

Kayla, nice Flare – been thinking about one myself. I may have seen you riding past Silksworth Ski Slope a couple of weeks ago (another Sunderland rider).

Love my solaris 🙂

Faz71. that looks like dropping down to Castle Cragg part of the Borrodale Bash

Kayla, nice Flare – been thinking about one myself. I may have seen you riding past Silksworth Ski Slope a couple of weeks ago (another Sunderland rider).

Not me, the only time we’ve been to Silksworth has been in the car for snowboarding lessons! We sometimes mooch up the line from Shotton to Ryhope though, putting the full 130mm of the Flare to work 😆

Brennak nails it. Excellent ride, was a bit worried how l would manage on a 120mm hardtail when everyone else l saw seemed to have Enduro rigs and body armour but it was fine.
Kayla, does that mean their are 3 Cotic owners in the MTB paradise that is Sunderland?

Here’s my mostly new BFE at Beamish with a mates Pace.
Another mackem Cotic owner! 🙂

Times passes and my brain starts working.

@Faz71 – that may well have been me as I go through Silksworth park/ski slope on my may home from any destinations west. In fact it could have been on the day of that photo.
Do you live local to the ski slope? Open to local group rides with other like minded local Cotic and non Cotic owners.

@mikesbikes71 – sounds good – yes I live close by. I’m away for the next week but I’ll message you when I get back and we’ll sort something out.

Some photos from Friday:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/TVG69A]SolarisMAX at Loch Eanaich[/url] by Metalheart-UK, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/V1wniZ]Tarp rigged (Rab Siltarp1)[/url] by Metalheart-UK, on Flickr

Here you go – my BFe 27.5 today. Does everything I ask of it and it’s my only mountain bike so gets used for all sorts. 140mm X Fusion forks, recently treated it to some new Mavic XA Elite wheels, non-stealth Reverb, old fashioned 2×10 Shimano bits to make it stop and go… like it a lot. Some belters on here though – lovely looking lineup.

Kayla, does that mean their are 3 Cotic owners in the MTB paradise that is Sunderland?

We live in the new town paradise that is sunny Peterlee.

@faz71. great stuff. we’re virtually next door neighbours.

Thanks for all the replies everyone!

Any more pics after a weekend of riding or bike building?

Possibly my favourite bike ever…

The full sus is more of a tool. The Solaris is a thing of joy, brilliant fun to ride down pretty much everything. The one bike I think I could never get rid of.

Photo is after a day sliding around the woods in Newcastle (County Down).

Solaris MK2 after a wash…

New to us Cotic BFE 26 classic, thanks to Johnnytheleyther off of this Parish

My Soul 26 after being treated to some new forks

Loved mine.

That’s a smashing pic!

Only just seen this as I got the heads up on the link after I finished up on Friday. Thanks SO much for posting all these lovely pictures. Properly filling up seeing all those bikes out there putting smiles on faces and adventures in memories. Thanks all. It’s been emotional 😉

Missed this on Friday. Here’s the Rocket in Torridon last June. Best ride I’ve ever done.

Here’s my Mk 3 Soul on top of Cross Fell in February. Brr.

And here’s my Mk 2 Soul on top of Snowdon. This one was in the Soul Brothers video thing they did yonks ago.

Marvellous bikes. Cheers Cy! 😀

First ride on my freshly built flare on Sunday with a bunch from the local club, 30 hard miles and the bike felt perfect almost immediately. It does everything I’ll ever need, never knew I was this fast 😉

Love my soul and my custom stem cap

Two pages in and not a Hemlock in sight yet! No-one else still riding one? Just given this a good service as it felt a bit rattly on the way down from Snowdon a couple of weeks ago. Feeling good as new now, still love it.

My controversial SMALL Solaris on the #Jennride last year… I love this bike – it’s the first bike I’ve owned that I’ve held onto for more than a year. I built it at the end of 2013 and I’ve just bought another MK2 frame 2nd hand to build up – I may just keep one as spare as I gather Cy doesn’t want to do a small Solaris again :(, or maybe have one as a SS. This bike is my winter hack, my bikepacking / long-distance mile-muncher and is responsible for my increase in fitness and enjoyment of riding mountain bikes :). It’s been down Walna Scar and various other ‘testing’ natural trails that I would usually want a full-susser for, but it just takes them in its stride… bloody ace bike 🙂

Photo credit needs to go to Steve Holcroft Photography – he was the wedding photographer 🙂

No pics at the moment but memories:

Mk2 Black Soul – Rode everywhere on that thing. It ended up being called Anneke, after Anneke van Giersbergen because I just eneded up singing to myself when riding it. 2 main rides stand out:

Grenserittet XC race in Norway. Lots of carbon obsessed Norwegians alarmed at the use of a steel bike.

24 Solo champs at Newcastleton. Buggered my v expensive FS bike the day before the start. Rode 24 hours on the Soul which was a standby bike. Not a hint of back pain throughout. Never stopped smiling. The bike died after about 7000 miles and is much missed. It never once spat me off.

Currently got an Escapade (Deirdre): Heavy. Comfy. Goes everywhere. Done 2 x 100 mile rides this year on it, the last one a bunch of us did hungover, the day after a friend’s funeral. Very attached to it as a result.

There’s something about those Cotic bikes that gets inside you. They ride like memory of your favourite bike you had as a kid. All skids, jumps and laughter.

Spot the cotic

Made it out on Friday in the glorious weather and found a new trail through woods that seemed to go on and on. Great feel flicking round berms choosing any number of lines through the trees. Perfect with the Soul

@merri1975
That stem cap is very cool 8)

Oh, go on then – not long after mine was built up via an eBay frame and collective box of bits from the garage.

I’ll admit… it’s taken a bit of fettling and getting used to., But after finally getting a dropper-post fitted and dropping the fork PSI at the weekend, it’s completely transformed from a twitchy, nervous ass-smasher into the fun, flickable toy I was hoping for.

Needs a back tyre with a decent braking edge (i.e. not an Ardent) and converting to Tubeless and I’ve got a really ace wee bike on my hands.

No. 1

No. 2

No. 3

No. 4
On it’s way if I can persuade Mrs Daz of the merits of buying one of those discounted BFe frames.

Loving my Solaris with the 2.8 tyres on it. Rides so nicely