I’ve been after something to take the strain off my FS for the day to day use for towing the trailer with hoppy jr, especially with him needing taking to the child minder. The old Dawes I borrowed from my dad wasn’t working as it was the wrong size and the brakes weren’t up to the job of stopping me, jr and the trailer. After a while deciding and procrasting over the best option I bit the bullet and bought a Cotic X on the basis that it’d take racks and guards and would make the local riding a bit more interesting.

After the longest build I can remeber I finally got it finished, I went for a stealth build to keep it discrete for commuting duties.

It’s been built for a week now and wow, it just drives you to go faster (even when towing). It’s taking a bit of getting used to moving back to fully rigid and descending in the drops but it makes the easy local trails more interesting and with the speed it has it brings more trails into range for a quick afternoon spin. It’s led me to think ooh I could just fit in another ride. After a week the mountain bike is sitting feeling a little lonely in the garage.

I’d like one of those. Nice. Not sure I’d describe that as a stealth build, I for one would spot that coming a mile off! Enjoy.

It’s definitely stealthy, it doesn’t get a look from the guys riding round Delamere eyeing up the bikes in the racks and that’s stealthy enough for me. The loud buzzy hub stops it being stealthy when I’m riding it.

Glad you like it. I’m picking mine up tomorrow. Can’t wait. Still haven’t quite decided whether to go for road tyres or a cross hybrid tyre. What are the cross tyres you’re using?

Mine won’t be quite as stealthy as yours – it’s orange – but I like the understated look.

it looks like the fork is on back-to-front.

^No it doesn’t?

you shurrrr?

The brake should be behind the fork, in the picture it looks like its in front, odd?

Odd by design !

Bol, I’m using some vittorias that were cheap at on one 34mm wide, they’re ok but for trailer duties I think I might need a bit wider. At speed they’re ok but slower with more weight they get a bit harsh I think I’ll go for some smart Sams in 43 variety when they’re available.

It’s the road rat fork with the mounts on the front, I’d have preferred the carbon fork but there weren’t any in at the time so I figured I’d give this a go, it looks a bit naff/industrial but ride wise it’s ok.