Review: Cotic FlareMAX Gen4

The Cotic FlareMAX Gen4 is reviewed in Issue 142 Bike Test – The Big Short. Gen4 means fourth generation. This is the fourth iteration of Cotic’s shor …

By ben_haworth

Get the full story here:

Review: Cotic FlareMAX Gen4

Lovely. Worth noting that tyres and dropper post length are completely customisable (along with just about everything else) when ordering a FlareMAX from Cotic. Or supply your own, and buy “most of a bike”. It’s all very flexible… the bikes are built to order… your bike built for you.

Got mine with 140 forks, it’s awesome. Totally agree about the cc shock. Though my only comparison is fox ctd/dps. It’s certainly very plush but doesn’t feel like it has less rear travel than my 140 occam. I’ve also mashed my shiny cranks on rocks a few times 🙁

Yeah just read that bit of my magazine with my boiled egg this morning.
Riding a similar type of bike myself (aether9 140f/130r) I’m a bit perturbed by the comments about short(er) travel bikes being unsuitable as an only mtb… do I need to go and by a gnarpoon again?!
I think I prefer not being drawn in to the sort of speeds on those sort of trails that have caused injuries in the past! I’m happy to concede I won’t be as fast but it will be more fun…🤔

They look and sound like awesome bikes. Possibly the only thing I’d get rid of the Solaris Max for.
Sadly the bank account currently disagrees ☹️

Riding a similar type of bike myself (aether9 140f/130r) I’m a bit perturbed by the comments about short(er) travel bikes being unsuitable as an only mtb… do I need to go and by a gnarpoon again?!

I’ve an older FlareMax, nothing it can’t do – and mine spends most of it life on the steepest/roughest trails in the Tweed Valley.

Lovely looking bike. Extremely good value builds too. If I had the cash I’d buy one straight away, despite owning a Spur.

If only someone would buy my scout then I can get one ordered

Loving mine! Specced it with Revelations @ 130mm, was expecting to need a fancy aftermarket damper for the fork but it feels great!

Its an absolutely brilliant bike that has continued to impress. Not sure I agree about fitting the DHR tyres, the point of the build is to be fast and responsive with less rolling resistance and inertia. The only downside so far has been the soft paint (from the UK built frame) that scratches off too easily, see the review bike has the same problem from the photos in the review.

I think a short travel trail bike can be an all rounder bike. I ran my Aether 7 for everything from local larking about in the woods to uplift days at BPW / BMCC / Antur. The only place I wished I had more travel was Antur as you did feel battered by lunchtime.

Decided to go 29er and 160/150mm travel (Sentinel alloy 2022) and it’s definitely more capable everywhere – but a bit harder work on flat / pedally / twisty stuff. I’ll still take the Sentinel right now for what I’m riding.

The head angle is 66°. This number is steep for a trail bike

I’m sorry – what? When did 66 degrees become steep for a trail bike? Sure, an enduro bike. But a trail bike? That’s plently slack for a trail bike.

Run internal cups, run external cups, run a combo of both. Essentially you can fine-tweak the stack and front-end ride height of the bike. The head tube length is nominally 120mm, but you can run it effectively as 130mm (with an external lower cup, as here).

@ben_haworth You can only run an internal lower cup with a non-tapered fork. Given that 1 1/8″ straight steerer forks have disappeared from the market, an internal lower cup isn’t an option…

It wild be nice to have a lighter 100mm rear version

You can only run an internal lower cup with a non-tapered fork

I assume Ben means zero-stack bottom cups, of so, then yep they do exist. You can get zero stack lower cups for tapered forks, lots of folk make them – Hope, Nukeproof, Cane Creek etc. ZS-55/56 etc….

You can also get fully integrated, but you’re looking at the cups being part of the frame. And that’s extremely unlikely with a steel frame!

I assume Ben means zero-stack bottom cups, of so, then yep they do exist. You can get zero stack lower cups for tapered forks, lots of folk make them – Hope, Nukeproof, Cane Creek etc. ZS-55/56 etc….

Would they fit into a 44mm head tube? Curiously someone, erm, you asked the same question nine years ago, but it’s still the case that you can’t fit a zero stack lower headset cup for a tapered fork into a 44mm head tube. You’d need a tapered 44mm/56mm head tube or a straight 56mm one? You could fit an old-style straight steerer fork with an appropriate zero stack lower cup, but it would be an odd thing to do in 2022. Sorry, maybe I’ve missed something?

Zero stack headset for 44mm headtube……

Lovely bike – got mine a few weeks ago. Feels a bit sluggish on a climb but it is very sure-footed downhill. Delighted with it.

Feels a bit sluggish on a climb

But is it actually “sluggish”?

I thought this when I got mine, and then Strava told me otherwise.

66 probably reflects the fact that full sus bikes don’t kick up at the back so much