Lot’s of lovely Sodas. Makes my heart warm ;-)

New Sodas will be back mid-late Summer. We’ve had a complete nightmare getting hold of the new tubeset we’re needing to meet these dumb new CEN regs which means frames need to be about 5 times stronger than they have to be. I’m expecting lab test frames very soon, and once I have a crisp compliance certificate I can order some. Some slight changes on the new stuff, going to larger top and seat tubes to improve the pedalling and torsional stiffness, but it’s actually lighter because you can use a closer fitting seatpost with less shim.

I run my Soul with 100mm forks. Tried all sorts, but much prefer it with 100mm.

We’ve got stock, but the price is £350 posted.

The skinny tyre vs braking power thing is a bit counter intuitive, but whilst you get less contact patch, there’s a lot of pressure on it as a result of it’s size, and it’s also pretty constant compared to knobblies. The only time I’ve ever had problems with axle movement under disc braking was with 160mm rotor Hope mini’s on the prototype forks which had a brake mount in the conventional place. It’s not necessarily the ultimate power, but the relentless consistency you can apply on road slicks that means discs are fine. This prompted the move to the ‘wrong way around’ disc mount BTW.

Personally, I go for discs every time, and it’s not actually an ultimate power thing. I’m pretty sure most V’s are less powerful than my teeny disc Hope setup. What V’s are not is more controllable. I’m used to discs now and find V’s horribly grabby, which is way more scarey on a road bike IMO. It is a question of what you’re used to though.

Discs-wise, we’re loving the Tektro cable disc brakes we’ve just got in. Loads cheaper than the BB7’s and work better and easier to set up in our experience. The rotors are prettier too ;-)

Bike2Work-wise, you’ll need to speak to any one of our dealers as we’re not registered anymore. They’re all better set up to deal with any upgrades you might want anyway (as Si from 18 mentioned). We’re out of Long Roadrats until early June, but we have the Short length frames in. If you’re 5ft 10in or shorter then one of those sizes could work in flat bar set up and we have flat bar kits in stock. Drop us a line if you want some sizing help.

The nickname thing ^up there is correct. Cycotic. Imagine the fuss if I’d have spelt it Chotic like it is in psychotic? Oh, and the etimology of it is a silly uni nickname that sounded like a good idea seeing as Turner (my surname) had already been ‘somewhat’ claimed. Oddly enough, David is my middle name.

Halfords won’t deal with us any more, but any of our dealers can do whatever you want through Cyclescene.

IPR and Patent are two different things. You can’t patent a double diamond frame design because it’s not original art. Doesn’t matter what the details are. If you invented a new way of manufacturing a double diamond frame, you could patent that process, but not the resulting frame design. IPR is different, as it’s the property of the design, so e.g. I own all the IPR to Cotic frame designs, because I designed them all and they’re all on my drawing frames. It’s a tough thing to defend and something engineers will whinge about til the cows come home, but theoretically if I had evidence another manufacturer had built an identical design to mine from one of my drawings and was passing it off as their own, I could defend my IPR in court.

What do you need to know?

I’d say yes. My Hopes (I’ve got two) have been by far the longest lasting, smoothest and most free running external BB I’ve tried. It may be twice the price, but IME it’ll last more than twice as long.

I’ve got the Bonty Race Lite’s; they’re tough but blinking heavy. I’d go for the Race X-Lite versions next time, as they’ve armoured but weigh about the same as a mid-range normal tyre. Funky sidewall colours too if that floats your boat.

If you’re going for a coil on a Hemlock you’re pretty much restricted to a Fox Van as all the other shocks I’ve looked at have piggybacks which are too long so run into the down tube at full travel. There shouldn’t be any trouble in terms of ride feel as the leverage is progressive in both options, just more so in the short travel mode, and mildly to prevent too much bottoming out in long. You have to design like this with modern air shocks as they’re very linear with big cans and long stroke. It’s the mid-stroke where you have to be careful in the design of air shocks rather than the ends.

Bigrich, as pointed out above, Essence Bicycle in NZ would be your best bet for purchasing in Oz. Essence

Yes, RF BB’s are the same. All external style BB’s have a spacer on the driveside. Personally, I think Thors are ace. I don’t use the travel adjust anymore and don’t miss it on the Hemlock. The platform damping does give good adjustment potential, but personally I just run the without the platform on for full plushness and a bit more air in them than Magura recommends. I’ve used Pikes and Pace Fighters recently and the Magura is easily as good as either of them. Not used Fox for years so can comment there.

New rear ends are stiff as a stiff thing, and try one out at 18 Bikes, or Cyclescene in York, or we’re got some demo days coming up. You’d mount a chainguide on the BB shell by replacing the spacer on the external BB for the chainguide back plate. Most guides are mountable this way.

Well that thinking is where the short travel option came from; I (obviously) have a penchant for long travel hardtails, and I have a minimum of 100mm travel difference between the front and rear ends on my Soul. When the Hemlock was getting to the final stages of development it was a great bike in 150mm mode, but it wasn’t something I really wanted to ride, particularly in the UK, so the whole ‘hardtail +’ thing came about because I could go to really big forks and a bit of squish out back to give me some extra grip and damage limitation without it getting too remote and wallowy. This is still why I prefer the shorter travel, but when I go somewhere for pure DH thrills then strapping on the 150mm artillery is ace if ultimate speed and grip are what you’re looking for.

@snotrag and nukeproof – It’s not ‘geared’ to any particular combination of travels, it’s a preference thing. From my own personal riding viewpoint, short travel is where it’s at. My current setup is 140/120, lightish build with big, heavy, sticky front tyre. It rocks a lot. Up until recently, and all through last year I had 160mm forks on it, with either 105 (08 frame) or 120 (09) out back. Popped the long rockers on for Luchon in the summer, and the Snowdon Assault back in October time. I’d say from what we’re selling, most people are running short travel the majority of the time with at least 140mm forks, and I’ve seen plenty of pics of customer bikes with 36’s or Wotans on. In terms of setting it up, it’s no different to any other bike – set the fork to the recommended pressure, then set up the sag on the rear to between 20% and 35% of shock stroke. I use around 25-30% for trail riding, and 35% for DH stuff where I’m not pedalling much. It’s explained in the frame manual. Even with a big fork/short rear I’ve not had trouble with bottoming out the frame, as it’s designed to be progessive in the short setting to compensate, and the 09 Fox damping is astonishingly good.

You can run 130mm Rev’s no problem on the frame, and you’d almost certainly never touch the travel adjuster. Hope do a version of their 1.5 Reducer headset which has a conventional 13mm bottom stack height instead of the internal cup. This is an option with any fork to get the frame a bit slacker if you want it. The most noticeable thing you’ll get from a 140mm fork is the bolt thru axle which will give you more confidence in rocky sections, as well as being less likely to feel overfaced by the 150mm option if you run that much. Pikes and Floats are both ace forks, but as mentioned, I do use Thors myself and that’s what we sell.

Van Halen – 30mm travel makes a quite surprising difference to the feel and capability of the frame. I was unsure myself when looking at changing the options this year. On the 08 frame, the difference in leverage to get 105mm or 150mm travel was so big that it was difficult to get the shock performance really nice on both settings, and in particular the 150mm setting with the old 3:1 leverage made the Fox shock feel a bit harried if the rider was above about 75kg in weight. I wanted to reduce the leverage on 150mm by going to a 57mm stroke shock (used to be 50mm), and this gets really nice performance, but keeping the short travel at 105mm would have meant a leverage of less than 2:1 which would have meant lighter people would have been way overdamped. Keeping the shock rocker the same shape as 08 but adding the 57mm shock gave 120mm travel, and I had to try it out to see if there was indeed a good differential between the two, and there is. The 120mm setting still has more ‘pop’ and less wallow than the longer travel setting so I was happy to go with that. If you wanted 105mm/150mm we still have some 2008 long rockers and 50mm stroke Pearl shocks, so we could configure a frame for you.

The supplied chain is 3/32″, but 1/8″ will work. Wipperman KHE BMX chains are super nice if you’re looking for a replacement.

No problem, it’s what I’m here for!

At 20% rear sag, the geometry is identical on both rockers. It diverges slightly after that point, with 30% on 150mm being very slightly slacker and lower than 30% on 120mm. There’s a little less than 0.5deg in it, and about 3mm on BB height.

Warranty covers materials and workmanship defects only for 2 years free followed by 2 years half price replacement. Warranty claims are dealt with on a case by case basis. For example, if you managed to snap one in 3 years time after doing your 500th 6ft drop to flat without enough air in the rear shock, then no, I’d say that wasn’t a warranty job. If you snapped it on the second 6ft drop you ride, which is into a nice landing without bottoming out the shock and you weigh 60kg, then there’s probably something amiss and we’d almost certainly sort out a replacement. I wouldn’t worry about riding on DH tracks – I use mine on them.

There are loads of tech documents on Magura.com. If by service you mean a proper clean and lube, then it’s really easy – undo the nuts on the bottom of the fork, pull the legs off. Clean stanchions and instead sliders, funnel lots of suspension oil (10wt min) onto the foam rings undo the seals at the top of each slider leg. Slide legs back on, but before the piston rod ends poke through the holes in the bottom, turn upside down and pour another 10ml of oil into each leg. Push sliders right home and do up the nuts.

@r6ymy – we’re doing national demo at Cannock next week, our own Big Day Out at Sherwood Pines 21st March and national demo again at Glentress 5th April.

Small powdercoat frame (heavier than the ano) came in a 5.717lbs on the kitchen scales sans shock. Shock + hardware is probably another 0.7lbs, so about 6.4lbs. Makes sense as the medium is about 6.5lb.

I’ve not seen a Blood in the metal, but from what I can gather from frame weight (it’s heavier than an Alpine 160) and general layout (it’s only really for 160mm but the look of it) it’s way more of a heavy duty mucking around bike than the Hemlock. The Hemlock’s a good, tough trail bike, but I think the Blood looks like it’s more jumpy/droppy. That said, I’ve not found anything within my riding capability that I’d be concerned about the Hemlock on strength-wise.

Oh, and Wrap-wise, I’m afraid not. Apart from all the reasons Kelvin listed, when we tried it on a mockup up once it looked like such a car crash we knew we couldn’t do it. The crazy lines of the wrap work really well on the hardtails because they’re so clean lined. All the visual lines from braces,linkages and other bits mean that decal design beyond boring old plain lettering is actually bloody hard to do right. Kelvin sweated blood to get us a nice interesting option for the Hemlock, but unfortunately the wrap wasn’t it.

kennyp – we’re not doing Laggan, but we are in Scotland in April, on the 5th at Glentress with the National Demo Tour bikeradar thing. The bikes are bloody busy already though, so you probably want to get booked if you’re thinking on coming. demodays.bikeradar.com.

tlr – Thanks for joining in!! It’s not really that twitchy with 140mm forks, that comment has to be taken in context of the big mountain environment Jon was riding the bike, and that he knows it’d be nicer in that situation with 160mm forks. the Hemlock is actually at the slack end of the spectrum for trail bikes. For the UK it’ll be fine. I’m certainly enjoying a 140mm front end, and I’ve been out on DH trails recently and getting on well.

I_ache – I’ve not ridden any other bike with that kind of setup. I’ve ridden a BFe with Wotans which about the closest thing for me personally.

I’m going to take pics of mine when it has the extra-rad white rims in a few days :-D

All 2008 frames and the 2009 small and large ones are. The 2009 medium ones are in the process of being made that way.

As lot’s of sage people have said, you need 1 spacer on the driveside, although it can on run on the other if you want. I’ve very occasionally jammed my chain between the chainstay and chainrings in the little ring, but unfortunately it’s one of those things, because the swingarm swings away from the chainset under compression thus opening the gap, and a slapping chain in the little ring can sometimes find itself in the open gap at that moment. It’s also not helped by needing chainstay clearance for 36t double/bash setups which leaves a bigger gap than I’d like with a 32. There shouldn’t be any more trouble than a hardtail really unless as suggested above the chain is too long and flapping too much, or you’ve not set up the front mech properly.

Got plenty in stock, but I think people are waiting for press. We got tests out much earlier last year. We’ve got a whole fleet built for the Future demos, and 18 Bikes, Cyclescene in York, Freedom Bikes in Brighton all have demos and we can ship a demo to a dealer if it doesn’t clash with us needing it. I don’t know if Swinno’s have built there’s yet, or whether they sold it. They had a frame off us a few weeks back.

Setup-wise, I ran 160/100 on last years bike and 160/120 on the 09, and it’s lots and lots of fun in big stuff without being too wallowy or boring on smoother trails. Have to say I recently switched mine back to a much lighter 140/120 build using my Thors for demo duty, but left a sticky DH front tyre on and I’m totally loving it. 140mm forks are soooo much better than they were last year. I can chuck it around more because it’s lighter, just loads and loads of fun.

Regarding the swingarm, we have had one fail which was a result of incorrect assembly of a pinch clamp and it lacking a washer. In this case the bolt loses preload and then the frame fatigues prematurely. One went which flagged up the issue. It’s in the process of being sorted. I went and chucked mine off a 4ft drop 25 times the other week to make double sure I was totally, once-and-for-all happy with it. It’s fine ;-)

Sorry you guys missed out. The organisers tried very hard to keep it on, but they checked on Saturday morning and there was about a foot of snow! We’re doing the Cannock and Glentress bikedemo’s and we’re doing our own Big Day Out demo at Sherwood Pines too.

I’m a compulsive saddle dropper and have had a Bontrager Race X-Lite carbon post on my Soul which is still fine after over a year. Having had an XY in the past (great saddle clamp – I miss that), anything reasonable quality this side of a Thomson will have more give. XY’s are pretty stiff. It’s amazing what a difference it makes. When I was testing the BFe prototypes with a 30.9 post I thought I’d made a huge mistake when using a bit-box post that fitted, but it become totally fine once I got a USE SUMO aluminium seatpost.

I’ve not seen it done nicely. They’re relatively easy to file as they’re only mild steel.

Would it not be more effort than threading the hose through on three or four sets of brakes?

I’m 34″ waist and got medium. They’re bizarrely large sized. Medium fit’s me perfectly with virtually no need for belt around the waist, and I’ve got 36″ legs and they’re still below the knee.

We didn’t get any small Souls in with this batch, but we had a run on custard before Christmas so unfortunately we’re out of stock of them until the summer. Sorry.

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

I reckon that about sums it up :D

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.

Trek do a Junior helmet which should fit. I ended up getting my daughter the next up adjustable helmet because she was just on the lower limit of that, but it’s a really nice thing. Well worth a look.

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

Tell that to Reynolds!! :roll:

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.

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.

Drop us a line. We have loads of the Bontys.