Yep. Excellent tyre. Wouldn’t hesitate to buy again if I was running tubes.

Fantastic bike, really made the trail come alive™

No! Don’t tell me Cy’s sold out to 650b so quickly?! 😉

I’ve got a Ti456 evo, but if I was buying steel, I’d go for a Soul. I used to ride a Kona Exlosif, and I gather the Soul rides a lot like that, so it must be a fabulous frame!

Hardly anyone complains about the Souls ride quality, but you’ll see people complaining about the weight and deadness of the 456. This might have changed with the latest version though.

There is a thread on here about the Cotic Solaris. It really opened my eyes to some 29ers major shortcomings. Go back a few days and take a look. I’d definitely go with the 26.

Blimey! That must have been quite an impact! Definitely talk to Spesh about a replacement…or get a POC 😉

How’s the leg now?

Painful experience. Takes the shine off the sport for a bit too. I think it’s indicative of the forum that many saw the matter as a parts problem, not a whole bike issue. I’ve only bought one complete mtb bike, and that was my first. Every bike I’ve owned since then I’ve built from scratch around a frame. Once you go that way, the concept of what a bike is completely changes.

I love seeing mongrel bikes, carrying genetic information for years ago, still cutting it at the trail centres. rOcKeTdOg aired a classic of the genre a few days ago. The latest technological carbon fibre, 650b wonder bikes leave me much less moved.

I have no idea about what point I’m making here. 😐

I thought it was going to be ‘…wheelie in a trail centre car park’ for some reason

Hah! I thought that too for some reason.

So disappointing 😥

I think the poly-prop base layers keep you dryer when its warm.

That’s definitely true. Merino is magical though. Revoltingly I only wash mine every 4 or 5 rides and they never smell. I never seem to get too hot either, despite wearing merino all year round.

Bin and replace with merino.

You should get yourself checked out. Nothing to lose if you’re okay. Lot’s to lose if you don’t and you’re not.

Aw it’s Solaris…that’s a blast from the past. I still miss Sun Microsystems.

Oh yeah right. Subtle 🙂

That’s a very good point.

All mudguards are hideous and make your bike look ridiculous and make you look like a mincing fop.

So with that out of the way, I think that -SKS do the best guards because of their patented quick release system:

SKS Dashblade[/url]

It takes a second to put the rear guard on and crucially, a second to take the fugly thing off again. Even better, they generally work very well at stopping mud too. Here’s one defacing my bike. Annoyingly it works perfectly, so I’m forced to continue using it.

No other mudgaurd maker has a QR system like this. It’s brilliant.

Ah On One…take comfort in the fact that the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. 😉

That’s a lovely looking bike DarrenH (as are all Cotics)’ but…I dunno…there’s not much bandwidth between that tyre and the seat tube and mech 😐

Probably wouldn’t cause me major problems, but you can see where it might become an unsolvable issue at some point with the frame.

I’ve had pretty much every iPhone since they were released and I think the latest version of Android is finally as good as iOS and that the HTC One is the best Smartphone I’ve owned…by quite a margin. You won’t be disappointed with it. Oh, and if you go for it, get the Proporta leather case too. 😉

This is the stuff I was thinking of:

On One FAQ[/url]

How long is the headtube on the frame?

Don’t On One’s run a shorter than usual headtube to give extra standover? That’s why they recommend 400mm seatposts, if I remember correctly.

But yeah, dropper seatpost!

I was stunned by the MTB range in Evans Cycles in Canary Wharf a few years ago, and by the knowledge and passion of the staff. Really nice surprise during an especially hardcore week at work.

it’s a medium. I’m 5’9 so…

That’s pretty much my height, but I always thought I’d be a small with Cotic bikes. How’s standover?

Don’t expect off-route stuff like the Lakes: The Borders landscape isn’t like that. There’s a lot of (extremely) ancient tracks and drove roads that are brilliant for XC, and some fun stuff near GT in Cardrona Forest, but you might struggle to find a route as diverse and interesting as Glentress Black. Be sure you do tackle that when you’re up. Don’t stick to the Red!

Take a look at triathlon saddles. You’ll find they do the same thing as the Big Nose, but without the weight penalty.

Rups, what size is your frame?

Well, the Thomson is spectacularly well finished and works perfectly so far, but I haven’t put in nearly enough time on it yet so it’s still a slightly unknown quantity. There are excellent reviews out there however.

Went from an SDG to a leather Charge Spoon. Massive imrovement. Best saddle I’ve owned.

The only way to troll! 😆

I love it Mr dOg. Looks like an authentic Frisco Repack special. Especially like the red and green ‘Victorian lawn mower chiq’ aesthetic going on there.

This is a bike I can point at and say: ‘Singletrack.com forum user’s ride’

This thread inspired me to re-visit the Moots website. I remember when they used to help stiffen one on the old Bike Porn feature in the mag back in the early 2000s.

Moots still does the legendary YBB soft tail in 26″…and it looks as modern and relevant as a Ford Cortina now. 😯

i have no friends, so no weddings, christenings or funerals to go to #win

That…that is a bleakly frank assessment Mr dOg 🙁

Thomson still needs proper testing- they admitted they sent only 2 for testing in the UK, and in spring IIRC, but only after they committed to the design and were tooling up for production- so all pretty useless for real world. Slightly worrying really.

Hence the mudguards!! It’ll be fine I’m sure, but for the first 100 miles I’ll be more careful than usual. The good side effect is that I’ll be clean after a ride for once. The bad side is that the bike will look like something that batman would ride. Why is all mudguard design so awful?

I understand why Thomson are making a dropper (because their core market is under attack) but not why someone would want to buy a dropper from a seatpost company (who basically just shape bits of static metal) rather than a suspension company (who have decades of experience making slidey up and down things).

Reviews.

or accept that you have to get a hacksaw out like I I did on an Shimano M960

Love it! Been there!

For me It was a case of move to a 29er frame (this or Brant’s Ti Titus) or invest in a good dropper seatpost, so seatpost it was. That and I have a great bike already. Still fascinated by 29ers though.

I had an 810 for a while. Compared to my old Edge 305, I thought it was very gimmicky. The tracking does work so long as you’re in contact with a mobile network, and the Bluetooth is solid, but the screen resolution is terrible and I barely used the map function. As for weather updates…well I soon realised that my HTC One was doing everything that the Garmin was, only better in most cases.

There is a more interesting alternative coming from Garmin in the shape of this:

Garmin camera gps

That seems like a pretty compelling combination. Garmin produces excellent products, but the 810 is an overpriced miss.

The angles look incredibly slack on the Solaris! I like that 🙂

Rear mud clearance at the seat tube looks extremely tight though. Is that proving to be an issue for the front mech or frame?

Good, honest build with unpretentious parts that compliment the frame. The colour scheme is properly understated too. Well done!

Me:

There’s a factory-fit option to internally shim certain forks to 650b

You:

you link to the Velvet.

Happily.

You must be right. X Fusion clearly have no idea what they’re talking about. You should email them and put them straight…

X Fusion RL2R

🙄

I had multiple problems out-of-the box with a pair of X-Fusion forks. UB sorted out the issues without drama and gave me a lovely pump by way of an apology for the hassle. An excellent outcome. Rutland cycles also earned massive kudos during the process too.

The distributer will probably be able to change the fork to 650b. Its a spacer thing, Drop them a line.

There’s a factory-fit option to internally shim certain forks to 650b (thus making the trail come alive…probably), but otherwise all adjustments are via the excellent controls on the forks

Each successive ride i’m able to get further up the same climb with good cadence, so my fitness is improving, BUT once I hit the wall, that point where my legs give in, I gradually move up to the easiest gear and potter up at a superslow speed.

That was more or less my technique when I developed knee pain 10 years ago. Another trick I used was a cadence sensor with an alarm. It would sound whenever I dropped below 70rpm. Off road it was bleeping all the time, but it really helped develop good habits. Just keep hitting the hill at a high rpm and after a month or two you’ll be a gradient-eating monster. You’ll carry that high rpm across the entire ride too. Ideally you should be maintaining the same rpm on the flat as on the climb. Ideally… 😉