All the parts have now arrived so Soul and Solaris complete bikes are now available to order for delivery from this week.

Specification on all the bikes is as follows:

• Full Deore XT 3x10 drivetrain with Shadow Plus clutch mech.
• Deore XT Brakes.
• Rock Shox SID RCT3 120 Maxle (Soul), SID29 100 Maxle (Solaris)
• Hope Hoops Wheels with Stans Arch EX Rims
• Cotic Finishing kit, including:
  • 60mm x 10 deg stem.
  • Layback 400mm seatpost.
  • CC Cromo Rail Saddle.
• Hope Headset.
• Race Face Respond bars (740mm riser on the Soul, 710mm flat on Solaris)
• Conti Mountain King II 2.2" tyres.
• Pedals not included.

Soul and Solaris bikes are £2,250.

All our usual sizes and colours from the frame range will be available as bikes, as we will be assembling here in the UK. Only thing to note for right now is that we're out of medium and small Solaris until July, but you can pre-order them. We have large and XL in both colours ready to go.

These bikes are only available in this fixed spec to make it easier for us to manage as we ramp up on this.

As always, we dispatch every Thursday for Friday delivery. Bikes are only available in the UK, and will be available either directly from us or via our dealers. If you buy from us, it will arrive needing the front wheel and bar/stem installing, and the headset adjusting. Other than that it will be setup ready to go. Pop your favourite pedals on and away you go.

We will have some pictures of the actual builds up in the next week or so just as soon as we have the first bikes built.

WHAT A WEEKEND?!!!! Kicked off in fine fashion by the third installment of Steel City Downhill at Greno Woods near Sheffield. Incredible weather and an awesome job done by the Ride Sheffield dig volunteers turned in a superb course, and over 1,500 people turned out to watch. The atmosphere was fantastic all day, and a couple of the visiting pros commented they'd not seen crowds bigger than we had anywhere but Fort William!

We had a stand as usual, and Cy, Joh and Chay were all representing Cotic to greater or lesser extents in the Masters category, whilst we'd had to give Josh back to the SPS as it's downhill. Both Josh and fellow SPS'r James "Rocketman" Swindon were also rocking their Rockets on the short but super fun berms, jumps and swoops of the Greno DH course.

As it was also Star Wars day (May the 4th be with you!), we put up our prize of a BFe frame to the best Star Wars custom on the day. This was won hands down by Alan's home made R2D2 setup. 10 hours well spent there fella! Your BFe will be with you on Friday.

Cy and Joh had a tonne of fun on their way to Joh juuuuuust beating Cy in the final reckoning. Barely a second in it would seem to suggest that Cy not doing the gap jump was the decider, but there's always shoulda, woulda, coulda.

In the ProAm itself, Josh had a couple of good runs, but was disappointed with 6th in the end. We'll let him get over it, but we're still chuffed to have such a fast and exciting rider on the team. No such commiserations for Swinny though, with a scintillating ride to 2nd overall barely 3 seconds slower than Peaty. Seen to be landing off the gap jump into a power wheelie to keep on the gas he unfortunately dropped his chain on the second run. Great ride though.

However, the star of the Cotic show on Saturday was Cotic Steel City Media Racing Masters ripper Chay Granby, who was on fire from the moment he hit the track. We saw him on his second race run visibly quicker than anyone through previously, carving the berms and pedaling like an animal anytime he could, he took the win in Masters by over 3 seconds. His time, in the mid 1m23s, would have put him 7th in the ProAm cat. Awesome ride! We were psyched out of our tiny minds seeing a Cotic SCM jersey on the top step of the podium.

Incredible day. Still buzzing. Chay, you bloody legend. Cotic Steel City Media - WINNERS! WOOOP!

PEOPLE POWER!! After the announcement of our complete bike builds last week, quite a few people have been in touch interested in a Rolling Chassis option. YOUR WISH IS OUR COMMAND!

Available to order now for delivery next week, Rolling Chassis featuring a Cotic frame, Rock Shox Fork, Hope Hoops and Headset. Revelation/Flow EX on Rocket and BFe, SID/Arch EX on Soul and Solaris. Prices as follows:

• Rocket with Float RL - £2,200
• Rocket with Kashima CTD - £2,349
• Rocket with BOS - £2,430 (not currently in stock)
• Soul/Solaris - £1,450
• BFe - £1,200

Get 'em whilst they're hot. Click here to order today.

See a few more great shots of our customer Adrian ragging his BFe over on cotic.cc

Big news from Cotic Towers this week is that we're moving into supplying complete mountain bikes for the first time. From mid-May we will be offering bikes for all our frame models based around a great Deore XT based build kit with Rock Shox forks and Hope Hoops.

We have looked into this every few months for the last few years, and it's always been forks and brakes that have been the stumbling block as for a little company like us, buying in 100's of sets of the same fork to get a half decent price was always too big a step to take. However, this year we have a fantastic OE deal for Shimano via Madison, so the brakes and drivetrain were sorted and Fisher Outdoor Leisure have stepped up in fine fashion with a great fork deal on assorted Rock Shox forks rather than a single model. This was the key as it has allowed us to buy Revelations, SID and 29" forks to work with all our frames.

Specification on all the bikes is as follows:

• Full Deore XT 3x10 drivetrain with Shadow Plus clutch mech.
• Deore XT Brakes.
• Rock Shox Revelation RCT3 150mm (Rocket, BFe), SID RCT3 120 Maxle (Soul), SID29 100 Maxle (Solaris)
• Hope Hoops Wheels with Stans Rims (Flow EX - Rocket/BFe, Arch EX - Soul, Solaris)
• Cotic Finishing kit, including:
  • 60mm x 10 deg stem.
  • Layback 400mm seatpost.
  • CC Cromo Rail Saddle.
• Hope Headset.
• Race Face Respond bars (740mm riser 26" bikes, 710mm flat 29" bikes)
• Conti Mountain King 2.2" tyres.
• Pedals not included.

Rocket starts from £3,000 with the Float RL shock, Soul and Solaris are £2,250 and the BFe is £2,000.

All our usual sizes and colours from the frame range will be available as bikes, as we will be assembling here in the UK.

We decided on the full house XT/Hope build ups because we can do something really nice and still be fairly competitive on price with other, bigger brands. There's nothing on here we wouldn't like to ride ourselves, right down to going with the triple chainset drivetrain. We still use triples up here, but the nice thing with them is that you can do anything. If you want 1 x 10, fit a chainguide. If you want a double, bosh a 36t ring and bash on there. It's easier for you guys to tailor that part of the drivetrain to your own preferences.

There's no point us trying to compete at lower price points, it just doesn't add up at the moment. This way it's a manageable single spec which leaves pretty much nothing to be changed or upgraded, and so makes our frames more accessible to those of you who don't want to build their own frame up from hand picked parts. It's move towards the mainstream of the market and we're excited about it. We don't use steel to be niche or hip, we use steel because we believe it's a better material to make bikes out of then aluminium. We believe that our bikes offer an alternative, cleaner aesthetic to the 'me too' swoopy aluminum which pervades the rest of the market. In short, we have something credible to offer and it's going to be an adventure getting the bikes out there.

These bikes are only available in this fixed spec to make it easier for us to manage as we ramp up on this.

As always, we dispatch every Thursday for Friday delivery. Bikes are only available in the UK, and will be available either directly from us or via our dealers. If you buy from us, it will arrive needing the front wheel and bar/stem installing, and the headset adjusting. Other than that it will be setup ready to go. Pop your favourite pedals on and away you go.

We will be in position to deliver bikes by mid-May. Pre-order yours now by heading to the Order Section or call us on 07970 853531.

We will have some pictures of the actual builds up in the next week or so just as soon as the finishing kit arrives. For right now, the builds shown on the Rocket, Soul, BFe and Solaris product pages are pretty good indicators of what we're offering, just with Rock Shox forks and Hope/Stans wheels instead.

Yup, we still love them, and we now have all options in stock. We've also added a new XS Soul Duckegg option, and yes, it looks amazing.

It's our next Calver demo a week Saturday and whilst it's busy, there a still places left to try bikes out, especially if you are of the taller or shorter persuasion.

Rides are at 10am, 12noon, 2pm and 4pm. Booking is via email to demo@cotic.co.uk or give us a ring on 07970 853531. We will have the following bikes still available:

• 10am - 2 x Rocket large, Solaris Large, Soul Medium
• 12 noon - Rocket large, Solaris Large
• 2pm - Rocket large, Rocket Small, Solaris Large
• 2pm - 2 x Rocket large, Rocket Small, Solaris Large, Soul Medium

We do proper guided rides around our 75-90min local test loop which has some great climbs and really fun descents, and it'll give you a flavour of where and how we develop our bikes.

Come and make a weekend of it. Ride a demo on Saturday, do another local loop once you're done with us, a big Peak Classic on Sunday and you've had a lovely time.

Once you're booked on, we will send you a map with our exact location (sat nav's don't work) and some other joining instructions. All you have to do then is turn up in Calver 30 mins before your ride to be set up on the bike of your choice.

As if Peak District riding wasn't enough on it's own, another great advantage of coming to the Calver demos is that if (as we hope) you're over the moon with the bike you've ridden, you can walk away with your new frame that very day as we're all set to prep and process your new frame whilst you wait.

If you do take our advice and make a weekend of it, have a look on Visit Peak District for some accommodation and maybe some things to do for partners/kids. If you need route advice then the Vertebrate Guide Book for the Dark Peak is ace and packed with info. And of course, our local Cotic dealer and all round top shop 18 Bikes are in Hope to help you with any kit you need/want/break during your stay.

We're looking forward to riding with you.

Today we launch our brand new Roadrat. Our perfect bike for doing all sorts of things, from attacking the urban commute, to buggering off into the hills with nothing but a sleeping bag for company, it takes everything that was great about our groundbreaking 2006 original and improves it in subtle but significant ways.

• New geometry - lower BB, taller head tubes. Better fit, more stable, but still with that great flicky 'from the wrists' handling feel.
• New tubeset including our signature Ovalform top tube.
• New dropouts - Solid mounted mech hanger, chainstay disc mount for easy installation of racks and 'guards and general neatness.

• Still the same MASSIVE tyre clearance. You can get 1.75" 29er tyres in there!
• Taper leg fork as launched on the X, now colour matched with disc only options.
• Gorgeous new look with Duck Egg or Gritstone options. We will have some gritstone pics up next week, but check out the BFe gallery to get the idea.

The new Roadrat is available from today. Prices start at £299 for frame and steel fork, and we have our Geared bike at £799 or the Alfine8 bike at £849. There are disc upgrade options for both.

And as if that wasn't enough, here's Cy taking you through all the new features of the frame:

Cy posted pic of his Rocket yesterday after giving it the Cotic Steel City Media Racing treatment with some BOS Devilles and Mavic CrossMax ST's and it drew quite a response. Here it is, post fork setting up ride. Cy runs:

• Cotic Rocket - Size Large, Frame Number "Prototype001"
• BOS Deville - Currently 160mm. Seeing how they go. Might try 140 at some point
• Mavic Crossmax ST - Incredibly stiff and light
• Hope 2H Headset and Stainless BB
• Shimano Deore XT M770 9spd - Because it hasn't worn out yet!
• Shimano XT Triple with 22,32,40 rings, plus Bionicon Chainguide
• Hope Race X2 Evo on 203/180 Magura Storm SL rotors
• Maxxis Minnion 3C EXO (tubeless rear for reliability, tube front for feel)
• Renthal Fatbar Lite 740 x 38mm rise, 60mm Race Face stem
• Rock Shox Reverb
• DMR Vaults - the best flat pedals
• Bonty lockon grips - 1 collar on the inside and rubber over the bar ends. Lovely!
• Cotic 'CC' saddle, just like we put on the Roadrat and X bikes

So there you go. Very nice, but not stupidly pimped out. People are chatting about their Rocket setups on our Cotic Facebook page.

Don't forget, you can demo a Rocket (or Solaris or Soul) at our next Calver Demo on 27th April. Email demo@cotic.co.uk or give us a ring on 07970 853531 to book on.

Fresh stock of Soul frames arriving very soon, including the new XS size in both Orange and Duckegg colour options.

We have some 2011/12 (no rack mount) X bikes on sale - 54cm or 58cm, black only, X Weekday Steel Canti spec. Usually £900, now £750

UK Gravity Enduro round 1 done and dusted at a freezing Afan. The boys have checked in. Josh spanged his back and had a lot of chain issues due to Cy finding that his top guide was in his garage this morning instead of on Josh's bike! Not ideal, but he kept on it and got 17th Elite. Great ride in tough conditions. We'll get the top guide on the bike this week along with some of our Bionicon chainguides for the chainstay and we should be solid and secure for next weekend at Innerduro.

Chay was a star though, 4th Master in a properly tough field just 0.7 seconds off a podium. Amazing ride considering the bike only came together on Wednesday night. Obviously a little bittersweet given he was so close to that breakthrough podium, but great result.

All of us at Cotic and Steel City Media are proper proud of you boys. Team debrief and test session this week to get all the bugs ironed out. Learn. Solve. Win. Look out Gravity Enduro; the Cotic Steel City Media boys are only just getting warmed up.

This weekend at the UK Gravity Enduro Round 1 and Afan, we're launching Cotic Steel City Media Racing. We've recruited two of the cream of local Sheffield riders from the local "Blue Steel" Mates Races dual series after Cy was standing in a cold field a few weeks ago and realised the potential riders for his new enduro race team were right there under his nose. As he put it on the call out to the local lads, "After Tuesdays seriously fast and loose efforts it’s clear we have plenty of local pinners. It’d be ace to support someone local who’s committed to doing some racing". We expected to pick up a couple of fast lads to fly the flag this season, but we were blown away by the response and quality of the riders who dropped Cy an email.

Without further ado, we're very pleased to announce Josh "Loosedog" Lewis and Chay Granby will be racing Rockets at all the UK and some of the Euro and World Series races this season. 19 year old Josh has made his name in DH racing, and will race in the Elite category. Chay is racing Masters and is fast as you like, came 2nd overall in the winter dual mates races (which a certain Steve Peat has been know to turn up to, so it's a "fairly" high quality field), and both have solid top 10 and podium potential. We couldn't be happier.

The lads will both be riding Cotic Rockets, and we're co-sponsored by Steel City Media so expect some sweet edits of the boys this season as SCM are behind all of our recent videos, including the one and only Rocketman. Our other sponsors are Lezyne tools and Royal Racing who have come up with an amazing team kit. And yes, Cy's ego is big enough to have a jersey with his name on it too!

The bikes are kitted out with BOS suspension, Mavic wheels, Maxxis tyres, Shimano drivetrain and brakes, Renthal bars, KCNC stems, Rock Shox Reverbs, Hope headsets, chainrings and chain devices. Pretty damn sweet.

If you want a slightly different view on the team launch, head over to This Is Sheffield to see what King of the Mates Races, Nick Hamilton thinks about how we have set up the team.

Here's to a Rocket powered race season. GET IN!!!

A fresh episode from Cotic / Steel City Media for you, to support you with those difficult size issues which seem to be affecting mountain bikers all over the world. We want to help....

A week ago, the lads took a road trip to Hamsterley to shoot something new.

The next episode in the Cotic / Steel City Media saga drops tomorrow...

Ruth and Rachel from the AQR Holidays Team raced the Andalucia Bike Race recently, and picked up 7th Elite. Good on you ladies! Read all about their week long MTB stage race adventure on the AQR Team Blog.

After such a successful year in 2012, we're back this year with our demo series from our base in the Peak District. The demo loop has been scouted, the coffee, tea, and biscuits have been bought...

Why from Calver? It's actually pretty central, and there's is tonnes of amazing riding to be done up here. We do proper guided rides around our 75-90min local test loop which has some great climbs and really fun descents, and it'll give you a flavour of where and how we develop our bikes.

Come and make a weekend of it. Ride a demo on Saturday, do another local loop once you're done with us, a big Peak Classic on Sunday and you've had a lovely time.

Here's the plan; choose to ride on one of the following dates:

• 16th March
• 27th April
• 8th June

Rides are at 10am, 12noon and 2pm. Booking is essential, via email to demo@cotic.co.uk or give us a ring on 07970 853531. We will have the following bikes:

• Rocket in small, medium and large
• Solaris in medium and large
• Soul in medium

If we're really busy we'll slide in a ride at 4pm too, daylight and weather permitting.

Once you're booked on, we will send you a map with our exact location (sat nav's don't work) and some other joining instructions. All you have to do then is turn up in Calver 30 mins before your ride to be set up on the bike of your choice.

As if Peak District riding wasn't enough on it's own, another great advantage of coming to the Calver demos is that if (as we hope) you're over the moon with the bike you've ridden, you can walk away with your new frame that very day as we're all set to prep and process your new frame whilst you wait.

If you do take our advice and make a weekend of it, have a look on Visit Peak District for some accommodation and maybe some things to do for partners/kids. If you need route advice then the Vertebrate Guide Book for the Dark Peak is ace and packed with info. And of course, our local Cotic dealer and all round top shop 18 Bikes are in Hope to help you with any kit you need/want/break during your stay.

We're looking forward to riding with you.

Slight departure from the usual here. Cy is a member of a trail advocacy group called Ride Sheffield. They campaign for mountain biker rights and access in Sheffield and the Peak. Today Ride Sheffield have launched a really exciting project which could prove to be the blueprint for trail building all over the country.

There are some woods on the Peak/Sheffield border called Lady Canning's Plantation, near the village of Ringinglow. It's Ride Sheffield comes in. Today they launched an initiative to crowd fund the trail. Every penny raised goes into paying the Biketracks guys to get their diggers in the woods and get the trail built.

The project could really do with a minimum of £7,500 to get the diggers to carve out the line of the trail, but that will still require a huge amount of work from volunteer diggers to fill and finish the trail. The more money raised, the more time is bought with the trailbuilders to use their mechanical equipment to get things done faster.

If you ride in the Peak, if you live in the Sheffield area, hell even if you don't, please donate. A tenner from 750 riders and they reach at their target. £20 from each of those riders, or £50 from a few if you have the spare cash, would get us a fantastic trail built by the autumn. And this will be free to use remember. Think about how much money you've spent on parking at trail centres for 'free' trails. How about putting some of that money into a community trail?

The donation details are as follows:

Bank transfer/Internet banking payment:

RIDE SHEFFIELD

40-31-02

91574205

Account is with HSBC.

Or you can donate via Paypal. The address for Paypal payments is ridesheffield@gmail.com

The really exciting thing for us here is that this could be a model for loads more trails all over the country. Get involved with your Local Access Forum. Talk to your local councils Parks and Woodland and Rights of Way departments. Find out if they'd let you build trails if they are fully funded. You'd be amazed what you can achieve if you just start talking to people.

There's a full spiel on the Ride Sheffield website.

[Bob Geldoff] I don't want your sympathy, I want you're MONEY [/Bob Geldoff]

We've almost caught up on all pre-orders now, so have opened orders for the new Soul. All three current sizes are available in all three colours. The new XS size will be available later in Orange only.

We've also opened up orders for the new BFe, which is still in the ace Bright Green and Gritstone colours.

Yes, the new Soul is now available in Duckegg. We've been trying to get this colour on a frame for a while now. Here's a photo of a Simple prototype in Duck Egg we tried a year or so back, it shows you how the colour looks on a built bike.

Oh, and there's more... the new Soul is also now available in "that green". Check out the new BFe and Solaris product pages if you're not sure which green we mean.

The new Soul is now available in Orange, Bright Green, or our new Duckegg colour

Colours are unchanged for the new BFe: Bright Green & Gritstone.

Were going to be busy fulfilling backorders, but if you want to be first in the queue when things calm down, you can pre-order using the links below.

We have good stock of the Soul Classic, so to make room for more of the new Soul in a week or so we're dropping the price to just £400 until they're all gone.

It's the same legendary handling and geometry that the Soul has always been, sorted from 100-140mm forks. The only difference between the Classic and the new frame is the traditional 1 1/8" head tube and the skinny seat tube for 27.2mm seatposts. Still a great frame!

We have large in orange and black, and small in black only. Come and get them!

Hope you had a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We're back at work today, and sending frames and bikes out as usual tomorrow. Give us a ring or drop us an email if you want to get something sorted for this week.