Since we released the Rocket video, we've had a few Hemlock customers intrigued by the fact that the Rocket geometry was largely developed on the Hemlock and asking the differences and how we did it.

The main change was using a K9 Industries Angled Reducer Cup -2deg headset. You need to get the correct one for the length of head tube on your frame, and it'll only work on 2009 onwards frames with the 1.5 head tube when combined with straight 1 1/8" steerer fork. You can also get the same effect from the Works Components as well. Email these guys with your head tube length. It's 110mm on the small, 120mm on the medium and 130mm on the large.

Once installed, this headset gives you a net 1.5 degree slackening of the head angle, drops the BB down and steepens the seat angle by 0.5deg. If you're running the shorter travel rockers, you won't end up with the same static head angle as the Rocket, it'll measure a bit slacker again. This is because the Rocket is based on the 150mm travel rockers on the Hemlock as the Rocket is a 150mm travel frame. However, the Hemlock was designed to run at the same dynamic geometry (i.e. with sag, rider on board) regardless of the travel setting so once you're riding you'll have the right numbers.

For the Rocket we've steepened the seat angle further to place the rider more in the middle of the bike, but in terms of head angle, BB height and chainstay length you'll have something very similar to the new bike. Obviously, with the droplink suspension on the Rocket and the stiffer attachments for the suspension it's not quite on a par with the new bike and the suspension feel is quite different due to the new progressive frame rate, but I guess you have to give us that. Things have moved on for the new frame ;-). What you will have is a fantastically fun and involving evolution of your Hemlock. At the end of the day, Cy and Paul had so much fun hooning around on their Hemlocks set up like this it become the basis for the Rocket, so it's worth a go if you're looking to freshen up your trusty charger.

For the second installment of the information on the Cotic Rocket, Cy's done a video explaining about the origins of the project, and what he sees as the key points on the bike. We hope you like it.

Here's the overall specification for the bike:

• 150mm rear travel, using Cotic Droplink suspension (more detail on this in the next newsletter).
• Slack, low geometry: 66.5 degree head angle/13.3" BB height with 150mm Fox Float installed.
• Designed for use with 140, 150 and 160mm forks.
• Front triangle constructed from Reynolds 853, swingarm 7005-T6 aluminium, seatstay/shock strut in cromoly, droplink is 1 piece CNC'd 7075-T6.
• 7.3lb frame weight including Fox RP23 shock.
• 44mm standard head tube, designed around zero stack top/external cup bottom for taper steerer compatibility.
• 31.6mm seatpost size for dropper seatpost compatibility, and hose clips for remotes under the top tube.
• ISCG05 mounts.
• Syntace X-12 142 x 12mm rear through axle.
• Loads of tyre clearance. Easily runs with Maxxis 2.5" DH tyres in the rear end.
• Regular 73mm threaded BB shell.
• 15mm pivot axles on both main pivot and Droplink pivots combine with massively stiff 35mm steel seat tube to lock the back end to the front triangle for maximum handling precision.
• Shock options will include Fox Float RL, Fox RP23 Kashima, and custom tuned BOS Vip'r.

There will be lots more detail on the various features of the frame in the next couple of letters. You can sign up to the newsletter to hear it all first here.

Carsten from Eaven Cycles - our German Distributor - has been on saying he's got a large and a medium Limited Edition Simple in stock. So, if you missed out on the UK allocation of the Limited Edition Simple frame then drop Carsten a line and he'll get one re-patriated for you.

We've just received a new batch of main pivot kits and mech hangers for Hemlocks to plug the gap in our spares stock. So, we now have spares for every single part on the frames and are committed to this being the case for years to come. Just because we have new and exciting things on the horizon, doesn't mean we leave our existing customers high and dry. If you need any spares for your frame just drop us an email or give us a call on 07970 853531 and we'll sort you out.

For the last 2 and a half years we have been working on a new full suspension frame. It's finally finished and going into production, so we wanted to announce that we're back in the game and they're due in mid-March 2012.

The frame is called the Cotic Rocket. It's a trail bike with 150mm rear travel for 140-160mm forks. We have so much to tell you about, but Cy's going to do that in detail over the next few weeks in (relatively) easily digested chunks via the mailing list.

It has been a long project, and we're incredibly proud of this bike.

Stay tuned!

Now that we have the latest >X< framesets in stock, we've also firmed up the new bike specifications for 2012. These are as follows:

X Sunday

• Shimano 105 (5700) Drivetrain
• KCNC Flyride 100mm stem, T4R 350mm seatpost
• Cotic Components Saddle and 44cm bar
• Shimano CX-50 36/46 CX Specific Chainset with 12-30 10spd cassette
• Shimano R550 Cantis or Tektro Lyra Discs
• Cane Creek Headset
• Alex R450 rims on Cartridge bearing CC disc hubs
• Continental Cyclocross Race 700x35c Tyres

X Weekday

• Shimano Deore Rear Mech/Sora Front with Sora STi's
• Cotic Components Finishing Kit, 100mm stem, 44cm bar
• Sora 34/50 Compact with 11-32 9spd cassette
• Tektro CR520 Cantis or Tektro Lyra Cable Discs
• Cane Creek Headset
• Alex R450 rims on Cartridge bearing CC disc hubs
• Continental Cyclocross Race 700x35c Tyres

The wider range cassettes on both bikes are in response to customers requesting a lower gear range for offroad riding, and the X Sunday now uses Shimano's CX specific chainset too.

Despite the specification changes the pricing remains the same, starting at £900 for the X Weekday Steel Fork and £1,200 for the X Sunday Steel Fork. Upcharge of £75 for Tektro Lyra cable discs and £100 for CC Carbon forks apply as before too. What are you waiting for?

Morning all! Today we're permanently dropping the price on the BFe to just £300. We've ended up a little overstocked on them and we need to fund our exciting new projects, most pressingly the Solaris 29er which will be here in early March 2012 and is going to production now.

We have all sizes and colours in stock (although we're down to single figures in large blue), and unlike our previous promotion this price will be available through our dealers as well as it's a permanent price change.

Finally, to pre-empt the question we got last time we did a BFe promotion, there are no plans to drop the price on the Soul. Soul stock is good, and we have another drop of those coming in December to top up the orange colour option as this is getting a little low right now.

Cycling Plus have got one of our >X< Sunday bikes on test at the moment, and also received one of the only TRP Parabox hydraulic disc brake convertor systems in the country. As the >X< is one of the only disc compatible 'cross bike available right now, they use it as a test bed for fitting the new components. Check out the video. Once the UK importers of TRP get stock, we'll be offering the Parabox as an upgrade option on all the >X< bikes.

Another thing we've been busy with is getting the latest batch of X's in. We have all sizes and colours in stock, and there are some subtle revisions to the latest batch, notably 160mm rear rotor compatibility and the half bridge mudguard mounting from the RoadRat. This means all rear cable discs will fit and mudguard mounting is now super easy. We have a small number of black 54cm and 58cm of the old versions on our Moving Specials page, right at the bottom.

Sorry it's been so quiet on here this month. Been very, very busy. One of the things we've been busy doing is settling into our new warehouse. As a result of the move we've pulled together all the frames we have which aren't completely perfect, a couple of ex-demos, that kind of thing. We've list them on our new Moving Specials. There are a few Souls, and Roadrat and a couple of BFes, plus the run out on the previous version >X< frames. Go and take a look, and pick up a bargain.

Our German Importer Carsten from Eaven Cycles is doing a cyclocross stage race starting tomorrow called Critical Dirt. It looks like an ace event, and the weather is being very good to them apparently:

Hi Cy, We are ready now. Tomorrow Arne and I drive by car to Göttingen. On Friday in the morning Arne an me are then starting to the 4 stages tour through the east of Germany. The weather is perfect, it's sunny up to 24degrees here in Germany. Although it will be with 500km and many hight meters (we're crossing the Harz Mountains!) for sure very challenging for us, we're looking forward to this small but nice event. The tour is organised by a group of bike freaks and well known in Germany. For sure there will be many steel and titanium bikes on the start line together with us on our X bikes. Here is a link to their web page and a nice film they prepared last year: Critical Dirt Mit freundlichem Gruß, Carsten

Here's Carsten's rather lovely >X< all prepped for the event, and the films he mentioned. Really lovely.

Mark Cavendish and Team GB: LEGENDS

That is all. Carry on.

We like the odd bivvy ride here at Cotic, and Alpkit have been the supplier of choice for a lot of our kit. They have now put up a great resource section about getting started in The Way of The Bivvy (or bikepacking as they would have it) on their website. Read all about it and get inspired.

Seems Robbie made it into this issue of Wideopen too. Check out their Scottish World Cup Road Trip along with our BFe Long Term write up (page 98).

Darren got in touch with us last week. Not only is he one of the lucky people to have picked up a limited edition Simple (2 medium frames left if you want to pick up the last of the run), Darren's also the first person we know of to have put a sweet Alfine 11 set up on the bike. Following our experience with Factory Alfine RoadRats we added an extra cable clip run for the Alfine gear set up on the new track end equipped frames to give people this option, but doesn't it look great? Extra points to Darren though for the obligatory Middleburn UNO cranks in all black, and colour matching the chain to the Kashima coating on the Floats. The singlespeed version of the upcoming 29er will be equipped with the same Alfine compatibility.

This just in from Darren this morning:

Covered nearly 50 miles on it now and its great. Excellent climbing - I thought the fork might be too long at 140 to climb well but its great. Down at 110 its quite lively handling but I'm used to that :-) Planning on taking it from Fort William up over the Corrieyairack pass and Mount Keen to Montorse in a couple weekend time then Relentless 24 after that!

Adventure biking. Love it.

Not far mind, just down the yard to a bigger unit so we have the space to continue on our path to world domination ;-) It's got it's own loo and a sink, don't ya know? First class all the way for us.

We'll be moving things about tomorrow, with the aim of getting our orders out on Thursday as per usual. However, you all know moving is littered with the best intentions and the most broken of deadlines, so we apologise if some orders don't get done until Friday. Should be all sorted by then.

Obviously as we'll be up or our eyeballs in frame boxes and stock shelves tomorrow, so we won't be on email. We'll have the phones, but again, if ours hands are full we won't be able to pick up and I bet you all the pens will be wherever we are not. If you're looking to get your Cotic this week, get on the blower and get it all sorted today and we can look after you as soon as we're in the new place.

We've ended up a little bit over-stocked on our Alfine 8spd kit, so for the rest of September we're offering an Alfine 8spd Wheelset Kit Bundle for just £299 delivered. The kit comprises:

Alfine 8spd Hub and Cotic Components Front on Alex R450 700c rims

Alfine 8spd Shifter

Nexus 16t Sprocket

Alfine Fitting Kit

This is the exact kit we spec on our RoadRat Factory Alfine bikes, and it's great. Drop us an email at order@cotic.co.uk to order yours today. Remember, the offer only lasts until the end of September.

This week we finally signed off the Solaris 29er frame design following Cy's successful testing of the final geometry prototype last weekend. We expect frames to be delivered Feb/Mar 2012. There will be a geared option as above, available in blue or orange, or a singlespeed version with Simple style track ends with cable clips for Alfine hub gearing which will be blue only.

It's designed around being able to use 80mm sus forks/470mm long rigid forks as a minimum, but strong enough for up to 120mm sus forks. Cy did most of the testing on 100mm sus forks and loved it as an all round trail bike.

Sizing available will be Medium, Large, and Extra Large based on the current Cotic sizing bands. That puts medium frames for people around 5ft 9in - 6ft, large 6ft-6ft 3in, and the new XL size for people around 6ft 3in - 6ft 6in. So, if you're a medium Soul/RoadRat/Hemlock owner, despite the geom numbers looking a little different you'll need a medium Solaris but with a 10mm shorter stem than usual. For example, Cy uses an 80mm stem with 50mm risers on his large Soul, but used a 70mm stem and flat bars to get the same position on the Solaris.

We haven't done a small yet because during testing a key issue was getting the bars low enough to make it possible to weight the front end properly and really ride the bike, and that was for Cy who's 6ft 3in. The head tube height relative to the BB is so high compared to a 26" bike on a 29er that having looked at Paul's Soul set up (he's 5ft 8in and runs a small) we just didn't think we could get the frame packaging to a point where it would handle. However, there's clearly a demand for 29ers from people who would fit into our smallest sizing category, so we'll be prototyping a small size with the first batch and Paul and Kate will be running them. If we can make it work to our satisfaction, we'll introduce it later next year. If we can't, we won't.

As you'd expect from a Cotic it can take nice big tyres, with 2.4" Maxxis Ardents fitting with ease, and 2.2" Maxxis IKONs used for most of the testing.

After last weeks' debate on front mechs, we're sticking with clamp on conventional mechs. The clearance on production frames will be better than the photos in the story below as the seat angle on production frames is 1 deg steeper than the blue prototype in the pictures. This means unmodified mechs will fit with around 8mm clearance to big tyres, but this can be made much better by chopping off the bottom pull arm should you so wish. We'll be putting a How To video on this on the website for when the frames arrive and we'll probably keep a couple of modified XT mechs on the shelf for people who'd like to buy one.

We'll open ordering officially in the New Year when we'll have firm pricing and definite delivery dates. However, if you'd like to register your interest in getting a frame or just have a specific question to ask, drop us a line on twentynine@cotic.co.uk

We have just 4 medium sized frames left of our Limited Edition Simple production run, and here's Robbie showing just what's possible with one gear and rigid forks

Robbie also tried out a 2 speed set up on his Simple (dubbed the "Dimplespeed"), giving him a trialsy gear and a taller trail riding option. Check out his blogs on how to build a Dimplespeed for some inspiration for your build.

We've just delivered a 54cm X to Xavier in the Burgundy region of France and he's done a sweet 1 x 10 build on it. Check out all his pics on Flickr. Xavier says:

"The brakes are Avid Shorty Ultimate with Ultegra levers. I just love the bike, the rear 130mm hub is a bit too small but it fits, I'll build disc wheels later but for now it's just the perfect bike for light trails and road."

Due to Cy being on holiday and Paul not knowing where to look, we mistakenly put Sodas out of stock the other week. We're not, we have 4 mediums left in the UK. We've also had our German distributor in touch letting us know he has large and small frames, so we can get hold of the other sizes as well if you want them. No problem.

Sorry if you thought we were out. Just a bit of confusion due to stock being all over the place before our move to a bigger unit in a few weeks. If you're after some shiny goodness, get in touch.

Thanks for all your feedback about the mech thing on Friday and over the weekend. As most of your sided with us on the use of a standard clamp mech, and having thought about it some more over the weekend, that's what we're sticking with. Clearance on production frames will be better than the photos below by 3mm or so as the seat angle will be 1 deg steeper than the blue prototype. So, you can use a regular clamp mech and get OK clearance, or you can chop the bottom pull arm off and get good clearance. WINNER!

Which brings me to the second 29er development note - Paul and Cy went for a very big long ride in the Lakes this weekend, the first ride of 29er Prototype2.

We tried out a slacker seat angle than usual on prototype 1 (the blue bike), and Cy also got his sums wrong on the top tube and it ended up 5mm shorter than a Soul instead of 10mm longer, plus it was a struggle to get the bars low enough for our liking even with flat bars. It rode well, but wasn't really long enough and on steep climbs the front end popped up much too easily, plus stiffness wasn't ideal (high head tubes on 29ers seem to need more top tube stiffness compared to 26" bikes). So, prototype 2 was commissioned with fixes: Top tube sums done right so 10mm longer than equivalent Soul (so you can run a 10mm shorter stem for the same reach for quick handling and to keep the front centre nice and long), 10mm shorter head tube, 1 deg steeper seat angle than prototype 1, next size up top tube. Result? AMAZING! We were really quite surprised by how immediately right the bike felt. Sometimes it's hard to spot changes to frame layout, but the combination of the above turned the 29er into a brilliant bike. So, we've found our final frame spec, and drawings and factory orders are being placed this week. We'll confirm more details soon. We're excited.

So we're in need of some valued input again. Getting to grips with final 29er layout, basically for short back end I want, the front mech gets in the way. There are some solutions to this, and I want to know what you think:

The current solution: Nice, light, stiff seat tube welded directly the bottom bracket in the conventional way. Conventional high band front mech BUT with the redundant bottom pull lever arm cut off to give the requisite tyre clearance. Frame is light, stiff, easy to make. Requires existing front mech to be modified. Very easy to do, and we would offer to do it for people who didn't feel confident to do it themselves. A couple of photos below showing the current design.

New solution Option 1: Keep existing light, stiff, easy to make frame layout, but go to direct mount front mech with offset mounting. This gives less clearance than the hacksawed mech of the existing prototype set up as the lack of a clamp band allows the offending bottom pull arm to be moved 3mm closer to the seat tube (about half the clearance you gain from the current chopped clamp band front mech). Does however require the purchase of a new direct mount front mech as almost none of you will have one to put on, which effectively adds £30 (for an XT) onto the cost of the frame.

New solution Option 1a: Go for direct mount AND chop the bottom pull lever arm off as per the existing solution. The allows the front mech to be moved completely out of the way of the tyre. Does mean taking your brand new front mech and cutting it up.

New solution Option 2: Offset or curved seat tube. Both are heavier, less stiff, harder to make and can do odd things with the bike fit and rider position when the seatpost is pulled out a long way. Would also require another prototype delaying the project another 3-4 months. Not my preferred solution.

The basic top and bottom of it is that front mechs as currently designed to do everything for everyone are a complete packaging nightmare on 29ers (and FS frames come to that, but we'll leave that rant for another time). With the current chopped front mech, you can get 2.4” Maxxis Ardents in there with about 8mm clearance at the tightest point, which is actually pretty good as 29ers go. The problem being that you (or us as we'd offer a 'chopping' service) would have to modify a front mech to make it work. So, thoughts, ideas, votes on any of the above options? Would you rather buy a new front mech with less good clearance or at no cost chop a redundant part off your existing mech? Cy really, really, really doesn't want to do an offset seat tube.

We've posted this note over on our Facebook page where you can leave your thoughts and comments. We really would value your input on this. If you're not on Facebook, then drop Cy an email at cy@cotic.co.uk.

Today our latest shipment arrived with the Limited Edition Simple frames, along with Souls and BFes in all sizes and colours. Simples are going out this week, but there are a few mediums left unallocated if you want a sweet SS ride. Medium orange Souls and blue BFes are back too, so we'll be clearing back orders on them as well.

Anne Dickens has written about her winning ride at 24/12. Sit down with a cuppa and have a read.

The team dun good! The Cotic AQR Holidays Race Team were out in force at Bontrager TwentyFourTwelve last weekend, and on board their trusty Cotic bikes they completely demolished the competition taking 3 first places for Mixed 12hr Pair (with our illustrious leader Ian Potter, AQR main man and Katie), Womens 12hr Pair (Ruth and Kirsty), 24hr Mixed Pair (Anne and Simon in his first 24hr race!!), a 2nd place for Rachel in 12hr Womens Solo. What a result!!

Huge WELL DONE TEAM from us here at Cotic HQ. There will be stories of adventure and derring do on the Cotic AQR Race Team Blog very soon.

Robbie's posted a blog about his latest 4X adventures at the National Champs. Very, very damp, quite sandy, lots of wetness and crashing. All good fun I s'pose!

We did a photoshoot at Stannage a couple of years ago in March 2009 and although we used some of the shots, since all the frames changed design and colour in late 2009 I've not really looked at them since. Thought to look for a pic of a grey BFe today from the Cotic Facebook thread on colour suggestions for frames and I'd just forgotten what a great sets of pictures we got. Niall Flinn was the photographer, and he totally captures how great the British countryside can be, even on one our more moist days. Here's the full set of pics for you to enjoy.

We wanted to give you a delivery update now that we have a firm ship docking date, as a lot of you are waiting for the Limited Edition Simple and also quite a few on the back order list for medium orange Souls.

Unfortunately things have slipped a couple of weeks from the promised July delivery date, but we have the documentation now which confirms the ship will dock in the UK on 2nd August. Give it a week for Customs and delivery to us we'll be looking at delivering your Simples and Souls week commencing 15th August. We will be in touch with all people on the order lists individually nearer the time to confirm details with you.

We still have a small number of the Limited Edition Simple looking for a home. The small size is all gone, but as of today 5 medium and 3 large are still unallocated. Don't miss out: Order yours now.