Our new Cascade is a bike that defies classification in some ways. We have noticed this particularly at mountain bike events this year, where it has been a real hit on our stand. You can see people stop as they spot the bike: "That's cool!". Then you see the puzzlement. The drop bars. The big tyres. The dropper post. You can almost see them ask the question, "Why is that cool?!". This usually leads to a conversation with us and the dawning realisation that it's the bike they weren't looking for, but actually need. As I say to people, it's the perfect mountain bikers' Other Bike. Certainly my personal two bike garage of RocketMAX and Cascade feels very fit for purpose.

Last week, Harvey (a serial Cotic owner, for which we thank him very much), sent a lovely email expanding upon the journey he went on, from suspicious sceptic to enthusiastic owner. It really struck a chord with me, and Harvey's agreed to let me share it with you.

Harvey writes.....

A while back I received an email from Cotic advertising the Cascade. I watched the VT of bikes loaded with a surfboard, etc. and the bohemian weekend break such a bike brings to you. Got to be honest, that VT is not me. Personal opinions aside, it was a well-produced/edited advert and I know, singularly, I am most definitely not the soul target audience for all Cotic products.

I admired what Cotic achieved with the Cascade, but I could not see me using/needing it in place of my Tonic, Soul or Flare. Accordingly, I dismissed it as not relevant to my riding.

Roll forward a few weeks and Cotic open a Saturday demo day. I checked the date and realised I was child-free (as a single parent, I think we appreciate ‘downtime’ a little more than the average 2.4 family). After a quick (read long) phone call, I was booked for a test-ride on the Cascade. My logic being I would gather the evidence with which to quantifiably dismiss it.

At this point it may be worth mentioning that during said phone call with Paul, he did suggest I might be eating humble pie. His thoughts on the Cascade were possibly similar to mine, then he rode one!

The demo day arrived, I met up with the always friendly "Sam the demo man". We had a good chat about bikes, before Sam proceeded to explain one or two of the details found on the Cascade. As well as some subtle differences between the demo bike and Cascade bikes available to order.

The demo bike had an 11-46 cassette - thus a large step between 1st and 2nd on the cassette, and GRX600 shifters - needing an external thumb operated dropper-post lever. Thankfully a Gold build Cascade uses GRX800, which utilises the front mech lever (made redundant through being a 1X transmission) to actuate the dropper-post – a much more ‘integrated’ solution! The production models 11-51 uses optimised gear ratios to reduce steps between the gears.

Sam adjusted the saddle height and I looped the car park to check everything felt ok. Time to find fault; I started Strava, had a final route check, then set off.

Immediately I notice the riding position felt fantastic! The big 2.4 Rangers offering huge cushioning, to smooth out the road imperfections. Within a few hundred yards I turned off up a bridleway. At first this was tarmac smooth, but after a while turns into a compacted hardcore track with gulley’s where rainwater has scoured its way downhill and the associated loose/broken rocks to clamber over. No problem – drop a gear, remain seated and spin my way up. The large wheels and soft tyre pressure maintained good traction and the fantastic steering helped me climb like a goat!

It is the steering I notice most on the climbs, on a slack 29er MTB, I sometimes spin lazily up a hill and find the steering wanders about a bit. I need to think more and keep it pointing where I want to go, not where the bike wants to go. Not at all the case with the Cascade. Resolute and sharp. Think about your line and that is where you are going!

I did find on the climbs, especially when the going was steep, the Shimano 11-46 cassette has a large step between 1st and 2nd, I needed a gear between the two. For me I would fix it by upping the front ring form 36T to 38T.

But, as explained by Sam, the demo bike was thrown together, quickly, from spare parts, to get something rideable out there [during the parts shortege earlier this year]. The production Gold Build bikes have an 11-51 cassette with more evenly spaced ratios. I have crunched the ratios in a spreadsheet, they work better for me!

At this point I realised I was perched upon a stock Cotic saddle, something I am not ordinarily a fan of. Yet on this Cascade it felt comfy, maybe the longer top tube and drop bars helped reposition my hips.

After some more climbing and a few gates, I found myself on the faster gravelly lanes. On these surfaces the Cascade felt lovely and stable. I blasted along with the tyres gripping tightly, soaking up the imperfections and quickly my speed built up. My Tonic would not be anywhere near this smooth or comfy. As things got steeper and rougher, the Cascade kept going, calm and comfy. This is where I really sense how good the Cascade is and the ‘game-changer’ behaviour begins to really shine through!

At first, I had my hands on the usual top-of-the-hoods position, with two fingers covering the brakes. But I became concerned that should a hand slip-off, I would over the bars and face first into the gravel. I tried tucking my fingers round the hoods and grip them better, but in doing so could not cover the brakes. Then it dawned on me, the Cascade is a drop bar bike. So why don’t I just use the drops? At this point things made sense and suddenly I felt secure and planted, but not too far over the front wheel, as can sometimes feel the case (for me anyway) on a drop bar bike.

After a few more minutes of letting speed build as my confidence increased, I realised my hips were too high, so I flicked the left thumb lever and dropped the post. As the terrain got steeper and sketchier, I got into the drops, pushed my hips back and down, and moved my body to hustle the Cascade around and surf my way down. This felt fantastic. At times I felt my speed was a bit frightening and squeezing the levers shed some velocity. The bike could deal with more speed, my nerves could not!

On a hardtail, I have never found the dropper-post a game changer, not this sort of terrain anyway. In fact, unless I am riding steep rocky conditions i.e. Black Rocks, Matlock, Shining Cliffs, I do not bother with a dropper post. However, on the Cascade, the dropper becomes a necessity. Initially I thought needing a dropper for XC/gravel was a negative and highlighted the compromise of a bike bridging genres. But dropping the post and pointing the Cascade downhill soon erases those preconceptions and simply replaced them with a huge grin. Using technology to broaden the capabilities and talent of the Cascade, has made it such an incredibly fun and confidence inspiring ride. I pushed the Cascade beyond my comfort zone, hoping its abilities extended beyond the limitations I would expect for a drop bar bike. Thankfully it did not let me down.

It is hard to articulate how good the Cascade, you just need to ride it to appreciate it!

Eventually the trail ended and I was on the tarmac. Elbows and knees tucked in, crank arms level, head down and we soon hit 50km/h. Traffic and the 30mph zone came into view, so I sat up and slowed down. Swung along with the traffic and back to Cotic HQ, huge smile radiating across my face!

I took a FlareMAX out around the same loop, to give me a reference with something I am used to. I have also been back and completed the loop on my own Flare. I turned up to the demo having dismissed the Cascade in my head and simply riding one to confirm that. I left with a build in my head and ordering my own Cascade.

The Cascade is a fantastic bike, it is the first bike I have ridden that has killed-off the old analogy: you need one more bike than you currently own.

Rubbish, you need less, but better, bikes!

I do not see me riding a hardtail anymore as this replaces them. I am looking at local rides that I would not have bothered with on a Soul/Flare. I plan to explore Yorkshire routes, if something is gnarly, I will mark it up on my map and return when I have enough rough sections to justify a spin out on the Flare!

Learn more about the Cotic Cascade

I hope you enjoyed Harvey's thoughts and experiences. It certainly keys with my own use of the Cascade, where I do rides and terrain that would be incredibly dull or hard work (or both!) on my RocketMAX, but I can ride much more varied offroad terrain with confidence and fun than an Escapade would allow.

Any questions on this (or anything else), Paul and Sam are here to help. Drop us an email or give us a call.

And if Harvey has convinced you that the Cascade is your next bike too, current build times are about 2 weeks and we have most things in stock.

Order your Cotic Cascade

Cheers

Cy