The Cotic CC is our way of getting Cotic owners to try aspects of this varied and amazing sport that they might not have had the opportunity or confidence to try before. Skateparks, Uplifts, Bike packing for example. It’s a growing community of like-minded riders and a space to get together for adventures far and wide.

If you own a Cotic then you’re already in the club, just sign up to the mailing list and keep an eye on our instagram (@coticbikes) to make sure you don’t miss out.

Cotic CC was a reasonably local affair, as our events were all about us all getting together to try new things on a bike, and be sociable. While the pandemic has kept us physically apart, and put a stop to in person events, we started thinking bigger... how could we offer a way for us all to get to know each other a bit better, and find out about the experiences our bikes help us to seek out, where ever we are in the world? The Cotic Global CC was born!

Last weekend Paul and Sam headed down to the Surrey Hills for a weekend of demos and a CC ride

Despite not having a huge amount of elevation (compared to our local hills at least!), it's a properly good area to ride a mountain bike. Accessible for many people, and chock full of lovely singletrack, the woods around Peaslake are one of our favourite spots to ride.

After a Sat Nav special saved us from too much M25 traffic, we arrived ready for a Cotic Owner's Ride on the Friday afternoon. A small but lovely group of keen beans joined us to share their local trail knowledge and enjoy a brilliant couple of hours of riding. All wheelsizes were represented, with a 26” Soul and a Hemlock, 27.5 Soul up to a Jeht, my SolarisMAX and Paul on a C2 FlareMAX demo bike. The grins were all the same size though; ear to ear!

Pints outside the pub to finish was a treat. Thanks everyone who came along.

Both days of demos were great, loads of happy riders testing out Cotics and answering questions such as 'am I C3 or C4'?' and 'do I need an Escapade or a Cascade'. The sun shone, and a good time was had.

We managed to sneak out for rides after packing down both days, which was a real treat. It's been a few years since I've ridden round there, and I was pleased I could remember a good number of excellent trails. Rooty woodland singletrack trails littered with kickers and berms aren't too plentiful locally, and my Wolfpack tyres were right at home in the Surrey loam. Lovely.

We'll definitely be back in Surrey next year for more demos, keep an eye on our mailing list, social media channels and the demo page

If you want to get a demo in soon, they can be arranged with us back at our base between Chesterfield and Sheffeld any Wednesday, Thursday or Friday between now and Christmas.

A couple of weeks ago we returned to our favourite event of the year, Ard Rock MTB Festival.

With the weather forecast looming large, we packed all the clothes and a whole bunch of demo bikes into the rental van and set off north to Swaledale. An annual fixture in our calendar, it's brilliant to see how the event has grown into the beast it is today, and this year was a fine vintage despite challenging conditions at times.

We set the stand up on Thursday and jumped on our bikes for a spin on the demo stages. One of which was a stage Paul and I had raced a couple of years ago, a proper top to bottom run with rocky corners, steep chutes and flat out grassy turns. This year was Cy's first Ard Rock since 2017, and even then he never got chance to ride any of stages. Something tells me after riding the demo stage this year he might be strapping a number board on his bike next year! A lovely pub tea in Reeth set us up nicely for the weekend.

Friday was a busy one. Shorts and T shirts all round, and I barely left the stand all day. Lots of demo customers and plenty of bike chat, the day flew by. It was ace to see so many wild Cotics, from pre-longshot Rockets with custom paint jobs to the latest gen 4 RocketMAXs all enjoying the Epic race and practising for Saturday and Sunday's races. Thanks to all you Cotic owners who dropped by the stand, we love seeing the bikes putting smiles on your faces.

Despite a bleak forecast, the weather held out on the Saturday, and it was another big day of demos and people checking out the Cotic range. As has become tradition, we held a Cotic CC owners ride late afternoon on the Saturday. We got rained on a little bit, but it was warm enough grinding out of the valley floor that we barely noticed. The loop on the opposite side of the valley to the race stages has become one of my favourite rides of the year, a lovely stretch of rocky singletrack down a gully which gets better every time. I heard my front wheel clang a rock not long after passing Darren's camera lens, followed by the hiss of air and the spattering of sealant. Thankfully it held til the bottom and I managed to plug the tyre. One of the riders wasn't so lucky though. It's always a hazzard of riding in the Dales.

Punctures fixed, we rolled on, scattering sheep and hopping over puddles. Riding fast open singletrack in a big train with the festival village in sight never gets old. Beers and chatter back at the stand rounded off a lovely afternoon before the rain came in.

That rain never relented, Sunday was very moist. Riders coming off the hill looked like they'd been away at war, but we still had some hardly souls braving the conditions to ride demo bikes, kudos to them!

As always, Ard Rock did not disappoint, I wish there more events like this in the UK, with world class trails and great festival atmosphere. I hope they manage to book some sunshine next year though! We'll be back regardless.

Thanks again to Vicky at The Laurels for the warm welcome and delicious breakfasts, thanks to the Ard Rock team for having us and thanks to everyone who came by the stand to chat, check out the bikes and take them for a demo ride.

Sam.

Last week saw our second Cotic CC gravel ride from HQ. Since we moved to our new place, we have tried to make a bit of habit of doing these Friday afternoon rides, and it's been lovely to have so many of you join us for the three we have done so far.

The ride from HQ takes in some lovely bridleways and lanes and quiet roads. As is often the case with riding gravel style in the north of England, a couple of bits of the ride probably flirted with being mountain biking, but everyone loved it, even the guys on their Escapades! And for a 'quick local' ride, it certainly packed the elevation in. It didn't feel super hectic on that front, so I was quite surprised when we got back to see my Garmin telling me we had done nearly 640m of climbing in the 2.5hours we were out. Everyone voted for the extra hill though, so they can't blame us!

We had such a great, eclectic mix of bikes on this one. Everything from the more usual Escapades and Cascades, but also a 2007 Soul and at the other end of the spectrum an XC/Bikepacky FlareMAX. In the middle we had one of the first flat bar Cascades we saw, and Sam on and Darren on their SolarisMAX's, albeit in very different specifications.

Back at HQ everyone got a couple of beers courtesy of Komoot, some Cotic socks and tea, coffee and cakes. Bit of chat to round our a very nice Friday afternoon. See you at the next one?

Our latest Cotic CC ride really did put the 'mountain' into mountain biking. Our owner's ride up Snowdon was a fantastic day out.

Last Tuesday we tackled the highest mountain in Wales with some eager Cotic owners. With a watchful eye on the weather forecast on the days before, it was looking like we'd somehow booked the only decent day that week! The call was made and we assembled in Llanberis around lunchtime keen to get stuck in.

With temperatures set to be below freezing at the top, we layered up and set off. Straight into a 1 in 4 tarmac climb. Layers immediately came off again! It was a punchy start, and I'll admit it took some mental fortitude to keep my toys in the pram. Thankfully the gradient soon eased once off road and there was a steady section of pedalling to loosen the legs and lungs.

We ascended up the main Llanberis path, the later start meaning the mountain should be quieter by the time we started descending. This meant passing lots of walkers on their way down, the mix of reactions was great. 90% disbelief at the idea of taking a bike where they'd just walked up. It's always to nice to see people who have no clue about mountain biking being blown away by the idea of it and what is possible, and even nicer that the vast majority of people were totally happy to share the mountain with bikes as well as boots.

The steady spinning soon turned into loose and technical climbing, Paul was in his element. After being under the weather a few weeks ago and not getting enough bike time since, I was starting to struggle already so I went with the idea of 'yes I'll get there, but slowly'. It seemed to work, everyone else was blowing too, just moving faster than me!

The views the whole way up were outstanding, which really helped keep morale up. The summit was in sight before we knew it, and what a treat. There was barely a breath of wind, and 360 degree views. We wrapped up again, the forecast was right, it was cold up top!

Our plan had paid off, looking down Ranger's Path we couldn't see a soul. What a trail. It's no joke, and gets very hectic in places. The fast scree start lulls you into a slightly false sense of security. Just as I was thinking I might pull over to give my hands a break, the trail dropped into some serious chunk. Keeping a decent turn of pace was key, too slow and you dropped into the holes, but too fast and you'd not be able to change direction when it really counted. Ace fun, but I had a word with myself more than once, lots of concentration required.

'Mechanical of the day' goes to Tiff, who's break pads decided to have an off-bike excursion part way down. Miraculously we found them both, and managed to bodge them back into the caliper using what was basically a key ring, and he rode the rest of the mountain no problem. It's not a bodge if it works.

Serious kudos to all riders, the descent was double black diamond and everyone did really well. Self preservation kicked in a couple of times for me and I walked a couple of sections, live to fight another day and all that! I really enjoyed it though, riding in a proper big mountain environment is always great, and the sense of achievement cleaning some of the stuff I did unsighted was brilliant.

Looking back up at the mountain before the last razz down was a pretty special sight. Special mention to Liam, who piloted his BfeMAX down the mountain with aplomb. Chapeau sir.

We bombed down the bridleway back to the vans, some a little battered and bruised (Paul's ankle is pretty swollen now, but still works!) but all alive and smiling.

This was a proper adventure, it's great to be able to do stuff like this with the Cotic CC and we genuinely love seeing Cotic owners having such a great time on their bikes. We're open to suggestions for other days out on both gravel and mountain bikes, let us know if you have any ideas for rides you'd like to do. It could be something you've wanted to try but haven't had the chance yet, or a great loop close to you that you'd like to share. Give us a shout.

Like the sound of joining us for a ride on your Cotic? Our next CC ride is Friday 12th May in Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders, on the legendary Golfie trails. It's our favourite place to ride. Get in touch if you'd like to join Darren and I for an afternoon on steep and flowy trails, all welcome whether you're a seasoned Tweed Valley regular or want to check out the Golfie for the first time. The vibes will be chilled.

Hopefully see you there.

Sam.

Calling #CoticCC riders... Friday afternoon ride planned...

Today Cy, Paul, Rich and Sam are with a few cotic.cc ⁠riders up Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon)... sorry about the FOMO. What a day to be out!

But fear not... we have another ride for Cotic owners this Friday... get the afternoon off, and book a place to join us!

On 28th April - ahead of Cotic being at the Ride Free Collective festival weekend - we will be running a Cotic CC ride on a chilled lap or two around the Verderer's at Forest Of Dean.

We will meet at 1pm in the Cannop car park outside Pedal Bike Away.

Kit Notes:

The Verderer's is a blue graded trail centre trail about 11km per lap. It's got a steady climb all the way to the top of the hill, and a lovely, swoopy descent all the way back to the car park. Smiles for miles. Any Cotic mountain bike will be perfectly fine for a ride around this one. I (Cy) will be on a Jeht in all likelihood. Kelvin will be on his SolarisMAX or SodaMAX.

Remember, we're not guides, and this is not a supported ride. Even though it's 'only a trail centre', punctures and making everyone wait are just as boring on a groomed blue trail as the top of a mountain. Bring tubes, pumps, tools, plenty of water and a snack. Check the weather and wear appropriate riding gear.

Important bit:

The ride is ticketed. We are keeping numbers limited as it's only the two of us. No turn up on the day places will be available.

Calling #CoticCC riders... we're off up a mountain.⁠

On Tuesday 25th April we're heading up Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) and would love it if you joined us. If you haven't received our newsletter yet then simply email demo@cotic.co.uk with your name, address and phone and we'll put you on the list. Spaces are very limited as it's a big day out and we want it to be chill. It'll probably be chilly, but that's different. ⁠

Let's hope for weather like the last time we went up there. Watch the video below....

#WalesNeverFails 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Haw dywedyd “mynydd” na myned drosto.

We are really excited for this announcement, this Spring and Summer we'll be out on the road for a handful of demo weekends across the UK.

Cotic Demo Tour 2023:

This year we're doing our 'on the road' demos a little more focussed than we used to, these will be the only dates in 2023. We'll be bringing more staff and in most cases doing two full days of demos in the same place.

All demos are free, but must be pre-booked. Please get in touch to book on either by emailing demo@cotic.co.uk or call us on 07398 189114.

You can demo multiple models and sizes, to make sure you find the perfect Cotic for you.

The Forest of Dean weekend is still waiting for the official nod from Forestry England, so if you're interested in this one please get in touch, but all bookings for that one are provisional for now.

Fort William will be expo only, no demos, drop by our stand for a chat and browse the bikes.

For the Ride Free Women's Cycling Festival you'll need a ticket to the event, click here for all the info on the festival.

Long time fans of Cotic will notice it's not quite the extensive Demo Tour like it was pre-pandemic. With this new and more focused approach we'll have more time, more staff and more bikes at each demo; giving you a better and more personal demo experience.

Also as we are now settled into our new premises you are more than welcome to come and demo a Cotic from our HQ. We have short and long demo routes right out the front door, and a more technical route just a short drive away.

We have maps and GPX files for these routes, if you'd like to come and demo a bike any weekday, please get in touch.

Our 'Pop-Up' Showroom is now open for visits Wednesday - Friday, 10am - 4pm. Please drop by to check out the bikes and have a chat. For demo rides please contact us in advance to check availability.

It's also worth mentioning, we'll be running Cotic CC Owner's Rides at all of the demo locations we're hitting up this year, so if you're nearby any of those places and want to join us for a ride, keep those Friday's free. More details will follow.

We're looking forward to seeing you at a demo this year.

Cheers,

Sam.

Friday HQ ride number 2 is one for the mountain bikers. Join us on Friday 24th March for a ride around our new local.

We're riding from the new Cotic HQ in North Chesterfield, located here.

Please arrive around 1.30pm and we will be riding by 2pm sharp. The ride will be around 30km, or a couple of hours. Steady pace, nothing hectic. It's a combination of quiet roads and ancient bridleways.

The ride itself will be fairly similar to our gravel ride a couple of weeks ago, but with some extra offroad in there.

Important bit:

The ride is ticketed. We are keeping numbers limited to 16 riders so we can keep it manageable.

Tickets are £5 which covers your place on the ride and a few goodies, and we'll be having a cup of coffee/tea back at HQ afterwards. Any money left in the pot afterwards will go to Edale Mountain Rescue.

If you'd like to come along simply email demo@cotic.co.uk with your full name, billing address and phone number and we'll sort your ticket order and send a payment link.

You'll need to show us your email receipt on the day, printed or on your phone.

Kit Notes:

It's March, and this is not a supported ride and we are not guides. You need to bring spares for your bike (inner tubes, tyre levers and pump as a very minimum), water and food, and spare layers in case of bad weather coming in.

Because it's an afternoon ride at this time of year, please also bring some lights. We will aim to be back between 4 and 5pm, which is still plenty of daylight, but if we get delayed by punctures or mechanicals we could easily end up benighted. If that happens we want to be able to stay safe, but also still have fun on the offroad sections in the dark.

Whilst any Cotic owner is more than welcome, this is much more XC than enduro, so be ready for some reasonably long road climbs to get to the descents. All the descents are steady gradient, swoopy with some singletrack. Nothing gnarly. Focus is on having a fun afternoon out playing hooky from work, not progressing the sport with our hair on fire!

We will have demo bikes available. So, if you're interested in a new or different Cotic to the one you already have and would like to try it out, add in which bike you are keen to have a go on when you email for a ticket.

Last week saw our first ever Cotic CC ride from our shiny new HQ, and our first ever CC gravel ride.

Something we knew as soon as we first laid eyes on our new place was that it'd be perfect for hosting rides and events. It didn't take long for us to figure out several route options out the door for rides, after all, some of these are the very trails we used to develop the Cascade!

Last Friday afternoon was the first one, the first 'drop bars only' Cotic CC ride. 13 of us including staff gathered in our pop-up showroom eagerly awaiting the gravelly goodness, and with the sun poking it's unexpected head out from behind the clouds, we set off. Almost immediately it became obvious I hadn't tightened the valve up enough on one of the demo bike tyres, oops! Just a quick fix, but it put the demo rider and I on the back foot, no steady warm up for us, time to play catch up!

We caught the group most of the way up the first climb, and thankfully they'd stopped for a gate and a chat which gave me chance to get my lungs back inside my body. I'd borrowed the Cascade demo bike for this ride, not being a gravel bike owner myself, and as we set off again past Darren's camera lens, I wondered if it would wheelie. Turns out with some effort, it does! My concentration face in full effect, but Chris's Escapade clearly loves back wheel:

Over the curly bridge crossing the bypass and a short double track descent soon fed into a short and spicy sprinkle of singletrack, bit of a wake up call to those on Escapades, but everyone soaked it up no bother. We then span up the road to do a short and sharp descent which features on one of our new demo loops. It's hilarious how much fun hooning down bridleways is on a bike which feels just about capable enough. You soon realise it's actually the rider holding the bike back! Once the eyeballs had stopped rattling, it was a steady road climb up to Holmesfield.

Time for one of the main events of the ride, Cartledge Lane. Paul was tweaking the Escapade demo bike he'd borrowed; brake lever reach in, saddle down, he meant business! This is a great descent, fun on a mountain bike, very exciting on a gravel bike. Nothing the bikes or riders couldn't handle though. It's a long one, over 1.5km of fast and loose descending with a bit of mud, rocks and roots. Everyone loved it.

Rested and a few energy bars scoffed at the bottom, we set off up the next road spin. Whippets at the front shot off and left Chris, Darren and I behind. We had a 50/50 choice at a road junction we hadn't seen which way the group went. We chose wrong. A bit of extra climbing never hurt anyone right? Regrouped again, we chugged up towards Jonnygate Lane. Climbs always feel better when you've got people to chat to, distracting you from the sore legs and keeping your mind from wondering how much longer it can go uphill for. Eventually we topped out, and dropped into another long and fun off-road descent.

Although not that far from home for me, this was one I'd not done before, and is at the 'spicy' end of gravel biking. Safely down and more grins all round, we cruised up the last road climb. I love how the stoke from a fun descent can carry you a good way up a climb before your legs start to complain again. It's also great how the mixture of Escapades and Cascades munched up these long, rough off-road descents and still span up the country lane tarmac climbs with ease. You really should give them a try.

More lovely singletrack followed, one highlight of the ride for me was watching Dan Trent desperately try to bring his under-tyred Escapade to a stop as the group in front of him anchored on to pass some walkers. Slick tyres probably weren't the ideal setup, but run what you brung eh!? Fair play to you Dan.

The slalom challenge of the appropriately named 'dog shit alley' successfully navigated (gross, please pick up after your dog people!) we razzed through the last lovely section of woodland singletrack past snow drops and bunny hopping off tree-stumps. That Cascade really does encourage hooligan like behaviour, I strongly advise following Tom Hill when he's riding his, scandi-flicks on drop bars are exciting to watch!

Riding straight up to our newly branded up front door at the end of a fun ride with everyone nicely tired and happy was a great feeling. Tea, donuts and chatter ensued with bikes to browse and lots of 'when is the next one' talk. I think we're on to something here.

We are aiming to do lots more Friday afternoon rides like this, both for gravel and mountain bikes. Keep an eye on the mailing list and social media channels for news of the next Cotic CC ride. Remember, if you own a Cotic, you're in the Cotic CC. Doesn't matter if you bought it second hand, or from us; last week or 20 years ago. You're in the club and we can't wait to ride with you.

Thanks to everyone who came, we really enjoyed it.

Cheers,

Sam.

Although we have been doing gravel bikes for a good while (and doing very well at them too) we realised we had a bit of a blind spot on organising owners rides for them. So, without further ado, I would like to cordially invite you on our first Cotic HQ Ride Out to get your gravel on with us.

Join us on Friday 24th February for a sociable afternoon of lanes and bridleways out into North East Derbyshire.

We'll be riding from the new Cotic HQ in North Chesterfield, located here

Please arrive around 1.30pm and we will be riding by 2pm sharp. The ride will be around 30km, or a couple of hours. Steady pace, nothing hectic. It's a combination of quiet roads and ancient bridleways.

This area is my favourite place to ride my Cascade locally, and I have criss-crossed it many times on my drop bars. If you own an Escapade or a Cascade, it would be great to see you and show you where the bikes were developed.

Important bit:

The ride is ticketed. Because this is our first gravel ride and our first Friday afternoon get together, we are keeping numbers limited to 16 riders so we can keep it manageable and get a feel for gravel ride groups.

For those of you with Cotic hardtails and of a more XC leaning that think this sounds great, I appreciate that, but for this one we want to keep it Cascade and Escapade and see how it goes. This isn't the last HQ Ride Out we will be doing, so aim to keep some flexi hours or leave saved up to join us one Friday soon.

Tickets are £10 which covers your place on the ride, plus a Cotic water bottle and a few other goodies. Any money left in the pot afterwards will go to Edale Mountain Rescue.

If you'd like to come along simply contact us with your full name, billing address and phone number and we'll sort your ticket order and organise payment.

You'll need to show us your email receipt on the day, printed or on your phone.

Kit Notes:

It's February, and this is not a supported ride and we are not guides. You need to bring spares for your bike (inner tubes, tyre levers and pump as a very minimum), water and food, and spare layers in case of bad weather coming in.

Because it's an afternoon ride in winter, please also bring some lights. We will aim to be back around 4pm, which is still plenty of daylight, but if we get delayed by punctures or mechanicals we could easily end up benighted. If that happens we want to be able to stay safe, but also still have fun on the offroad sections in the dark.

Word to the wise for Escapade owners: Whilst this ride is all very much in the gravel realm, and totally doable on an Escapade, it needs to be an Escapade with reasonably offroad capable tyres. It's the UK in February, so mud will feature, along with extended sections of singletrack. In reference to the tyres we sell on the bikes, on 650b something like a WTB Byway or Panaracer Gravel King would be great, but the Horizon won't. On 700c, the Continental SC2 or GP4 Season tyres won't cut it, but WTB Resolute's or Raddler's would be great. If you're unsure, let us know what you're running when you email for your ticket.

I will be riding, and Sam and a couple of the other staff will be joining us. We will have the medium and large Cascade and medium and large Escapade demo bikes available too, so if you are drop bar curious and would like to join then add in which bike you are keen to have a go on when you email for a ticket.

This will be the first of many HQ Friday Ride Outs. We're not sure if we will manage monthly yet, but we will certainly be doing more. Our newsletter email subscribers heard about this a couple of weeks ago, so you'll need to sign up to hear about the rides first.

Cotic Email List - Sign Up Here

Remember, it doesn't matter if you bought your Cotic brand new from us or second hand; if you own a Cotic, you are in the Cotic CC. We're looking forward to seeing you gravel guys and gals for a spin.

Hopefully we'll see you on the 24th.

Cheers,

Cy