The latest issue of Singletrack includes their staff pick of the best products and times of the year. One of the "Best Bikes of The Year" was the BFe, selected by Matt Letch, the advertising sales man you can't say no to (and a demon rider as it happens).

"Fast, fast, fast hardtail in the beefiest sense of the word and I was riding one that was too big for me! Currently building one up for myself." - Matt

Note the BFe is currently available in small for only £410 including uk p&p (thank the VAT man).

We've just taken delivery of some of Hope's brilliant stainless steel bearing bottom brackets for external bearing cranks. They've been running smoothly and faultlessly on our bikes for nearly a year, so we thought it was about time we started offering them with our frames so you can get the same performance and longevity.

Available now with black cups, installed by us into your new frame for £63. Just ask for one when you make your order.

New Bontrager Rhythm Pro bars have arrived as a direct replacement for the King Earls we stocked throughout 2008. They are available to buy from stock with a choice of Race X-Lite stems in 70mm or 90mm lengths. So, why do we pair up the Rhythm Pro bar with the Race X-Lite stem? For a start, it's the exact setup Cy, Ian and Kate use, and we like selling kit we believe in. We also happen to think that these components offer the best weight/strength/price/size balance from the Bontrager range and which compliment Cotic frames perfectly. The new graphics also look ace (don't pretend it doesn't matter!!).

Don't forget that this isn't just a frame kit offer; if you want some wider bars with a fantastic shape, and maybe want to adjust your cockpit setup, then drop us a line and we'll advise on stem length and get you some sent out.

Cy and others have been raving about the Thor since it was in pre-production form, and the raving hasn't stopped now that plenty of miles have been done on production units. They're a fantastic partner to our Hemlock, or how about on a BFe for some hardcore hardtail action? Maybe just buy some for your current bike!! We've just received plenty of stock of the fork to sell with or without our frames at very special prices:

"Cy Turner has managed to steer a thin line through the geometry minefield that surrounds hardtail bikes to produce what is probably the best all-round hardtail bike available. Fantastically balanced, up for attack, it is light and beautifully made out of classy Reynolds 853. Carries a 120mm fork as well as speed, it goes up, down, along and across - the Soul simply plays the right tune wherever you go. For a bike all about razzing around the woods look no further."

Note the Soul is currently £410 including uk p&p, not £420 as quoted in the mag (thank the VAT man).

As you might have noticed in the media, VAT has dropped to 15% as of today (1st December). We've updated all our prices across the site, but thought it'd be a good idea to pop them in a list all in one place as well.

One of our recent Simple customers mentioned he was fitting an Alfine hub to his bike, so we asked him if he could let us know how it went. He's done just that with a quite comprehensive write up on fitting and use, which we thought would be interesting to those of you looking to winterproof your bikes. Thanks Oliver. Aren't our customers ace!!

Our dealer down the road - 18 Bikes in Hope - asked us to get hold of the biggest tyres we could get into a ROADRAT for a custom build. Turns out the new Bontrager XDX 29 x 1.75" are a perfect fit and this is the result; a light use 29er for hacking about the lanes on.

To read more and see some tyre clearance close ups, check out the 18 Bikes website. Speaking of 18 Bikes, they've also been nominated for the Singletrack Awards, so head across and vote for them in the Best Bricks and Mortar Bike Shop category.

We now have zoomable hi-res photos of the standard builds of the (long) flat-bar and (short) drop-bar bikes on their respective product pages...

The ROADRAT is your Bike2Work solution, amoungst many other things, and is now available as a complete bike with 2009 Magura Julie brakes for £700, or with vees or drop bars for £600.

Our classic hardtail is currently in stock, but some sizes and colours are selling out fast, act quickly to secure yours now.

The beast of a frame that is the BFe is back in stock in the race ready small size only.

Hemlock 2009 frames are now in stock and ready to go. We've recently added lots of photos of the new finish options and frame details to the product page, along with a zoomable view of one of our favourite graphic options for the new white finish. Go and take a look.

New stiffer chainstays...

The new Hemlock chainstays have had a massive 40% increase in lateral stiffness over the 2008 frame, which in conjunction with the new rockers, completely locks down the rear end of the bike for total handling confidence. The big torsion box brace is a major part of this performance increase, but we made sure that UK functionality wasn't sacrificed - tyre clearance remains the same (i.e. Massive!) and the torsion box is sloped to prevent mud 'shelving' on it and clogging the frame up.

New rocker design and shock stroke...

Redesigned rockers are a direct development of the 2008 versions, upgraded with 25% more lateral stiffness and more effective bearing sealing using o-ring caps on the seat tube pivot axle. The 2009 suspension is redesigned around a longer 57mm stroke Fox RP23 High Volume shock which reduces the leverage on the 150mm travel mode to 2.7:1 and improves the mid-stroke performance. The suspension layout for the short travel remains unchanged, but the longer stroke shock now provides 120mm of travel in the short setting.

An additional colour option...

As well as the black anodized and laser etched front triangle already seen out on the trails, the next batch of Hemlocks will offer the option of a white powerdcoated front triangle with a choice of six replaceable decal sets.

The 2009 Hemlock frame is coming soon, and there are a few changes. Here's one...

The latest Hemlock frames now feature a 1.5 head tube. This not only increases frame stiffness, but also maximises the versatility and future compatibility of the frame even further. It's adaptable from super low stack internal headsets - which improve the fit on smaller frames - right through to external 1.5 and 1 1/8th headsets to give the frame slacker angles, or any combination of the above. This means you're completely covered across all fork platforms, including the latest tapered E2 steerers.

One of the great things about the ROADRAT is being able to use proper brakes on it because let's face it, a good percentage of drivers are dopey and stupid. Up until now we've only had the blingin' Hope option, but as of this week we've got the fantastic value new Magura Julie brakes available for just £100.

When we ordered our Salsa QR's the other day, ISON mentioned all the colours they came in, and when they said "Gold" we just couldn't resist.

Available now at no extra charge on Soul and Simple frames. Just ask for goooooooooolllllddddddd.......

There's a new interview with the main man at Cotic over at bikeradar.com. It offers an interesting insight into the hows and whys surrounding Cotic bikes: both the frames and the company.

Details on the ROADRAT flat bar bike page.
Details on the ROADRAT drop bar bike page.

Kate has posted her report on this years Transpyrenees race.

Paul is back from his holidays, and is now busy catching up with emails and orders.

Paul and Cy have managed to clash their holidays, so we'll be closed for the week commencing 15th September 2008. Contact us in the usual ways and Paul will get back to you when he returns on 22nd September, and normal service will resume. Cy's off for 2 weeks and will be back on Monday 29th September.

We've just heard from Kate that she and hubby Ian both won their respective categories at this years Transpyrenees race aboard their Cotic Sodas, with Kate winning the 80km Women's and Ian winning the 60km Men's. Whilst we're very pleased for Kate, she is the defending champion and we expect epic things from her these days. We are absolutely thrilled for Ian though, it being his first trip to the Top Step Of The Podium. Typically, he's not content for various reasons, but I guess that's the racer mentality kicking back in.

Anyhow, we're very pleased and it would appear that if you want to win big races across large mountain ranges you need a Cotic Soda. Because it was all down to the bikes, obviously!!

Simple shown with "Wrap" panel - photo by Niall Flinn

Black and custard Soul frames shown with "Factory" panel uncovered

Keith Bontrager used the opportunity of this year's 24/12 to catch up with his (our) sponsored rider Kate Potter. For our interest we recorded it, and in doing so learnt a lot about Kate, how she got to where she is, and where she's heading. We found it so interesting we thought that anyone interested in Kate, or racing in general, would do as well, so by the miracles of modern technology we've published it as our first podcast for you to listen to on your ipod (or in iTunes).

Keith and Kate at 2008 Bontrager 24/12 - photo by Joolze Dymond

We'd recommend getting the headphones on, as Keith is very softly spoken compared to our (not so quiet) Kate. Well worth the listen... well we think so anyway. Let us know what you think.

Robbie was racing at the last rounds of the NPS 4X Series last week. He'll have a race report up on his blog in due course, but Joolze Dymond just sent us some ace pics of Robbie racing, so here's one of Robbie Elbows Out (tm) in the Quarters.

Photo by Joolze Dymond

That's it for the NPS racing this season, but it's a great spectacle, so if you're near one of next year's rounds it's well worth checking out. Give Robbie a cheer too!

We've had a quick email from Kate reporting back on her experiences in the big multi-stage race:

If you're really interested in the race, go to her blog to read her proper full on report of a full on race.

A quick thank you to Ian for guiding Cy and Kelvin last week in Luchon, and more importantly for all the hours/days/weeks/years of riding he's put in on many Cotic prototypes in the mountains as part of our development program. Oh, and of course for his racing efforts pairing his wife (Team Cotic Bontrager rider Kate Potter) at Bontrager 24/12 this year.

Ian Potter on his Soda at 2008 Bontrager 24/12 - photo by Joolze Dymond

If you get the chance you really should get out to Luchon and have Ian show you around the trails there with AQR. If you're lucky you might even get Kate between racing commitments to help guide you as well. You can learn a lot from these two [I've found myself practising my foot positions on every corner since my trip - K] while you're on holiday with them.

....that we did have some sunshine a few weeks back, and Robbie's just posted up about a sweet summer day's riding back in June with his trusty BFe as One Bike To Ride Them All. I know it's grey outside, but the pictures really lifted our day.

It's not the Alps, that's Wales that is. In the Sunshine. No, really!

More great pics like this one on the blog, plus some inspiring words about getting out and enjoying yourself.

Cy's back from Luchon (which was lovely, thanks for asking), but plenty of Cotic riders have been Keeping It Real (tm). Here's our mate Richie rocking his Soul in the mud bath up at the Selkirk round of the Merida Marathon.

It's back to mud-plugging for us this week too, but we love it really. No, really we do. Honest.....

Cy's gone to Luchon to see Ian and Kate at AQR Holidays, and do a bit of product testing. He'll be back on 18th August. Paul's still here taking orders and answering questions on info@cotic.co.uk or the usual phone number 07970 853 531 .

Kate's now had time to recover and figure out what happened during the 24/12 weekend, and the full story from her point of view is now on her blog.

Photo by Joolze Dymond.

I know it's been very race reporty recently, so sorry about more of the same, but me (Cy) and Paul have just got back from the Bontrager 2412 race down at Newnham Park near Plymouth. What an amazing weekend! The course was so good that even the professional event grouches that Paul and myself have become gave it a second lap on Friday to 'just get that singletrack line in that bit, and the other bit there' etc. Brilliant organisation from Martyn Salt and beautiful weather combined with the ace course to provide a stonking good event. We even got to spend quite a bit of time with Mr Bontrager himself due to some press commitments with Kate, which was an absolute pleasure.

Cotic HQ for the Weekend

Photo by James Dymond.

Saturday was the main event, with Kate and Ian riding for Cotic Bontrager in the Mixed Pairs 12hr and he AQR Holidays team were there too, racing in the Open Mixed Team 12hr. Kate and Ian were up against another 5 Elite level pairs including National Champ Jenny Copnall and a strong TORQ entry. Come 12 noon, they were off with Ian doing a storming first lap to come in with the top 10 overall. I ran the race making sure the Potter's were fueled and in the right place at the right time, and Paul ran the spanners. Pretty early it became clear that it would come down to Ian and Kate or the TORQ pair. The other pairs were dropping back at over 1 min per lap, but there were just seconds in it up front. It was pretty tense, and it was brilliant to be involved with the race to the point where I felt I could make a difference; checking times here, a mug of Ribose there, minimising the handovers. Kate was as epically fast as ever, but Ian was riding out of his skin matching and on one occasion beating the lap times of TORQ rider Ryan who's a top 10 Elite racer. Unfortunately it wasn't to last, with Ryan finding some amazing form around 7pm which put them 3 mins clear. With TORQ doing two laps for Ryan to one lap for Mel against Kate and Ian's lap on, lap off we were never going to catch them as Kate was tiring too. Still, despite a slow puncture and a bent mech hanger, the Cotic Bontrager guys never missed a beat and they kept the pressure on in case something should befall the leading team.

Prepping Kate's Race Bike

Photo by James Dymond.

In the end Kate carried the team across the line at just gone midnight with an epic 20 laps completed, with over 20 mins on third and nearly a lap on the Fisher pair which included Jenny Copnall. The pace was just astonishing throughout, with the Cotic Bontrager result so fast that it would have placed 3rd in the Open Men's race! Congrats to Ryan and Mel from TORQ/Kona for playing a very fast and very canny race, but mostly to Kate and Ian for pushing it above and beyond the call of duty.

It wasn't just the Cotic Bontrager riders flying either. AQR Holidays won their Open Mixed 12hr catagory, and if that wasn't enough, the Yeti/GoldTec boys were camped with us and won the Open Mens 12hr. It seems that so long as you were camped with 20ft of the Cotic pit you were on for a good result! Cotic - bringing the magic.

There will be much more on this later in the week from Kate's blog and plenty of photos from Joolze once everyone's back in the land of the living. Great weekend, and it's back at Newnham next year so get yourself along.

As well as our directly sponsored athletes, this year AQR Holidays have a race team and most of them are aboard Cotic Sodas with Magura Durins. Warren and Tracy Miles have been ripping up the endurance racing circuit and crowned it off with a couple of great results in some recent big enduros up in Scotland. Tracy dropped us a line, writing:

"After a close second at Fort William's Ten under the Ben scoring ten laps, but coming in behind the local Nevis Cycles pair, we went one step higher at the recent Ten at Kirroughtree taking the Vet Mixed Pair category win and also second Mixed Pair overall. We racked up another fifty miles each over the technically challenging course with our trusty Sodas and Magura Durins taking the switch-back climbs, rock features, slippery roots and soft loam sections all in their stride."

The Cotics just keep on winning it seems, and we couldn't be more pleased. Read the full stories on Tracy's blog, with more photos on the Team AQR Flickr Stream.

After a couple of days to recover, Robbie's now written up his Megavalanche experiences on his blog.

He was one of 10 guys rocking the Unofficially Hard catagory and was fastest front sprung man on the mountain aboard his trusty Cotic BFe, qualifying in the top 400 for the official race and coming in 164th overall. He's got a bunch more photos up on his blog, and it looks pretty epic! Good Skills to Robbie, and of course his BFe - Unofficially the fastest DH hardtail in the world!

Keswick Mountain Bikes have sent us a photo of their new Hemlock demo bike:

We sent a drop bar ROADRAT bike down to Cycling Plus a while back, and the review has just been posted on bikeradar.com. They loved the handling and a lot of the details, so go and give it a read if you're wanting an opinion on our latest model.

The Product pages have all the information you need on the ROADRAT frame and the Drop Bar complete bike.

As well as Robbie taking on the Megavalanche in Alpe d'Huez on 13th July, Ace from Hardtail Nation has just been onto us after racing Robbie at Rheola. They're running the UK Unofficial Hardtail DH Champs at the next Dragon round at Mynydd Du on 13th July. We've sent Ace some Cotic swag to hand out, and you can enter at Dragon Downhill.

We've just received our first shipment of Chris King headsets. As with our other headsets, we'll only be offering them in black to keep things simple, and they are now available with any of our frames for £100 including fitting.

Robbie did the Dragon DH last weekend in 'interesting' conditions aboard his BFe, now sprung with Magura Wotans for extra big hit ability.

Well done to Nick Craig, Stu Bowers, Paul Oldham and our own Kate Potter for winning a hard fought race over the weekend.

Kate had a great time, and her short UK race season this year has been fantastic. We know she really appreciates the way she's made to feel at home when racing here.

Photos by Joolze Dymond.

Both the Potters got out and raced at the weekend, with our Kate taking first in the Elite Women (yey!) and team mechanic/guru/husband/joybundle Ian Potter making a return to racing in the Vets category. Kate has sent us a quick email:

There will be full report on Kate's blog when she finds the time/words to post. At Cotic we're as pleased as ever with Kate's racing, and just as importantly, her attitude. She's a riding, walking, talking ambassador for Mountain Biking, and more particularly for Cotic, Bontrager, all her sponsors and the holiday company she runs with Ian, A Quick Release.

The Hemlock is now available to order in the new black anodised finish. All three sizes of frame are in stock, as are both rockers. The Fox RP23 upgrade shocks are also in stock and can be supplied with a frame, instead of the standard Rock Shox Pearl, for a not unreasonable £40 up-charge.

If you're thinking of building up a super versatile full-sus bike, then everything you need to know about the Hemlock is on the product page. Also, ideas on some of the many, many builds possible with the Hemlock can be found on the "Your Poison" mini-site. If you still have questions, you can ask Paul using any of the usual contact methods, or start a conversation with your local Cotic dealer.

Here's a quick photo of Cy's current poison: a black Hemlock frame, Fox shock upgrade, the big fun Magura Wotan forks, Bontrager finishing kit and Hope M4 brakes.

Kate was racing for the Cotic Bontrager Race Team at the latest in the World Cup XC series at Fort William last weekend, and despite being gridded at the back again due to the arcane UCI rules, she finished a fantastic 33rd. BRAVO!

Photo by Joolze Dymond.

After the trials of the last couple of races we're really chuffed that Kate has been able to show some of her true potential. Keep up with Kate's race reports and musings on her blog. We've also recently added a listing of the build ups on Kate's bikes, so if you want to know the building blocks of a sub-20lb Soda, look no further!

We've just received our latest Hemlock frames which feature the new black anodised finish. Here's a shot of a frame straight out of the box, featuring the Fox RP23 upgrade and long travel linkage. The photo was taken in the sunshine near our Peak District workshop (it's a tough life).

These will be available from stock in all sizes from next week (16th June). Join our mailing list for more information on availability.

Check out his latest ride pics on his blog. It's good for us to see him back in action on his BFe, another positive sign that summer has well and truly hit us.

Last year we produced a little flyer to give out at the London Cycle Show, and for our dealers to use. It offers a more succinct introduction to our mountain bike range than our detailed product pages, so we're making it available in various electronic forms here for those who'd like a quick read.

It's getting to that time of year again where people are starting to worry, the lights are being charged and the sacrafices to the rain gods are being made. Yes, Mountain Mayhem 2008 is on it's way. Kate is racing again with Lumicycle providing the illumination for those all important night laps.

In a switch from her previous entries in the solo event, Kate is competing as part of the Scott team in the Elite Mixed category, with Nick Craig amongst others. They've got a strong chance of winning, and we're pretty excited about that.

As for the rest of us, we won't be at Mountain Mayhem in any official capacity this year, but we do wish all the Cotic owners out there competing the best of luck. Give Kate a cheer too, if you see her. Have fun out there; that is the point!

One of the great things about working with Magura this year is that they've actively involved us in their development programme. It's hugely flattering for us to be asked to help out, but they really want us to get the kit working exactly as we want it to on our frames.

Since Christmas, Cy's been putting some time in on a couple of products which we're very excited about. The first one is the new Thor fork. This is a 140mm trail fork with a bolt thru axle, and as a result of some clever design work it comes in at under 4lbs despite having fantastic stiffness. Our sample was run on a Hemlock which previously had a Wotan fork on it, and the amazing thing about the Thor was that despite being some 1.5lbs lighter, it performed nearly as well. So, a pocket Wotan at trail bike weight? Yes please! We had to send our sample back about a month ago, and were very, very sorry to see it go. With the great remote travel adjust feature, this could well be the fork of 2009. We'll be stocking it as an option for the Hemlock come late-summer.

The other item we've put some miles on is the MX damper. This uses airbag technology from trucks and high-end cars with no pressurised sliding parts so no stiction at all. We've tried a couple of different tunes on the damping system, and we think it has potential to turn people's perceptions around. It doesn't feel at all like an oil damped shock so you need to ride it for a while to get used to it. It's just different, so you have to adjust a little. Once you have, it has astonishing responsiveness to the tiniest imputs whilst still maintaining commendable control on the bigger, faster stuff. We still haven't got it completely dialled to our low leverage suspension, and a switch to longer stroke shocks on the Hemlock for 2009 means we still have some work to do before we introduce it as an option on our frames, but once we have the correct size and tune there's no doubt we'll be offering it because it does represent a genuine step forward in some areas of shock performance.

The new issue (42) of Singletrack magazine has a great feature on riders from around the UK, and the trails and bikes they ride. Well worth a read. Shown below, and included in the mag article, is "Northern Man" Stuart Price (photo by Ben from Singletrack) and his Soul, and "Southern Man" Andew Diprose (photo by his brother) with his rare as hen's teeth custard Simple. Big pics, and lots to read, in the mag.

Our 4X rider and general hooner Robbie Rickman has been known to dabble in DH racing, albeit fully sprung. Recently though, he's been chatting to people at 4X races and they've hit upon the idea to race the Megavalanche at Alpe d'Huez on their hardtails, and he wants you to join him! Kind of an unofficial hardtail catagory, but more just a bunch of like minded people tearing up the mountain on their unsprung back ends. As hardtail aficionados, Cotic are getting behind him on this and we are going to give T-Shirts to anyone racing hardtail at the Mega, and we'll also give the fastest hardtailer down the hill a BFe frame. Robbie's going to keep an eye on things, and emailed us this:

Singletrack magazine called the BFe 'The fastest downhill hardtail in the world.' Rob's on the right bike then! Our good friends at Magura have sorted him out a Wotan fork, Hope have supplied dinner plate sized brake rotors, and we're getting tubeless-erisation advice from justridingalong.com. As outlined above, Rob's keeping the list for the T-Shirts, and it's all a bit of silliness really (you might argue about as silly as it gets ). We love it though. Like our boy said: Man Up!

Kate's now raced at the first three World Cups and is doing really well considering her grid positions (these aren't ideal due to the system working on UCI ranking points). Here's a picture of Kate hard on the gas at the Madrid round last weekend:

It was wet, muddy and the bikes are completely ditched, but to our complete surprise LOADS of people turned out for the National Demo Tour at Dalby Forest yesterday. It was great to meet and chat to people, and lots of people where saying very nice things about our Souls and Hemlocks, particularly in their short travel guise. If you were there and rode one of our bikes and have any queries, drop us a line on info@cotic.co.uk. Also, big thanks to Richy Astridge for dragging his grilfriend up to Dalby (she wasn't that reluctant, as she rode the small Hemlock a few times!!), and staying all day to help out. It was much appreciated, and made the day very much more enjoyable.

As for demos, we're doing one more before packing up the bikes for the summer, at the Keswick Mountain Bike Festival in Keswick (oddly enough!) on 17th May. Email Keswick Mountain Bikes for more info.

With any luck you won't have noticed too much of an interuption of service over the last few weeks due to Cy's absence, as Paul did a sterling job of holding it all together. However, Cy's back at work now answering phones, emails and designing bits. One of the first jobs was to sort out the shipment of Sodas currently on order. They're leaving Taiwan this week, so should be with us at the end of May. Oh, and don't forget we're at the National Demo Tour in Dalby this Sunday. If there's spaces left, book a test ride. You can do that through the Demo Tour website.

Photo by James Dymond of Team AQR.

We've been a bit slow to tell you about a few things recently. First up, the small changes in detail on the Soda titanium hardtail: it now comes with zip-tie style hose guides under the top-tube, buy popular and incessant demand. Also new is the dark etched down-tube logo (as seen above on the race bike of Ian Potter of Team AQR), order (or pre-order if you want a medium) your Soda 'Nude' if you want to show off the etching. We did plan to announce these little tweaks when the last lot of Soda stock arrived, but as the mediums sold out before we could even announce we had them, it slipped us by. New stock was ordered straight away, to hopefully be with us late May or early June, and we also have a few large and small frames left in stock.

The second thing that's already happened, is the start of the race season, and the launch of "Team A Quick Release Holidays," or Team AQR to save on typing. They're enthused by Kate Potter (it's hard not to be) and are racing on the Soda. The team line-up and photos are over on Kate's blog. Check it out.

They had another girl on Sunday night and are currently very emotional, and a little bit tired. It's now over to Paul for business as usual at Cotic...

There's a busy week or so of 'family time' ahead for Cy.

Kate has been updating her blog recently, with a report and photos from the last round of the Australian National Cross Country Series, at which she came in 2nd. There's also her story of the AQR Easter Weekend.

"We're pretty confident in claiming that the Cotic BFe is the fastest Downhill Hardtail in the world."

"But why would you want a downhill-hardtail instead of a full susser? It's hard to explain in words. It needs to be experienced. All we know is the Cotic BFe delivered rare and unusual explosions of endorphins and adrenaline that were seriously addictive."

We've had a short run of branded pit gear made up for Kate Potter's many assistants (it helps us find each over during the dark hours of a 24 hr race). There are now a few spare shirts and beanies available for customers.

They have our photos of the new down-tube etchings on the "Nude" Soda, and also the new "Factory" Soul panels. These new etching and under the laquer options are delibrately more conservative than our replacable offerings. Don't forget that we still offer, and recommend, our replacable protective vinyl panels on all our mountain bike hardtail frames, and have added a new orange option for the Soul and Simple.

We've just got our latest shipment of Magura forks, and we've added the Menja to our range. These forks have the same super stiff chassis as the Laurin, but are fixed travel at 100mm or 130mm. Whilst they don't have the remote control adjustable travel and tuneable compression damping of the Laurin and Wotan, the DLO damping system with lockout and adjustable rebound is also found on the Durins, so has well proven performance. They work great, and the simpler internals means that the price is fantastic.

They have just come runner up in the What Mountain Bike trail fork review, picking up a Value award along the way. The RRP on these forks is £310, but we're offering them for £270 with a frame or £285 if you're buying the fork only.

Paul and Cy have been busy building flat bar and drop bar complete bikes:

Here's the new flat bar build, with disc ready hubs:

And those disc ready hubs close up (check out the nifty removable levers on the quick releases, keep one with your keys):

You'll have to go read the mag to find out exactly what a Razzer is. Boy is it a read as well, we're still working though it. We think it's great to have this kind of attention and thought applied to hardtails in the press, go read it!

Well Cy has finally got the bikes clean from the demo day at Coed-y-Brenin at the weekend. Apart from the big clean up, the rain and mud doesn't really trouble us on such occasions, all are frames are designed to be happy in the filth after all. Cy got another chance to show off his product, and he always finds it rewarding to get positive feedback from new people, especially those experiencing the action and handling of the Hemlock for the first time. Next we're looking forward to our own BIG DAY OUT this weekend, and then we have a break from working weekends until the Demo Series day in Dalby Forest at the end of April.

We did our first National Demo Tour at Glentress on Sunday, and apart from Cy nearly losing the top of his index finger in a freak SUMO seatpost incident, it went great! The weather was lovely, the organisation worked really well and plenty of people said lovely things about our bikes.

Of course, seeing as the effort had been made to go all that way, having a ride on the Monday morning was a well earned reward for the weekend's work. Here's Cy at the top of the red route, courtesy of Stu from Yeti:

If you missed out this weekend, don't worry, there are more demo days to come. We're at Coed-y-Brenin on the 24th of this month and Dalby on 27th April, register at www.bikedemodays.com for either date. We're also bringing the bikes to our own Big Day Out on 2nd March at Sherwood Pines.

Well, the medium Sodas lasted exactly one week in stock. Sorry to all those who missed the boat this time, but we had 3 times more orders for the medium size come in last week than the number that were on back-order, and so all the stock went. We're just as gob-smacked as you guys, and quite tired as well from a monster dispatch on Friday! Anyone who commited to buying a medium last week will be supplied, but we don't have any more to take new orders. There is stil some stock of the large and small sizes, and a new batch of all sizes has already been ordered. We're guessing about 3 months for that lot. If you're after a medium, join our mailing list for early warning of their arrival.

Stock update :

In order to give you an idea of what's possible with the Hemlock, here's some pictures of Cy's Hemlock from a Lakes ride last weekend:

What Mountain Bike tested four titanium frames this issue, including our very own Soda. They loved it and gave it the coveted WBM GOLD AWARD! It was built up pretty 'tough trail' with 130mm Magura Laurins and Bontrager Rhythm wheels and our favourite King Earl 700mm wide bars. It still came it as the joint lightest frame on test, and they weighed it in at 24.5lb without pedals even built up burly as it was. Here's a few of the many nice things they said about it:

"The Cotic Soda is a bike that simply refuses to sit still"

"Light, springy and very fast..."

"The fact you can effectively start the next corner before the frame has finished the last one rapidly becomes part of the Soda's undeniable charisma, too."

Our Kate has taken 2nd in the fourth round of the Australian National XC series. That's all we know for now, we'll get an update from her when she gets back.

In mid-February, the ROADRAT complete bike option will be back, and better than ever. There have been a few improvements since the previous batch, most notably the wheels, which now feature cartridge bearing disc hubs on Bontrager's top of the range road rims. Light, tough and disc ready - perfect for such a versatile frame.

To sit along our updated flat bar build, we've also added a drop bar build to the line to go with our new short length frame sizes. These will feature the same basic spec as the flat bar bikes, but with Bontrager Variable Radius drop bars and Dia Compe MiniV brakes. Take a look here for detailed frame information.

Finally, by doing some better deals with our suppliers we've managed to bring the price down to £600. What more could you want? Pre-order yours now.

We've now sold our last few pairs of Pace RC31 forks, and there are no more to be had. They are out of stock forever.

"Iconic lightweight, lively long fork-ready technical trail hardtail."

You can read the Soul section of the grouptest here, and also past WMB reviews from 2005 here, and here and from way back in 2003 here.

You'll notice that they're still loving the Soul, but for the first time have questioned the 'value' of the frame package, now that there are cheaper pretenders to the Soul's crown. Well we still include plenty in our price that others don't (mainland UK delivery, Salsa seat QR, custom machined parts, tough powder coating, frame protecting panels, chainstay protector) and a combination of weight and performance that the others still haven't come close to. Make your own mind up though, and check out a Soul at one of the National Demo Series, or at the BIG DAY OUT.

Stock update :

In addition to the National Demo Series, the Cotic Big Day Out makes it's return in 2008 after a frankly very slack 2 year absence. It will take place as usual at Sherwood Pines in Nottinghamshire, and we'll be in the main car park on Sunday 2nd March from 9am. The AQR Holidays guys will be there to guide us around and we'll have all the demo bikes mentioned in the National demo series news item below. So, if you want to come and demo a bike, or if you're an existing owner and fancy a day out riding some fine singletrack and shooting the breeze, email bigdayout@cotic.co.uk to register, or click here for a bit more information.

Back in March 2007 Singletrack mag had it's first write up on their Staff's "long term test bikes." The man tasked with making form from the words and photos that make up the mag, Sim Mainey (Design Director, or some such), choose a ROADRAT because he wanted something to get to work on, but knew that he was likely to take the occasional deviation off tarmac when spinning down the Calderdale valley to work. You can read his initial comments here, when he was riding last year's complete bike setup (this year's complete bike spec coming soon, which promises even more versatility). Now, in the latest issue of the mag (issue 39, which is a must read) he reports on how he has evolved the bike to suit the real him (mountain biker through and through, and rural commuter). You can read his latest comments here. You'll see he's got a bit carried away, in particular we only recommend upto 35c tyres on the rear, although the tyres he's using are fine on the front, which has clearance for a 46c tyre for comfort and control.

"The versatlity of this frame and fork mean that pretty much any whim or experimentation is catered for."

Stock update :

The review of the "bit less" at the rear "bit more" at the front version of the Hemlock, that appeared in Singletrack late last year, is now available to read online. If the review of that particlar set-up doesn't grab you, don't forget that there are a multitude of ways you can set the Hemlock up for YOUR riding. Check out www.yourpoison.co.uk for some other examples. Oh, and you can now get to all our on-line press cuttings from one handy page.

Cotic have just signed up to take part in three events on the National Demo Day Series.

We'll be at Glentress on 10th Feb , Coed y Brenin on 24th Feb and Dalby Forest on 27th April with Hemlocks and Souls in all sizes, plus a small BFe for a laugh and a Roadrat to look at. It should be a great way to enjoy riding our bikes in a proper offroad environment, so if you're thinking about a Hemlock or fancy a spin on a Soul, to see what all the fuss is about, check out the details here.

Our award winning ROADRAT is now back in stock.
Now available in 'long' sizes for flat bar use and 'short' sizes for drop bar use.

Hover over the frame sizes at the top of the diagram, and the frame lengths at the bottom, to check out the combinations. Click on any of the sizes to find out how to order, or click here for more information on the ROADRAT.