That's it, we're done! We're now closed until 2nd January. Once we're back on the 2nd we will sort out all the orders received over the break and get a dispatch done on Friday 3rd January for delivery to UK customers on Monday 6th January.

Get your orders in over the Christmas break and we'll get them out to you then. Luckily computers don't eat Turkey or Christmas cake and don't drink port (unlike us) so you'll still be able to place and pay for stuff whilst we're away. Get over to the order pages to get yourself something nice for 2014.

Thanks for being part of our adventure this year, and have fun over the next couple of weeks. See you in 2014.

HO HO HO ;-)

We were very lucky recently to be offered the chance of a month on some ENVE/Chris King wheels on loan from UK importers Saddleback (thanks lads!). They sent them over to see if we were interested in signing up to offer the wheels with our bikes next year so I (Cy) put some miles on the 26" and 29" AM rimmed options.

First thing everyone goes on about with ENVE wheels is stiffness. Well, they certainly are impressively stiff - especially in the 29" format - but it wasn't the massive step a lot of people say. However this should be put into context. I'm a bit of a princess when it comes to wheel stiffness and I hate wheels which aren't stiff enough. So, all my conventional wheels are built tight on 32 spokes and I don't use anything silly light like Crests for the sake of a few grams. I ended up with some posh Mavic Crossmax ST's on my 29er which are very stiff and very light. So, the ENVE's are stiff, and if you're coming off something like a Crest or Pacenti 29er wheel they'll feel incredible, but if you have something solid like Arch or Flow EX's or other posh wheels like Eastons it's not that noticeable.

Second thing you notice is HOLY COW THESE THINGS ROLL FAST!! I know Hope hubs are a little slow due to the sealing, but these Kings are a revelation in terms of how fast they roll. I had to adjust my riding style and braking points to accomodate them. Free speed!

They tubeless easily enough with the supplied tape and valves on Maxxis but needed a compressor for my Conti Barons.

In use they felt great, and the rim width gave the tyres a great profile especially compared to the overly narrow CrossMax. As with a King hub I had a few years ago, I had to adjust the bearing preload a couple of times even within a month. That eventually drove me nuts on the hub I owned and I sold it, but you may feel differently, and obviously we can source other hubs if we go this route on upgrade option.

Weight is good, but not incredible. The 29" wheels weighed in 20grams heavier than my CrossMax at 1800grms on the button, and the 26" wheels weighed in about 100 grams lighter than my Hope/Arch EX wheels at 1680gms.

What they do have is a feeling of amazing solidity and a reputation for exceptional durability. This is the big thing they offer over the CrossMax which despite it's weight and stiffness have pretty much dropped to bits in about 18 months of riding and the rim on those really is too narrow. You'd need a Flow EX rim to give similar stiffness and strength on a conventional wheelset which would incur about a 250 gram weight penalty so comparing like with like they are pretty light for their strength.

If I seem to damning them with faint praise it's possibly because despite them being easily the nicest wheels I've ever used they're £2,300 retail, and would be a circa £2k upgrade on the bikes with the King hubs/Sapim X-ray build I had here. They're 6x the price of the Hope/Stans 26" wheels I have and for me they aren't 6x better. That said, they're circa 2.5x the price of the Crossmax ST's and are everything I would like the Crossmax's to be - they're as stiff if not stiffer, pretty much as light, but they have a lovely wide rims and a feeling of solidity and durability the somewhat brittle Mavic's simply can't match.

My conclusion as a stand alone product is that if you're in the market for something like Hope Hoops then I would find it hard to justify stretching to these wheels. However, if you're looking at posh wheels and are already in the £700+ region then melt the credit card and get these. As I said, they are the nicest wheels I've ever used.

For the moment we'll play a bit of wait-and-see on the upgrade program for the bikes, but we'd love to hear what you guys think. Drop us an email to cy@cotic.co.uk to let me know.

Well that was a fairly mad few days! We've now got 200 26 Ain't Dead T Shirts on order for delivery in Mid-January. There are still a handful left unallocated so order yours here if you haven't already.

You guys REALLY still love your 26" wheels don't you?

We've just got our first limited run of medium and large "26 ain't dead" t-shirts in stock. 20 Medium, 10 large. Order yours for dispatch next week and delivery before Christmas by heading over to our order page.

UPDATED - They sold out in 15 minutes! We've ordered 50 more with small and XL sizes included this time. They'll be here in January. You can still pre-order yours following the link above.

If you have no idea what we're talking about, it's from our latest video.

This year we're doing our final dispatch before Christmas next Thursday (19th Dec) as usual. We looked at squeezing another one in before the big day, but this way we can pretty much guarantee anything ordered this week will arrive before Christmas and not be hanging around in a depot for days over the festive period. So, if you want something from us before Christmas you need to get your order in by the end of the day on Wednesday 18th December.

We'll be open until 23rd December, then closed Christmas Eve until 2nd January. Once we're back on the 2nd we will sort out all the orders received over the break and get a dispatch done on Friday 3rd January for delivery to UK customers on Monday 6th January.

HO HO HO ;-)

Our offer on Bright Gloss Green and Bright Gloss Orange Soul frames, to make room for the new Duckegg and Gritstone frames, is still on, but we've run out of a few options now. Small and XS are now gone in both colours. Medium available in both Orange and Green. Large available in Orange and Green, but they're going fast, with only one Large Green left. Just £375 for these great frames.

Time to show you what our new Soul option looks like. Gritstone with orange decals. We had this bike ordered up with the Revelation upgrade and we had to take some pictures of it. It looked sooooooooooooo good with the all black forks.

Cy's got his hands on a Black Grape BFe … so can you … in stock now …

To celebrate the arrival of our new 2014 colour 26" hardtails, check out the latest Cotic video from Steel City Media showing why 26" wheels are ace.

The BFe is the first frame to get our new Black Grape colour, which is a fantastic deep purple gloss. It is now available alongside the Gloss Bright Green (as shown in the film) and Matte Gritstone.

Our legendary Soul frame is now also available in subtle Gritstone, as well as Duckegg.

Order yours for delivery on Friday

Because our new colours are coming in this week, we've got Gloss Bright Orange and Gloss Bright Green Soul frames on sale for just £375 whilst stocks last. Catch 'em while you can. Deals also available on complete bikes, forks and rolling chassis.

Our limited edition run of 10 blue and 10 black 10th Anniversary down tube decals has just arrived. Available to spruce up your existing frame, or as a £15 option on your new frame, help us celebrate 10 years of Cotic. We couldn't have done it without you.

Pike RCT3 150mm Solo Air 26" - £550

Pike RCT3 140mm Solo Air 29" - £550

These are proper aftermarket spec forks - boxed, spares, shock pump, the lot. Grab a bargain today!

Cy got out with Richard (our new guy) this morning in the Peak above Hope to give these ENVE wheels a spin. They're on loan from Saddlebacks (thanks to Ross for the lend!) with a view to offering them as an option on the complete bikes. They're lovely things on their Chris King hubs and a stiff and light as you'd expect. Noticeably stiffer than a Hope/Arch or Flow combo, and nice tyre profile. They'd be a £2k upgrade on the bikes. What do you think? Drop us an email or get involved on Facebook.

Bit different to the usual here, but we're a bit overstocked on the forks and groupsets for the complete bikes so we thought we'd do some special prices for you good people.

We have Rock Shox forks in the form of Pike 150mm travel 26" wheel RCT3, and due to a logistical error we also have a couple of Pike 140mm 29" RCT3 too. We also have 2014 Revelation RCT3 as well. All are the new all black finished (crowns, stanchions and sliders) and all are taper steerer and 15mm Maxle. Prices are as follows:

Pike RCT3 150mm 26" - £600 £550

Pike RCT3 140mm 29" - £620 £550

Rev RCT3 140mm 26" - £450

As always prices include UK shipping via TNT.

With the Deore XT, it's the same 780 series 3x10 groupsets we spec on our complete bikes. It's full XT including the cassette, and it has a clutched Shadow Plus rear mech. Prices are:

Full groupset including M785 brakes, 180/160 6-bolt rotors - £550

Full 3x10 Drivetrain (no brakes) - £350

M785 brakes, 180/160 6-bolt rotors - £200

Orders yours now at https://www.cotic.co.uk/order/framebuilder/components/

Remember, we aren't CRC so it's not like we have a warehouse full of this stuff so when they're gone they're gone. We'll dispatch all orders received this week on Thursday for delivery Friday.

What a year it's been for our intrepid little team of Sheffield pinners?! We've had a lot of fun and ridden those Rockets pretty damn fast. Here, in their own words, is what Loosedog and Chaymoose thought of their seasons....."

Josh "Loosedog" Lewis - Elite

So coming into Afan round 1, i had no idea what to expect: Cross Country? Downhill? i had watched videos of enduro's before the season but no one had documented the sport very well prior to this so i was excited to see how the race format panned out. i remember that friday before i left Afan at work i lifted this big stupid piece of metal because i was all giddy which surprisingly threw my back out. so saturday practice was such a struggle, i couldn't even hold a manual which sucked. Race day came and i dropped some of these pain killers Chay had smuggled from somewhere, they were legal though so don't chase me for doping, so they helped alot. The trails were so deep in mud and a massive effort, but i remember riding really well and loving my rocket although i had a small technical issue which meant i kept dropping my chain and having to jump off to throw it back on. This meant my contention for a good position was over but i learnt a lot from that race.

Innerleithen was another grim muddy weekend, we did (or tried) to do a full lap on the friday but we unfortunatley ended up getting caught in the apocolypse which left us frozen, burnt and in a bad way huddled behind trees with sam flanagan trying to invade all our personal space, the rascal. There was so much potential for some amazing stages there but i felt they just didn't utilise the full range of amazing tracks which make their way down that scottish hill.

Nontheless we had fun riding round in the LAD train, that's the fun thing about enduro. Your just cruising round with your good pals, stage by stage riding bikes and having a good laugh about completely irrelevant shit, then you get a result at the end of it. Of which mine wasn't so good at Innerleithen (this is one of my most funny stories about the few enduros i have embarked on)

So i remember riding well down stage 2, really starting to feel my flow. the track was just one deep rut the whole way and i love railing ruts its my favourite thing, so as i cross the line and i bounce my bike to drop the extra 100kg of mud it had gained from riding that stage to which revealed the issue of my derailleur falling off...wank. I spent as much time as i dared trying to fix it by all sorts of methods : zip ties, tape, cable, wood, spit, you name it. it was apparent there was only one path to take.... the single speed super tight chain path. we've all done it.

So i had a single speed full suspension bike, and we all know when suspension compresses, a chain grows, but because you could play a tune on my chain it was that tight, my suspension obviously wouldn't work. So i now had a hardtail which was stuck in 8th gear... ideal for the long stages of climbing which was coming up. Needless to say I didn't get the result I was hoping for at Innerleithen, but I really enjoyed the bike time and almost catching pneumonia.

Hamsterley: Now we're talking!!! This was like the first signs of summer so everyone was grinning. the trails were amazing fun. Honestly, if you get the chance for a day out on the bike head up there. The stages were definitely not as lengthy as Innerleithen, but still pretty physical. I had great fun practicing with all the lads and we were hurting dirt left right and centre.

Race was going really well, "at last!" i thought, "a clean race!!!" I was riding clean and well within myself until last stage... when i rode the wrong track due to someone before going through the tape leaving a fork in the track, i took the wrong route. So again that was my chances over for a result I felt I deserved and needed at the enduros, I had some promising stage times though, top 5 most of the day.

Dyfi was missed by me due to downhill commitments at Mont Saint Anne World Cup in Canada, which was amazing. However, genuinely I really didn't want to miss a round as I felt a good result was coming. Learning more and more the way of the enduro each round I was hungry for a result.

So I'm writing this now on a train in Norway heading to Hafjell round 5 of the World Cup, with a HUGE grin on my face from having amazing fun at the final round at Eastridge last weekend. Sometimes we ask ourselves why we bother, when a race weekend doesn't go our way or whatever. But its races like last weekend that keep the passion alive for me, and I can't ever see me wanting something different, sort of like how i imagine wifing penelope cruz to feel.

So yeah, anyway... Eastridge was unreal, the woods are pretty similar to the beautiful Wharncliffe woods in Sheffield and the trails follow suite. Tight and nibbly in places with narrow single track traverses across the span of the hill. I seeded 6th there with an average run and I was feeling super fit after training and detoxing for a couple of weeks following whistler (well needed believe me). So that night after seeding all the lads headed to the pub and we had such a laugh, i skulled a few guiness' and forgot about all my worries and we had a great time causing mischief in some local pub for local people. Joe Flanagan was presented with his newly found polish alter ego "djebrovnik" so he had us in tears rolling with that one, if you haven't watched the Wideopen Mag coverage yet, do it RIGHT NOW.

My race went well, I was riding stages and impressing myself. I guess I had no worries about an overall position like the rest of the guys so i was just out riding my bike for the day. All was going swimmingly until stage 5 where i hit a knuckle on a rock pretty hard and got a flat, so i rode for 2 minutes with a flat tire which wasn't ideal. But to be honest the puncture didn't slow me down to much on the downhills, it was sort of cool getting wicked round all the corners. It was on the 20 second climb where I was punished, losing heaps of valuable time. Sam Shucksmith the guy who seeded in 5th and was chasing me, just caught me up on the finish line so i had lost roughly the 20seconds gap that we set off at due to that puncture. Another pretty funny thing about that day was, i had well overloaded my saddle bag, resulting in it bursting mid stage 4 which caused me to lose all my tools and spares. So i was stranded after stage 5 with a puncture, Luckily the Shucksmith bro's hooked me up so thanks for that boys, I wont forget it.

I ended up 7th at Eastridge with not much time separating me from 5th, so that puncture caused me a couple of places but honestly i could'nt be happier with the weekend and am already looking forward to next year so big yourself up Steve Parr you put on a great show!!

Finally i just want to say thanks to everyone that's followed me this year and helped me out its been so appreciated and i cant wait to give this thing another crack next year.

All the best people take care!!!

@loosedoglewis

Chay "Moose" Granby - Masters

What a Year!!

I would start the season review with the very cold weekend at Afan back in March but for me it started so much earlier; approximately 12 months earlier when starting the 2012 series. The infamous face plant crash that everyone knows about, closely followed 4 weeks later by a dislocated femur and bust hip!! They made me one determined pig headed bloke that was sick of comments about crashing a lot, what about your health, what about work, and as for all those comments on the face plant vid criticising my ability? Well balls to ya! One way or another was going to prove some folk wrong!!

So I pedaled, a lot , from 6 weeks after the hip was bust (In April) most days all the way to 2013, including the rather cold winter where if I couldn’t pedal I did bouldering. Mix in with that the This Is Sheffield mates races and I was all ready to enter 2013. It was at the TIS races that I met Cy and he came up with a enduro race team! Only issue being its a few weeks till round one and I’m gonna race a bike I’ve not been on yet! I’m totally blown away I’m on a team though. He must be mad letting me loose on HIS bike, but hey, surely he knows I’m an idiot that crashes, apparently? Now we arrive at Afan, albeit on a bike I only built 4 days earlier. It’s the weekend of the very heavy snow and I only just scratched out of Buxton before the roads are shut, thinking “I must be mad”. I’m there with all these feelings of excitement, a little overshadowed by the fact its -14 and my gears freeze up on the first climb! But you know what? The Rocket just felt ace, first lap of practice and it rides brilliant, can’t feel my finger or toes and I’ve got a snot moustache but who cares about that?!!

Cracking weekend in the ice and mud and come away with 5th. I’ll take that for a starter and that was my target I wanted during the season. Reeeesult!

So then we're heading to Inners! A man’s track and fitness is key. Yep they are right about that. I go Friday morning to races so I can do a full lap Friday as well as sat morn before quali, I bust out 16 runs of that hill in the 3 days I’m there! You need fitness, the stages are mint with a mix of lunatic DH and stage 3 which was a stupidly long peddle in hail and snow. My only mistake is a full on headbutt of a tree on stage 1. I’ll confess to being rather angry and thinking this had blown the results as it cost me about 15 seconds. That there was a stage win missed. So roll onto the result are posted on the board: It’s another 5th. Blimey, Mr consistent or what?

After Inners came the the biggest mates race of them all – Steel City Downhill. The weekend was mint, conditions amazing. Rode the Rocket to the win in Masters! Proppa chuffed. Top step of the podium, bubbly to spray and everything. Ace!

Hamsterley is next and I’ve got the bike little different, wider rims as I had lots of tyre roll on the Mavics. It pees it down Friday and the roots are like glass. However, Saturday morning the sun is out and I’m thinking this is a bit of me!! Qualified well, the tracks drying and I now love the bike! Race day went real good with only one little mistake. I thought it was a good 'un . Turns out 2nd on the day - BOOOOM! I’m chuffed.

Bit of a gap between Rounds 3 and 4 of the UK series, so I went off to the Dales to do the Ardrock Enduro. What an ace event! Got second in that bad boy as well. Won't bore you with the details, but that Rocket shifts on its home ground in Yorkshire.

Now enduro is a balance between fitness and bike skill we all know that, but when you go to Dyfi you also need a massive pair of balls!!! Oh sweet baby jesus it's fast. Yeah, there’s tech bits and yeah, there’s pedally bits, but there's also some stupidly good fun straight chutes that are proppa fast!! I loved them. So that’s Dyfi covered. Got 2nd and was only 1.2 seconds off fastest time of the day at quali. Drove home grinning.

So we enter the last round at Eastridge. I like that place and just need a top 6-ish finish to hold 2nd in the series. Bikes mint I’m fit (ish) what can go wrong?? I’ll tell you what, on the Wednesday beforehand some dick steals my van with the dog sat in it, my tools, wallet and phone. Oh brilliant. So I get the van and the dog later that day and the rest has vanished. Skip to Friday practice and after a full lap of the course my head is in the clouds and I don’t remember anything. Time to slap myself and have a rethink. A quick cup o tea and a change into dry stuff and I go and blast another lap out!! That’s where the fitness comes in handy!! Roll on Saturday and another practice lap - I will learn this place! Then quali is tight and my heads still fuzzy but 4th will do. Sunday, and I will get this bloody right!!! Not sure how but didn’t put a pedal wrong all day. No crashes, no punctures nothing!! Unlike all the rest of the top 6 who all had trouble. So 2nd again and 2nd in the series.

Starting where we came in, What A Year!! The Cotic Rocket is BRILLIANT, a massive thank you to Cy at Cotic, Joe at Steel City Media, Lezyne tools , Torq energy, Royal Racing and 5Ten.

Roll on next year in the Elite class.

@chaygranby

We're already looking forward to next year.

Our latest Singletrack ad is in their latest issue, celebrating 10 years of the Soul. Download desktop wallpaper images from Flickr.

First Singletrack advert:

Second Singletrack advert (ten years of the Soul):

We've signed up a new dealer this week - Kinetic Cycles in Hitchen. They have got themselves a Solaris demo bike in build, so get down there if you're in Beds,Bucks,Herts area and want a spin on some big wheels.

Speaking of big wheels, our West Midlands dealer Bache Brothers in Stourbridge have also just got themselves a medium sized Solaris demo bike too, so there's one for your Midlanders as well.

Now that we have taken a break for the winter on our Calver demos, have a look at our Dealer Page if you want a test ride a quite a few carry demo bikes, and we can usually sort out getting one of ours to them if you want a shot on a Rocket, Soul or Solaris. Extra handsomeness guaranteed with every ride!

Morning all. Hope you were all out riding in the sunshine at the weekend being dashingly handsome.

Don't forget, if want even more handsomeness in your life come and demo a Cotic in Calver this weekend. Demo rides at 10, 12 and 2 on 12th October. We've got Solaris, Soul and Rocket bikes. Plenty of spaces left - come and play! Email demo@cotic.co.uk or call 07970 853531.

Fully loaded on Soul, BFe and Solaris. We even got a couple of small Simple 29's in, and a random single cyan blue large Solaris. The things you find when you open up a 20ft container full of frames.

Order yours now on the website: https://www.cotic.co.uk/order

We've got the XT/Rock Shox/Hope Hoops complete bikes in stock for all of the above too. Get involved boys and girls. Order by Wednesday for delivery on Friday.

Trefor's been in touch as he's raising money for the British Heart Foundation by riding his X from Manchester to Blackpool overnight.

Maybe you'd like to sponsor him? All the details are here.

How's it going this fine morning? Sun is shining here, which is nice. It also looks like the sun is going to shine all weekend which means a nice day for riding bikes tomorrow at our Calver Demo. We've had a few cancellations this week so we have some bikes available again. Get in touch today to book a ride and come and play tomorrow. It'll be good to see you.

Booking is via email to demo@cotic.co.uk or give us a ring on 07970 853531. These bikes are currently available:

10am - Small, Large and XL Solaris, Large Rocket

Noon - Large Rocket, XL Solaris, Medium Soul

2pm - Medium and XL Solaris, Small Rocket

4pm - Small, Medium and XL Solaris

See you tomorrow?

There's still a few bikes available to demo this Saturday on our Calver demo. Here's the run down:

10am Ride - Large Rocket, XL Solaris

Midday Ride - Medium Soul, XL Solaris

2pm Ride - Medium Solaris, XL Solaris

4pm Ride - Large Rocket, Small Solaris, Medium Solaris, XL Solaris

Get in touch to book in for a ride. Email demo@cotic.co.uk or ring 07970 853531.

See you Saturday!

This one kind of snuck up on us, but Cotic is 10 this year. Time flies, eh? Feels pretty amazing looking back on it, but also feels really exciting looking ahead to the new chapters we're about to open. Cy's done a bit of a retrospective on www.cotic.co.uk/ten. Grab a coffee/tea/beer/gin and head over to have a read. There's also the rather lovely photo montage above that Kelvin put together for our Singletrack Magazine ad. You can download as a wallpaper from our Flickr stream.

Cotic has grown from an idea, to a frame, to a company. It's grown from Cy's front bedroom and garage to, well, he's still in his front bedroom, but there's now Paul in his back bedroom, Kelvin in his hallway and Richard at the warehouse as well so we have grown!

The main thing we wanted to do in celebrating our first decade is to say to all of you guys - as owners and prospective owners of Cotic bikes - we wanted to say thanks. Thanks for joining our adventure and making coming to work a pleasure. As much as we love the technical side of designing bikes, the best bit of this job by a mile is getting emails and phonecalls from people saying how much you enjoy the bikes and what a difference that makes to your lives. To have your work inspire people is a very rare and beautiful thing to be able to do, and we're so happy that for 10 years that's been a big part of our lives, and we hope will continue to be so. We will certainly be working hard to keep you loving our bikes.

Thanks again everyone [group hug]

We are down to our last few Bright Blue Solaris, in XL only, as we shift to a new colour : Duckegg. We have small frames available in both Duckegg and Bright Green now, with medium and large frames on their way in both those colours.

Chay and Josh were tearing up Eastridge UK Gravity Enduro this weekend looking handsome and going fast. Despite an early puncture Josh got 7th in Elite which is ace after a tough season. Chay brought home the bacon after an insanely tough week beforehand (he had his van with dog in it stolen then recovered), getting second in Masters again (3rd podium in a row) and confirmed as 2nd overall Master Category for the whole series. WOOOOOOP! Chay's up to Elite next year to play with the big boys.

Here's the Wideopen Mag video from the weekend with a bit of our Josh.

Wideopenmag: UK Gravity Enduro Series FINAL, Eastridge from Wideopen Mag on Vimeo.

Well done lads, everyone at Cotic and Steel City Media are really proud of you.

Cy's on his soapbox again via the newsletter (sign up on our contact page), this time about people passing over his beloved Soul when looking for a trail hardtail....

I've noticed over the last few months a slightly odd trend of the Soul being kind of side-lined by the BFe. I find it a little odd, but after a customer email this week it got me thinking some realignment of perceptions might be needed. The email was from someone looking at a BFe because he wanted to use 120mm forks and do 'a few little drops on the trail' and thought the Soul was 'marketed as the XC bike' so wouldn't be suitable. I've also seen a few people looking at trying to decide between the Solaris and BFe when looking at the two wheel sizes, when the Solaris is very much a big wheeled Soul in terms of intent and execution. Surely it would be a choice between Soul and Solaris?

Anyhow, whilst we need to look again at how we talk about the Soul, I thought I'd start by getting you good people on message, as it were.

First off, the Soul is tough as old boots! The original idea was for something super tough and durable for running long forks and big tyres. The 853 means it can be light and subtle too, but make no mistake, it's tough. Nothing capable of running 140mm forks is going to drop to bits and the first sight of a bump or drop in the trail.

I think the existence of the BFe as the toughnut bike of the range seems to have detracted a little from the Souls' credentials and that's a massive missed opportunity for you guys after a fast, smooth trail bike for up to 140mm forks. The geometry of the Soul and BFe is identical, so the handling is the same, you just save nearly 1 pound in weight with a Soul. And now with Soul3 you can run taper forks and a dropper so it's not even a functionality issue. I've ridden my Soul down some ridiculous stuff in Luchon over the years, pounded it all over the Peak District back in the day and hooned it around BMX tracks. Coming bang up to date my mate Tom rode his Soul to a top 30 Masters placing at the Innerleithen round of the UK Gravity Enduro this year. Not bad for an 'XC bike'.

The BFe is an ace bike, and a great trail bike option if you can't stretch to the price of a Soul or you want to run 150 or 160mm forks, or indeed do big jumps and massive drops. However, if you're looking at up to 140mm forks for your trail hardtail, where the overlap occurs between the Soul and the BFe, the Soul is our ultimate expression of a 26" wheel steel hardtail for that purpose. I've never had a BFe as my personal bike beyond testing the prototypes, but I've always owned a Soul. If you're looking at choosing between the wheel sizes we offer, you're choosing between a Soul and a Solaris in my opinion.

The Soul was my dream bike and it founded the company. If you're looking at our 26" hardtails, it's probably your dream bike too.

Cotic Steel City Media Racing were off again last weekend to Dyfi for round 4 of the UK series. Chay was gunning for another podium in Masters, and after a last minute opportunity to race the Mont St Anne World Cup took Josh off to Canada, I (Cy) stepped to provide some hardcore riding-around-in-the-midpack.

We headed over Friday to get a lap in and check out the lay of the land. I wasn't feeling great coming off the back of a cold and not riding so much after smashing myself up in Finale in July, and the Dyfi loop with over 1200m of climbing made me a little apprehensive. It took us over 4 hours to get round, with a combination of loooong 30+minute transitions up forest roads and some seriously varied stages. Stage 1 consisted of fresh cut loam and steep roots which was sketchy as, then straight into a flat out 30+mph straightaway which was basically a stream! Chay shot off like he was on an actual rocket, rather than a Cotic one. Stage 2 was fast but a bit more flowy, with a near death bright light-bump-dark-rut-mud-root-oh-my-gooooood bit in the middle. MASSIVE transition to stage 3 which was most of the Climachx trail centre trail which was sketchy as in the wet slate with plenty of sharp rocks to catch you out. Another big transition to stage 4 which was flat out again which then turned into a sloggy muddy rut fest and fireroad sprint. Not helped by the fact that I couldn't find my fork mudflap so goggles were so covered in water I couldn't see! Definitely my least favourite stage, especially as quickest way up the climb on race day was a CX style dismount and run! Final climb all the way to the top of the mountain again, a bit of time spent in the pain cave, and we're out in the open on a grassy hill.

Now this was hilarious. Big sweeping grassy turns, floaty drops, tighter grassy s-bends, off cambers, ruts. Flat out. Brilliant. Good way to finish, but I was knackered!

After some strategic tyre changes (biggest, toughest, grippiest tyres we had with us. Not subtle), a pub tea of local lamb and chips (when in Wales and all that), we got some shut eye. Saturday dawned in somewhat glowering fashion with leaden clouds some wind. I managed to leave my kit bag at the bunkhouse, so after some swearing and donning of the dunces cap, we go that and headed up to the pits. Chay was keen to get himself another whole lap in, but I knew I didn't have it in me so we went off with some of the other top Masters guys. I sat around struggling for motivation and fitting my borrowed (thanks to Si Everitt) fork brace mudguard.

Eventually - via some heckling from mates on Twitter - I found myself a nice warm mug of Man Up and I dragged myself up to Stage 5 as this would be the seeding run later on. It was a fun stage and now I knew there were no shady landings I could go a bit quicker at the top. It was wet and slippy, and I was practicing my cornering techniques learnt a couple of weeks ago with John Jones from A Line Coaching. It was a good decision to go up. My mudguard meant no spray so I could see easily, it was loose but a complete hoot and floating all the drops on the way down from the start was fun. I nailed some good lines at the bottom and got a good clean run in. Much better. Made me feel like I could ride a bike again, and I was nicely ensconced in the Cotic pit when it started raining so timed it well! Once back in the paddock I spotted this really sweet enduro spec BFe. Bet that was a proper hoot on course.

Chay turned up an hour or so later wet through, covered in mud and grinning like a loon. "That were MINT!" Game on then.

Seeding rolled around with my call time at 4.17. Just as I was pulling my helmet on the heavens properly opened and it CHUCKED it down. I cowered for as long as I dared in the pits, but eventually had to set off. By halfway up I was soaked through my rain coat but still hot, so I ditched that.

Up on top Flooksie was setting us off, barely holding on to an umbrella and his lips were blue when we were there with 100 riders still to go, poor fella! It looked mad on course. We watched 4 vets in a row go down and fly off the first drops without their bikes. Gulp! Finally the time was called, gear was selected, I lined up and the seconds were counted down. Game time........and I'm off! Staying really wide to cut wide lines and stay where the grip was and twisting my hips for all I was worth I came through the first corners pretty well and came upon my 20 second man very quickly. I shouted and came past, but we still ended up almost together off the first drop. Sorry dude, but I just couldn't brake there! I was pleased with the rest of my run. I stuck to my plan of going steady, sweeping wide and staying upright and ended up 64th of 120 Masters. Chay had absolutely smashed it with a wild and properly committed run to 2nd place in Masters and 5th overall. Brilliant stuff!

After cleaning up and demolishing more lamb at the pub it was bedtime again and thoughts of race day.....

Sunday was looking much better weather-wise, so it was fresh Royal team jerseys on and full factory jackson to the race site. After some porridge and last minute 'please don't puncture' tyre pressure increases I set off for Stage 1. Thank goodness I rested yesterday! Immediately feel much stronger than for weeks and get on with one of the best bits of Enduro, namely chatting to the lads who you'll be racing with all day and having the transitions to meet new people and chat to the guys around you in the event. Unfortunately one of the Veterans crashed in Stage 1 and broke his femur, so the need to close the stage for extraction meant we were waved on to Stage 2. I was with Chay and a few of the other top Masters as all 120 of us hooned down the forest roads to get to the Stage 2 transition. Cue huge manuals, cutties and general dicking about, followed abruptly by the first 10 of us piling into what turned out to be quite a tight hairpin! All coming out the other side upright was pretty wide eyed and there was a lot of sheepish giggling about nearly crashing on a transition.

Up to the top of Stage 2 and straight into it to keep the race on schedule. Got properly nervous at this point, but got my head together and got into it. The stage went well, I went quick, hit a couple of lines I wanted to, and I caught my 20 second man so was well happy. Rode up to Stage 3 with a couple of lads, one of whom also owned a BFe, so we shot the breeze about bike design and wheel size and all the usual gubbins. Nice. Got so caught up chatting I nearly missed my call for Stage 3. Ooops. Got going, sketched the sharp rock breaks and then got into keeping on the gas along the singletrack and making sure I didn't blow out the tight hairpin I balls up in practice. Nailed that, got to the corner where Chay punctured in practice and thought "nearly finished". Oh no no no no no. Amazing how your perception of a 5 minute stage warps by having a 10 minute rest in the middle in practice. I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tired at the end. Good though. One of those odd ones where it kind of felt like you should be pedaling more instead of pumping through and carrying speed, but then nearly getting caught out by little features on the trail because you were going too fast. Nice trail though.

I blasted straight through the stage 3 finish and into the transition to 4. This was a long one and I was getting pretty tired now, but I'd been topping up on TORQ bars so I wasn't as bad as Friday. Stage 4 was not on my list of favourite things and sure enough it was horrid! I got the first fast bit pretty well, and decided to run the muddy climb regardless. However, this still left my pretty hypoxyc onto the fireroad sprint, then I ended up running again as I bogged down in the 2nd woods! I thought I'd blown it for sure, but I wasn't caught and as I came into the final chute I saw my 40 second man ahead so he must have had a nightmare!

Final drag to Stage 5 was helped enormously by some good banter and a 'nearly there' feeling. Up top the views were amazing and the conditions were the best all weekend. I was dead excited I lined up and sprinted out of the gate. I tipped into the first bend and there was tonnes of grip. GAME ON! I piled down the hill and boosted the drops way faster than before. Aceness. Giggling into my goggles I got some good speed through the second grassy bends and then I dropped into the muddier lower section and it all went sideways! So slippery, ruts all blown out, foot off the pedal over drops, proper lairy. So funny. In fact, funniest thing I'd done on a bike for years. Brilliant.

Chay had a proper face on at the bottom, thinking he'd screwed up by having a bit of a scrappy loop. He thought top 5 maybe, but it's a measure of how far he's come so fast that being off the podium is a disappointment now. Having seeded 64th I decided I'd be happy with sneaking into the top half of the field, so top 60. Having caught a couple of riders but not been caught myself I thought I might have squeaked it, but regardless I'd had a lot of fun, not crashed, felt like I rode well, so happy days.

We did our best to insist to Chay can't have been that bad, and indeed it wasn't! After sorting out a wrinkle with the timing where a slow Veteran got caught up by the quick Masters, turns out Chay had come 2nd. WOOOOP!! Look at it his little face grinning away!

I ended up 45th in Masters which I was over the moon about, and we loaded up the van a very pleased pair of lads.

Normal service will be resumed at the final round in Eastridge in September. Josh will be back to tear up the Elites and Chay will be gunning to keep his 2nd overall in the series. If you're up at Eastridge and you see some terribly handsome chaps in sweet Royal kit and speeding Cotic Rockets, give 'em a shout.

How's it going? Enjoying the weather? There's a bit to tell you about, so here goes....

First off I know a lot of you are waiting on Solaris frames and bikes. We're really sorry about this but they have been making right meal of getting the right frames on the right boat this last few weeks. We're as frustrated as you, and to this end when I found out this week that they had delayed again, I have had a bunch of small and medium Solaris frames airfreighted over to arrive early next week. It's expensive, and I don't like doing it from an environmental point of view either, but it's getting silly now so the sizes we have been out of stock with longest are coming in next week. We have enough coming to cover off everyone on the back order list plus a handful more. The rest of the batch arrives in mid-September.

If you have a small or medium Solaris frame on order with us, drop paul@cotic.co.uk a line or give us a ring on 07970 853531 and we'll get things moving for delivery of your frame or bike next Friday (16th).

Speaking of complete bikes, our XT/Rock Shox/Hope Hoop equipped complete mountain bikes are still available on all frame types, and we have new forks coming next week including the much talked about new Pike in 150mm guise for the BFe, and for the Rocket when we get the next batch. We have SID120's for the Soul, and after next week we'll have a Revelation 140 option for the Soul and the Bfe too. Prices are:

Solaris - £2,250 (XT, SID Maxle, Hope Arch EX)

Soul - £2,250 (XT, SID120 Maxle or Rev140 Maxle, Hope Arch EX)

BFe - £2,000 (XT, Rev140 Maxle, Hope Flow EX), or £2,200 with the Pike 150 Maxle

Rocket - £3,200 (XT, Pike 150 Maxle, Hope Flow EX)

For full specs, and to order yours, pop over to the product pages, select the frame you're interested in, then click on the bike option in the top left. We also offer fork/headset/wheel rolling chassis options too.

Finally, we're doing another Calver demo on 21st September. Same drill as usual, rides are at 10am, 12noon, 2pm and 4pm. Booking is via email to demo@cotic.co.uk or give us a ring on 07970 853531. We're building up a couple of new bikes, so we will have the following bikes available:

Solaris in small, medium, large and XL

Rocket in small, medium and large

Soul in medium

It's a proper guided ride with me or Paul on duty, around our 75-90min local test loop which has some great climbs and really fun descents, and it'll give you a flavour of where and how we develop our bikes.

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

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

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

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

There was a mates race last night, a variation on the triathlon dubbed Try-Awful-On by the twisted mind of Nick Hamilton. Chay (Cotic Steel City Media Racing bod and all round handsome lad) turned up to have a go not knowing Nick decided it would be mandatory lycra. Being the resourceful chap he is, Chay decided to race in his pants, and proceeded to win. Commitment! He's building towards legend status.

And as if by magic, knackered old infrastructure screwed it all up. No fast broadband for us today. The wire from the street to the office is, ahem, 'vintage' so we have to wait for a cherry picker to come out to replace it. So we're online all day as per usual.

We're getting sooper dooper fibre optic broadband fitted so our email/internet will be intermittent until it's sorted. It should be installed during the morning. Bear with us and we will get back to you. Promise!

Whilst you're waiting for us to email, here's some light entertainment...

Huge congratulations to Rach and Ant on our AQR Holidays Cotic team for completing what seems to have been an extremely eventful and 'character building' Transalp aboard their Solaris's (Solarii?). Follow the links below to their write up, including Ant having to singlespeed most of one day when his rear mech blew up. Impressive stuff. Chapeau team!

Rach and Ant have got their Transalp blogs done which are now up on the Cotic – AQR blog.

As we mentioned earlier in the year, we launched an enduro race team this season with our mates at Steel City Media to promote the mighty Cotic Rocket! It's spot on for a bit enduro action, and after wondering how I'd find some ace riders to put on the bikes for the season, sitting in a field at a local Mates Race the answer came to me in the form of a field full of local pinners. I put the word out and after an exhaustive selection process of having a beer and a chat with the lads, we signed up Chay Granby and Josh Lewis and Cotic Steel City Media Racing was born.

The guys have had a great season so far, and to mark the midpoint of the year, plus show you how they've got their bikes set up and how annoyingly good they look on a bike, Joe @ Steel City Media put together a lovely edit the other week to celebrate some sunny summer trails.

As well as doing extremely well at Ardrock Enduro, Chay was also there with Jim Buchanan who was reporting for Enduro MTB. Give it a click for a fun report on a fun event, featuring plenty of our Chay. Check out the video too. How pretty is the Dales?

News from Taiwan this week is that there's been a 3 week delay on the Solaris frames we have incoming. Our QC guy rejected a bunch of the frames when they came back from paint so they've had to be re-worked. Unfortunately due to it being model year changeover time it's mental busy out there and it's taken a while to get the frames slotted in for doing properly. It's a pain, and I know a lot of you have been waiting a long old time for mediums and smalls in particular. However, it's got to be right, so I hope you're bear with us a little longer.

We just restocked the gear hangers we use on our latest Soul, Solaris, BFe and >X< frames. Syntace hangers for the Rocket also in stock. Oh, and no matter how old your Cotic, if it's got a replaceable hanger, then we've got spares for you as well.

If you're taking your bike on holiday, don't forget to take a spare hanger...

As we mentioned last week, Chay headed up to Swaledale for the Ardrock Enduro on Sunday and didn't he do well?!! Sat in the hotseat as fastest rider for most of the day having opted for an early loop, he was pipped in the end by another Master cat racer (who's leading the overall in UK Gravity Enduro) and one of the Seniors so that's 2nd Master and 3rd Overall. He's getting used to this podium business. Good lad!

The dry & dusty trails of Thetford Forest produced some super fast & furious racing at the weekend for the Thetford Summer Enduro. The Cotic-AQR Holidays pair of Ruth on her Soda and James on his Solaris had a challenge on their hands in the 6hr race and jostled for position with other teams throughout. With no let-up in the race pace, just a few minutes separated the top 4 teams by the end and Ruth and James were really chuffed with their 2nd place finish. A great race on a classic Thetford course which suited the Solaris down to the ground.

Chay is going to be representing at the Ardrock Enduro this weekend about his trusty Rocket. He'll be all smart and tarty too, as we've just received our custom Royal Racing team jerseys and our team van graphics. As Chay would say, Proppa Trick!

Don't forget you can also download Chay's infamous "Catching Flies" wallpaper from our Flickr Page too.

If you're wondering what Josh is up to, he's racing DH for his other team at the BDS Llangollen this weekend, so we're wishing him all the best for that.

The Steel City Media boys are shooting a team edit and bike check with the boys soon, so look out for those too.

Your justification for getting one is commuting, but it can be adapted for all sorts of uses. We've made fitting a rack that bit easier for weekends away, and dropped the bottom bracket height just a smidge. Oh, and it's got a new look as well, with new colours and taper leg forks (including disc only versions).

Paul has uncovered ONE orange >X< frame, in 58cm. We have a disc only orange fork for it as well. Act quick if you want it... UPDATE: gone, but we still have black 58cm

More on cotic.cc this week, this time from Veronika who's been putting both her Rocket and BFe through their paces in interesting places...

There is a very high chance that one of your work colleagues has never cycled to work. Offer them some help... this week it's looking pretty dry but not too hot, perfect weather to get them out there. Offer to meet them at their place, and cycle in with them... that first commute is intimidating for some.

Use Bike Week as a conversational starter if need be.

Get them hooked!

Please keep sending us your photos, we love seeing them. We pop most of them up on cotic.cc for others to see as well. Loving these that Richard's just sent us...

One of our distributors still has some Classic Soul frames... including Super Gloss Black frames in all sizes. If you've been after one, contact us now...

It's Paul's birthday tomorrow, and so for one day only Cotic will be closed. Ring him today if you want something sorting...

It's our next Calver demo a week Saturday and whilst it's busy, there a still places left to try bikes out.

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

• 10am - Rocket Small, Rocket Medium, Solaris Medium
• 12 noon - Rocket Small, Rocket Large
• 2pm - 2x Rocket Large, Solaris Large
• 4pm - Rocket Large, Rocket Small, Solaris Large, Solaris Medium, Soul Medium

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

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

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

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

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

We're looking forward to riding with you.

Last weekend was another successful outing for team Cotic/Steel City Media racing, at Hamsterley forest, host of the 3rd round of Uk Gravity Enduro series. A dry week leading all the way up to a scorching weekend, left the trails fast and dry, with a great mixture of full on downhill segments and short,sharp sprints. Chay, our rapid master rider has been building confidence and speed all year and was rewarded with an amazing 2nd place overall!! He was obviously psyched, like we are, as his face below says it all...

Our young elite rider Josh Lewis has had a tough start to the Enduro season, plagued with mechanicals and rider errors, but this weekend he seemed to put 'nearly' all of that behind him, with a solid 13th place finish. Times were tight and on one stage, due to poor taping, he rode the wrong course at one point! However, on the 4th stage, with a 5th place finish, the speed is obviously there and we can't wait to see what he does later on in the season...

Great work by all the boys and we can't wait for the next round!

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

Specification on all the bikes is as follows:

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

Soul and Solaris bikes are £2,250.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Specification on all the bikes is as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We're looking forward to riding with you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• 16th March
• 27th April
• 8th June

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

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

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

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

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

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

We're looking forward to riding with you.

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

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

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

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

The donation details are as follows:

Bank transfer/Internet banking payment:

RIDE SHEFFIELD

40-31-02

91574205

Account is with HSBC.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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