We love riding bikes off road
That is the fundamental truth of Cotic. Doesn't matter what the bike is – gravel bike, mountain bike, ebike, drop bar, flat bar, suspension or not, it's all good to us. Long distance, quick rides, XC, steep tech, woodsy trails, gravel, bikepacking, touring, and anything and everything in between. We love it all and we love building the best steel bikes to ride offroad on, and sharing them with you.
Back in 2003, Cy Turner set out to build his dream steel bike. One that fused forward thinking ideas with supple, subtle ride feel of the best steel. That bike became the iconic Cotic Soul, a genre-defining, multi-award-winning mountain bike that captured the imagination of riders everywhere.
Over 20 years later, Cy still owns Cotic 100% and continues to refine that elusive “soul” in every bike we make. As one of the most respected bicycle engineers in the industry, his passion drives us to create bikes in beautiful steel that inspire joy, confidence, and connection for riders around the world.
Our Mission
We strongly believe steel is the best material for a bicycle. It allows a bike to breathe with the trail, supple and subtle, rewarding the rider with a deep sense of connection to their bike and the ride they're on. Steel feels alive, intuitive, and comfortable. Timeless, clean, slim lines. Steel is also the most sustainable choice; repairable, recyclable, and with a lower environmental impact than any alternatives.
At Cotic, we build bikes that take best advantage of steel's qualities. Our approach combines modern geometry, thoughtful engineering, and meticulous craftsmanship to create bikes that feel lively, responsive and confidence inspiring. Every tube, joint, and frame detail is chosen to elevate the ride feel, durability and beauty of the finished bike.
Our Place — Forged In The Peak District
Cotic are based on the edge of the Peak District National Park in the heart of Northern England. For over two decades the hills, the gritstone, the views, the trails, the weather, they have all shaped our bikes and honed them.
Bikes that work here are tough to withstand the grit, mud and rain, but they are also comfortable, ground moulding and composed to carry us at speed across the slabs and boulders. That's why Cotic's are built from steel.
Bikes ridden in the Peak District need to be poised, agile, confident handling for the steep, technical trails that litter the woods and valleys, and the gravel riding that flirts with being mountain biking on most rides. That's where our Longshot and Sureshot geometry comes into play.
Cotic bikes are all of this and more. Born of this tough, beautiful place, so they are brilliant for you wherever in the world you ride them.
Forged in the Peak District. Grit and steel. That is Cotic Bikes.
How We Build
Every Cotic frame is handbuilt in small batches across trusted workshops in Scotland, Czechia, and Taiwan, combining local expertise with decades of experience. Once built, each frame is assembled into your bike to exacting standards by our UK team, ensuring it delivers a ride that is responsive, supple and entirely alive.
We build with intention, not shortcuts. Every detail is chosen for performance, longevity, and the connection you'll feel every time you ride. Each bike is assembled to order and made to feel personal, reflecting both the care in its construction and the individuality of the rider.
When your bike is ready, you can collect it from our HQ on the edge of the Peak District, or have it delivered in our award-winning, zero-plastic bike box, designed to protect it with care while staying kind to the environment.
Which Cotic should I buy?
Every rider is different, and every Cotic is designed to match the way you want to move, explore, and feel on a bike. Whether your days are spent commuting, chasing gravel roads, tearing through technical trails, or hunting epic adventure, there's a Cotic built to bring out the best in your ride.
Every choice is thoughtful; from geometry to materials, from durability to ride feel. The right Cotic isn't just a bike, it's the next step in your journey as a rider, today and for years to come.
Beyond the bikes
We love where we live and work, and we're committed to giving back.
We collaborate with local groups like Ride Sheffield to improve trail access and conservation, and we pledge a minimum of 0.5% of our turnover annually to trail advocacy organisations worldwide.
Our values centre on respect, diversity, and inclusivity. We champion equal opportunity and welcome fresh perspectives.
We strive to reduce our environmental impact; recycling in our UK operations, using sustainably sourced packaging, and working to eliminate single-use plastics.
Steel remains our material of choice, not just for its ride quality, but because it's a more sustainable way to build bikes.
Every day, we aim to be better.
Our History
2002: Cy starts looking for a steel hardtail to be his main mountain bike. Being a degree qualified engineer, and the hubris of youth, he decides to design his dream steel hardtail, leveraging the massive strength and weld-hardening properties of Reynolds 853 steel.
2003: That frame is the Cotic Soul. Cotic is launched in early 2003, and the sample bikes garner rave reviews — a steel hardtail mountain bike built with Reynolds 853 premium steel and the latest geometry and design thinking. It won multiple awards and became an instant classic. The first 100 frames arrive in June, and they're all barbie pink — seems the grey they were supposed to be was colour code 817. Pink is 718.
2005: Our second model, the Cotic BFe, is introduced, based on rider feedback from people who love how hard they can ride the Soul with its amazing handling, but want something burlier for longer travel forks. The BFe is still in the range to this day, albeit 7 generations iterated. Our third model, the Soda — a Soul in titanium — is also introduced; it was last produced in SodaMAX 29er form in 2018.
2006: Our fourth model, the Roadrat, goes on sale — a flat bar, disc braked, big clearance road bike based around Soul handling. The roots of the Escapade are in this bike too. This is also the year Cotic becomes Cy's full time job.
2007: Our first employee, Paul, joined in November. We moved to Sheffield, and introduced our first full suspension bike, the Hemlock.
2008: Cotic gets its first premises, moving out of Cy's garage into our office and warehouse in Calver, in the middle of the Peak District.
2009: The Soul and BFe get their first major updates, and our team rider Kate Potter races her Cotic Soda at the World Championships in Canberra.
2012: The Soul and BFe were updated for dropper posts and taper steerer forks. We launched the Cotic Rocket, the first production steel full suspension bike, and the Cotic Solaris, our first 29er hardtail.
2013: Growth continued, along with our first — unfortunately abortive — attempt to re-shore some manufacturing to the UK.
2014: The 27.5" wheeled versions of our Soul and BFe hardtails are introduced, an immediate sales hit. We also developed the very first Cotic Escapade, based on the Roadrat — gravel before it was gravel.
2015: We re-introduce the Rocket in Gen 2 form with 27.5" wheels, and the Solaris is updated to Gen2 with 27.5Plus compatibility.
2016: We recruited a full time mechanic and inaugurated the Cotic Demo Tour. We also launched Flare, FlareMAX and RocketMAX, joining the Rocket to round out a 4 bike steel full suspension range.
2017: We introduce Longshot Geometry for the first time, on the BFe Gen5 and Soul Gen5.
2018: Longshot geometry rolls out across the rest of the range. RocketMAX Gen2 is launched in September — our very first Cotic made in the UK, starting our long standing partnership with Five Land Bikes.
2019: The whole mountain bike range now has Cotic Longshot geometry. The Escapade Gen4 is launched, and the inaugural Cotic Beat The Winter Blues ride happens. Our founding model, the Cotic Soul, is retired, with the Solaris carrying forward the mantle of being our flagship hardtail mountain bike.
2019: The whole mountain bike range now has Cotic Longshot geometry. The Escapade Gen4 is launched. The inaugural Cotic Beat The Winter Blues ride happens in the snow in January, with 25 hardy Cotic owners joining us to keep the stoke high in the darkest month. We also launch our Cotic Women of Steel group for the promotion and inclusion of women in cycling.
On a slightly sad note, our founding model - the Cotic Soul - is retired. With the takeover of 29" wheels, there simply wasn't the demand for a beautiful trail hardtail with 27.5" wheels. The Solaris carried forward the mantle of being our flagship hardtail mountain bike.
2020: Weird year to say the least! Due to our UK manufacturing we still managed to update both the Rocket and the RocketMAX, and by the end of the year we had also launched the Jeht, our 'goldilocks' 140mm trail bike. The Escapade is voted in the Top 10 Gravel Bikes by road.cc.2021: Still pretty odd! Continual refinements to the range include FlareMAX Gen 4 and Escapade Gen5. We also announce our nascent ebike project, that eventually grew into the new Rocket. The Ardrock Enduro festival was the first since Covid and we all got a bit giddy. Party shirts went hard.
2022: In January we launch the Cotic Cascade, our drop bar adventure bike. It's a huge hit, and continues to be very popular. The launch video involves surfing in December. It was COLD.
The highlight of the year is that, as a thanks for hanging together through Covid, Cy takes the whole company to Les Gets for the MTB World Champs. It was an amazing trip.
2023: We move into our current premises. Much more space, showroom, proper dispatch. Very nice.
An amazing thing that happened in 2023 was that, in collaboration with Neko Mulally's Frameworks Racing, Cy designed a Reynolds 853 steel front triangle for Neko's downhill bike. He wanted to test if the ride feel characteristics of steel could be advantageous to his racing. He raced it at Fort William Worlds. The second Cotic in a World Champs. So, so cool.
2023 also marked 20 years of Cotic
2024: All our full suspension droplink bikes are now UK made. We introduce our new Solaris, made by our friends in the Czech Republic. We also launch the Rocket ebike, the world's first high performance steel ebike, with a 100% UK made frame.
Who works at Cotic?
Cy Turner — Cotic was founded, and is still owned, by Cy Turner. Cy is a degree qualified Chartered Mechanical Engineer with 20 years experience across the railway industry as well as in bicycle design. In 2001, it was his desire for a modern steel trail hardtail which no one else made that led him to design the Soul, going into production in 2003.
Paul Dexter — Paul runs customer service, admin, accounts and orders, along with being a brilliant test and development rider. Paul has over 20 years experience in bicycle retail, and is also a qualified mountain bike guide and skills coach.
Will — After many years working as a mechanic in the bike trade, Will joined us in the warehouse for building up the fleet of new models we have available.
Who rides for Cotic?
Chay (@chaymoose) — Our longest serving ambassador, joining the ranks in 2013 to race Enduro on the then-new Rocket26.
Kel (@kellyjaynecollinge) — Joined us in 2017 and has been a huge help in getting the Women of Steel rides rolling.
Dave Camus (@davecamus) — Joined us for the launch of the first Longshot BFe.
Abby (@abby_popplestone) — A gravel adventure queen, she's completed the Dales Divide, the Steel City Downhill, and an epic ride from Cape Town to Kenya on her Cascade.
Esme (@cranky_es) — An aspiring BMX racer and our youngest ambassador.
Tom (@24tom) — A rider, runner, adventurer, writer and photographer, bringing us views from the mountains.