Archive: Cascade Gen1
Years of production: 2023-2025
The first generation Cascade was our inspirational adventure bike: bikepacking, gravel, dirt and distance, from singletrack fun to crossing continents. Built on two decades of Cotic steel mountain bike experience and Reynolds 853 tubing, it bridged the gap between mountain bikes and gravel bikes, perfect for the trails and back roads that feel like a chore on a mountain bike but too rough for a regular gravel bike.
Drop bars gave road riders a familiar starting point with a whole new level of off-road confidence, while mountain bikers found a fast-rolling, nimble escape from heavy tyres and long travel that still had genuine off-road ability. Its progressive geometry worked just as well with flat bars, and riders could go minimalist with the Alpaca steel fork or fit a 100mm suspension fork. Our ambassador Abby Popplestone rode hers across Africa, calling it her take-you-anywhere bike: strong and capable enough to carry everything, yet light and fun once the bags came off.
Finishes: Cosmic Black, Army Green, Damson, Smoke Grey, Nimbus Sunrise and Lichen.
Sizes: XS, Small, Medium, Large and XL.
Sureshot geometry
The Cascade introduced our Sureshot geometry, taking the principles of our Longshot mountain bike geometry and tailoring them to drop bars: long top tubes, short stems and slack head angles. Wide, flared drop bars give multiple hand positions for comfort and stability all day, while 60-70mm stems keep the handling sharp. There's plenty of room for luggage in the front triangle, with enough clearance for a dropper post for every rider. Flat or MTB bars work too, with post mount brakes fitted using adaptors (see component sizes).
Frame and fork
Reynolds 853 builds a light, lively and robust front end with our ride-tuned Ovalform top tube, paired with a custom heat-treated cromoly rear end. The steel construction is compliant and ground-hugging, extracting grip and feedback from the trail.
The Cotic Alpaca fork is a tapered steerer, heat-treated cromoly fork with three-bolt Anything Cage mounts on both legs, micro-rack, mudguard and low-rider mounts, internal dynamo routing, a Boost 110 x 15mm thru axle and a Flat Mount +20 brake mount for up to 180mm rotors. The Salsa Firestarter 110 carbon fork and RockShox SID 100mm suspension fork were offered as options.
Built for off-road riding on 29" wheels, the Cascade used mountain bike Boost 110 front and Boost 148 rear spacing and a dedicated 1x design with a 53mm Boost chainline. It's designed around 29 x 2.4" rear and 29 x 2.6" front tyres, with room for 27.5 x 2.8" rear and 27.5 x 3.0" front if you prefer.
Mounts and luggage
There are bosses all over the frame and fork. Most sit in the main triangle at 64mm bottle cage spacing, giving maximum flexibility for bottles, Anything Cages and luggage, and they double as the hose routing points. There are three-bolt Anything Cage mounts under the down tube, under the top tube and on both fork legs, full-length mudguard mounts, full rack mounts front and rear, low-rider mounts on the fork, and mid-height bosses on the seatstays and fork legs for mini racks like the Nitto M18.
We also made a dedicated Cascade frame bag, hand made in the UK in two sizes (S/M and L/XL), with a waterproof removable liner and a choice of rainbow or grey laces. Frame bag fitting instructions (PDF).
Frame and fork details
- Large diameter, thinwall, air-hardening Reynolds 853 front triangle with signature Ovalform top tube
- EC34/EC44 tapered head tube for clean lines and a comfortable bar height
- Reynolds 853 34.9mm seat tube for precision, especially when loaded
- 31.6mm seatpost, dropper compatible with internal stealth routing
- Signature Cotic 4130 cromoly wishbone stay rear end, with bridgeless S-bend chainstays and Cotic Hexten gussets for improved fatigue life
- Multiple bosses along the down tube at 64mm spacing, plus bottle cage spacing bosses under the down tube, on the seat tube, under the top tube and on top of the top tube for gas tank bags
- Full rack or mini rack mounts on the rear of the frame and on the Alpaca fork
- Boost 148 thru axle rear end, clearance for 29 x 2.4" or 27.5 x 2.8" tyres
- 483mm axle to crown Cotic Alpaca fork, 44mm offset, Boost 110 x 15mm thru axle, clearance for 29 x 2.6" or 27.5 x 3.0" tyres, and works with a 100mm suspension fork
- Flat Mount +20 brakes for 180mm front and 160mm rear rotors
- Five sizes, XS to XL
- Weight: frame 2.63kg (Large, with axle); Alpaca fork 1.38kg uncut without axle; RockShox SID SL Ultimate 100mm 1.326kg with axle
Builds
Complete bikes were built to order in the Peak District in three drop bar builds: Bronze (Shimano CUES 1x11), Silver (Shimano GRX820 12-speed) and Gold (Shimano GRX Di2 wireless 12-speed). The Silver and Gold builds came with Hope 2H headsets and Hope Fortus 26 wheels, and the Gold included a BikeYoke dropper post as standard.
Geometry
Cotic size guide
| Frame size | Rider height (cm) | Rider height (ft/in) |
|---|---|---|
| XS | 155-166cm | 5ft 1in - 5ft 6in |
| Small | 165-174cm | 5ft 5in - 5ft 8in |
| Medium | 172-180cm | 5ft 7in - 5ft 11in |
| Large | 178-188cm | 5ft 10in - 6ft 2in |
| XL | 186-195cm | 6ft 0in - 6ft 5in |
Sureshot geometry means long frames and short stems with drop bars (typically 60mm). You'll need at least a 350mm seatpost, as the frames have room for dropper posts. Email size@cotic.co.uk for help.
Rigid fork (Cotic Alpaca)
| Frame size | XS | Small | Medium | Large | XL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seat tube (centre-top) | 400mm | 435mm | 470mm | 505mm | 540mm |
| Top tube (effective) | 541mm | 561mm | 588mm | 613mm | 639mm |
| Chainstay length | 438mm | 438mm | 438mm | 438mm | 438mm |
| Head angle | 68° | 68° | 69° | 69° | 69° |
| Seat angle | 74° | 74° | 74° | 74° | 74° |
| BB drop | -70mm | -70mm | -70mm | -70mm | -70mm |
| Head tube length | 100mm | 100mm | 113mm | 126mm | 139mm |
| Reach | 368mm | 388mm | 410mm | 432mm | 454mm |
| Stack | 604mm | 604mm | 621mm | 633mm | 645mm |
| Wheelbase | 1072mm | 1092mm | 1109mm | 1136mm | 1162mm |
| Stem (drop bar) | 50-70mm | 50-70mm | 60-70mm | 60-70mm | 60-70mm |
| Stem (flat bar) | 70-100mm | 70-100mm | 80-100mm | 80-100mm | 80-100mm |
| Usual height range | 155-166cm | 165-174cm | 172-180cm | 178-188cm | 186-195cm |
| Fork length (Alpaca, axle to crown) | 483mm | 483mm | 483mm | 483mm | 483mm |
| Fork offset | 44mm | 44mm | 44mm | 44mm | 44mm |
| Rear axle thread | M12 x 1.75 | M12 x 1.75 | M12 x 1.75 | M12 x 1.75 | M12 x 1.75 |
All measurements static, with the 483mm axle to crown Cotic Alpaca fork.
Component sizes
- Seatpost diameter: 31.6mm (350mm minimum, 100mm minimum insertion)
- Fork: 483mm axle to crown rigid, or 100mm travel suspension fork (maximum 506mm axle to crown without sag)
- Chainline: 53mm Boost, maximum 38t round or 36t oval chainring
- Front mech: not applicable, 1x only
- Dropper routing: stealth internal, P-clip routing on the down tube
- Bottom bracket: 73mm width, conventional English/BSA thread
- Headset: SHIS EC34/28.6 upper, EC44/40 lower (for example a Hope 1H)
- Rear hub: Boost 148 x 12mm thru axle
- Front hub: Boost 110 x 15mm thru axle
- Rear axle: Cotic 12 x 148mm, M12 x 1.75 thread
- Rear mech hanger: Cotic Escapade/Cascade hanger
- Brakes: Flat Mount +20 front and rear, up to 180mm rotors
- Brakes (flat/MTB bars): post mount brakes with 180mm rotors front and rear, using Shimano SM-MA-F160P/D (front) and SM-MA-R160P/D (rear) adaptors
- Tyres: front 29 x 2.6" or 27.5 x 3.0"; rear 29 x 2.4" or 27.5 x 2.8"
Download the general Cotic user manual (PDF)
Origin
Designed, developed, engineered and tested by us in the Peak District, with Cy Turner as lead designer and engineer, and lab tested beyond ISO 4210. The development took three years of prototypes and hacks by Cy and Richard. Gen1 frames were hand made in Taiwan by our selected framebuilder, zinc phosphate dip-coated inside and out, painted with a protective clear coat, and QC'd in Taiwan and again in the UK. Complete bikes were built to order in the Peak District.
Reviews
Bikepacking.com (Gold build, full review): found it one of the most confident drop bar descenders they'd tried, sure-footed on singletrack and fast on gravel, with one of the more comfortable tubesets in the drop bar 29er category, and a versatile choice for riders who like to keep their route options open.
off.road.cc (Bronze build, 4/5): called it the most stable and easily controlled adventure/gravel bike the reviewer had ridden, with that stability a real advantage when loaded.
BikeRadar (Gold build, 4/5): a supremely capable drop bar shredder with huge tyre clearance, a wide choice of builds and unrivalled drop bar capability.
Bike Perfect (4/5): rated the handling as one of its best aspects, alongside the tyre and luggage versatility, and liked the remote dropper triggered from the drops.
UKGravelCO: whether you come from mountain bikes or road, it's a bike that puts a massive grin on your face, and it doesn't matter whether you call it a drop bar MTB or a gravel bike.
Guy Kes TV (first ride): fun, confident and a feel-good bike that gets better the further you go.
Photo gallery
