Archive: Rocket Gen3

Cotic Rocket Gen3 in Gloss Orange

Discontinued, superseded by Gen4. This page is kept as an archive record for owners and for anyone researching an older Cotic Rocket.

Years of production: 2018-2020

The Cotic Rocket is our 27.5" wheel, rough and tough, race proven steel full suspension enduro bike. 157mm rear travel, up to a 170mm fork. See the Rocket archive for the other generations.

Finishes: Gloss Orange, Cosmic Black and Black + Grey.

The Rocket is wild and fast and just so much fun. Designed to get you down the rowdiest trails with an infectious grin on your face. Progressive Longshot geometry and a subtle, supple Reynolds 853 steel frame keep the bike stable through the rough stuff and planted in the corners. The super short stem combines with the optimised head angle and frame length to make you feel like your hands are directly connected to the front tyre. The Rocket has a swaggering, "let's do this" attitude that you can't help but love.

Going into its 3rd generation, the Rocket was a race winning Enduro weapon. The Cotic Race Team were closely involved in the development, and won multiple PMBA Enduro Series Championship races and titles aboard their Rockets.

Whether you're tackling big mountain adventures or the toughest enduro stage, the Rocket will look after you and keep you screaming for more. It will also happily skip up the toughest of climbs: honed on the tough hills of our native Peak District, it will get you back up to the top for run after run.

What's new in Gen3

New Longshot geometry brings a new balance, speed and capability. A long frame, matched with a responsive 30-50mm stem, combines with a slacker head angle to balance out the handling for a beautifully controlled and exciting ride
New sizing: every frame size was redeveloped, with attention paid to the riders of that specific frame size
A new 1x specific swingarm with forged parts brings added stiffness and tyre clearance. Latest generation 27.5 x 2.6" rubber fits, and Boost spacing and chainline keep everything futureproof. New 1x integrated OneUp top guide (included)
Travel increased to 157mm at the rear: optimised around 160mm forks, but now certified for up to 170mm travel forks

Reviews

Guy Kesteven's ride review of the Rocket: "so stable! So much time to deal with things", with "real character, and real joy in the way you can ride it". Watch the full review.

off.road.cc ran a Rocket on long term test and lived with it for a year. They called it a "great enduro accomplice for fast, long downhill trails" and said that if you want a bike to help get you out of trouble in the steeps, "this might just be the one". Read the full review.

Features and benefits

Longshot geometry. Radical Longshot geometry keeps the bike stable through the rough stuff, planted in the corners and pinpoint accurate in the steep tech. Couple a super short 35mm stem to the optimised head angle and the bike really pushes you on, looking for every stump to boost off, rock to gap and berm to rail, keeping you connected to the trail while maintaining incredible poise and composure.

Reynolds 853. Reynolds 853 builds a light, lively and fantastically robust front end, and includes our custom ride tuned Ovalform top tube, which helps to deliver sublime trail damping and that signature Cotic feel: lively and fun, yet stable and controlled. The frame's steel construction is compliant and naturally ground moulding, extracting grip and feedback from the trail where you thought there was none.

27.5" wheels. The Rocket is designed around the latest 27.5 x 2.6" wide trail tyres, with clearance to spare. 27.5" wheels are lighter, livelier and easier to accelerate than 29" or 27.5Plus wheels, with a more interactive feel, at the expense of slightly less stability and easy rollover on rockier, bumpier terrain. They also package more easily into a small frame (shorter chainstays, lower stack and head tube height), so the proportions suit shorter riders.

droplink. Cotic droplink suspension is supportive and progressive, keeping the Rocket's 157mm of travel feeling lively and interactive, with grip to spare on the descents and support and traction on the climbs.

Frame details

Longshot geometry designed for 30-50mm stems, giving incredible steering responsiveness combined with confidence inspiring capability at speed
Reynolds 853 Ovalform and DZB tubed front end brings precision, beautiful ride feel, durability and strength
44mm standard head tube designed with an external bottom cup for taper steerer compatibility and a zero stack top cup for minimal stack height
Custom Cotic designed 35mm heat treated cromoly seat tube for super stiff support for the main suspension pivots
31.6mm seatpost size is dropper seatpost compatible, with internal "Stealth" dropper post remote routing
Regular threaded bottom bracket for reliability and ease of maintenance
Rear mech cable routed internally through the steel seat stay for clean lines and low noise
Dedicated 1x drivetrain design: maximum width swingarm pivot, low drop, forged construction swingarm heads with the integrated OneUp Components Top Guide, combined with ISCG05 lower tabs for maximum drivetrain reliability and security
6066-T6 aluminium swingarm with Syntace X-12 Boost 148 x 12 rear axle for maximum wheel stiffness and mud clearance
15mm main and seat tube pivots and a droplink thru axle style linkage clamp keep the frame solid front to rear
One bottle mount
Clearance for the latest generation 27.5 x 2.6" tyres
Optimised around 160mm forks for a great balance of speed and precision, with a 170mm fork option for bigger hits
157mm of Cotic droplink suspension via a strong progression rate on the linkage driven single pivot layout
Sizes: Small (390mm), Medium (425mm), Large (460mm) and XL (495mm)
Weight: Gold spec bike 30.7 lbs without pedals

Geometry

The chart is a guide to frame size. Longshot geometry means that the frames are low and long, with plenty of standover room. We recommended the size suggested for your height, getting all the benefits of running a super short and responsive 30-35mm stem. If you upsize you might not be able to fit a longer dropper post, because the collar hits the seat tube top or the dropper bottoms out on the droplink pivot. All measurements are static.

Frame Size	Small	Medium	Large	XL
Seat Tube (centre-top)	390mm	425mm	460mm	495mm
Chainstay Length	437mm	437mm	437mm	437mm
Head Tube Length	100mm	110mm	120mm	130mm
Usual Height Range	165-172cm	169-180cm	178-188cm	186-195cm
Stem Length	30-50mm	30-50mm	30-50mm	30-50mm
Frame Wheel Travel	157mm	157mm	157mm	157mm
Max Tyre Size	27.5 x 2.6"	27.5 x 2.6"	27.5 x 2.6"	27.5 x 2.6"
Max Seatpost Insertion (incl. actuator)	178mm	213mm	248mm	283mm

Seatpost maximum insertion is guidance based on leaving 25mm clear below the actuator for any hose or cable to route through the frame. Your post may need less or more, and an externally routed dropper won't need this margin at all.

160mm travel fork: head angle 64.5°, effective seat angle 75°, BB drop -10mm.

160mm fork	Small	Medium	Large	XL
Top Tube (effective)	590mm	616mm	642mm	674mm
Reach	435mm	458mm	481mm	510mm
Stack	589.5mm	598.5mm	607.5mm	616.5mm
Wheelbase	1199.0mm	1226.4mm	1253.9mm	1287.0mm

170mm travel fork: head angle 64.0°, effective seat angle 74.5°, BB drop -7mm.

170mm fork	Small	Medium	Large	XL
Top Tube (effective)	591.5mm	617.5mm	643.5mm	675.5mm
Reach	430.5mm	453.6mm	476.9mm	505.5mm
Stack	593.0mm	602.0mm	611.0mm	620.0mm
Wheelbase	1204.0mm	1231.4mm	1258.9mm	1293.0mm

Component sizes

Seatpost diameter: 31.6mm (380mm long minimum)
Front mech: not applicable: 1x drivetrains only
Fork: minimum 150mm, maximum 170mm travel, 561mm axle to crown (without sag)
Bottom bracket: 73mm, conventional English/BSA thread
Chainring: single only, Boost chainline
Chain guide mounting: ISCG05 bottom two tabs, plus the integrated Cotic x OneUp Components top guide (included with frame or bike)
Headset: 44mm for taper steerer forks: Hope 2H, Cane Creek ZS44 top/EC44 bottom, Chris King Inset I7
Rear hub: Boost 148 x 12 bolt through
Rear axle: Syntace X-12
Rear mech hanger: Syntace X-12 Type 1 (conventional or Shimano Direct Mount)
Shock: 200 x 57, with 15.75 x M8 fittings at the down tube end and 24.0 x M8 at the seat stay end
Dropper post routing: Stealth via the down tube
Rear brake mounting: I.S., compatible with rotors up to 203mm

Origin

Cotic frames are designed, developed, engineered and tested entirely by us at our base in the Peak District, near Sheffield. Our founder, Cy Turner, is the lead designer and engineer, and our frames are rigorously ride tested by everyone at Cotic and our Race Team. They are fully certified and lab tested in excess of the requirements of ISO4210 safety standards.

This frame is hand made in Taiwan by our specially selected framebuilder, chosen for their vast experience with our favourite materials and their top quality finish. Each frame is dip coated inside and out with zinc phosphate before painting, to prevent corrosion and ensure the best paint finish, and painted to the highest quality including a protective clear coat, before extensive QC by our agent in Taiwan. Once the frames reach us in the UK we carry out further QC and prep the frames for headset and bottom bracket installation. As always, all complete bikes were built to order by us in the Peak District.

Set-up guide: Rocket Gen3

droplink works best with 25-30% of the travel as sag, with 30% our preferred starting point. The Rocket Gen3 has a 57mm stroke shock, so aim for 15-17mm of shock sag, 32-40mm of sag on a 160mm fork and 34-42mm on a 170mm fork. A good starting point is 16mm at the rear and 36mm (160mm fork) or 38mm (170mm fork) at the front. Always set up by measuring sag, not by a generic pressure. The full step-by-step sag measurement procedure and the rebound and compression advice for the shock and fork are the same as in the Rocket Gen2 set-up guide.

Cane Creek base settings (relative to fully open):

DB Air IL: 0 volume spacers, 0 turns (fully open) high speed compression, 4 clicks low speed compression, 1.5 turns high speed rebound, 2 clicks low speed rebound
DB Coil IL: 1.0 turns high speed compression, 5 clicks low speed compression, 1.5 turns high speed rebound, 2 clicks low speed rebound. If you have a used Rocket Gen3 with a coil shock, contact us for advice on spring rate, and do not add preload beyond 2 turns: that coil-binds the spring at bottom out and can damage your frame
DB Air CS Piggyback: 0 volume spacers, 0 turns (fully open) high speed compression, 4 clicks low speed compression, 1.0 turns high speed rebound, 2 clicks low speed rebound

For other shocks, start with rebound 3 clicks from fully open and compression or pedal platform off. Cotic base settings run on the lively, fast rebound side. The Cane Creek Field Tuning Guide covers fine tuning.

Owner's manual: download the droplink Longshot user manual (PDF).