New UK designed hard-hitting steel XC hardtail

It snubs the current trend for all things fat and alu, but this steel tubed, UK designed mount is anything but old school. It's a significant part of a brave new breed of hard-riding hardtails designed specifically to take long travel forks. This Soul is no stunt bike. It's built for thrashing along cross-country trails with particular emphasis on gnarly singletrack. Its designer Cy Turner (Cotic is his pseudonym) set out to create a hardtail that would mimic aspects of the confident big-shock shunning front end handling that his downhill bike offered, but it promises a lot more.

The Chassis
Whilst the soul frame is deisgned with between 100 and 125mm fork travel in mind, it's geometry does not feature the slack head angle that characterizes most jump bred hardtails. Fast handling and climb-ability were seen to be as crucial as shock absorption in the design process and the resulting tight, lively ride feel was also required for the sort of high-speed rocky, rooty stuff that race-bred XC bikes tend to struggle on.
The 853 main triangle is combined with a 4130 cromoly wishbone rear end. Every tube's been chosen for its butted strength and durability qualities, so there are no superfluous gussets and plates: this creates a very clean look to the bike, and the cable/hose guides are pleasingly tidy too. There's loads standover room plus clearance for 2.5in tyres. You can opt for cantilever brake bosses or this clean-lined disc only model: the disc mount is brace-reinforced and the dropouts are nicely cowled. Sizes offered are 16, 17.5 or 19in (our test model was 19"), and frame weight is just under 4.5lbs. The £400 price tag includes a Salsa Flipoff Seat QR, neoprene chainstay protector and a bunch of cable rub patches.
Our test bike was fitted with Manitou's excellent and reasonably priced Black Elite fork. It's not the lightest fork around, but we love the plush ride feel in the 120mm setting and the way that ride feel changes perfectly for climbs in the 100mm setting. The external compression and rebound damping control dial adjustments are spot on too.

The Detail
The Cotic soul is only available as a frame. Inevitably, it comes with a recommendation for a 100-125mm travel fork, and it could even handle a bit more travel at a push, but the rest is up to you.
Our test bike was equipped with Hayes hydraulic disc brakes, with Goodridge hose upgrade, Mavic CrossMax SL Disc UST wheels, Hutchinson Mosquito tubeless 2in reads, Race Face Turbine LP crankset with a DH ISIS bottom bracket from Truvativ, Shimano Deore front, XTR rear gear, XT shifters and cassette, Easton EA70 Monkey bar, Race Face Dues stem, ad XY seatpost, Titec grips, and a Fi'zi:k Niscene saddle. This kit means a £1,650 price, but you could use the frame to build a great bike for a lot less.

The Ride
The long top tubed, steepish angled, short stemmed set-up of the Soul is ideal for a combination of sharp handling and efficient flat-back power transfer. The steep seat angle and 16.5in chainstays are good for stable climbing traction, while our test bike had a rock-steady handling feel and just the right amount of forward weight shift to be able to use the fork to its full extent across the bumpy stuff. While recognizing the benefits of efficient rear suspension systems, there's still something incredibly pleasing about letting the fork do most of the work and letting the back end rise, fall and skip under you as your reflexes deal with the terrain.
Despite the big price difference, it interesting to make a few comparisons between the Cotic Soul and the Dean Duke. The approach of both is a designed-for-rough-trails variation of the 'traditional' hardtail theme. When we fitted the Dean with a longer (100mm) travel fork, the front end handling felt similar to the Cotic, but the ride feel was very different. The steep seat angle of the Cotic sits you further forward, over the centre of the bike and towards the fork. The result is that you work the fork more and you feel back-end shocks less. With the big are chamber Hutchinson treads fitted to the Cotic, the back end felt softer than the softtail on the Dean. This is a major bonus on the sort hard and fast singletrack that sends 'traditional' XC hardtail skipping all over the shop. The Soul holds it's line, the fork does all the donkey work and the back end just, er, follows through.
The Soul deserves to be built with hard-hitting componentry. Our test bike was and it was a lot of fun to ride. OK, it won't float you up hills as fast as a bike like the Dean, but it still climbs better than the two full sussers on test, plus it's one of the few XC hardtails we've tested that can stay with the full sussers on the gnarly singletrack and descents without feeling in the least bit challenged.

 

VERDICT

(Abridged to just the Cotic section)

The Cotic Soul was perceived by most as a bit of a star, so much so that workshop manager Jez bought it. It's a bike that breaths new life into cross-country hardtails. It's not only it's ability to take a long travel fork that does the trick; it's the geometry, which sits you in the right position to extract the maximum ride potential over all terrain types. Next to this, it's also tough, it stands apart from jump/stunt bikes, it's fun to ride and it feels like a bit of bargain as a frame base for a dream bike.