Cotic Soul finished... ??

waughie

This is my Hardrock its been through a few build specs in its life. Currently as it stands there is only the frame and rim strips left of the original bike!

Its due a frame upgrade in the next year as the frame is getting a little past its best, probably not helped by running the forks at 140mm constantly.

My main aim has been to upgrade when something breaks with the intention of replacing the frame at some point and ending up with a top spec bike. Likely contenders are the Blue Pig or Genesis Alptitude.


Frame: 2004 Specialized Hardrock Pro
Forks: 2006/7 Fox 32 Talas RLC
Bars: FSA DH400
Stem: FSA XC190 (90mm)
Headset: FSA Orbit
Grips: Superstar Supagripa


Brakes: Avid Juicy 5s, these are the early ones in black without the split clamp.


Shifters: Shimano LX with displays removed
Cables: Shimano XTR
Front Mech: Shimano Deore
Rear Mech: Shimano LX reverse pull


Seat: DMR
Seat Post: FSA SL280
Seat Post Clamp: Hope


Cranks: Shimano LX HTII
Chain: Shimano Dura Ace
Cassette: Shimano LX
Pedals: Shimano M540 / DMR V8
Bottom Bracket: HTII


Wheels:
Rim: Stans No Tubes Crest
Spokes: DT Swiss Wheels Spokes - Competition Stainless DB Black 2mm-1.8mm
Hub: Hope Pro2 6 bolt
Tire: Panaracer Fire XC


Weight: 12.5kg ish

specialeyes

Sweet. Love the older hardrock frame. Some nice components, will look good on a blue pig. What does it ride like with those forks? Was only meant for 80 to 100mm wasn't it? :shock:

waughie

Yeah i'm not keen on the new frames either, the colours just aren't right. I have been trying to find a new frame with a similar colour scheme to this but most are Ti frames and out of my budget.

The forks haven't affected it too much.
The original bike was equipped with 100mm marzocchi MX comps, which had really long lowers. The foxs lowers are shorter so although the travel has increased the bike didn't gain to much height.

120mm is the optimum setting and has the bike more or less back to factory feel. But 140mm is much more fun. Oh and the price I paid for them brand new made it impossible to turn them down!

waughie

Today is new bike day! My new Cotic Soul frame has just arrived.

I can't wait to get home from work and start swapping parts across.

A big thanks to 'unsponsored' on singletrackworld for a very good transaction.

Pictures will be here later tonight.

bonezy

Nice! I've currently got an upgraded 2010 Hardrock, but the Cotic frames are very attractive...
Looking forward to how this pans out

waughie

And here it is... the moment I've been waiting for!















First impressions are... Its great, completely different feel to the hardrock. It seems about the same weight as my old build, but I can live with that. I will weigh it in due course.

Oh and I know I moved mucky parts across, but after cleaning the rear mech i got bored and just wanted it built, and its a mtb, its not going to stay clean for long anyway.

I'm also going to need to get new drive train at some point soon as this lot is really worn.

complete build would be slightly less than £1300. I think!

waughie

Had my first ride out today, only did 10 miles, 1 mile of that was off road and that was only gravel track so can't comment on its off road ride yet.

On road the riding position is completely different to my Hardrock, my weight is more towards the centre of the bike whereas on the Hardrock it was more towards the back wheel. This is likely to because the Soul is designed to run 140mm travel forks! This means that my legs are going to take a few rides to get used to it but I prefer the Souls position already.

Hopefully should be able to take it off road properly on monday!

Gratuitous pic from today.

toastedone

Im liking that alot, how much was the frame? if you dont mind me asking and how do you get it to pose like that for the pics

waughie

Witch craft!!

There is a small stick propping it up in the field, if you look at the earlier pic of the Spesh frame you can just see the Garden fork i've used behind the rear disk brake!

I paid less than £400 for the frame, its technically second hand although the chap I bought it from never actually rode it as a complete bike because it was too big. For me though at 6ft its perfect. They retail for £480,

toastedone

did u just switch everything from the Hr to this?

waughie

Pretty much yes.

I needed a new seat post as the Cotic needs a 27.2, also some new shims for the front mech to bring my mech down to a 28.6, F&J cycles in Lincoln kindly gave me them for free!

I also had to get new gear cables as the Hardrock outers wouldn't fit.

toastedone

As i say it looks great, very impressed, have you weighed it as yet?

waughie

Just done, approx 12.25kg

It would be possible to get it lighter by swapping to non Talas forks, and swapping the post and bars as they aren't the lightest.

It would be fairly easy to get below 12 I'd think.

allthegearnoidea

they are Awesome bikes! i'd seriously recommend them to anyone!
is like having a short travel full suss back end on a hard tail!!
only thing id replace mine with would be another one!!!

waughie

Well it had its maiden voyage round Shewood Pines today and it was amazing!

Loved every minute of it and i didn't feel as tired as I normally do.

Made it round the red trail in under an hour so i was happy with that and i think it would be possible to go quicker.

waughie

Not much to update really, but the forks got sent away for service a month ago. Mojo included the new black decals for them so I thought it would be rude not to put them on.

Personally I prefer it with the new decals, I think they tie the forks into the bike better.

Its also had new chainrings, chain and cassette, having a few teething issues at the moment with the gears but I'm not sure if its the cables that are being a pain.

I've normally always used XTR cables but tried some of the clarks ones this time, I still prefer the XTR ones! The clark outers are far to stiff and inflexible.

Any way heres a few pics!





And heres a ladybird I found...

MountainMonster

You picked up a little visiter, you taxi you. Lovely looking bike!

specialeyes

Lovely frame! From a tarty point of view I think it would look even better if you dropped the red in favour of some white stripe nobby nicks and some black grips but I am a tart

tbikeradar

nice frame. skinny steel is the best...good investment

fat_homer

I picked my Soul frame up yesterday, can't wait to get it built up. Yours is looking ace, the new decals on the forks look good!

waughie

The one gripe i have with it is the paint seems very soft it seems to mark very easily.

Tyres will be changed to black at some point rather than red, but the red is growing on me slightly.

waughie

Well a few months down the line and I am still really pleased with the Soul, its a lot more forgiving ride than the Hardrock. As a hardtail i think it is very hard to beat for fun factor, would definitely buy one again if I were in the same position.

As mentionned above though my only complaint with it is the soft paint. It marks really easily compared to the spesh. Also i prefer the cable routing on the spesh, under the BB seems to give a much nicer route and i can't get the shifting on this anywhere near as good as the spesh. But thats a minor detail.

There have been a few changes as i've been riding it, the red grips have gone as they were worn out and have been replaced with black, and the panaracers have been replaced with Nobby Nics.

Heres a picture taken today at Sherwood Pines with it looking in an appropriate condition!

MountainMonster

Lovely looking Soul mate! Got mine up and running a few weeks ago, and they are such lovely bikes to ride.

waughie

Big update time!

Since the above photo there have been many changes!

XT shadow rear derailleur with medium cage
XT front derailleur
conversion to 2x9
Thomson inline seatpost
Thomson 90mm 10 deg stem
Easton Haven Bars
Fizik Kium Gobi saddle
2011 Fox 32 Talas RLC forks

When written out like that it seems a huge amount of stuff!

I also have a XT cassette and chain ready to go on when the current stuff is worn out.







Oh and I will be cutting the forks down when I have decided on bar height!

sloppycowpat

nice but cut the steerer down a bit that looks lethal and ruins the bikes looks a bit, apart from that ace!!

allthegearnoidea

In fairness he does say he will when he's settled on a bar height! ;-)
Souls are Awesome bikes, wouldn't swap mine for the world!

fat_homer

allthegearnoidea wrote:

Souls are Awesome bikes, wouldn't swap mine for the world!

Amen to that!

waughie

It also needs the top tube T-Cutting to bring back the shine!

allthegearnoidea

Give the tt a good polish up and tape it over, Jobs a goodun!! Did mine when I got it, replaced the tape once in that time and still looks like new underneath!

IT66T

Nice looking ride you've got the and it's the very 1st Cotic that i've ever seen and i'm well impressed with the quality of the finish .

waughie

Quick photo taken on the Ladybower Classic route on Sunday!