Steel is real attempt #2 - Cotic BFe - Now for sale

lawman

As some of you may have seen over the past few weeks, I had a number of problems with my Stanton Slackline, the seat tube on the original frame and it's warranty replacement were faulty and after a customer service nightmare I got my money back and went for a BFe Worked out well in the end as my Reverb needed servicing and the price difference between the frames covered the cost of that, which was a bonus made even sweeter when they sent a brand new 2014 Reverb instead of repairing the old one.

Wasn't whether to stick with the black theme and go for the Gritstone, but the Bright Green looked awesome and I fancied something different, every proper MTB I've owned has been black









Apologies for the shocking iPhone photos and the cluttered garage

Had it's maiden voyage this morning, apt given a boat would have probably been more suitable, and I'm well impressed, very comfy, great ride position and the geometry is spot on, manoeuvrable but really stable too. Frame seems really well made and I'm chuffed with how it's turned out with the Green fork and wheel decals

The superstar chainguide is pants though, always rubs no matter how you set it up so it may well get a Works Components narrow/wide chaing ring and I'll bin the guide. Well impressed with the Fox forks too, they're the basic open bath version but they seem far better than my old Revelations, and I really noticed the tapered steerer over the standard steerer on the HD, seems a lot more precise and holds a line better. ESI grips are brilliant as well, I tend to run my hands right on the end of the bars and found lock-ons dig in on long descents, and the ESI's are so comfortable and really grippy too, half the weight of the ones I took off as well! Can't wait to get this back to uni and on some proper trails, could well be the best hardtail I've ever owned!

angry_bird

Looks nice. What travel are the forks?

I'm fancying doing another hardtail build probably in spring, something 140mm probably and the BFe looks like a favourite.

lawman

Forks are 150mm Fox 32's. It was between the Soul and BFe but as I'm doing a uplifts every now and then a bit more DH stuff I went for the BFe. For general cx the soul is a bit lighter but the geometry is identical

rockmonkeysc

Very nice. I like those BFe's. Great ride.
A mate used to race DH on one and did a couple Megavalanches on it. Solid frame.

dusk

Looking good, I think I need to upgrade to some tapered forks as mine are 1 1/8th and feel pretty flexy.

Also I have a Wolftooth thick/thin chainring and it's been great so you should be fine without the chainguide if you upgrade

lawman

dusk wrote:

Looking good, I think I need to upgrade to some tapered forks as mine are 1 1/8th and feel pretty flexy.

Also I have a Wolftooth thick/thin chainring and it's been great so you should be fine without the chainguide if you upgrade

Had I not bought the Fox's for the Stanton and gone for Cotic from the off I probably could have stretched to some Pike RCT3's, but tbh I'm more than happy with the 32's, my local trails aren't the gnarliest, so the true test will come in the next few weeks when I'm back at uni, but I'd definitely recommend you try some stiffer forks, managed to hold a few lines today that the HD would struggle to. Chuffed with the whole bike, a few tweaks and it'll be damn near perfect!

Dick Scruttock

That looks lovely.

I have to say I really like my Soul so I am not surprised you like that. They handle so well and just feel right.

mike hunts alpine

She's a beaut.

gt-arrowhead

Nice! I think the old frame looked better, but this is still a looker.

Are you using the Superstar XCR guide? It kept rubbing for me too.

The Northern Monkey

Get a works chainring and just run a bottom roller.

Thats what I've got on the Canyon and I dont have a clutch mech, works beautifully!

lawman

GT-Arrowhead wrote:

Nice! I think the old frame looked better, but this is still a looker.

Are you using the Superstar XCR guide? It kept rubbing for me too.

The little details on the Stanton were certainly better, but overall I think I prefer this, looks classier and the downtube wrap looks great.

Yeah it's an XCR, really should have just gone narrow/wide from the start tbh, a Works Components ring will be going on soon I think, running a Zee mech so hopefully no need for any kind of kind or roller

gt-arrowhead

That wrap does look awesome.

In the mean time, you could try a little bodge fix that i did. You can sort of see it in my appallingly blurry picture at the top of the page in this link.

I basically put a spare nut and a washer between the guide, then pushed the bolt through. Gave me enough clearance for it not to rub.

viewtopic.php?f=10017&t=12930658&hilit=gt+chucker&start=60

paul.skibum

Nice - if ever my Handjob fails me I think the Soul or BFe could be the replacement - but she's 9 years old now and still going strong!

mountaincookie

Niiiiice. Get in the Cotic bikes thread! (page 4 I think)

I'm building my new BFe frame up today, I totalled the last one (completely through my own stupidity and seemingly undying attraction to a local tree). Very similar build to yours.

Steel is awesome, and lack of big squishiness in the middle even more so

CitizenLee

Looks awesome mate! Would deffo consider one of these if I was in the market for a hard tail.

Out of interest, who did you buy your Reverb from? Mine is back with Bike-Discount at the moment so here's hoping I get a 2014 model in return too.

Thewaylander

look solid mate, except the fox fork hate those 150 32's but otherwise looks good.

lawman

CitizenLee wrote:

Looks awesome mate! Would deffo consider one of these if I was in the market for a hard tail.

Out of interest, who did you buy your Reverb from? Mine is back with Bike-Discount at the moment so here's hoping I get a 2014 model in return too.

Cheers, I'm well pleased with it

I actually bought it off a mate on here (Bails87), just popped it down to my LBS and they sent it off to Fisher Outdoor and was expecting a fairly huge repair bill as it was out of warranty. Instead they charged me the standard £50 service charge and £10 postage and sent out a new one. Not sure if this is standard or just me being lucky!!

CitizenLee

lawman wrote:

[
Cheers, I'm well pleased with it

I actually bought it off a mate on here (Bails87), just popped it down to my LBS and they sent it off to Fisher Outdoor and was expecting a fairly huge repair bill as it was out of warranty. Instead they charged me the standard £50 service charge and £10 postage and sent out a new one. Not sure if this is standard or just me being lucky!!

Wow, that's pretty cool! Deffo sounds like you got lucky! I was tempted to take mine to a RockShox dealer but thought my LBS would be funny about it since I didn't buy it there. At least return postage to Bike-Discount was free, and it they have now sent it to SRAM.

Anyway, I won't distract from you're lovely new bike any further!

lawman

mountaincookie wrote:

Niiiiice. Get in the Cotic bikes thread! (page 4 I think)

I'm building my new BFe frame up today, I totalled the last one (completely through my own stupidity and seemingly undying attraction to a local tree). Very similar build to yours.

Steel is awesome, and lack of big squishiness in the middle even more so

Will be sure to add it!

How did you total your frame?! :shock:

I'm loving the ride of the steel so far, much, much more forgiving than my old 456c. In fact it reminds me of my old Kinesis, is similar comfort wise but the geometry is far better, nice and slack, but could go a touch slacker I reckon!

dusk

lawman wrote:

dusk wrote:

Looking good, I think I need to upgrade to some tapered forks as mine are 1 1/8th and feel pretty flexy.

Also I have a Wolftooth thick/thin chainring and it's been great so you should be fine without the chainguide if you upgrade

Had I not bought the Fox's for the Stanton and gone for Cotic from the off I probably could have stretched to some Pike RCT3's, but tbh I'm more than happy with the 32's, my local trails aren't the gnarliest, so the true test will come in the next few weeks when I'm back at uni, but I'd definitely recommend you try some stiffer forks, managed to hold a few lines today that the HD would struggle to. Chuffed with the whole bike, a few tweaks and it'll be damn near perfect!

I've been tempted by Pikes but I just wonder if they'll be too tall, I'm thinking maybe getting the dpa version so I can run it in 130mm travel

The Northern Monkey

let me know how you get on with the crests if you do take it on a DH track... still umming and aaarring over flow/arch for my Canyon as a mate destroyed a flow a BPW the other week!

lawman

The Northern Monkey wrote:

let me know how you get on with the crests if you do take it on a DH track... still umming and aaarring over flow/arch for my Canyon as a mate destroyed a flow a BPW the other week!

I've done 2 uplifts and a few uni DH sessions on the HD and christ knows how many xc miles and they've only just started showing some decent hits, a nice ding in the back rim from the second Antor trip, but other than that I'm well impressed. Using a 350g xc race rim was probably ambitious, but as the Arch Ex wasn't out at the time I figured flows would be overkill for me. I reckon they'd be perfect for the Canyon though. Hit pretty much any rim bad enough and it's gonna break, I've not seen any Flow's break yet though, a mate at uni runs them and he is an awful lot quicker than the pair of us and he's had no problems.

lawman

dusk wrote:

lawman wrote:

dusk wrote:

Looking good, I think I need to upgrade to some tapered forks as mine are 1 1/8th and feel pretty flexy.

Also I have a Wolftooth thick/thin chainring and it's been great so you should be fine without the chainguide if you upgrade

Had I not bought the Fox's for the Stanton and gone for Cotic from the off I probably could have stretched to some Pike RCT3's, but tbh I'm more than happy with the 32's, my local trails aren't the gnarliest, so the true test will come in the next few weeks when I'm back at uni, but I'd definitely recommend you try some stiffer forks, managed to hold a few lines today that the HD would struggle to. Chuffed with the whole bike, a few tweaks and it'll be damn near perfect!

I've been tempted by Pikes but I just wonder if they'll be too tall, I'm thinking maybe getting the dpa version so I can run it in 130mm travel

There's not a huge difference in Axle to crown between the 150mm pike and my 150mm 32's, think it's about 8mm or something, so it would be a smidge higher but not a great deal.

Anonymous

Loving the colour very nice.

J273

Looks nice that

Sooo tempted with one after seeing cotic's latest 26" aint dead video. What size is that? think im between medium and large being 5.11 which is always the case with all bikes i have.

lawman

J273 wrote:

Looks nice that

Sooo tempted with one after seeing cotic's latest 26" aint dead video. What size is that? think im between medium and large being 5.11 which is always the case with all bikes i have.

The video is awesome, though there's little chance mine will be ridden that well!

Mines a medium. I'm just over 6ft but have short legs, long torso. Looked at the large and the stand over clearance didn't look great so went for the medium and it fits really nicely. I'm absolutely loving it so far, it gets better the harder you push it and it is insanely comfortable with a pair of chunky tyres fitted, highly recommended!

mountaincookie

lawman wrote:

How did you total your frame?!

Went off a ramp (have to stay right to avoid a tree on the left), wasn't really concentrating and landed....proceeding to ride straight into a very large tree. I folded the top tube, doesn't look much but a close look reveals it's not safe. Cotic where fantastic as always and let me have a reduced price off a new frame.
You can't beat that kind of service, I've never had anything but quick and helpful responses from Paul

lawman

mountaincookie wrote:

lawman wrote:

How did you total your frame?!

Went off a ramp (have to stay right to avoid a tree on the left), wasn't really concentrating and landed....proceeding to ride straight into a very large tree. I folded the top tube, doesn't look much but a close look reveals it's not safe. Cotic where fantastic as always and let me have a reduced price off a new frame.
You can't beat that kind of service, I've never had anything but quick and helpful responses from Paul

Sounds nasty!!! :shock:

Good to hear about the customer service, though hopefully I'll have no issues with this one!!

Kowalski675

Looks good. Nice bike.

fat_homer

Nice, love the green, even the white rims (which I usually think look naff) look good 8)

RichBrooks

I caught your previous thread about the Slackline before Christmas through a random google trawl, as it's a top candidate for my new frame - so it's uncanny that you now have a Bfe, seeing as my choices have recently been narrowed down to these two.

How much time did you end up having on the Slackline before it failed on you? I'm guessing not long, seeing as your seat tube was defective from the off, but I'd be curious to know how the two compare.