Cotic BFe - Now with pictures

WhyteSky

Good Evening fellow bikeradar MBers,

I'm extremely excited this evening as tomorrow I collect a used 2011 Cotic BFe frame.

I've been on the hunt for a cheapish steel 26er frame for a while and finally found one albeit over budget.

I have a lockup full of parts taken from various bikes as I've upgraded them and figured it was time I got a frame and started putting some of the parts to good use?

The idea is to build a bike without spending a fortune on parts in order to keep it off the wife radar. I can then upgrade bits here and there, little spends in places will go unnoticed - a big spend on lots of parts in one hit will definately be noticed.

So, I've got a 2011 Cotic BFe frame. I think the headset is FSA but unsure. However, apparently bearings are shot. I'll either replace the bearings of more likely replace with a Hope Headset.

I'll also, if necessary, get the BB shell faced.

That hopefully will be the end of the spending on it for now.

From there I'm planning on fitting, from my parts bin:

RS Reba 120 RL forks
SLX or Deore Triple Crankset with external BB - not sure which yet.
SLX Front Mech
XT Rear dérailleur
SLX 3x10 shifters
XT 11-36 Casette
Avid Juicy 1 or 3 brakes
DT Swiss X1900 rims on DT Swiss X1900 hubs
203mm rotors up front, 180mm rear
Various mismatched bits inc seat post, saddle, stem etc

I've replaced bits on bikes plenty of times and stripped bikes down but this is my first complete build from scratch. It'll be a complete mishmash of parts to start with but will (hopefully) work. I'll then upgrade various parts as time goes on. Planned upgrades are:

1x narrow wide up front with a 42 expander on the rear.
XT brakes when the pads in the Avid's need changing.
New cranks of some sort - not sure which yet
XT Medum cage rear dérailleur
Tubeless wheels or tubeless wheel conversion

It's probably going to take me a while. Work commitments and family life will restrict progress somewhat but I want to get this done do fairly soon as I'm dying to get out on a steel frame bike again.

I'll update with some pics as soon as I get the chance.l

WhyteSky

Cotic BFe 2011 mk1 in Large. The pink powdercoat was there when I bought it. I wouldn't choose to do it that colour myself and had toyed with having it re-done but it's grown on me. Besides, this is supposed to be a cheap build for now. There's plenty of time to throw money at it!

Rockshox Reba RL 120mm
Cane Creek Forty Headset
DT Swiss X1900 wheels & hubs
Shimano BB
SLX H2 Crank Arms
Superstar 32T io chainring
Hope Bash Guard
SLX 10sp rear shifter
Cat 10sp rear mech
11-36 Cassette
XT brakes
203 front and 180 rear rotors

Absolutely love it! I've been for a quick blast tonight but am going for a proper ride at the weekend and can't wait!

buddy_club

Meh on the pink but nice build - dogs are looking pretty chilled too!

rockmonkeysc

Those forks are way too short to get the best out of a Bfe. A nice 140-150 fork would get it handling much better.

WhyteSky

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19655644#p19655644]RockmonkeySC[/url] wrote:

Those forks are way too short to get the best out of a Bfe. A nice 140-150 fork would get it handling much better.

This build is probably just the start of this bike, built as a budget bike with bits I had lying around, with the exception of the brakes which I bought second hand instead of fitting the Avid Juicy's I was going to fit. My plan is to gradually upgrade over the next few months.

Tubeless conversion
Longer travel forks, possibly with adjustable travel and an axle instead of QR (but need to investigate possibilities first as I'm new to these axle things - QR has always been the norm for me).
New cassette with a 40 or 42 T expander. Either that or I'll just go 11sp XT M8000 across the drivetrain
XT Medium cage clutch mech. Probably M8000 11sp
XT Shifer, again probably M8000
34 or 36 narrow wide chain ring
Probably new cranks

I may even go the full hog and fit a dropper post too.

As for the colour, I was unsure at first and had considered having it stripped and re-done. However, it's suppose dto be a budget build for now and a re-spray wasn't necessary so I decided against it, figuring I'd get it done at some point in the future. The problem is, I'm now struggling to imagine it in any other colour!

None of the above is really necessary with the exception of the expander ring to help my poor legs push her up hill. She's great as she is but if I'm buying a new cassette and ex ring along with new rear clutch mech depending on how the current one copes with 1 x then I'm most of the way to 11sp anyway so it makes sense. To me anyway! Besides, it frees up parts for other future "budget builds"!

WhyteSky

Soooooo, I had a bit of an eBay result last night - I got a Dialled Prince Albert.

I'm away at my caravan at the moment and earlier in the week, much to my horror, my daughter picked up my Cotic, dropped the seat and took her for a ride. When she came back she commented on how much better my bike was to ride than her bike. I knew then that she was ready for a steel frame so the hunt was on. It just so happened that the Dialled was up for auction at the time so the timing was perfect.

So my plan remains to gradually upgrade the Cotic, but with the aim of transferring bits onto the PA as and when I upgrade.

Can't wait for the new frame to arrive later in the week even though it'll just be sat dormant in my lockup for a while although I might put it through a respray before I start building it. It's green at the moment and although I like green, it's not my daughters thing so I may change the colour. Undecided what colour yet though.