Cotic Launches RocketMAX 29er Enduro Bike
PRESS RELEASE: Cotic
Here it is, the all new RocketMAX. Our brand new big wheeled enduro bike is here and it is NOT mucking about! The fastest bike in our fleet.....the new Longshot geometry RocketMAX turns the speed up to 11. It's all about the rockiest descents and the steepest technical trails. It's confident and blisteringly quick. This long travel big wheeler is ready for anything.
The RocketMAX is my bike of choice and this has been a very personal project over the last 2 and half years. It has its own unique version of Longshot geometry, and I have been through many prototypes, many anglesets, many forks, many suspension tunes, and a lot of puzzling to get it where I want it. My goal was to move it away from the FlareMAX trail bike and into a whole new area of capability in terms of speed, composure and confidence on the biggest or steepest terrain. I have ridden this bike in its various forms around my home on the edge of the Peak District, around the Tweed Valley in Scotland, laps and laps of 'The Loop Of Truth' – my little cover-all-the-bases test section on Houndkirk Moor, Pila in Italy, the old Schladming DH track, raced it with friends, and just given it the workout of its life riding to support the race team at the EWS in Finale. Despite is many guises throughout development one thread runs through all of them - especially the production version – they have incredible composure, confidence and speed in the wildest of situations. I have become a more confident rider and I have so much fun in super steep technical terrain riding this bike. I have been almost track standing on Repeat Offender at Golfie so I can check a blind section, then just dropped in and rode it. Where I have been better able to read the trails, I have ridden with speed and security I still get a buzz from. The precision of the steering, the position on the bike, the control and confidence it breeds means I am simply able to ride faster, steeper, harder trails than I could two years ago. It's a better bike and it makes me a better rider. It's that simple.
If you would like to hear more about how I developed Longshot Geometry, check out the Downtime Podcast Special I did earlier in the year.
Decked out with 150mm of rear travel on our Droplink suspension platform, and designed around the latest 160mm 29er forks. It's capable of carrying speed through lines you've battled to get through before, and will do so with composure and ease, leaving a big grin on your face. You like steep and techincal? There is pretty much nothing you can't ride down on a RocketMAX. The incredible stability of the long front centre, coupled with the pinpoint precision of the short stem brings you swaggering confidence regardless of the gradient.
It's not all about racing down the hills though; this bike climbs too. More rubber on the ground and bags of support from our progressive Droplink suspension help the RocketMAX skip up the most demanding climbs. We design and develop all our bikes in the Peak District, and our team race everywhere from local British races to Enduro World Series, so we know a thing or two about tough, technical climbs and long days in the saddle!
As with all Cotic bikes, the frame's steel construction is compliant and naturally ground moulding. The RocketMAX uses Reynolds 853 super strong steel, and includes our custom ride tuned Ovalform top tube which helps to deliver sublime trail damping and that signature Cotic feel.
The massively exciting thing we can also announce with this bike is that this is our first model where those beautiful ride qualities are put together in the UK.
We have teamed up with Five Land Bikes in Scotland to make production front triangles for these bikes. They are then partnered with our proven Taiwan made rear ends, and bridging the gaps are machined parts from Superstar Components made in Lincolnshire. We are assembling the frames right here at our base in the Peak District.
As you may know, we have attempted a UK made frame before in 2013/14. Whilst that didn't work out, the contacts we made and supply chain that we found definitely helped our prototyping and development over the last 3 years. All of the Longshot Droplink prototypes have been made in the UK.
Following on from this, Matt and Callum were looking to found a small batch production unit in the UK and we got talking. It fitted really well with what we needed. They are incredible framebuilders first and foremost, and they have also established a paint shop so the frames are finished with painted decals to an incredible standard. We are on a rolling production schedule with them so we should be able to keep more size/colour options in stock more of the time, reduce our overall stockholding, and be more responsive to the buying habits of our customers. There are a lot of positives, and as we grow again it's also great (and sensible) to spread our supplier base. The fact we have been able to do this credibly in the UK is a bonus. It's hugely exciting, but it's also a small first step. We still need and believe in our Taiwanese suppliers, and the Rocket, FlareMAX and all the hardtail and the rest of the range will remain being made in Taiwan.
The bike is available in subtle grey Metal-on-Metal and gorgeous Teal and Tangerine. You can run 29 x 2.6” tyres or 27.5 x 3.0”. It's Boost spaced, 1x only, integrated chainguide, all modern conveniences.
The frameset pricing starts at £1749 with a custom tuned X Fusion O2 RCX shock, or £1999 with a Cane Creek DB Air IL. There is also a DB Coil IL option.
Bikes start are £2999 for our SLX based Silver build, through our best selling Gold XT and Gold Eagle builds with Cane Creek HELM forks and Hope bits for £4049, and go right up to £5648 for the Platinum build with eeWings ti cranks. HUNT wheels are now available alongside Hope wheels across the range.
For all the information and lots of beautiful photos head over to the product page.
We are opening orders today for delivery of first frames on Friday 26th October in the UK. Bikes will be a week or so later, as will international orders. You can buy directly from Cotic to anywhere in the world. Just order online.
The bikes will be in demo on the UK fleet from next week so get in touch with www.cotic.co.uk/demo if you want to have a ride on the RocketMAX.
In a busy year of product launches (this is our 10th new bike in 14 months) what this bike represents makes it one of the most exciting. Some of the most progressive geometry, handling and incredible ride feel you will find anywhere, combined with UK production expertise. It is a unique bike.
Hope you like it!
Cheers,
Cy Turner
Founder and Director
Cotic Bikes
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I am curious what this rad machine weighs in at maybe in a large.
Maybe chromag will follow suit and build a full suspension?
Steal is real!
This is a great vid to watch if your thinking about butying a cotic
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIyccZEPolU
PS the flare max in nikel in the flesh is a thing of beauty
Function over fashion.
........and you won’t read a bad word about their customer service or how they treat employees (including freelance film makers!! ;-) !!) etc etc. Cy and his team have always helped me out with anything. Rider based rider owned. They just wanna see people who buy their bikes happy!
I'd had my eye on the rocket but was half waiting for the updated rocketmax. Currently on an XL Bronson with 475mm reach and 73.5 sta. I wonder how much the steeper sta would help in making the 490mm reach of the large manageable.
I realize reach has to be considered I combination with start and stack,, but I still think it's funny that 2 years ago I sized up to xl to get 475mm reach, now I almost have to size down to medium in some brands.
I'm guessing getting the front end light/manualling these bikes takes some getting used to..?
Also I am 180cm, so right in between cotics medium and large. Makes sense, I'd agree. Even with the 160 for I guess I'm less than 1240mm for wheelbase, so the medium is an inch longer! That's definitely as long as I'd want to go I think. Interesting stuff.
As for the wheelbase length, I think people get a little too hung up on it. It's much, much more important to have the weight balanced between the wheels. Hence the chainstay length to balance the front centre. This bike (even in the XL size I ride) feels like you would expect a shorter wheelbase bike to feel, because when you are stood up, you are on the vertical turning axis of the bike. When a bike has a long front centre and really short rear end, the turning axis of the bike is in front of the riders centre of mass, which makes those bikes feel ponderous. The force feedback they give you is that something is moving around in front of you. That kinda 'wheelbarrow' feeling. That's what's given long bikes a bad name in my opinion. You can't just focus on one number then say it's rad. It's a whole system. The iteration I tried before the final geometry was settled was a degree steeper at the front and shorter front centre. It should have theoretically made it feel livelier in tight trails, and I'll be honest, I was a little concerned about customer reaction to the geometry I was leaning towards so I pulled it back a little. It felt awful. Like REALLY awful. The front end felt too tall and unconnected. It felt really light on the steering without enough feeback. I tried a bunch of different bars I spent a couple of weeks full puzzling - measuring, checking, rebuilding the previous prototype - trying to figure out how a bike with a 64.5deg head angle could feel so sketchy. It came down to the lower BB on that bike (which everyone thinks is good) and the shorter front centre (still roomy, but everyone thinks shorter is good for tighter trails) combined with the 160mm travel fork raising the stack and hence bar height combined to make it hard to weight the bike nicely. All bits of 'received wisdom' which combined to make a bike that looked great on paper not work at all. In the end I popped an angleset in it to go back towards where I was with the version before and it was transformed. Even on tight, bermed singletrack it felt MILES better. I could weight the front, loads of feel and feedback through the bars, tonnes of grip, I was in the middle of the bike again so it was moving around me instead of in front of me. That was the point I commited and went with what felt best to me, regardless of the numbers 'on paper'. And that's the bike we launched.
Feel free to ask more questions. It's fun to get into the details.
Cheers,
Cy
My left knee is pretty toast and i can't shift my weight on the bike in a way i want to.
This means have to rely on the neutral standing position being well balanced.
On my current bike (patrol v1) i'm having trouble getting consistent grip in the front.
Sometimes it works out, sometimes not... i think it depands on where exactly i place my foot on the flat pedals.
Long chainstays might be the key for me!
Can't wait to build my rocketmax.
I couldnt quite follow on the lower BB part. Let's assume it's not too low so you are not smashing into rocks all the time. Is there another disadvantage of having a low bb besides the stack being increased?
Did you run out of spacers below your stem so you couldn't compensate the increased stack?
I'm also wondering if you have the maximum insert length for the seatpost (medium frame; with or without actuator) on hand?
I'm trying to figure out wether i can run a 185mm revive post.
Thanks!
My take on fork offsets is that it's a personal preference, and the marketing budgets of other brands are making it a bigger thing that it actually is. As I said, I have tried the RocketMAX with 42mm, 46mm, and 51mm and they all handle fine. Slightly differently, but just fine.
With my preferred bar width of 770mm across the grips I do prefer the slightly shorter offset, although I'll be honest I couldn't tell the difference between 42mm and 46mm. My bars are currently 785mm to get a similarly calm feel on the 51mm offset as it's more lively around the straight ahead position. The slightly more linear rate of response of the shorter offset works a little better with the narrower bar width in my opinion.
Remember though, this is real Princess-and-the-pea stuff. It's my job to be sensitive to these things. I'd be very surprised if anyone getting a RocketMAX was anything other than really stoked on the handling so long as they had a fork they liked, set up nicely, plugged in the front.
Minimum measurement from BB centre to saddle rail at full pedalling height on a RocketMAX is 69cm. That will be give or take a cm or two depending on what gubbins is on the bottom of your seatpost. That number is based on an X Fusion Manic 150mm dropper. The frame insertion is about 220mm, again depending on actuation parts.
This one is also great looking!
m.youtube.com/watch?v=IIyccZEPolU
......big explanation of their views on geo etc etc