A Bolehills sunset, Wu Tang socks and pure moto vibes. Camus reaps what he sows.
Press Release: Cotic
What was your lockdown project?
Sourdough bread?
A morning fitness regime?
A pallet-wood garden seat?
Ours was a dirt jump bike.....
With so many of our ambassadors continually extolling the virtues of a session at the track, trails or pumptrack, we knocked some very talented heads together and sketched out a design. For the working prototypes we called on Sheffield frame builder Matt Bowns of 18 Bikes to metal glue-gun us together 4 identical frames. We sent these 4 frames up to Five Land bikes for a bath in the E-coat and a few layers of lovely glossy black paint. Finally back to Sheffield for some custom graphics from HKT Products (the keen-eyed will notice these as a tester for the amazing Afterburner paint on the new Jeht).
Three frames went out to the ambassadors - King of Bolehills Dave Camus, A Line Coaching Gareth Jones and perennially steezy Will Easey. The main driving force for the project here at Cotic was our very own BMX correspondent Baybutt, so the last one stayed in the family as a test/photo/pumptrack mule for him. We had some help from Mark at Fabric who supplied each of the bikes with Magic saddle and grips but obviously, Camus went much further with his build... No bolt was left un-anodised, and the whole thing looks like it fell backwards through the Hope factory - in a good way.
Built with Reynolds 853, tough 26" wheels and top-notch parts, these bikes ride like a bloomin' dream! They're light, tough and lightning quick.
They're also not for sale!
We don't know about your local, but ours (Bolehills BMX track) has been at (socially distanced) capacity morning, noon and night, for pretty much the whole of the summer. Reliable, small and uncomplicated bikes like these have saved the sanity of so many people (and parents) this year. Unfortunately with the massive delays on production in the Far East, the thought of upsetting the (already brimming) apple cart by adding in another new model isn't the most sensible idea right now. So, whilst the project has been more than fun, that's all it is at the moment. Please don't email us about getting hold of one of these, it's not happening in the near future. However, if you're in the market for a pump track bike then you could do a lot worse than try the BFe 27.5 More than a few customers have already purposed a BFe for track razzing duties.
So rather than sit on a bunch of media for a bike that might not see the light of production for a long while, here's a selection of sunny photos which will hopefully inspire you to venture to your closest track and see what all the fuss is about.
Young Joel Blomfield of Shralp Clothing borrowed his dads old Mongoose kit for a little session. It's a funny one when your "new" clothes are twice as old as you.
Will Easey cut together this mint little edit in and around the Surrey Hills.
You can get pretty lucky with conditions at places like Bolehills. Surfaced tracks are built to drain well and withstand thousands of hours of use. You might find that they are still running well into winter when all the usual trails are a soggy mess. And the newer tarmac ones are even more reliable. Be sure to check out the BMX and Pumptrack directory for your closest spot in the UK.
Most of these places are built with love and passion. Sure a council might occasionally pony up a little cash, but most of the time the scenes are built by volunteers; you can pay back your stoke by lending a hand at dig days, picking up litter or sometimes just buying a t-shirt or sticker from the locals to help pay for some more surface. Cotic donates a percentage of its turnover each year to trail maintenance schemes and it's not just mtb routes that reap the benefits. As the artist Cy Whitling says, "Being local isn't defined by how much you've taken from a place, but by how much of yourself you can invest into it."
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78 Comments
If there is the bare bones of a usable facility, why not put in a little graft and transform it into a usable facility? Something is better than nothing. Plus there is the feeling of satisfaction to be gained from creating something with the hands. That’s what I would look to do, rather than booing about how what I have is not as good as what someone else has. How old are you broom pedants anyway, and have you ever done a day’s work in your lives?
Walden is a great group of people, they've updated it quite a lot this year compared to last, there are some wooden features, jumps. progression features (drops, jumps, skinnies) now that weren't there years prior. I have been in talks with the city to possibly do something with our ski hill Adanac as it lays dormant during the summer.
And hey, it's worked on me! I want this bike, despite already having a very nice DJ.
Looks like a Manitou CSU.
DMR
Transition PBJ (good luck getting one in the UK)
NS
I think Dartmoor do a steel bike
Curtis ££££££££££
And that’s it. There is also a myth that people don’t want or ride jump bikes, which is mostly from the mouths who don’t ride jump bikes and don’t ever frequent bmx tracks / trails / skate parks
I would have bitten Cotics hand off for this, hope it makes it to market one day
Chromag has the Monk, and Reeb Cycles here in the US has the Destroyer.
Both would be a bit spendy with shipping to the UK, so you’re point still stands, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention both of these great DH rides.
Blk Mrkt.... NS....
My problem with the PBJ is that o have no idea if I should be getting a long or a short.
There are many places in the UK advertising the PBJ. They do not have any actual frames.
I see Cotic's FB page now says "not anytime soon"....
www.facebook.com/CoticLtd/photos/a.158720824182629/3540651359322875
Why bother you say...
That's why Cy runs a bike company and neither you nor I do.
110g butter
110g sugar
225g mixed fruit (include cherries if wanted)
1 egg
5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon mixed spice (optional)
Rub the butter into the flour until it looks like fine breadcrumbs, add sugar and dried fruit and mixed spice, if using.
Add egg and milk to make a soft dropping consistency.
Put into lined 2 lb loaf tin or 6" round cake tin. Sprinkle demerara sugar over the top and pat down with the back of a spoon (this gives a nice crunchy top) and bake for approximately 1 to 1 1/4 hours in a preheated oven at 180 C / 160 C fan / Gas 4 until a skewer comes out clean.
How many other brands are doing better than that? It’s a very short list!
I work in a mid size company (unrelated engineering field), and a switch to manufacturing locally, is not as simple as it sounds. Cotic is a small company. You'd be paying 'boutique' frame prices if they did not outsource production.
At least that's my guess.
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