Cy Turner from Cotic writes…
“Today Cotic launch our brand new RoadRat Factory Alfine.
“If you’d asked us a couple of weeks ago what the most asked for option on the RoadRat was, we’d have said “Alfine hub gear” without thinking about it. After a heads up from one of our dealers, some very interesting new Shimano factory wheelsets caught our eye and we put a call in. As a result we now have a supply of the latest Shimano Alfine complete wheels, with the fantastic 8spd hub gear to make things easy on those hills, super sleek straight pull spokes and disc compatibility so upgrading to all weather braking is simple.
“The great news is that from the first week in April you can buy a Cotic RoadRat Factory Alfine for just £849, and we’ve got an ace Magura Julie disc brake upgrade option for just £989. This will be available from us and all our dealers, and of course it comes under the magic £1,000 Cycle2Work limit.
“I built the first bike yesterday for the photos, and it looks even better in the metal. I’m really excited about being able to offer this option for such a great price, and hopefully the combination of this build and the good weather will get even more people out of their cars and onto their bikes.”
All photos by Kelvin Owers.
http://www.cotic.co.uk/product/roadrat
Just what I have been waiting for 🙂
How easy is rear wheel removal for puncture fixing?
‘How easy is rear wheel removal for puncture fixing?’
not too bad, you need a 15mm spanner, some long nose pliers and a bit of practice
Yeah, what yossarian said. I actually found unhitching the gear cable pretty easy with my fingers, but the axle is proper bolt up.
Hitching the cable back again can be a pain sometimes. Practice makes perfect though.
Mmmm, cycle2work. Roll on May. I like this, particularly the disc option.
from back in 2009, a nice drop bar version
http://blog.sidewayscycles.co.uk/2009/11/25/cotic-road-rat-super-commuter/
those are 700c or 26″ ? 700c ones have been available for at least 2 years
I’ve been riding my Roadrat with those Shimano factory wheels (or anyway the 700c version) for a year now and it’s a very good match. Touring, commuting, running down the shops. I put drop bars a J-Tek and discs on mine because I ride flat lands into the wind a lot (and flat bars are for mountainbikes 😉 )
mine’s here; http://www.dirtragmag.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20589
btw, the alfine crank is a *lovely* bit of kit, I got one last month. The chainguard looks like plastic in the photos but is actually a really nicely made aluminium piece. At about 50 euros incl HT2 BB, such good value too.
Hadn’t intended getting another bike-to-work bike but this has just changed my mind so should be getting ordered next week!
Lovely build Cy, I like it a lot. It’ll be even better when the 11 speed Alfine appears on the market. :^)
Looking good Cy! Waiting on an 11sp Alfine for the back of my Roadrat at the mo
Get in the queue Alb. I had not taken much notice of the Alfine prebuilt wheel sets but they look good.