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So, bare with me….looking at the Cotic Cascade as a replacement for my Planet X London Road that has developed a crack at the seat stay/seat tube joint. Its well old, done thousands of miles and owes me nothing so I’m not bothered.
The Cascade seems to be the bike I’ve been thinking about for a while now, if I hadn’t sold it I would pretty much build up my old solaris gen 2 frame as a drop bar rigid 29er, pretty much what the cascade is….
But I’ve also been looking at the Titus Ti frames on Planet X, Silk road or El Viajero and was thinking of pairing either up with the Sonder pathfinder carbon fork, as it’s only £200, as opposed to £600* for the Salsa that comes with the cotic (if you don’t want the steel fork).
Looking at relevant forks that the frames are supplied with the axle to crowns are as follows….:
Cotic steel fork or Salsa carbon fork A2C = 483mm
Titus El Viajero comes with RS 35 100mm fork with A2C at 517mm
Not sure what the selcof fork A2C is that the Titus silk road comes with, and they don’t give you that much info about it….
Sonder Pathfinder fork A2C = 500mm. Would this work with any of the frames given they come with forks that are either longer or shorter? Or should I just get the steel fork with the Cotic?
I’d just get the steel fork from Cotic to be honest. There might be a Surly fork which covers what you need too, I’ve put a Surly ECR 29+ on a BFe which works fine.
I think you're right. I just prefer the look of the carbon fork!! Reckon the steel one will be good though. With bigger tyres there probably won;t be great deal of difference when it comes to trail buzz...
The Sonder fork will work with both. Bit longer on both (after sag), but close enough.
Another option could be the Exotic carbon monocoque fork in 490mm length: https://www.carboncycles.cc/?p=1251&. Currently £280 which is more than I was expecting - I'm sure it was nearer £200 when I bought mine almost 3 years ago. No mounts for bolting anything though if that's a consideration.
Using that fork on my Titus Mutsu Ti. The Planet X Selcof fork wasn't yet out at the time.
Actually Cotic also spec the Cascade with a SID 100mm travel fork which has a longer A2C so yeah, the Sonder fork should be fine.
Cheers all. Woo hoo new bike!! 😬
I was also a bit shocked to see the Exotic fork had gone up so much, last time I looked at them they were less than £200, maybe even about £160ish....
If I hadn’t got a Kona Sutra LTD in 2020 I would have almost certainly been in the market for a Cascade. Exactly what I want from a gravel bike, being able to run big tyres, dropper compatible and plenty of bosses for racks and bags.
Ooh that Nordest looks cool, and cheaper than the Cotic. But I'm going to use the cycle to work scheme and the cotic is Reynolds 853....
Anyone know what colours the Cascades actually are? I assume Lichen is a light green, smoke grey is a sort of gunsmoke bluey grey, but what the hell is nimbus sunrise, it looks sort of greeny again but those promo shots never actually show the real colour.
Steel fork is very comfy but heavy. I put a sonder pathfinder on mine
Here's my review
https://ukgravelco.com/cotic-cascade-review/
The cascade is also a deal heavier than the London road but it's a fun bike
Lichen in the flesh taken today en route to the commonwealth games opening party
https://flic.kr/p/2nASJch
Just been reading you're review @rOcKeTdOg actually, cheers for the pic. I'm thinking lichen is the way to go. I wish they did a silly bright orange though...
wish they did a silly bright orange thoug
I'm thinking of respraying mine, here's one I did earlier...
https://flic.kr/p/2nAVhvs
That might be a bit much for me! You'd have thought they have at least non boring colour option in the line up though.
Might have to bling one up with a rainbow of anno parts....
rOcKeTdOg
I’m thinking of respraying mine, here’s one I did earlier…
Can see why you want another go at it 🙂
Joking, I quite like it
Cheeky!, No bored of that colour now, going for something more wacky next