You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Mate of mine at work is thinking of buying one (test ride this weekend), I seem to remember a couple of pics of bent rear triangles appearing here a few months back?
Have suggested he try the Airdrop as it's a bit beefier and would suite his "radness" a bit better!
Caveat - I'm a Cotic fan (got a Rocket and a BFe).
There were a couple of failures a while back that I'm aware of. Concensus seemed to be in the end that at least one was due to use outside of 'normal' circumstances. Certainly not aware of any 'just riding along' failures.
For me, there's no more risk with a Rocket than with any other manufacturer's frame. I'm not a light lump (90kg or so) and I'm not a graceful rider, but my Rocket's not blinked in over two years of local, Peak, Lakes, Wales and Scottish riding with the odd enduro thrown in too.
If they were prone to snapping, I'm sure Swinny and the rest of the Cotic team wouldn't be riding them so hard in UK and EWS events?
The posts from a few months back were as you say, it was one particular customer who did bend a couple of seatstays doing some very, very big stuff. We agreed to part ways, gave him a refund and he's bought something a bit more slopestyle/big feature. Generally we don't see this kind of failure, and also as mentioned, the team don't go through frames. I'm off out with Chay tonight on his race bike from last year that we're doing a bit of work with. That's a very well used and high mileage bike and still running great.
My mate Kenny had his frame crack at Bikepark Wales a couple of weeks ago but not sure if it's a Flare Max or Rocket. It was less than two years old so not sure if he is getting a replacement or not.
Put me off buying one for sure.
Bird offer lifetime warranty on their frames.
Transferable lifetime warranty.
I think if you were chucking it down the sort of stuff that Cy is eluding to there then you might well bring even the Bird lifetime warranty into question. Bikes do crack every now and again. If I'd bought a Cotic and it cracked then I would be confident that they would be helpful and reasonable in sorting out the problem. That is the message that has always come out of these sorts of discussions. Let's not try and find problems in a great UK company, doesn't seem fair to me.
Love my Rocket.
I'm not gentle with it, but it continues to look after me.
Cotic are a great company.
I’d agree with Spacey. I don’t believe any manufacturer, ever has never had frames fail when used beyond design expectations or through simple bad luck. The test is how they deal with it.
There was a post on the Cotic Riders FB group a week or two ago of a FlareMax with a folded seatstay on a visit to BPW after a rough landing. As I understand, the rider spoke to Cotic on Monday and received suitable replacement frame parts Tuesday or Wednesday. I’d call that a perfect response.
(Edit; without going looking, might have been BH weekend thinking about it but was still a 24/48hr resolution response which was the point)
Bird owner here and happy. The lifetime warranty is lifetime of the frame, so if your going big on it every week they could deem that be two years. Their backup is good but it's not a case of anything goes, as with Cotic they will treat you fair.
I can't imagine I'll ever break my FlareMax as it seems pretty much bombproof. In fact, if I did I'd probably be secretly quite chuffed 🙂
Of course any frame will break if you hit it hard enough. Bending a seatstay on a landing for example, sounds to me like a harsh bottom out and more a failure in setting up the suspension than a flaw in the frame. But, either way, it's the way the company deals with failures that matters since they happen with any bike. By most accounts Cotic have a very good reputation in this area.
Bird's lifetime transferable warranty is only against manufacturing defects so isn't really that much better than most bikes warranties. If it lasts 2 years without breaking how can you then go on to claim it has a manufacturing defect? Like Cotic though I'm sure they'd be fair.
What’s the rear end stiffness like on the Cotic full suss bikes?
Stiffer than this hopefully!
Clicky
Bolt sheared first?
What happened there? Looks like it's been crashed pretty hard. The droplink on the far side looks as though it's sheared off !
Or vice versa?
Double post!
Or vice versa?
Possibly but I've seen more bolts snap being over torqued alone than frames buckle.
Obviously my anecdote does not a statistic make, but based solely on my own experience I'd go with bolt failed (or not torqued and fell out) first by a significant margin of liklihood.
In that picture it looks like there's a fatal ding/crack in the seat stay. The steel around the fold looks corroded and dirty - that's fatal damage from long before it actually failed.
FWIW I have no skin in this game but assume that's a Cotic? Having seen their response to issues in the past I'd have no qualms about giving them my money.
edit - bonecarrier's pic appears to have gone
https://postimg.cc/hfMKyTj7
Hmm.. both images appear to have been removed..
Can we have them back?
Possibly but I’ve seen more bolts snap being over torqued alone than frames buckle.
Obviously my anecdote does not a statistic make, but based solely on my own experience I’d go with bolt failed (or not torqued and fell out) first by a significant margin of liklihood.
Possibly, but looking at my own I can't see how a failure of that bolt would lead to a crash. The droplink arms just change the leverage curve. I'm not going to test it, but as far as I can see the rear end would still work without them. Now, if you bottomed it out really harshly; landed like a sack of spuds from a great height with a shock that wasn't set up properly, for example, then I can see you putting enough force through that part of the seat stay to bend it. But put enough force through any tube and you can bend it, which is why it would be interesting to know what caused it.