[Closed] Cotic Solaris Owners - Show me yours ......

Full XT. Double up front. Easton seatpost / bars, Hope Headset / Stem. Charge Spoon saddle. RockShox SIDs. Maxxis Crossmark tires.

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My first one looked like this:

[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7122/7027698181_686d06f09a_z.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7122/7027698181_686d06f09a_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/77564901@N06/7027698181/ ]Cotic Solaris 2509[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/77564901@N06/ ]Metalheart-UK[/url], on Flickr.

Embarrassingly the green one is still in the box waiting for me to pull the finger out and order the transmission.... 😳

[img] http://www.iseepeople.co.uk/firemonkey/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=57781&g2_serialNumber=1 [/img]

(my Solaris is chilling in the background of the image)

SIDs
SLX 2x9
American Classic tubeless wheels with Nobby Nics
XTR trail and race brakes, 160 & 200mm discs
55mm stem & some bars
Hope headset

The tubeless wheels have made a heckuva difference to grip and comfort. Tough enough for my riding and a very pleasant weight.

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Here is a pic of mine as I was finishing building it up last week, bit gutted that i couldn't get an orange or green frame but warming to the blue.

I have since fitted a saddle and brake rotors (i'm not some sort of suicidal weirdo)

XT groupset inc brakes.
The standard Hope hubs, Crests combo
Hope headset, BB and collar
NN front, RR rear.
great Merlin bargain carbon Easton Havoc bars
Reverb post.

Loving it so far, great ride, just wish they could kink the rear seat tube to allow more room for rear mech/ tyre.

Here's my second wife...or bit on the side... 😉

100mm Reba's
Rohloff
Stan Crests tubeless on Racing Ralphs
Middleburn Uno
Carbon bars and seat post
Brooks saddle

Weights in at 27.25lb....I'm happy with that.

[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8292/7899419530_b9731a5903.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8292/7899419530_b9731a5903.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/70653371@N05/7899419530/ ]Untitled[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/70653371@N05/ ]Rosscopeco[/url], on Flickr

...meant to add

I did the West Highland Way on her last weekend and she loved it. Compared to my old Cotic Simple it definatly rolled quicker and took the hits with far more grace and poise than I expected.

I originaly had USE Atom 'flat' 580mm bars on it but ended up with a bit of a sore neck...I guess that's not too surprising after 100 miles. I swapped the USE's out to an old set of 680mm Easton carbon low rise bars so will be testing them out tonight to see if it mucks up the handling too much. I suspect I'll need to lean a little more into the hills when climbng...time will tell.

Pic to follow...

Went hope hoops crest, now arch ex tubeless crossmark and ardent, white reba, XT 2x10 and Easton haven carbon bar/seatpost and haven stem.

Awesome bike, prefer to fuel ex it replaced.

the bikes are looking super
anyone running an XL with 50mm stem and 750 or thereabouts bars at 6'1" (35") inside leg?
...just asking!

how tall are you letmetalktomark?

Love mine is an xl with 50 stem and haven bars - not sure on width but wide.

Feels perfect and am 6'4. Feels way less perched than any previous mtb and much more like a bike that fits.

There you go rigid and 1 * 10 (An experiment that worked rather well!)

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@ Love ...... I'm 6' 3"

Will be running a 70mm stem and flat 762mm bars, inline post.

Had toyed with an L but it was a too similar size to my Soul which is an L and a smidgen small for all day rides.

Just contemplating whether to go rigid or front suspension 😐

@ BDB ...... What forks re those?

They are on one 470mm a-c monocoque carbon, great forks.

Quite liking this thread. I've been contemplating buying one since I test rode a Solaris at one of the Calver demos in May. Just needed to raise the funds.

Therefore I might buy today 🙂

So, general owner consensus is....

100mm forks, Pro II-Arch EX wheels, short(ish) stems and big flat wide bars?

What rotor sizes are people running?

I have XTs on my FS with 160mm and so far they've been excellent with more than enough stopping power. Therefore I was going to opt for the same albeit the latest SLX version.

Cheers

KoB

What would a typical build cost be for one of these assuming new parts (not fancy bits but reasonable).

Have a friend with a £2k budget looking at 29er FS bikes (Epic/Anthem), with frame at £500 I'm thinking he'll spend more than that on a comparable spec Solaris.

You can save yourself £50 on buying the frame direct from Cotic, by ordering it from here.

http://www.freeflowbikes.com/Hardtail/Frames-Forks/Frames/Cotic/Cotic-Solaris-29er/

When I bought mine a fortnight ago it was £412, now £448 and they order them direct from Cotic anyway.

Too late..........just ordered mine......direct from Cotic......large, green Solaris with Hope headset on it's way 🙂

My first big wheeled bike!

more pictures please!

...could any one use a (very little use) hope hoop eve rear wheel (crest rim and straight pull spokes)?...I am going to use something different, so looking for a good home...posting on classifieds now!

Not much help but here's mine

[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8040/7976454949_90e42b2bf1_z.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8040/7976454949_90e42b2bf1_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

It may need a little work before it's rideable 😆

@wisepranker... you seem to be missing a fairly vital component; the frame!

@wisepranker - what wheels and forks have you gone for?

I'm having difficulty in sourcing what I want. I've been looking for Fox 32 F29 100 CTDs but alas no where to be found (until November I believe). So now it's white, tapered, 100mm, qr15/maxle lite forks I'm after 🙂

Same with wheels. I want hope Pro II Evos-Stans Arch EX. Rocking horse poo apparently. Although thankfully only a 2 week wait so I've ordered provisionally.

So now it's white, tapered, 100mm, qr15/maxle lite forks I'm after

I've got white RS SID Tapered 15mm Maxle on mine

Where from @Frankers and at what price?

@alfabus, the frame's in the big box at the bottom 🙂

Wheels are Hope Hoops with Flow rims, got them from Progressive Bikes for £270 which I thought was a bit of a bargain! Forks are RS Reba 100mm with 15mm Maxle and 1" 1/8 steerer.
I struggles to find some white forks with tapered steerer and bolt through axle so had to choose between one and the other.
There's a tidy set of Fox Talas in white on Merlin's site but I couldn't justify the extra £250+ over the Reba's.

I got mine from [url= http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k1027/a60483/sid-29-rct3-dual-air-100-maxle-lite-tapered-white.html ]Bike Discount.de[/url]

I paid about £490

@alfabus, the frame's in the big box at the bottom

did they fold it up? surely that box isn't tall enough for a frame!

did they fold it up? surely that box isn't tall enough for a frame!

Actually now I look back at the photo I can see what you mean, the box looks tiny!
I can assure you though, there's definitely a Large Solaris frame in there 🙂

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Large green Solaris
Rockshox SID Tapered Maxle 100mm forks
King hubs + Arch EX rims
Full XT groupset + XT brakes
SDG Carbon I-Beam seatpost + Bel Air saddle
Thomson 70mm stem
Niner Carbon bars

Mine's a bit OTT. XX, 240/Crests, Rebas, EC90/EC70 finishing kit. It was one of the first to ship, and I'm loving it 6 months on. In fact, I'm fairly sure I'm going to sell my full suss 29er as it isn't getting the use.

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bol - Member
In fact, I'm fairly sure I'm going to sell my full suss 29er as it isn't getting the use.

Which Full Suss are you thinking of selling??

It's a Niner RIP 9. I love it, but I've only used it a handful of times as the Solaris is more than enough for most of my riding. Logic, Mrs Bol and my riding buddies suggest the money would be better spent elsewhere. Still not convinced I want to part with it though.

Just finished the build on my Solaris today. I'm heading to work now but it;s the last shift before a week and a half off so plenty of time to get a good feel for it 🙂

[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8315/7999374745_d4eb99dc6d_z.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8315/7999374745_d4eb99dc6d_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

And a gratuitous shot of all the bikes together 😀

[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8445/7999383572_4b9b3004cb_z.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8445/7999383572_4b9b3004cb_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

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Since pic:

Hoses trimmed

Front tyre now Hans Dampf

Oh, I missed this first time round.

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Anyone got a medium Solaris to try, Staffordshire Cheshire area?
Thanks

All looking rather nice. My inner Cotic fan is tempted.
What weights are they building into?

ska-49 - Member

What weights are they building into?

My XL with Flows, Ardents etc is 29lbs, weighed today.

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Hi, does anyone have the new size SMALL frame? Hows it riding? Can you please put a photo up to see how it looks built up?

Apologies for the thread resurrection but I've just got round to finishing my Solaris build off and I'm quite chuffed. Built entirely with parts off the classifieds, it's replaced my Karate Monkey (which will be sadly missed, however it's one in one out from now on 🙁 )

Looking forward to getting a ride in one night this week hopefully 🙂
And yes, brakes need shortening but CBA

[url= http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3718/9449475197_d5ba8efaaa.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3718/9449475197_d5ba8efaaa.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikesnthat/9449475197/ ]Untitled[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/bikesnthat/ ]redmancunian69[/url], on Flickr

[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7457/9449476061_60a67accc0.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7457/9449476061_60a67accc0.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikesnthat/9449476061/ ]Untitled[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/bikesnthat/ ]redmancunian69[/url], on Flickr

[URL= http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p268/lloydy123/DSCN1362.jp g" target="_blank">http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p268/lloydy123/DSCN1362.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

XT groupset, triple with 22T granny
XT brakes, 203mm front rotor & 180mm rear
RS Pike 120mm fork
Hope BB, headset and hubs with stans arch rims
Contintental mountain king black chili tyres tubeless
Thompson seat post

Good to see some in this thread I hadn't seen before.

I posted this recently (mine is in their) http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/calling-all-cotic-solaris-owners

It was quicker than finding a link to the pictures of mine as I'm on my way out!

this thread makes me sad, on a side note if anyone fancies chopping in their XL frame, possibly for a 'new' large get in touch (subject to insurance sorting me out)

I know where there is a nice xl frame in orange going begging. In fact it's the one on page one of this thread. Streetlife Cycles in Norwich. Ask for Alex and say Oli sent you. I'm sure he'd swap it for a new large.

Awesome, I'll get in touch ASAP.

Drop me an email and I'll give you his mobile number.

Duplicate post.

Here is another recent pic of mine 8)
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Did any body weigh their Large frame before they built it?
How much was the real world weight?

Did any body weigh their Large frame before they built it?
How much was the real world weight?

I doubt a few grammes here and there is going to make much difference. According to Cotic the 19" weighs 2.2Kg, for comparison the 17.5 Soul 26" weighs 2Kg so 200 grammes less for a smaller wheel size AND frame. Assume that the large Solaris is an extra 100g (at most). My large frame built up weighs 12.7Kg and I went for usefulness when getting the components rather than the lightest as I'd rather things lasted than willy-waving about weight.

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Here's mine, that didn't make it to the thread last time - now with fabric flat saddle

[url= https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5599/14934247774_b98887089f_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5599/14934247774_b98887089f_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/oKFVyA ]IMG_0535[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/8133348@N03/ ]oxym0r0n[/url], on Flickr

Have I not posted mine? How remis of me 🙂

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[url= https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3910/15013756869_69af1129a5_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3910/15013756869_69af1129a5_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/oSHqR4 ]IMG_20140910_182854[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/11280082@N04/ ]too_tall_paul[/url], on Flickr

Well here is another one of mine then 😉

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@ tootallpaul - what width bars do you have?

I did try out some bar ends when I got back from holiday recently as I picked these up in what looked like the Portuguese version of Sport Direct!
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I tried the white ones on the stock (my bike was a complete build) RaceFace Ride bars. But the bars felt narrow (710mm after the Fatbar lite @ 740mm but feeling narrower once the bar ends were fitted obviously) and the reach short (60mm stem) and yet somehow the bar ends too wide to feel comfy hacking through the woods.

I guess my old school roots have to stop at steel!

I think they are 740 - Mt Zoom Carbon flat XL's.

Thanks.

I'm guessing by your username that you aren't exactly vertically challenged and therefore have long arms?

I just have to add how pleased I am with the Solaris. Such a nice bike to ride. I took out my old steel retro rocket the other week (after covering about 20 miles on the Cotic earlier in the day) and, unlike with previous 'modern' bikes I've owned the wow factor I felt from that old Fisher seemed to lessen and I wanted to be back on the wagon wheeled Cotic!

Guess I've found the right bike for me. Finally.

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Here's mine two years ago when new. Now sporting a newer SLX drivetrain with Shadow+ mech. Fantastic bike. In fact now my only bike which says a lot.

<looking for excuses> Does my Solaris need a dropper post and 120mm forks though? </looking for excuses>

Sorely tempted. Also considering moving to a 1x10 setup with 34T N/W ring.

I have a dropper post for my solaris - but I only use it on trips away. On my local trails I would rather keep things simple and stick with a nice light carbon post

re fork length - I'm actually considering going the other way. I currently have some 120mm x-fusion slides, but want to try some SIDs and think I might get 100mm ones.

I'm actually considering having 2x "builds" for my solaris - XC/ local (crests, rockst rons, 100mm SIDs, carbon post) and "Trips away to rockier places" (Flows, tougher tyres, 120mm forks and dropper post)

Mine is 1x10 I am very happy with the set up (coming from previous 2x10 set up on a different 29er).

I also keep having the 'should I have gone for 120mm forks' thought process/questioning myself!*

*also known as doing a Roverpig - only joking RP 😉

Guilty as charged 🙂

I'm in the 120mm but 100mm curious camp. I was even toying with the idea of going for 100mm forks but adding an angleset to keep the head angle the same (but lower the bottom bracket). Think I'll just ride it for a bit first though.

For the record, my gen 1 Solaris in large weighed 4.9lbs

I'd be interested to hear from anyone that has had both 100mm and 120mm forks on the same bike. What the difference was, good, bad, different?

I'm really tempted by a Soul, rode a few and it was like a, geared, nicer version of my Sanderson Soloist. But being extra lanky, and crap at SS, maybe a Solaris would be better for me. But I quite like the idea of 120mm forks and the associated slacker HA.

Thoughts?

Although as well as thinking about 120mm forks, I'd still like to know if any Solaris owners have:
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/anyone-used-their-solaris-for-xc-racing-or-endurance-marathon-races

Maybe the thread got missed by some posting on this one, etc.

Although as well as thinking about 120mm forks, I'd still like to know if any Solaris owners have:
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/anyone-used-their-solaris-for-xc-racing-or-endurance-marathon-races

I've used mine for one hour midweek races, 60k enduros (the old type) and solo at MM. Got Fox Talas 100mm/120mm forks on it. Probably not stiff enough for full on short races (I'm very much a 'hobbyist' racer rather than someone with any pretensions at winning anything) but is fine for longer ones. It can be built pretty light with decent parts. Works fine for everything with 100mm forks but is definitely better on the downhills with 120mm IMO.

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Thanks Dazh.

Here is what I said in that thread as it explains where I'm at in the thought process:

I'm not a serious racer by a long shot but gave thought about some kind of event with my son. He is super fit and I have to rely on years of technique to keep the balance! But we have thought of doing some kind of 'big' (endurance) event together. He has my old 29er, a Spesh Carve Expert.

My Solaris build isn't too bad. 100mm forks, 1x10 XT with Hope N/W, xt brakes, Hope tech xc pro 2 wheels, etc.

For the record, my gen 1 Solaris in large weighed 4.9lbs

Is 4.9 lbs 4lbs9oz or 4lbs14.4oz?

Just easier to use metric really 🙂

Man do I want one of these bikes! I am always too late for the large frames that end up in the classifieds.