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Hi all,
Hoping for some input from owners here, ideally someone who has ridden both. I was all set on a Rocket but I have been waiting for months and getting bored with having no lead time on when they might be in so I'm looking at other options. The Transition Covert with float x shock is looking nice and sensible on price.
Opinions?
Coming from a Blue Pig Hardtail btw.
Cheers,
John
The Mrs loves her Covert. It's reliable, low maintenance and seems to be pretty good at going up and down. Seems to climb a bit better than my Alpine, but i still think the Alpine is the best descending 160 bike out there. Think her's is just 32.7lb with reverb and tubeless Minions. Although we haven't made any attemptt to get it lighter as it's all stock parts.
No experience with the Rocket I'm afraid. Lar at Transition USA is really helpful and quick to respond to emails.
Tom KP
Banshee spitfire v2
Covert every time
but it can be a little short on the top tube for some.
Only ridden Covert but have BFe and I like both brands very much.
Covert climbs and descends well, test ride I did have 160 forks and I have 150 currently as that's what I had, bike is a lot of run to ride, it's my Alps / "big" bike and it handles that very well, it's got that solid feel I like when descending, laps everything up. As usual the bike is capable of much more than I. I would agree with comparison with Alpine above, the Orange is just that bit more heavy duty again.
What I would say is the Covert and Rocket isn't a direct comparison, the Bandit is more like the Rocket from what I can tell. If you want a 140m bike it's the Bandit you should look at, a few threads on here recently.
What I would say is the Covert and Rocket isn't a direct comparison, the Bandit is more like the Rocket from what I can tell. If you want a 140m bike it's the Bandit you should look at, a few threads on here recently.
From a demo of the Rocket I'm not sure if that's true, the Rocket is a lot of bike.
I will be shifting my 160mm lyriks over to the new bike so rocket would only be 10mm less on the back and same on front as the Covert. I have heard both bikes described as quite poppy, which sounds like what I want coming from the HT. I love my Blue Pig but over longer rides it can be a bit tiring on me, plus I want to eo the mega next year.
I did look at the spitfire but wasn't fussed on it's looks.
John
I was looking at just this choice but ended up with the Covert as I went 29" and wanted a fully built bike (it was before Cy offered fully built bikes). I think you can't go wrong with either. They're roughly similar in terms of the type of bike (fun big hitting AM bikes with a DH slant but can be pedalled efficiently), similar weights. Every time I see a Rocket out on the trail a part of me does wonder 'What If", but i'm sure it would be the same if I had gone for a Rocket and saw a Covert while out and about.
I have a covert (and a BFe coincidentally Jamblaya) it is an awesome bike.
I am sure the rocket will be awesome too, but as someone above said they are different animals..
Toys, how at they different? Not being argumentative just wondering what I am missing?
John
have a look at this, they are ace, wish I could afford one.
TBH I have just looked at the rocket spec, and it is not that far off the covert....
I wouldn't judge a book by its cover with reference to the spitfire v2, I demoed a lot of bikes including the bandit, bandit 29, covert, five, blood, pivot 5.7, pivot firebird. For my riding I wanted 140mm rear and the ability to use 160mm forks cause I had some old parts I wanted to use. The spitfire is long, slack but has short chainstays so it feels stable at speed but is playful and nimble. It really depends what you are looking for if you ride loads of dh and don't have a dh bike go for covert or rune. If you want something for trail riding that can handle a beating I would go spitfire every time. Yesterday I rode the inners uplift on my spitfire and it felt pretty good, obviously its not as quick or strong as my dh bike, however it didn't feel out of its depth!
Of course I am totally blinkered and biased by my bike and every other bike is rubbish.....
Have ridden both, and own a rocket, set up with 36's at 160 but they feel like slightly different types of bike, rocket definitely more xc oriented that the covert from feel. And the covert I rode had 170 forks and the frame was 160, felt heavier build than the rocket even though similar spec. Rocket pedals better in my opinion but isn't as burly in the strength department.
@passtherizza, how did the Covert go with 170's, as mine is mostly for Alps and steeper technical riding I was thinking about putting 170 Slants on it (current 150 Talas are 6 years old)
@Jambalya - i rode my covert for a while with 170 vengeance forks - they are quite tall and made it handle worse, usually on 160 floats but with the vengeance it was just too tall, 160mm is the sweet spot!
After a long time wishing Cotic would have more Rockets in stock, I finally gave up waiting today and ordered a 2014 Spitfire.
I've spent the best part of 8 months deliberating, waiting, then deliberating some more, and it came down to the flexibility of the frame with different wheel sizes and rear drop positions. I'm looking at the CCDB rear shock with a new set of 650b Pikes up front though I'll be fitting 26inch wheels to begin with.
I came very close to getting a SB66 and had many a test ride on one. I couldn't justify the cost though, when I could get the Banshee and fork for the same price as a Yeti. The Transition was on my short list as well but for what ever reason slipped by.
I'm afraid I doubt you'll be seeing new Rocket frames this side of Christmas...
my opinion pretty much reflected what banks said. The guy in our group with one is running 170 vengence too... but for uplift days they are absolete beasts.
Depends on the A_C right?
The covert is as close to a DH bike as you can get whilst still having decent climbing ability. For that reason it was the bike for me. Riding is all about the descents..
I have just spent a week in Bubion with Switchbacks on my covert and it was never lacking in the descending department.
Well the Yorkshire dh champs were won this year on a carbon covert so its pretty good downhill. Bt I've never had a problem pedalling uphill on the covert
Never ridden a Rocket, or any Cotic for that matter but I've owned an ali Covert for the last 18 months and I'm seriously impressed, I have a Trek Session 88 which I now hardly use due to the DH capability of the Covert, it climbs well too. There's quite a few on them down in this part of South Wales and everybody seems stoked with them, couple of top Enduro riders amongst that number too. Hope that helps..
I'm afraid I doubt you'll be seeing new Rocket frames this side of Christmas...
I'm optimistic that you're wrong!. 😉
I'm hoping that's a KNOWING wink.
Not quite, you never KNOW! I'm just an optimist Rob!
My optimism turned to pessimism 🙄
I've struggled at times too mmel, but it's the bike I really want, and I know if I bought something else I'd regret it. I'd rather have the bike I'm completely set on rather than just buying a 'new bike'.
Ditto.
To give th OP an even harder decision, the 2014 Bandit has 140 rear travel with 150 fork options on the build packages I've seen, and 650B wheels, so possibly even closer to the Rocket.
I've tried the Rocket and 2013 Bandit this year and found them similar but felt the benefit of the little bit of extra travel from the Rocket, so I'm waiting. Really enjoyed the cornering ability of both - possibly due to low bottom brackets on both.
Ditto ditto.
Just get he covert... I probably should have (for the extra burlyness) My rocket definitely seemed more nimble on the climbs though and is every capable and slack with 160's.
I've struggled at times too mmel, but it's the bike I really want, and I know if I bought something else I'd regret it. I'd rather have the bike I'm completely set on rather than just buying a 'new bike'.
It's the bike I really wanted as well. But if I'm realistic about it, the frame offers nothing more than others I've demoed. Sure it has it's differences here and there but what I've come to realise is that I've been waiting 8 months just to be in the Cotic club, and I've let other equally suitable bikes pass me by. I needed to draw the line somewhere.... And I've drawn it with a Spitfire!
Shameless cheeky thread hijack - if anyone's interested in a new medium Covert carbon frame in lime green please pm me. I'll probably post something in the For Sales in due course.
I was wondering about the Spitfire v2 when I ordered a Rocket and now the Rockets are seeming to have become vapour(trail?)ware it's now back in my thoughts. I'm doing a long weekend of uplift on the hardtail in a couple of weeks and it would have been really nice to have had a full-sus for that! However I have a 31.6mm dropper post...