What to do with my Cotic Soul? (Show me your repurposed 26" MTBs)

I’m in the process of building up a BFe in to a sturdy commuter. Got some Surly ECR forks in 29+ going on the frame, some cheap wheels off here, Maxxis DTH tyres and probably going to go single speed on it too.

Next steps will be a Surly 24 pack rack on the front and either a wide set of low riser bars or maybe Surly Corner Bar.

Rigid forks, cheap NW chainring and SS sprocket off Amazon, ride it.

EOT.

My 26er is my only MTB. It's a YT Wicked. Built it up on a budget after realising I needed a burlier bike than the 100mm 650b Hardtail I was using. It's awesome. I love it. Thanks to @dc1988. I keep ahead of my mates on their 29ers on the downhills. Ok I struggle a little on the climbs but that's more because I'm a fat bap and they're on e-bikes 😀 But after 8 years of the road I know how to enjoy the suffering on a climb.

My Mk1 is still my only mountain bike, not following the question.

Fair play @MoreCashThanDash! I adore my Soul, and never thought my new fangled carbon full suss 29er was anything more than a mid life crisis, but here we are. Also, it's <span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">impossible to find straight steerer 26" forks nowadays.</span>

@tuboflard what size wheels are you going with? What fits?

Sticking with 26” wheels for now @thebunk but largely because that’s what I picked up cheap and also as I want to run reasonably wide tyres (2.3 DTH’s though Wiggle keep sending me the smaller size).

Could definitely go 27.5 on the front with the fork I’ve got, it’ll take up to a 29 x 3.0.

I still have my old 26" Dialled Prince Albert. I started to build it up with rigid forks and squeezed a 27.5 wheel in the rear. Got some 2.4 Schwalbe tyres on it and set it up singlespeed but that's as far as I got...not sure what to do with it now. It still needs brakes, bars etc - probably just use it round the local park with my kids on their bikes.

When my old 1 1/8 reba fork died my Gen 2 Soul was retired as well (replaced by the ubiquitous midlife carbon 29er full sus), and it now hangs as a stripped down frame in the garage with all other parts on the wife's (also ageing but now surprisingly well spec'd!) 26" HT.....hoping to maybe one day resurrect it as a thrash/general duties bike for the kids to spare their good ones for pure trail duties.

I stuck a cheapo On One 26" rigid carbon fork on the front of mine then added a 29" front wheel with a 2.4" Ardent, plus flat bars and a flipped stem to keep the front end low-ish. Then I singlespeeded it with an outboard eccentric bottom bracket.

It was surprisingly good. Very light - ti frame - and a bit different.

Stealth ad: Got a brand new set of rigid pipedream Alice forks (straight steerer) in wonderland blue I was going to use on my mk3 soul decided to keep mine stock so they’re surplus to requirements. £75 posted with axle. DM me if interested.

Give it to someone who will get the most from it. I gave mine to a friend at work who was looking to get a bike to ride with his kids and the occasional trail.

Not a Cotic, but here’s what I did with my Dialled Love/Hate:

And the other one:

@didnthurt nice idea, but it's in the sort of condition that for most people it wouldn't be worth sorting out. I've got a bit of an emotional attachment to the frame though so...

@waliboy well they're rather lovely. Have they been resprayed?

Yes, resprayed and a range of mtb/gravel parts added. Can’t really decide if I prefer the Geoff bars or drop bars, but they’re both getting a new lease of life and keep bringing a smile to my face a good 16 years after I first got them!

This thread makes me annoyed that my mk2 was stolen. I even have a spare pair of forks in the garage.

There's 100mm rebas with 1 1/8 steerers on chain reaction right now and a couple of places that will press a straight steerer into a tapered CSU (e.g. https://www.rsfsus.co.uk/) if you want to get it back to life as a MTB.

There also seems to be a lot more choice of 26" tyres than there was a couple of years ago.

I'm running a couple of '90's MTBs right now - one is a pure shopper and the other is a XC machine with a modern 1x drive train

Slick tyred commuter/ pub bike. Or sell it.

Make a cheap Dirt Jump bike: https://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/back-from-the-dead-building-bargain-dirt-jump-bikes/

There’s 100mm rebas with 1 1/8 steerers on chain reaction right now

£520 for the QR, 100mm travel, 26" wheel version! 😳
Wow...

I'm in need of some new forks for my ancient Cove - the rest of it is largely operational albeit obsolete stuff like a triple chainset, ISIS BB etc but the current Psylo forks are way past their best.

But I can't justify £520 on forks for a bike that gets ridden half a dozen times a year...

I did, for a while, look at turning it into a towpath commuter bike but as I'm not commuting any more, I'm quite glad I never got around to that.

Mine has some old carbon forks, a set of 700c road wheels left over from an upgrade ,gravel tyres and narrower bars with Crane Creek bar ends. It makes a great all rounder for taking grandkids out or not too serious gravel riding

This ebay seller seems to have some decent straight steerer forks available. I used him for a set of Lyriks to keep my mk1 Nomad on the road.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ssn=gp-tuned&_pgn=2&_skc=60&rt=nc

@stwhannah I missed that article first time round, what a great read!

thanks for the fork intel everyone. Tempting just to get a new squishy fork and sell/pass it on. But I also on like the idea of a single speed rigid funny handlebar’d gravel thingy.

What size is your frame?
Best stealth ad ever BTW.

Rigid forks, cheap NW chainring and SS sprocket off Amazon, ride it.

EOT.

^^This^^

much harder to Bork a rigid fork, less drivetrain faff with 1x or SS (up to you really), just have it on standby for emergencies/pub/lending/whatever...

I'd maybe even go so far as to say set it up with tubes just so you don't have to remember to top up sealant (?) But the point would be to keep it functional and ready...

Or stick it on eBay and prepare to be amazed by what people are willing to spend on your old stuff...

I've done this a number of times, with the best looking and feel good riding machine being my old 1999 Zaskar LE frame. Sourced some GT rigid forks and rode it on the road for a few months.

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This was years ago and well before 26" was on the way out. Didn't take long to realise it was compromised as a road bike and didn't really think at the time it could be a gravel bike - maybe I could have started a new trend 😉

I then bought a proper road bike and sold the Zaskar frame. Got a good price from somebody in Italy but regret selling it to this day.

Then I sold the road bike as I found road riding boring.

Into more recent times, I built up a new carbon Whippet framed bike with their carbon forks. initially it was a light build with SS gearing and flew everywhere.

Many different builds later, it was sold yesterday as I wasn't riding it.

Moral of the story, only bother if you will keep riding it.

Not saying sell it, just maybe place it somewhere you can smile and remember the good rides it took you on.

Or if you can detach yourself from a lump of nicely painted metal, build it up and sell it.

Make it home office decor, as I did with mine 😉

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Into this - still 26"

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I want a single speed gravel thing that doesn't look expensive, so if it's a large I may be very interested in it. The more tattered the better.

Car-killer? ie Groceries/errands/pub/everything/cargo bike conversion. Pref singlespeed, steel forks with some cruiser or moto bars and balloon slicks.

What’s that? need some inspurrrational pics?

link

Or spend a bit lot more on some cargo forks (Unless you’re handy wielding a welding torch?)

https://flic.kr/p/2bXfx6N

I had nothing as nice as that GT Karrykoram but did stick a big steel basket on the front of an old Saracen MTB and it was ace finding excuses just go and get bread and beer and, flowers and beer and curries, chips, soup, leeks and lightbulbs. And sticking the vees up at my own car on the way out. Sweet trips to the pub 🚲

(don’t forget the folding double kickstand!)

That GT is the kind of inspiration I’m after with my build. This Instagram feed is also helping.

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my 26ers are still used as mountain bikes.

Built up my old Soda frame for my son. Mostly used his existing parts - so his 650b Ctossride wheels have gone on. They fit with room to spare - which is good, as my only remaining 26” disc wheels are on my daughters bike.

Rides very well apparently. Son took it on its shakedown ride today and really enjoyed it!

@tuboflard stridsland journal is your man on Insta/Web, he's done some really nice bikes.

Cheers @squirrelling, not heard of him, some of his builds are stunning.

I gave my old 456 frame and a large collection of bits & pieces to our local bike charity. I'm never going to use it again.

I only have 26" MTBs - a Rocket (which is still far more capable than me, and was ace fun down Jacob's Ladder yesterday) and a 456.

Currently toying with options to lighten the 456 a bit as it mainly gets used for local rides. I've already got a lovely pair of lightweight wheels for it, next job is to get rid of the Lyriks that badly need a service. And keep an eye out for a lighter frame...

Currently building Gen 3 Soul as a drop-bar bike (will post pics when complete!).

Spec:

• GRX 1x 11 shifters & rear mech.
• XT 11-42 Cassette
• Existing (i.e., OLD) XT crankset - 38 tooth chainring
• Existing (i.e., OLD) XT callipers (side rant: why can't Shimano use threaded barbs on their hoses the clamp block & hammer is a massive faff... or I'm uniquely incompetent in this task)
• Existing Stans/Hope wheels with Conti X-Kings set up tubeless
• Old Fox 32 fork - this may get swapped out for something rigid eventually
• Old Thomson post & 60mm stem

This would be the dream, obviously:

The Shan that I posted previously is now in a similar boat. My retro Kona will continue as my pub bike, then I have the FS eeb and 29'er Ragley

So this will likely be unused, unless I do something with it, dunno what though - may take inspiration from this thread

My old 26er BFe spent the last few years as a very rarely used singlespeed 'urban' bike. then they built a pumptrack locally and it got a new lease of life. Not gone full DJ on it as I still have to comfortably ride it to and from the track.

https://flic.kr/p/2phUhQR

My old, stolen-dented-recovered On One Ti456, repurposed as my wife's commuter/gravel cruiser. Mostly garage bits and bobs, running on 650b wheels and 45c tyres. She is currently pondering whether to try some drop bars on it, to she how she gets on before splurging on a proper gravel bike.

I got a cheap gen 1 and instantly took all the old kit on it off, got some rigid forks for it but wasn't really digging that so swapped that out for a cheap set of Revelation u-turns (which randomly turned out to be literally my old forks that I sold about 7 years ago that were in my original Soul), just for the extra bit of flexibility. Found a set of cheap Roval Traversees, again almost the same as my old one. Experimented with a dropper post but took it off again, 120mm drop feels absurd now so it's oldschool with a QR. Even found the old cranks I had on that bike in a box! Wasn't really remaking it intentionally, it's just all this stuff was so cheap what with 26 Being Dead, but it ended up being really close to my old one which I loved and rode everywhere for years- it was my first proper mountain bike and it was amazing.

Time's been brutal, tbf I just don't enjoy it at all offroad- it doesn't get into the territory of my fatbike or cross bike or even how it felt when i rigidised the original one, of being enjoyable bad and something that I could enjoy working with/around, it just feels like a crap old mountain bike. Obviously there's no practical reason for this, I think maybe if I'd never had one back when it was good, I'd be able to enjoy it more now? But every time I've taken it offroad I've wished I was on a different bike, at best it manages to insult the memories of the old one.

So now it's on a set of GT 2.5 wheelie bike licks- they look fantastic and they're ideal for its normal job of bombing around town and going to the shops via jumping off the speedbumps and riding down All The Steps. And it's great for that, ticks all the "I used to have one of these" boxes without ever having to work very hard at it. Only trouble is it looks slightly too nice for a pub bike.

Weirdly I have no pics, but it's an old grey soul on fat slicks, you can imagine it 🙂

My old 26 Turner Flux got rebuilt for the girlfriend to use, or my sister when she comes to visit and wants some uplift at BPW.

For an occasional rider the 26 is perfect as it feel less 'big' and therefore more manageable.

I've put an ebike kit on my Turner Sultan but I might swap it to my other 26 Flux (a large, the one above is a medium) and keep the Sultan and 650b Flux as normally aspirated.

Other than that the Fluxes are a source of spare DW-Link parts for the other dw-link bikes.

Still riding 26" for mtb here 🙂 mostly because I'm too poor to go up to 27.5" wheels/forks and these are still good.

(not-so-stealth ad, got the frame up for sale if anyone's interested 😉 may also part out some of the other bits if anyone wants some decent 26" wheels)

My 26er alternates between my daughters summer bike and, since this winter, the turbo bike...

Note chainstay sticker 😁

Hang the frame up in the shed 👍

My 26" cotic bfe is currently set up 1x11 with an old set of rebas as a spare hardtail and is out on loan to my eldest whilst he decides what gravel bike to buy (it’s been about 9 months so far…) I suspect i’ve lost it but it’s in regular use which is what matters. Meanwhile the love/hate is still in action as the best single speed ever. OP, if you’ve never tried single speed it’s fun and cheap to do on an old bike.

@poah I had that same model of Hornet, great frame! Wish I'd held onto it - in hindsight I should have just got it a shorter travel fork with a 27.5" front wheel for a mini mullet setup!

So now it’s on a set of GT 2.5 wheelie bike licks

@Northwind I assume you mean GT Smoothies?

If you can deal with green or brown treads you can get Booze Lights for under 20 quid, great tyres!

Yep, that's the ones.

I have a 1992 Kona Cinder Cone waiting for a revitalisation.

I was thinking of bring it back to former glory with period correct parts, but thats just going to be too expensive. If the frame was something a bit more special then maybe I would.

Plan is to refresh the paintwork on the frame and the P2 forks, use one of the pairs of older 26" wheels that  have hanging around (STX-Rc hubs with Mavic rims) add a 1x Microshift Advent drive train, see what brakes might hiding in the bits and bobs bin.

Plan is to refresh the paintwork on the frame and the P2 forks, use one of the pairs of older 26″ wheels that have hanging around (STX-Rc hubs with Mavic rims) add a 1x Microshift Advent drive train, see what brakes might hiding in the bits and bobs bin

I always regret selling my P2's 😭 '97 triple butted are rare as hens teeth now

Posted a dozen times before but if you haven't seen it. I went for a slightly retro modern mish mash 🤣

My old Explosif (04 so not proper retro) lives in an unlocked horsebox for occasional rides with my wife's horse. It's knackered!

Otherwise I would be tempted to leave it with relatives if you visit often and want to get out occasionally.

Mine's (mk2) still in frequent use on dad bike duties and the preferred tool of choice for the school run.

It's beautiful bastardly hybrid of bits; Saint shifters, 10spd Deore mech, Formula brakes, Rev' fork and an ancient set of Hope Pro 2 / Stans wheels which refuse to die (or dent, or buckle or ever leak air - they're superb).

Here it is in v1 form at the top of the Burma Road climb a few years ago. Same bits hung onto a medium frame.

I swapped everything onto a large frame when the little person started tagging along and it gives us a bit more room on the top-tube for the Shotgun seat. I needed to hack an inch off the top of the seat-tube to let my penguin legs reach the ground though.

I love this little bike, it's brilliant.

My 29'er Bird Forge is newer, bigger, better equipped and superior in every way. Apart from how it feels to ride. I'd trust the Forge to get me out of more trouble on a sketchy bit of trail (it's a brilliant bike too), but I prefer how the Soul rides.

It’s electrifying! (‘94 Stumpy).

obsolete stuff like a triple chainset, ISIS BB

Absolutely nothing wrong with either of those things.

Mines more of a midlife crisis bike:

It’s electrifying! (‘94 Stumpy

nice! What electric kit are you using?

I did the lazy/cheap SS thing with mine. It has ended up having a similar sort of vibe to @Northwind's, in that it's the bike that got me into MTB and I loved it at the time, but it's quite terrifying in comparison to my contemporary BFeMAX!

However, for the right sort of riding I love it still. Cycleroute zipping, cruising to the shops, bimbling with the kids, it's ace. Built up SS it weighs next to nothing, and last year I stuck some recent XT two pot brakes on it which are lovely, really transforms the bike compared with the ancient deores it had before.

Another gravel bike.
Cannondale F2000SL, 650b wheels, dropped bars, second set of wheels with slick tyres for turbo/road use. <br />Shop patiently and carefully and it can be a bargain bike.

I'm in the process of monstercrossing an old Cannondale myself, just needs a chainset pinching off another bike and the bars taping. It's been a fun build - almost every single aspect of it has been a bodge or workaround, but I think it could be my new favourite bike...

Absolutely nothing wrong with either of those things.

I beg to differ.

Triple is one thing but ISIS is absolutely awful.

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@TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR I used to have one of those, a specialized Pitch, was one of the best bikes I've ever owned.

 I used to have one of those, a specialized Pitch, was one of the best bikes I’ve ever owned.

That was the S-Works carbon Enduro (they look similar) - bought the frame/shock and built it up almost to spec - different brakes and a couple of other bits. Even had the nasty triple clamps, but ended up changing them to X-Fusion Vengeance. It ripped back in it's day though

@slackboy

nice! What electric kit are you using?

Geeko
And no, that’s not me in the pic!

My '97 26inch Clockwork Orange is repurposed with 650B wheels and 48c tyres for light gravel use. It works really well for that.

I also have a Pace RC100 (COVID rebuild project) and a '91 Orange Alu-O which I've had from new and refurbed / built with NOS. These are gentle rides/hanging on the wall bikes now.

My ’97 26inch Clockwork Orange is repurposed with 650B wheels and 48c tyres for light gravel use. It works really well for that.

Anything special you had to do with the brakes for that set up?

More or less done. After first freezing ride on Tuesday I'm pretty happy.

Need to swap seat post for in-line post. I'll tinker with the lever position maybe, but all works pretty well.

(Getting the chainline OK required ditching of a drive side BB spacer - since it's a 2x crankset - but with Wolftooth chainring and GRX clutch rear mech all ran smoothly on a fairly choppy 50Km ride with techy sections in the frozen wastes of Black Rocks and Cromford).

I will pass on comments for garden repair/upkeep/renovations to the relevant authority in the household.

Finally finished putting it together this week, swapping in old spiked tyres on the 26" wheels before this morning's ride. Absolute hoot.
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