OK here we go.
Last year in Feb, I pressed the button on a 29er Stanton ti frame - Switch9er in 16inch. I am 5-7 and 140lbs, 31 inside leg. Excited. Feb turned to March. Then April. Promised by May, and then the ‘the ti guy’ at Stanton fell ill with the global lurg, and they had all sorts of problems. Rather than being a complete moaner, I said ‘absolutely no problem....whenever you can....’ and I could sense the relief at the end of the phone in the North. Finally coming in September, through no fault of the crew at Stanton, it was an exciting build - lots of internal routing, which usually is a right pain, but that went well. Some 43mm offset PIKEs came up, and I snapped those up, and in they went. The only hiccup was the inability of my lovely XTR cranks to fit, needing a rapid purchase of some boost cranks from Germany. With bolt-on drop-outs this can be switched between all axle standards, the frame has plenty of promise - although I went straight to 148 boost. Lovely SPANK 30mm internal wheels from Ant and Rich at TrueWheels, and it was rolling. This thing was my first excursion into 29, and I expected good rolling characteristics but slow handling. Dan Stanton had emphasised how important the small offset forks were to the overall handling package, and knowing the time and thought he puts in, I listened to that advice. The first outing was on the South Downs, and it was great to feel the ti ride characteristics and the easy rolling feel. For the first half hour, the excellent climbing and light weight of the overall build (27lbs) really showed. We then went into Stanmer Woods. This is where the singletrack starts, and the Grom likes to shoot ahead. On a new bike, with an assumptions that the highly gyroscopic 29 hoops would slow the steering I said ‘...don’t wait for me...I’ll be slow...’. Wrong. Very wrong. This thing was faster and more nimble than my 26er Cotics and 27.5 Ragley mmmBop. Really nimble. Jump bike nimble. And with short chainstays, whack it into the Dinner Plate gears at the rear and it could climb a wall. I genuinely was shocked. Extraordinary bike. So capable downhill; with good line choice and the dropper slammed there was no problem keeping up with some of the boys on double bouncers.
This winter I spent many many hours cycling through utter clag, and used my 26 COTICS as mud-weapons of choice. But it was clear that I was SO much slower than my riding partner on a 29er. I ummed and ah’d about using the Stanton...so come this summer I thought I would get a hack 29er for the late season this year. Only the ‘get a hack’ went completely awry when I saw a Cotic BfEMax for sale on ebay and lost my self-control. The ebay one went for 450 and that was that...straight onto the Cotic website to purchase the only BfEMax they had left. Part of the equation definitely was a sense that I wanted to continue with British steel and if I was to keep to the one in one out rule then a Cotic would have to go - my wonderful duck-egg blue medium SOUL. COTIC out COTIC in. But before pressing the button there was a BIG decision to make about size. Small on the COTIC size chart went up to 172, and the medium started at 169. I am 170. In betweeny. Always a hard call. Reach on the Stanton is 450. Reach on the small BfEMax a lot less at 438 when using a 140 fork. The STANTON is well above the RAD which Joy of Bike touts, but 450 reach feels good on the hill. As usual, the people at Cotic were super-helpful with advice - the initial worry about small or medium resolved by ‘...well, the small will be nimble and not too small....the medium will be rock solid but a less playful ride...’ and Sam said ‘...I ride a small and I am basically the same dimensions as you...’. Small it is then.
Out went the medium SOUL, much hand-wringing about it going - it was such a well-specced and sorted build and definitely a favourite ride - but it went to a good home.
In came the frame box from COTIC, two weeks earlier than promised (thanks guys) and without any cable guides (‘..argh sorry...packing error...will be in the post today and with you tomorrow...’ and they were - brilliant service). Another hunt for short offset forks and yep, some Lyriks on PINKBIKE with the usual heartstopping few days about ‘have I been ripped off or will they arrive’ - and they did, in great condition and with two spare airshafts.
I raided the COTIC Simple for HOPE brakes and XTR cranks (that rebuild will be a winter project...) and everything about the BfEMax build went well. Yes...the BfEMax is probably a ridiculous cross-over with the Stanton, but I do like to have two bikes on the go, to adjust one for long-distance hacking etc. I was interested about weight, geometry and overall performance: and this is what I found...
Dan Stanton went for a curved seattube, to give very short chainstays and a tight rear triangle. The curved seattube means that the seat tube angle is a virtual one, and as you push the seat up, the virtual angle slackens quite a lot. It’s not a problem, you can compensate by slamming the saddle forward on its rails. That way you can keep the excellent balance between front a rear weighting, for tenacious climbing. Despite the slack 65 degree head angle, on some reference step South Down climbs there’s not the wheel flop or lift which some bikes have - and the Stanton climbs things which I could only get up on 90’s retro frames dedicated to climbing. That is a Very Good Thing and a change from many modern geometry rigs.
Before building the BfE I held the frame up to the Stanton and did some eyeballing. Weird. This should have a much shorter feel reach-wise, but it’s actually a huge frame, and lines up nicely against the 450 reach Stanton. The medium would have been way too big; Sam was right. No longer the slight under-sizing on the COTIC website. Nice. The seat angle deal on the BfE is entirely different. It’s got a straight seattube which is quite slack by today’s standards (74.5) but it’s an angle which stays in place. As with the Stanton, slamming the seat forward can look weird but steepens things up a lot. All good. The straight seattube means chainstays much longer than the Stanton. Initial thoughts were that this would slow up the bike in tight singletrack - it’s a loooong bike. But more of that later. As usual, although the Lyriks came with 160 and 150 airshafts, I decided to keep the 170 in and see what I got. Now that seems very odd on a frame with recommended 140 instal, but I also have learned with Rockshox that a minor reduction in spring air pressure can reduce travel a lot, and so I tend to overfork bikes and run with a lot of sag. And in it went...ppppffffffttt....out came a few pounds and doooown went the travel. Balanced the negative chamber and in the saddle we immediately have 150 forks. Perfect. Why run forks like this? Because people forget that suspension needs to drop into holes as much as it needs to compress over bumps. That way = much traction.
And then there’s the head angle on the BfeMax. Sixty three. That’s 63. Much like a DH rig. On a hardtail. I was exceptionally interested to see how that felt. After all the stuff with the Grim Donut and it’s crazy angles (but incredible stability and downhill times - 6 seconds faster on a DH run...not six tenths...six seconds) I was really intrigued by the Bfe’s slack front stance. Sagged Lyrik brought the angle to around 65 and surely it would have monstrous slop and flop. First ride was indeed weird...something very weird about the speed of turn and suspension rate in the turn. But like most new things, the brain only took a few hundred metres to accommodate things. And then....lovely handling...flowy transition from left to right, massive rolling-over-huge-things ability.
And then there’s the weight. BfE’s are notoriously....er beefy. Various friends’ British hardtails are tough monsters but a bit porky - 30-33lbs. OK, I used snakeskin Schwalbe’s (c800grams) rather than DH casings (c1400g) but this is a light build. Around 28lbs. Not a 23lb whippet like the bikes of the 1990s, but a light bike by modern hardtail standards. And it feels light on the flat and in the climb. Actually very light. It goes up, and up. And over things, and up. Very nicely, no slop, no ‘where the hell is the balance point between traction and direction...??’ - far from it...planted and precise, both up and down - particularly down...
So what do we have?
Stanton = slack front, 450 reach, lightning fast in singletrack, tenacious climber, safe and secure descender.
And with very different geometry figures....
Cotic = slacker front end, 438 reach, sure-footed and secure in singletrack, lovely climber and FAST descender.
Long live steel.
And COTIC’s phone number? +447970 853 531
Ha Ha! I said to Sam ‘love your number...’ - ‘Er it’s just a co-incidence’ said Sam.
Nope....it’s a sign from God.
