The World Championships are being held in Mont St Anne this weekend, and as well as wishing our Kate all the very best for her second Worlds Appearance, we have one very blatantly-supporting-the-Brit thing to say.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PEATY!!!!!!

We've just got the email through that our next batch of Sodas are going to here in 2 weeks. HURRAH for lovely, shiny things. If you missed out on the last batch, or you just want the ultimate expression of the Cotic hardtail, get your order in today.

What Mountain Bike magazine have had a BFe on a 6 bike steel frame shootout for the last few months and the outcome has been published in the latest issue No113 (due in the shops this week, we have a subs copy).

The great thing is that it did brilliantly! It was awarded Most Versatile Bike on the test and came second overall, with the test guys doing a great job (in our opinion) of highlighting not just the chaos capability of the frame, but also what a great trail bike it makes too. It was always the intention when re-designing the BFe that the lower price point compared to the Soul would allow it to bring Cotic handling, finish and feel to more people, and this test proves it not just us who thinks so.

In the test summary, they say that lighter, smoother riders might be better served by something lighter and less overbuilt. Good job they can buy a Soul then, eh?!!

I guess it's also a good job we have lots of Soul and BFe frames arriving at the end of this week!

Fans of shiny things rejoice; the new batch of Sodas are in build and will be with us in early September. Get yours on order now - no deposit required.

Also incoming are the latest batches of Soul and BFe frames, so we'll be fully stocked up on those small and medium BFes we've been short of recently, and have all sizes and colours of both types of frame from stock from the end of August. If you fancy a BFe in Gristone, they're arriving a little earlier and you can get one of those next week.

This story broke a few weeks ago, but it's still worth some consideration. Basically after years of sticking their heads in the sand (almost literally if you consider some of the obstacles at a pro CX race!), the UCI have finally allowed the use of disc brakes in UCI sanctioned events from the upcoming 2010/11 season. There's a good story and background on Cycling News.

I've long considered the ban on discs in cyclocross to be a retrograde step for bicycle development. As someone who likes discs on their road bike (my ROADRAT has had Hopes on it the whole time), it's been particularly frustrating that the lack of allowable use in competition has led to a very limited amount of products available for road or 'cross bikes, and what there is tends to be at the heavier, cheaper end of the spectrum as befits the more usual use on trekking or mountain bikes at the volume end of the market. One particularly tricky situation is using drop bar STI levers. The only available cable pull discs aren't great, and they're very heavy. But once you've got those on you have to use comparatively heavy wheels due to the lack of high end CX competition to drive development of lighter kit. You only have to look at MTB competition to see how use at World Cup level drives weights down. You don't even have to go to the top of the range in MTB discs these days to get something incredibly powerful and reliable, yet at a comparable weight of a rim brake set up.

Discs on cyclocross bikes just make sense. I've never been prone to canti-brake purism in this regard, and rim brakes are just dumb for this application. At long last the freeing up of the regulations will now drive Shimano and SRAM to develop at the very least some lightweight cable operated calipers; I can't see the top CX racers being keen on running 400grams worth of BB7 Road or Tiagra Cable Discs on their race bikes! Your top end wheel manufacturers will also get on the case with lighter weight wheels and hubs in particular. What I'm really hoping for, and has been alluded to by a SRAM product manager in one of the stories I've read, is some kind of full hydraulic system. The complexities of making that work within a brake lever are not inconsiderable, but remember, Shimano already do a combined hydarulic brake/STI shifter for flat bars. Sure, it's bigger than you'd want for a road lever, but the know how exists already. And who's to say it will just be the lever? With carbon technology it would actually be pretty easy to integrate the cylinder and reservoir into the handlebar, keeping everything nice and small and out of the way. I'm just hand-waving here, but the possibilities for advantage and comfort will be looked at hard now competition is driving the product development.

This can only be a good thing for everyone wanting discs in a road/CX type application, because it's going to open up the 'trickle down' factor for nicer, lighter, better kit in the more affordable groupsets too. It also means that they could well be a move to more appropriate road biased kit too. Even 160mm disc rotors are overkill for most users, but a larger market on the drop bar side of things could open up the possibility of manufacturers offering 140mm or even 120mm front and rear discs to minimise weight and caliper size whilst keeping the power appropriate for the application to road bikes.

Sneaky New Frame Announcement

So, I think this is a great move, which is also why when our >X< cyclocross bike comes out later in the year, it will be equipped with disc mounts.

Yes, that's right, >X< is coming.

We'll have framesets in early October, and complete bikes not long after that. The geometry is based on the prototype Kate successfully campaigned last winter, but with a few tweaks and improvements she and her coach suggested. If you want to read about her exploits, and see some pictures of the prototype >X<, have a look at her blog post on her first cyclocross race.

>X< will use a new Cotic tubeset in Heat Treated Cromoly, and we've achieved nearly the same weight as the 853 frame, but for a much lower price. Basic specifications are:

• 4 sizes, roughly equivalent to road sizes 52, 54, 56, and 58
• Cotic Heat Treated Cromoly tubeset, Ovalform top tube, superlight Soul dropouts
• 4.1lb frame weight
• Disc mounts, mudguard eyes, removable rim brake mounts
• Cotic Components carbon fork, with rim and disc brake mounts
• £450 frameset

Bike spec is TBC, but it's going to be somewhere around Shimano Tiagra 9spd as a basis. I'm aiming to get it in just under the magic £1k mark for the cycle2work scheme.

We'll have a product page and all the details up on the site soon, and production pics in early September. If you'd like to register your interest in the meantime, or indeed order a frameset, drop me an email at info@cotic.co.uk and we'll be in touch nearer the time of arrival.

• Team AQR's blog : Bristol BikeFest 2010
• Robbie's blog : RedHill NPS 4X
• Kate's Blog : Guiding Highs....and sunny smiles

We've had an orange option on the ROADRAT for about 2 months now, but we've been so insanely busy building and selling them that we haven't had a chance to get some proper pics. That can now be remedied thanks to our mate Neil, who took delivery of his shiny new Factory Alfine in orange on Friday, and was sent on his way with strict instructions to take some nice pics of it before getting it mucky. Thanks for the lovely shots Neil!

We're getting on top of back orders this week, and will have ROADRAT Factory Alfine available from stock, as well as all the other bike options - Geared, SS Flat Bar, SS Drop. The only thing we're out of stock of right now is large/long. Due to a communication muck up with the last order, we got lots of medium/longs instead of lots of large/longs so we'll not have more of that size until December when the next batch arrives. Really sorry about that tall people!

We're doing two workday friendly evening demos in conjunction with 18 Bikes on Thursday 1st July and Thursday 8th July, combining our demo fleets to offer some good choice on sizing and builds.

Place are beginning to fill up, so just a reminder that if you want to swing your leg over the latest Cotic BFe and Soul bikes, then get in touch with 18 Bikes on info@18bikes.co.uk or 01433 621 111 to reserve your place.

The demos are running from the 18 Bikes shop in Hope, right in the heart of the Peak District. The shop is open all day, but Cotic will be there from 7pm to size people onto bikes and get things set up nicely. Come 8pm, 18 Bikes closes and we'll all head out for roughly a 90min loop around the local Peak trails to give you a really good idea what Cotic bikes are about. The bike available are:

• 2 x Soul, Medium
• 1 x Soul, Large
• 1 x BFe, Medium
• 1 x BFe, Small
• 1 x BFe, Extra Small

We'll bring along frames in the other colour options (all the BFe demo bikes are blue, so we'll bring a Gritstone to look at), and if we still have any stock we'll bring a Soda frame to ogle as well.

Looking forward to seeing you!

We always enjoy receiving photos of our frames once they've found a good home, so please keep sending them in. Oh, check out this one from Richard Maude...

One of our first new distributors launched Cotic in Germany a couple of weeks ago. Eaven Cycles will be the source of Cotic goodness in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands from now on, with our new friend Carsten at the helm. Check out the stand at the event...

Makes us all misty-eyed for Mountain Mayhem in 2003....[Reverie mode cancel]

So, if you're in central Europe and want some fine Cotic product, head over to www.eaven-cycles.com or www.cotic-bikes.de and you can speak to someone who speaks your language and you can pay in Euros. Amazing!

Carsten tells us that his next big event is the Salzkammergut Throphy Bad in Goisern, Austria on July 16th to July 18th. Go and say hello if you're there.

From Kelvin, Paul, Kate, Ian... and everyone else riding your frames.
Have a great day.

We're enjoying seeing customer builds of the new BFe, keep them coming in. This one is from Chris Taylor:

...a 180 mile, 4 day, Coast to Coast mountain bike route across North Wales for charity.

Just finished building up an Xtra Small BFe to take to Dirt Magazine on Thursday, and it looks so compact, tight and damn nice that I had to get a pic of it during, erm, 'shakedown' in the local woods.

One sweet bike. Feels ace too, despite being three sizes too small for me! We are fully stocked on these babies now. There's more information on the BFe Product Page. Orders yours today!

An entire 20ft container full of frames arrived at Cotic HQ today, including the new BFe frames at last. Unfortunately due to a delay on the fancy black scotchlite decals, the gritstone frames have turned up without stickers on. I'm told they'll arrive next week, but I've taken some pics of the frame colour. Looks very dark, and then suddenly looks a little lighter next to the completely black seat QR. Hope you like it.

We've also had a blue BFe order with an orange down tube sticker on. The decals are a £15 upcharge on the BFe, but I think you'll agree that this looks really quite fetching.

Any of the options available on the Soul are available for the BFE as well.

The warehouse is 'quite' full!!

I've been accused of being a little bit obsessed with steel as a material. I'll admit to being guilty as charged - I love it as a way to bring bike frames to life. When I found this video link on Friday, it chimed with me. I may not work the material myself llike Dario and his crew, but this guy share's my obsession and has a gorgeously Italian way of expressing it. So, with due warning for some bad language, here's Dario Pegoretti abusing his staff and sharing why he thinks steel is amazing.

Dario tells it how it is...

It's been a while since I put anything up here, so apologies. We've been working hard getting ready for the shipment of Souls and BFes arriving next week. If you have a frame on order, do get in touch to confirm you still want your frame and with some payment details. We have around 85 frames to get out from this shipment so it'd be good to get the info as soon as possible. Give us a call on 07970 853531. I really appreciate your patience on this, especially if you're a BFe customer. I know it will have been worth the wait.

Seeing as we will be so busy this month, response to emails and the usual smooth running of things will be a little slower than usual as we'll be at the warehouse most days getting back orders out until we've cleared the backlog. Normal service and frame availability from stock will resume by the end of May.

On the ROADRAT front, Alfine bikes are now sold out until the end of June. We will have full availability from then onwards with regular monthly drops of Alfine kit from Shimano. In the meantime, if you want gears on your ROADRAT, how about the regular Geared Bike option? These are available from stock right now.

Kate's had a tough start to her World Cup campaign, poor love. She's blogged about it.

What else is happening? Oh yes; demo season is also upon us. We've done a lovely demo at Dales Bike Centre, and we have another great event coming up at the Keswick Mountain Festival with Keswick Mountain Bikes. Give them a call on 017687 80586 to book a ride on a Soul or a Hemlock in some proper Lakes terrain.

I've been up to Eyam and snapped some shots of the first ROADRAT Geared bike. Rather nice, I think you'll agree.

These are available from stock NOW. Email us or call now to order yours, or order with your dealer.

I've just ordered the build kits for a new geared option on the ROADRAT, and thought you may like to know about it. Off the back of the huge success of the Factory Alfine build, we're going to be doing this regular geared version as well. It'll be flat bar only again, and based around a Deore/Tiagra setup with 26/36/48 chainrings and 11-25 cassette. Perfect for when you're loaded up or got some really big hills to climb.

We'll have pics and full info up next week on the product pages of the website, but thought I'd give people a heads up seeing as it's definitely happening.

The specification is:

• Cotic ROADRAT frame/fork
• Shimano Deore Rapidfire shifters, 26/36/48 cranks, front mech
• Shimano Tiagra mid-cage rear mech, 11-25 cassette and chain (I think road mechs are prettier on road bikes)
• Cotic Components Finishing Kit, 120mm stem, 580mm wide flat bar
• Cotic Components Cartridge Bearing Disc Hubs on Alex R450 rims
• Cane Creek S1 Cartridge Bearing Headset
• 700x28c tyres

It gives you a massive range of gears, so even more versatility.

Prices are £799 with Shimano V-Brakes, or £909 with Magura Julie discs. There's even our Monster Cross Upgrade for an additional £60 which gets you massive 29"x1.75" Bontrager XDX knobblies for a bit of green laning, or if the potholes really are enormous where you live, plenty of float over those rough roads.

Email us or call now to reserve yours, or order with your dealer.

These are available from stock from 19th April.

Got an ace email from one of our Soda customers today with a glowing ride review. We get a few of these from satisfied owners of any of our frames, and we love reading every single one as it's a huge part of what makes this job great, but this one is a bit special because of what the guy previously rode - a full custom SEVEN!

We are going to hold our hands up right now and admit that this is pure ego and vanity on our part, but here's what Bob had to say and a picture of his lovely (if slightly obsessive) build

Thanks Bob. You made our day.

Hopefully you got out over the Easter Weekend. We certainly did, and whilst up in Calderdale, Cy rode with Jenn Hopkins who was running her MBUK Long Term test bike, a 2010 Cotic Soul. A lovely pic Jenn sent us summed up a lovely weekend...

Our first demo is coming up on Sunday 18th April at Dales Bike Centre, so if you want to have a spin on the latest Cotic bikes we're going to have the following bikes with us:

• Large 2010 Cotic Soul in black, Fox F120's, SLX/XT, Magura Brakes
• Medium 2010 Cotic Soul in orange, Magura Menja 100, SLX/XT, Magura Brakes
• Small 2010 Cotic BFe, Magura Wotans, SLX/XT, Magura Brakes
• Large 2010 Cotic Hemlock, Magura Thor, SLX/XT, Magura Brakes
• Small 2010 Cotic Hemlock, Magura Thor, SLX/XT, Magura Brakes

Dales Bike Centre are running three 90 min rides during the day, and Cy will be there setting up bikes and hoping to get out on at least one of the demo loops with you. Dales also have Soul demo bikes of there own, so there will be lots to go around. They are organising the allocation of bikes, so register with them. Their contact details are:

Tel: 01748 884908

Email: enquiries@dalesmountainbiking.co.uk

www.dalesmountainbiking.co.uk

www.dalesbikecentre.co.uk

The first customers got their Cotic Sodas last week and built bike pictures have been coming in to us, as well as a first ride review.

All the photos of customer Sodas we've received are in a gallery on the Cotic Flickr Stream.

Along with the 18 Bikes boys, I helped out Benji Haworth with the Peaks Route Guide in Issue 55 of Singletrack Magazine.

Due to my sending my info into them in two chunks, and some sub-editing confusion, the first half of my description of my "Train Out, Ride Back" big route was missed from the mag. Basically the big ride is based on something I do when I want a more point-to-point feel on a ride, so I get the train from Dore to Hope, and ride all the way back. Here's the first section missing from the magazine:

And for completeness, here's the section that's in the mag, but leads on from the first bit:

As I mentioned, the maps and various other routes are in Singletrack Magazine, Issue 55. You can buy back issues from them if you don't have it, or check out the OS Map OL1 if you want to find the route for yourself on a proper map. Maybe a different take on your Peaks riding if you're heading up over Easter?

If you'd asked us a couple of weeks ago what the most asked for option on the ROADRAT was, we'd have said "Alfine hub gear" without thinking about it. After a heads up from one of our dealers, some very interesting new Shimano factory wheelsets caught our eye and we put a call in. As a result we now have a supply of the latest Shimano Alfine complete wheels, with the fantastic 8spd hub gear to make things easy on those hills, super sleek straight pull spokes and disc compatibility so upgrading to all weather braking is simple.

The great news is that from the first week in April you can buy a Cotic ROADRAT Factory Alfine for just £849, and we've got an ace Magura Julie disc brake upgrade option for just £989. This will be available from us and all our dealers, and of course it comes under the magic £1,000 Cycle2Work limit. What are you waiting for? Drop us an email or order in your dealers to reserve yours now and be first in line.

Cy sent out a newsletter last week to cover a bunch of set up questions and ideas that he'd been posting up around various forums and in answer to a lot of emails from people interested in our hardtail frames. It's mainly centred around the simply things that you can do to improve the all round performance of your Cotic hardtail if you're running longer forks. Sign up to our mailing list for this and all sorts of other useful Cotic and bike related info. Read the article here.