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OPINION

Our* new… Cotic Roadrat

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Loads of you have been telling us about your bike(s) in our Kinesis Tripster Schwag Grab, which has prompted me to extract the digit and tell you about the latest addition to the road.cc team, our new company bike, well frame, it's a Cotic Roadrat and we're going to be using it to test kit and generally have fun… well I am, everyone else in the road.cc office can just back off!**

Like the Kinesis Tripster the Roadrat, is a versatile bit of kit we tested it last year in its drop bar, disc braked, singlespeed guise. Gettingt it as a frameset turns the versatility knob up to 11. You can run drops or flat bars, mini V brakes, Cantis or discs, 26in or 700c wheels, it's got horizontal dropouts for running as a fixed or singlespeed with an adapter so you can stick a derailleur on it, the only thing you can't do, to my regret, is fit calliper brakes, then it would be perfect in its all-roundness.

So heres my first build, I'm running it with the new Shimano 105 drivetrain, 10spd at the back with a 50-34 compact chainset. Despite the hills around here i've usually gone the 53-39 route, I was running the previous incarnation of 105 on the Ridgeback with a standard 53-39 chainset. My ideal would probably still be a triple though summat like a 53-42-32 or possibly a 52-42-30, you can get them so further down the line I might give it a try.

Pedals were the new 105 black jobs, but as you can see from the pics I've already swapped them for some more practical round town Shimano M324s - flat on one side, clipless on the other and poss my favourite pedal.

Rest of the kit is stuff we had lying around the office (the pedals were lying around my house), well except the Shimano RS 20 wheels which match up nicely with the 105 componentry. Oh, yes, the levers are 105 too. Bars are Easton EA70s, I like 'em and I'm not normally a fan of anatomic bends, but the ones on the EA70s just seems to fit. I've gone for a short 90mm Oval stem, a Bontrager saddle, on top of the old alloy seatpost off my Ridgeback, and some Halo Twin Rail tyres.

Current all up weight is 10.6Kg, I reckon I can lop off a kilo easily without being silly – those Twin Rails fear nothing the road can throw at them, but even their biggest fans couldn't describe them as light.

Longer term, I'm thinking flat bars a longer stem and disc brakes… or maybe drops, discs and hub gears.

* But I'll be riding it, just so as we're all clear about that

**Not including Dave, he's the man with the spanners… and besides it's several sizes too small for him.

 

road.cc's founder and first editor, nowadays to be found riding a spreadsheet. Tony's journey in cycling media started in 1997 as production editor and then deputy editor of Total Bike, acting editor of Total Mountain Bike and then seven years as editor of Cycling Plus. He launched his first cycling website - the Cycling Plus Forum at the turn of the century. In 2006 he left C+ to head up the launch team for Bike Radar which he edited until 2008, when he co-launched the multi-award winning road.cc - finally handing on the reins in 2021 to Jack Sexty. His favourite ride is his ‘commute’ - which he does most days inc weekends and he’s been cycle-commuting since 1994. His favourite bikes are titanium and have disc brakes, though he'd like to own a carbon bike one day.

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10 comments

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Fringe | 13 years ago
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have you tried taking it 'off road' in a cyclo-x kind of way?

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Tony Farrelly | 13 years ago
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Yes, I was very tempted by the orange too - probably easier to spot in the summer gloom too

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Fringe | 13 years ago
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thanks for that tony, i was hoping to replace my old MTB but if im gonna have to fork out for wheels as well may have to raise some more funds on ebay, still might go for one though as i like that new orange colour there doing.  4

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Tony Farrelly | 13 years ago
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sorry Fringe, as suspected the brake bosses are in the wrong place - plus a quick shufty on the Cotic site doesn't reveal any noises being made about that particular combo and I reckon they would if you could. It might be that you could lower the brake boss at the back it's a two bolt affair, but you'd still need to slap on an MTB fork - and if you don't have one you might as well get some discs.

On the other hand what about running it as a 29er with v-brakes?

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Tony Farrelly | 13 years ago
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hold on, it's down in the bike shed drying out - I'll go and have a look. As you say discs will work fine with 26in wheels but need to see if you can move the brake bosses… I'll just finish my tea and biccy and I'll report back

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Fringe | 13 years ago
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tony, can you run 26"MTB wheels with V-brakes on the frame, or only 700c's.. (as all the pics ive seen only have disc brakes when running 26"). ta.

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Tony Farrelly | 13 years ago
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yes, they are, and yes they do. Chucked it around the Mountain Mayhem sportive yesterday no problem at all and have been commuting on the bike for a couple of weeks already too. Stopping is not a problem - the pads on the back have worn quite quickly, which is a bit odd, cos I'm very much a front brake to slow down with the back just for stopping, usually go through two sets of front pads for every one at the back.

It really is a great frame, my only nagging doubt is whether I should have gone for the orange one rather than playing safe with black  39

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Fringe | 13 years ago
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i really fancy getting one of them.. just about the doitall of king doitalls  4

are they the Tektro mini V's them brakes? and do they work okay with 105 shifter etc..

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Tony Farrelly | 13 years ago
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yes, it's the small, she should have asked… tell her she can definitely have a go next year.

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stw.philj | 13 years ago
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Aha... that'll be the one the missus was loitering around at Mountain Mayhem, trying to pluck up the courage to ask if she could have a sit!  3

Is it a small/short?

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