Press Release – Cotic Bikes
New Bike Day! Today we launch the 5th Generation FlareMAX, further refined in search of the best ride possible. It’s our lightest, shortest travel, most infectiously fun droplink bike. And yes, it almost certainly is a Downcountry bike. (Pinkbike drink bingo – drink now)
What’s a FlareMAX then?
If you haven’t seen our FlareMAX before, it’s a 125mm travel full suspension bike, which can be built light and lively with the latest generation of 120mm forks and fast tyres, or with 130 or 140mm forks and burlier wheels for a tougher trail style setup.
Our Ops Manager Paul’s bike of choice is the FlareMAX. Here’s why it’s his dream bike:
“It’s all about the handling.
The Longshot geometry on the FlareMAX gives me confidence in the front end whether it’s flicking through twisty singletrack or down chunky rock gullies. I ride in lots of different places and my FlareMAX will do everything I want it to.
There’s less pitch fore and aft on a shorter travel bike like the FlareMAX, so when I move my weight around it has an immediate effect on what the bike does. I love cleaning techy climbs, and this direct connection to the trail really helps in those situations.
My FlareMAX skips down the trail rather than smothering and feeling disconnected, a feeling reminiscent of riding a hardtail but with more grip and no aches afterwards!
It’s interactive and fun at lower speeds, and demands more rider involvement as speeds increase which I find very rewarding.”
So what’s new?
Gen5 will be made and painted exclusively in the UK by our friends at Five Land Bikes. The gorgeous new paint finishes are Limestone and Teal. This is particularly pleasing for our Hannah, as internally this colour is “Hannah Teal” and it means we can finally get her on a new bike!
Rider fit has been improved with the introduction of our C-Sizing 5 step sizing regime first introduced on the RocketMAX Gen4. It aims to get more people their perfect fit by reducing the reach steps between sizes to under 20mm, and shortening the seat tubes for the C2, C3 and C4 sizes when compared to the old Medium and Large frames. It also introduces steeper seat angles (drink!) on the C3, C4 and C5 sizes compared to the C1 and C2 to improve the rider fit on a size-specific basis.
In practice this means you will be less likely to drop ‘between’ sizes, and with shorter seat tubes you will be able to maximise your dropper post drop. Add to this a mullet (drink!) option which drops 9-10mm reach off each size, and you can really get into the weeds on your bike fit with our droplink bikes.
Handling and frame design is a subtle evolution of the super popular geometry first introduced on the Gen2 Longshot frames in 2018. For 2023 the Gen5 FlareMAX gets a 4mm lower BB (drink!) for even more planted feel through the corners, and the latest evolution of our Reynolds 853 tubeset has a new down tube and a BB brace to make a durable frame even better.
When I was writing the ‘new’ bit, in some ways it felt a bit odd not to have some ‘holy cow’ new geo idea, but Longshot geometry was such a big step back in 2018 that it’s refinement rather than revolution now. I hosted a Cotic CC owners ride a couple of weeks ago, and one of the riders was running a 2018 FlareMAX. I was struck by just how good it still looked. There can’t be many 5-year-old mountain bikes that still strike such a sweet note in 2023, but the FlareMAX is certainly one of them.
Pricing
The FlareMAX Gen5 is available right now, with prices starting at £2,099 / EUR2,000 / USD2,299 for the frame and Rockshox Deluxe Select Plus shock.
We have all our new Downcountry and Trail builds on the shelf ready to go starting from £3,599 / EUR3,359 / USD3,875.
It has our current Free AXS Upgrade offer for anyone shopping for an Eagle GX or Deore XT based Gold build bike. As always it’s Your Bike Built For You, so if your dream FlareMAX doesn’t quite conform to our stock builds, we can change the spec to pretty much anything you want to make it spot on for you.
We have a C2 and C3 demo bikes, with C1 joining soon. If you’re in the UK, come and visit the new HQ in Chesterfield, check out the showroom and the excellent coffee. We can ride from the door.
All the other information, reviews, geometry and details are over on http://www.cotic.co.uk/product/flareMAX
Any questions, drop a comment below.
Cy Turner
Founder and Director
Cotic Bikes
www.cotic.co.uk