• This topic has 40 replies, 31 voices, and was last updated 14 years ago by juan.
Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 41 total)
  • Cotic Road Rat – Your opinions on this bike please
  • Midnighthour
    Free Member

    Considering buying one as a commuter/long distance bike. Would it be a good choice? I see they are doing drop bars as well as flat bars now.

    DaveyBoyWonder
    Free Member

    I had one for commuting. Over-rated IMHO – I bought mine as I got swept up in the whole Cotic thing as I owned a Soul at the time too but I reckon an off-the-shelf jobbie for half the price would have been just as good for what I wanted. Not sure whether the Roadrat is trying to be a jack of all trades too much?

    J0N
    Free Member

    Great versatile bike. Bad cable guides. 🙂

    jwr
    Full Member

    I really like mine. I’ve built it as a tourer / occasional commuter / general purpose road bike. It’s not particularly light, but it’s very reliable and easy to clock up the kilometres on. I initially ran mine with standard Deore / LX gearing, but recently converted it to Alfine. So far, this has been a very good decision.

    -j

    DaveyBoyWonder
    Free Member

    Old skool steel Kona – full build for the price of a Roadrat frame, buy some slicks and there you have it – a bike that feels the same and is just as versatile.

    thomthumb
    Free Member

    meh- just a fancy hybrid

    Midnighthour
    Free Member

    Thanks for the photo.

    beanum
    Full Member

    I use mine in the summer as a commuter and it’s great. I wasn’t prepared to go the whole hog and get a road bike. It handles like an old vintage hardtail which is great when you’re dicing with traffic.
    I also use it for “training” on the road and have done some long rides on it, including the Cyclotour (which is 180km around Lake Geneva)

    I guess it depends on what you’re planning to do. I took all the bits off my hardtail, bought new wheels and tyres and made a much better commuter than I already had. If you’re looking to build it all up with new kit then there are probably much cheaper options that will be just as good…

    johnners
    Free Member

    Bought a frame, built it up, even built the wheels because I couldn’t find Open Pros on disk hubs.

    Rode it, didn’t like it, sold it. Luckily they were scarce at the time so I only took a wee hit on price. Very “Emperor’s New Clothes IMO. Happily back on the Cross-Check now.

    And the combined mech hanger/chain tug thing is idiotic. If you have to change a wheel it flops oily chain all over the place. How hard would it have been to put a mech hanger on the frame?

    technicallyinept
    Free Member

    Isn’t the whole, trackends/rear facing drop-outs a compromise if you are always gonna run gears?

    higgo
    Free Member

    It’s a humpybackedf***pig – neither one thing nor the other.
    It’s a hybrid for people who won’t buy a hybrid.

    BigTed
    Free Member

    “Emporer’s New Clothes”? Could not agree more.

    I had one as it had such great reviews, rode it for 150m and wasn’t impressed and then ended up selling it in response to a Wanted ad. The components on the full build weren’t great either, the brakes particularly poor.

    Much better options out there if you want new and agree (again) that the Crosscheck is as versatile (bar the disc option), possibly more so, but without the compromises. And if it’s ss youw ant then a Pompino is better.

    higgo
    Free Member

    And the fork (with the V and forward-facing disc mounts) is a special kind of ugly.

    HoratioHufnagel
    Free Member

    I had one. Its a great bike. I think mainstream manufacturers have caught up to some extent though (roadrat came out a 3/4 years ago??), so there are a variety of off the shelf bikes with a similar sporty/urban slick tyre flat bar disc-brake build (e.g Cannondales bad boy, Trek Soho, Halfords Boardman range) that would work out cheaper.

    Don’t think you can beat the Roadrat for verstility though, and the fork really is the only one that works properly with mudguards and prevents any wheel ejection issues (*if* you think they exist. i’ve had the skewer shift under braking with a P2)

    crustypaulus
    Free Member

    Had mine for four years now, and overall I think it’s great, but I like the geometry and nothing else is quite the same. Not massively light, but not bad either, and does loads of different things. Good paint finish too. I would recommend buying the frame and forks and building your own, or buying a complete bike elsewhere and swapping all the components over. I would also agree about the combined chaintug/mech hanger – trying to be too clever, I would much rather have a mech hanger OR a chaintug, you need one or the other and never both. Makes changing the rear wheel a pain in the arse because you basically have to take the quick release out to get the wheel out. How about sorting it for future batches Cy?

    BigDummy
    Free Member

    Chuckles at humpybackedf***pig

    🙂

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    I want cannondale to re-issue their old cross bike with disc mounts and a 50mm headshock – would be perfect commuter on rough roughs / some offroad…

    Halfbike
    Full Member

    Seeing as the majority of views haven’t been so glowing so far, I’ll add my two penneth!

    I love mine – built up as a CX bike with drops and discs. I’ve ridden it all winter, including weekly night rides.

    Sure, its not super light, the forks are FUGLY beyond belief, and the rear drop out causes a bit of hassle the first few times you use it, but the sheer grin inducing ‘funness’ of it can’t be beat.

    I’ve happily drifted sideways around root infested corners, ridden down flights of wooden stairs, jumped into bomb holes and dropped my riding buddies on it at every opportunity.

    Mine was (probably) the first ‘short’ dropped bar frameset, and I built up like this:

    Sure, if I won the lottery I would trade it in for a Fixie Inc Pure Blood in a flash, but for the money you get a bomb proof, hugely versatile, grin inducing ride it week-in-week-out job, and as long as it still makes me smile, I won’t be trading it in for a while yet!

    JonEdwards
    Free Member

    My other half has one. She loves it. When I’ve nicked it on occasion I’ved loved it too. An absolute hoot to ride in traffic. If my Condor ever gets nicked/dies then I’ll be having one like a shot.

    Sure it’s not the highest tech piece of kit ever, and yes arguably a bit too “jack of all trades, master of none”, but it is simply FUN to ride.

    freeandsingle
    Free Member

    I love mine, great ride positioning for me, feels nimble & much lighter than it is ultra versatile too..

    BadlyWiredDog
    Full Member

    I like mine, built up with disc-hubbed road wheels and 1×9 set up, running 28mm slicks or 32mm semi-slicks and flat bars and discs. Not light, but fun to throw around, sturdy and stable and quite attractive in a slightly retro sort of way.

    If I want to go faster on the road, I have a fast road bike and if I want to go faster off road, I have a mountain bike, I guess I use it as a sort of flat-barred cross bike / winter training hack thing really and it kind of does the job quite well.

    I don’t why people are so full of bile over them. I don’t think it’s pretending to be anything extraordinary, just does what it says on the can.

    johnners
    Free Member

    I don’t think there’s been any bile* BWD, just a few people who tried them and didn’t like them. I’m a huge fan of the Soul and the Roadrat marketing blurb trades on the Cotic pedigree to some extent. I was well disposed to the general idea, but I found the riding experience very disappointing.

    *Apart from the chain tug/mech hanger. That thing deserves a few pints of bile.

    mccett
    Free Member

    Had mine a year or so and done loads miles on it commuting 28 mile to work and back. Its heavy, but it takes panniers and mudguards and you can build it up from old crap you have lying around and as its nice weather i have some CX tyres to go on so i can cut through the forest on the way home now.

    Its no road race bike, but its not supposed to be. You can get a decent tyre in the back too and take it off road if you fancy it or its on your route. The disc mounts are handy too.

    MrSmith
    Free Member

    expensive hybrid.
    if you want to do any distance on the road get a proper road bike.

    eckinspain
    Free Member

    I must have entered some sort of parallel universe – lots of people saying they don’t like a Cotic 😯

    jim
    Free Member

    I’m really happy with mine. Frame is nicely finished and very versatile. I don’t think there are many alternatives if you want proper guards (which you definitely need on a commuter) and discs?

    AdamW
    Free Member

    I love mine.

    Bought a whole build (flat bar) because I couldn’t be asked to do it myself (plus I’m cack-handed).

    Running with 700×25 tyres and have a rack/mudguards to go with it. It travels through canal path, road, fields, woods before I get to work (ca. 20 miles). I run single-speed.

    I guess there may be cheaper options out there but I like its versatility.

    The only thing I consider is getting a riser bar for it, but as of yet I’m undecided!

    HoratioHufnagel
    Free Member

    “expensive hybrid.
    if you want to do any distance on the road get a proper road bike.”

    Most road bikes are rubbish for *really* long rides. No way to mount panniers or mudguards, twitchy steep geometry. They are for racers only. Most audux/winter road bikes resemble a roadrat anyway.

    geoffj
    Full Member

    have a look at the kona dew, ridgeback and spesh sirrus models. The rr is a hybrid and there are plenty of them about. Not quite niche enough for some folk though 😉

    cranberry
    Free Member

    I love mine, after using a Kona Dew for a couple of years the Roadrat is soooo much smoother.

    Actually, if anyone is looking for a medium frame of the flat bar type, I have one spare – I got sent a frame, and the posties knocked it around somewhat, and so got a second frame as a replacement. That said, a lick of paint and some gentle bending of the steel frame saw me keeping and using the orginal, so I have a boxed up, never been touched replacement frame ( that the posties did not use as a football ) that I really should get round to flogging.

    MrSmith
    Free Member

    “Most road bikes are rubbish for *really* long rides. No way to mount panniers or mudguards, twitchy steep geometry. They are for racers only. Most audux/winter road bikes resemble a roadrat anyway.”

    for racers only? there’s an awful lot of road bikes being sold that never get ‘raced’ on maybe people should swap them for hybrids?
    they would take some convincing.
    i don’t see any bikes with panniers on when riding around the country lanes apart from the odd tourer but these are far outweighted by the number or ‘racing’ bikes.
    I don’t have any problems doing long (100miles+) rides on my road bike, that’s what they are designed for.

    stevemorg2
    Full Member

    cranberry – I might be interested in your frame. Can you email a price please?

    BadlyWiredDog
    Full Member

    I don’t think there’s been any bile* BWD, just a few people who tried them and didn’t like them. I’m a huge fan of the Soul and the Roadrat marketing blurb trades on the Cotic pedigree to some extent. I was well disposed to the general idea, but I found the riding experience very disappointing.

    I don’t quite get what people were expecting the Roadrat to be. If I remember, it was kind of a road bike for people who don’t like road bikes, or pretty much a bastardised steel mountain bike with road wheels and various options like discs / vees / singlespeed / geared etc.

    What exactly were people expecting other than a workman-like, versatile sort of frame? And what is it with the sneering ‘hybrid’ stuff? They’re all just bikes, it does what it’s meant to do reasonably competently. It’s not the answer to everything and it’s not what it’s not meant to be?

    How is it the ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ exactly?

    BigTed
    Free Member

    I don’t quite get what people were expecting the Roadrat to be. If I remember, it was kind of a road bike for people who don’t like road bikes, or pretty much a bastardised steel mountain bike with road wheels and various options like discs / vees / singlespeed / geared etc.

    What exactly were people expecting other than a workman-like, versatile sort of frame? And what is it with the sneering ‘hybrid’ stuff? They’re all just bikes, it does what it’s meant to do reasonably competently. It’s not the answer to everything and it’s not what it’s not meant to be?

    How is it the ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ exactly?

    For me it’s ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ as it got such glowing reviews everywhere, including in a slew of magazines, that you could hardly say that you didn’t like it.

    I think it’s really helpful here that there are a range of responses – some clearly love it while others have been disappointed. This may be due to misplaced expectations/understanding of what the Roadrat is but saying that it isn’t for you isn’t really bile.

    Also, as above, there are a lot more alternatives now that are worth at least considering before going for a Roadrat.

    Oh, and although I didn’t like mine, if the original poster is to get one then I’d say definitely buy as a frame and forks and build as you want.

    Russell96
    Full Member

    I’ve had mine for over two years now, built it up with discs, tough wheels and tyres so if I fancy checking out a bridlepath when I’m out on a ride I can have a go at riding along it. I wanted something that wouldn’t rattle my fillings out, handled more like an old school MTB rather than a more twitchy road bike and could take a bit of off road riding now and then.

    DaveyBoyWonder
    Free Member

    Actually I’m surprised I wasn’t the only person saying I wasn’t overly impressed with mine!

    Personally, I’d rather have a old steel Kona or Orange etc for the same price as the Roadrat frame, bung some mudguards on it if needed and some super fast 26″ slicks. Feel pretty much exactly the same, be nearly as fast and if you’re talking about versatility then you’ve got something that is quick on road, will gobble up hundreds of miles touring with panniers etc but with a change of tyres be a PROPER off-road bike, not some kind of b*stard CX bike thats quick on road, will gobble up hundreds of miles touring but be pretty sh*t off-road (which after riding my ‘rat a bit off-road, it was).

    But thats personal opinion.

    MrsMugsy
    Free Member

    Well, if any of you guys want to sell yours second hand. I’m a taker.

    Need a Small Long, frame only.

    Cheers,

    B

    MountainMutant
    Free Member

    I really like mine as a London commuter. I’m running Mavic Speedcity disc wheels on 700/23 tyres.

    I bunnyhop and jump off speed bumps and kerbs all the time. Feels just like a fast mountain bike and the wheels have taken a lot of abuse and are still true.

    I have yet to be burnt out by a roadie on the flat or uphills so it must be pretty quick 😉

    MM

    kelvin
    Full Member

    I want cannondale to re-issue their old cross bike with disc mounts and a 50mm headshock – would be perfect commuter on rough roughs / some offroad…

    Amen to that. With some better sealing for the headshock perhaps. I always wanted one of those bikes, and I reckon they’d be a good seller now, as more and more people want something to use for on the road and a bit of off.

    Personally, I’d rather have a old steel Kona or Orange etc for the same price as the Roadrat frame

    Second hand bikes cheaper than new ones shocker?! Old mountain bikes build up into great commuter bikes. Add slicks and barends, bish, bosh, done. Like.

    Personally I love my ROADRAT, but then I’m biased. It’s adaptability is key. Mine’s set up singlespeed with vees (not using the tug by the way, solid shimano axle with bolts holds things firm) and semi-slick 700c tyres. Far faster on road than my mountain bike, far more fun off road than a ‘proper’ road bike would be. But the key is that if I no longer commuted by bike I could put some gears and racks on and turn it into a tourer, or some proper knobblies and discs on for messing about off-road more, whatever…

    HoratioHufnagel
    Free Member

    theres one of those cannondale cx bikes on ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Canondale-Cyclocross-Cycle_W0QQitemZ170316968608

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 41 total)

The topic ‘Cotic Road Rat – Your opinions on this bike please’ is closed to new replies.