Cotic Escapade Road Plus Platinum
£3,899 British-designed, steel framed, all-road, go-anywhere machine
Weight 9.93kg (L) Frame Custom 4130 multi-butted steel Fork Carbon Gears Campagnolo Ekar 13-speed (38, 9-42) Brakes Campagnolo Ekar hydraulic disc Wheels Fulcrum Rapid Red 500 DB 2WF Finishing kit Cotic bar, stem and saddle, CC Alloy seatpost, WTB Horizon Road plus 47c Skinwall TCS tyres
THE PEAK DISTRICT-BASED British steel specialist Cotic has an enviable reputation among mountain bike aficionados, thanks to its forward-thinking design and love of all things steel. But while best known for its off-road bikes, Cotic has been designing interesting drop-bar bikes since its earliest days in the early noughties.
The Escapade is Cotic’s go-anywhere, no-limits road bike. When launched in 2015 it featured horizontal dropouts that enabled it to be run with hub or derailleur gears or as a single-speed. On our fourth-generation Escapade, it’s thru-axles both ends, but versatility is still very much to the fore.
The Escapade comes with a choice of two wheel sizes across multiple models that start at £1,799. I opted for the smaller 650b wheels with huge Road Plus tyres, Campagnolo’s 1x13 speed gravel/adventure gearing and Fulcrum’s Rapid Red 500 wheels. For £939 you can also buy it as a ‘rolling chassis’ – a frameset with wheels – and spec the rest of the kit yourself.
The beautifully finished frame has tidy welds throughout and pretty much every fitting you could wish for. The carbon fork has an internal brake hose routing along with triple ‘anything’ bosses on the legs, mudguard mounts and a drilled bridge. The frame has internal routing for Di2 and external removable mounts for mechanical drivetrains.
The down-tube has six bottle bosses and there’s a further set on the seat-tube, though oddly there are no top-tube bento-box mounts. Wishbone seatstays offer rack and mudguard fittings, making the Escapade equally suitable as a bikepacking machine, trainer or year-round commuter bike.
Thanks to its 9-42t cassette and 38t chainring, Campag’s 13-speed Ekar delivers a super-wide gearing range. The Escapade accelerates well on WTB’s 47mm semi-slick tyres, though once you’re up to pace in a group ride, you’ll be putting in more effort than your friends on 700c wheels. The wheels have a shallow 24mm-deep rim that measures 28mm externally and 23mm internally, pushing the tyres to 50mm, right at the rear triangle’s limit. The Fulcrums are a pretty weighty 1,760g, though, and the tyres add over a kilo, so these aren’t flyweight climbing wheels.
On one of my test rides that included half a mile of ploughed bridleway, the bike collected mud around the tyre, chainstay and bottom bracket shell. This didn’t stall the bike, but was a gentle reminder that the Escapade isn’t a mountain bike.
The Escapade is a capable climber in spite of its weighty wheels. You’re never going to set Strava KOMs on tarmac, but it’s easy to sit in the saddle on the Escapade and pound out a steady rhythm. On light gravel and unmetalled roads it’s even better, with the big, pliable tyres and a sufficiently stiff head-tube and carbon fork giving a rocksteady ride when you’re pulling around on the bar. This is balanced by the steel frame that easily swallows up uneven surfaces and jarring ruts.
The Escapade’s geometry is pitched just right too, its sporty-endurance 598mm stack combining with a 397mm reach for a ride position that’s equally at home at speed or when you’re sitting up and spinning while taking in the great outdoors. Its 1,035mm wheelbase is short enough to make it quick through tight turns, while its 72° head and 73° seat angle deliver a bike that has the trappings of a tidy tourer but the soul of a race bike.
The low-slung frame adds to the bike’s nimble handling and it impressed over woodland singletrack. It’s easy to throw around and maintain both your balance and a fast line. Its components are good, solid alloy items, with a 46cm flared bar that’s great for technical terrain and with a short drop that lets you get low on the road, to cheat the wind and keep up your pace.
The only real criticism I can level at the Escapade is the saddle. I found it overly firm, long, and narrow and, though I rode it on numerous rides, it still wouldn’t be my personal choice. But as Cotic bikes are built to order, this isn’t really an issue. The biggest question is whether to go for a 700c or 650b Road Plus wheelset, and that, again, is up to you.
“The beautifully finished steel frame has tidy welds throughout and pretty much every fitting you could wish for”