COTIC BIKES
Founded: 2002
Based: Calver, Hope Valley, Derbyshire
Key products: Soul hardtail, Rocket full-sus
Current line-up: Full range of trail/enduro hardtails and full-sussers, plus road/gravel bikes
Amazing things can come from garage and bedroom enterprises – such as Cotic, a great northern oneman-brand, with guts of steel and personality that’s heat-treated with passion. Cy Turner started out on the gnarly trail that would lead to Cotic in 2001, with the simple quest to design a better bike for himself. In 2002 it all came to fruition and, from his Sheffield home and HQ, the first Cotic Soul was launched, branded in tune with his nickname, ‘Cycotic’.
“I’d come out of downhill racing, back into trail riding, and was missing my DH bike’s confident handling, properly grippy tyres and disc brakes,” explains Cy. “I was hacking about on a ’99 Kona hardtail with a RockShox Psylo fork [with a whopping-for-the-time 120mm of travel] and a front disc, but tyre clearance was limited to 2.1in and the frame didn’t fit me or the fork properly. I decided to measure it up and solve the problems as I saw them. Initially I thought the new bike would just be for me, and I had [legendary steel framebuilder] Dave Yates on the hook to make me one.”
By chance, former MBUK regular and On-One Bikes head honcho Brant Richards heard tell of Cy’s plans and hurled him a lifeline. “Brant emailed me and said, ‘I hear you’ve designed a frame’. I think he expected some vague ideas, but I sent him a full CAD drawing!” Cy laughs. “He was impressed enough to tell me it looked good and that he could agent-order a batch of 100 of them through On-One. He even got me a couple of samples to ride from their supplier, and they were pretty close to being right.”
Cy decided to take a leap of faith and place his first order. “When they got me a price for 100 of them, I worked out that I could get a loan and, even if they didn’t sell, I could just about afford to pay it off anyway.” The next step was to create a platform and an image for the new brand. “My friend Kelvin (who still works at Cotic) said he could sort me a website in exchange for a frame and some bits. Another friend, Niall, designed a logo. I figured I’d get some cool bikes out of it, so we gave it a go. That was the extent of my business plan!” When the frames arrived there was one glaring issue: “The paint numbers got mixed up and the whole first batch was pink. Brant still thinks it’s funny. I’m still here 20 years later, so I can’t be too upset about it!”
That first Soul hardtail was a game-changer, with its forgiving steel frame, trail-focused geometry and UK-friendly features. Through hard graft, solidly-built bikes and cunning marketing, Cotic have evolved to be one of the great British bike brands of the past 20 years, but what are the standout bikes for Cy? “I think the seminal frames are the original Soul, because it’s the founding product and it became an icon; the Rocket [Cotic’s first steel full-suspension bike], because we learned so much about what the brand was, and about being brave and bold in design, and true to our values; and the RocketMAX Gen2 – the one that got our ‘Longshot’ geometry and a 63.5-degree head angle, and was also our first UK-made frame.”
Having now sold 25,000 bikes, what does the future hold for Cotic? “We need to move to bigger premises. After that, who knows? I don’t have any ambition to grow Cotic into some massive brand where I need middle-managers and I don’t know everyone’s name. I love being so involved and it being a close-knit team. I suspect the arrival of the e-bike will require some more help, though,” Cy admits, with a knowing grin.
THROUGH HARD GRAFT AND SOLIDLYBUILT BIKES, COTIC HAVE EVOLVED TO BE ONE OF THE GREAT BRITISH BRANDS