Varun's Bikes, Stayer, Cotic, that singlespeed Rockhopper....

Not a novice, just neurodivergent and prone to elaborate flights of fancy 🙃🙃

Well the original idea was for one ‘road’ and one more ‘dirt’ bike. I had the hardtail that I literally never rode so that felt like a bit too much bike (similarly, I think I wouldn’t ride a pure road bike). The Cotic felt like a compromise in that it’s tame enough to bimble around Warwickshire off-road (which isn’t exactly extreme) while also fine on occasional serious trails. At least, Cotic advertise that it’s fine on those trails. I feel like I definitely did SOMEthing wrong to have struggled so much in the Dales Divide and so I’m going through the options to see what’s more comfortable 😊

Which are, in no particular order:

• lower tire pressure
  
• Sus fork
  
• Flat bars+foam grips
  
• Bigger tires (I think it actually clears up 27.5x2.6” so that’ll go on once the current ones are worn out - they’re only 2.35”)
  

I cannot advocate strongly enough for high quality wide bars with generous sweep, and good high volume tubeless tires. That's probably all you need. For me these two things have been as profound a change as anything I've tried in the past 20 years. I'll never look back. I'd do this long before trying to find a suitable suspension fork.

If you want to avoid buying a new derailleur you can get a flatbar shifter for Shimano road groupsets. The 105 might be even cheaper but I'm not 100% sure it's compatible with GRX pull ratio.

https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/component/grx-limited/SL-RS700-R-LE.html

A pretty definitive suggestion, thank you. I think I was thrown by this bike and the options Cotic offer tbh. Sure, it’s a dirt drop bar bike, but it Could be specced rigid or suspended, or flat bars or drop bars, or 27.5+ or 29. Perhaps you’re right, approaching it like a dirt drop build and going wider and cushier is the answer!

It would be Tiagra, as this is GRX400. Happily I already have a Deore mech though you’re probably right, re-cabling rather than replacing the whole shebang every time might be easier!

No I think you're right to replace the lot if you already have the derailleur, saves you reindexing every time! Just didn't realise you already had everything

DT shifters and cable brakes?

Sadly the same hand issues that make it hard to ride off-road mean cable discs are out of the question! It would make Russ of PLP happy though

As a fellow of the fucked hand club I feel your pain (literally). I actually want this to work for you, so how about Surly corner bars for the drop bar side of things? If you have to change too much stuff you’ll never do it. I find changing wheels on the Midnight Special enough of a faff. Going from 650x47b to 27.7x2.2 gives me all the squish I need.

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Oooooh, filing that in the ‘maybe’ column. Blimey, this thread has opened up a right can of worms of build fantasising 😂😂 may I ask how wide those are? I have an impression (backed by @bright) that wider, compliant bars - especially as corner bars are chromoly right? - would offer some vertical flex. It’s certainly something I feel I can notice with flat bars! I’ve got some skinny Novatecs on the Rockhopper rust bucket and they feel outstanding

Gotta say, you’re spot on about changing things being a faff. Like at one point I had two sets of wheels, one with slick and one knobbly tires, for my Stayer, but I hated changing so much I’d audax with knobblies and go off road with slicks. Suboptimal at best!

Alternatively you can get an adapter to attach a direct mount shifter to a 31.8 clamp. Allows you to mount a mtb shifter next to the stem on road bars. Then you just need swap the adapter for flats vs drops.

TRP makes couplers for hyro brake lines.

That’s very very ingenious (but of course WolfTooth thought of it!). Tbh that actually seems like quite a smart solution for the dropper lever instead, as recabling a dropper is the biggest pain of swapping drop drop/flat bars. I did like the WolfTooth drop bar dropper levers but was trying to save on extra spending.

FYI - the reason my build was so wacky at the start (first post, with the sus fork) is it was transferred almost fully apart from the handlebars from my old Stanton hardtail. Pictured here.

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Better angles, though it seems this bike never existed without bags plastered all over it.

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Update: rode the Cotic around my usual pan-flat off-road Warks route. 27.5x2.35” tires at 15 PSI. It felt noticeable squishier so I can only assume I was running them wayyyyyyy too high (around 23 PSI). I’d like to try lower still when unloaded, and maybe play with it fully loaded up with bags and water to see how it works.
I’m touring on it next week (mostly forest tracks and rough lanes), but have some 27.5+ tires on order, Rekons, 2.8” so that might be interesting to see.
Slightly more subjective but I’ve had a play with the geometry - 60mm vs 35mm stem and saddle moved forward a touch as it felt a little short before. I dunno what difference this will make to the ride off-road but my unscientific approach thinks a teensy bit more flex from a slightly longer, less beefy stem. Feel free to openly laugh at and debunk!

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So, the 27.5x2.8s arrived. Maxxis Rekon+, tubeless ready but I’ve popped tubes in for now until I can acquire a new airblast (the track pump just hasn’t got the oomph, probably as the tires are so wide!)
First impressions are: squishy af. I checked the Silca tire pressure tool which is a pretty handy starting point and then knocked a few PSI off, leaving me at 12 front and 13 rear. The front feels about as soft as the sus fork did when standing up and pedalling out the saddle. With the tubes in they also feel HEAVY - they’re humongous tubes and easily the biggest I’ve ever used, +tires ftw baby! - and while weight isn’t particularly important it’ll be interesting to see how sluggish that makes them out on the trails.
Subjectively, the bike seems to sit better, I think? All the images online show the Cascade with 29ers, 2.2” from what I can tell, so clearly the smaller wheels and tires were a bit dinky previously.
It’ll be interesting to ride it and see how it fares out on the paths and trails this week. I have two routes: one, my usual paths and lanes commute but I might throw in some forest singletrack if the ground dries out a touch. The other is a pretty mixed touring route as I lead my school’s Duke of Edinburgh expedition next weekend; I suspect a few more PSI wouldn’t hurt as the route is quite road-heavy. I’ll also be carrying camping stuff, of course.
Personally, I’m expecting the bike to ride ‘slower’ and more stately now as it’s the largest diameter wheel+tire I’ve ever run and I get a distinct sitting on top sensation from it. Updates due shortly!

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One subtle difference I’ve noticed is BB height/resultant pedal strikes. I don’t think the bike was never designed for as small as 27.5x2.35” tires that I had on previously, so the pedals always felt a touch low to the ground (pictured). I regularly grounded the big DMR pedals on corners sharper than say 90 degrees and on the Dales Divide, the big muddy ruts were a giant pain. I suspect that will be less of a problem now it’s sat a bit higher but it will be one to look out for!

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So, let’s talk tires. These are annoying me. They’re draggy as all hell and really, really hard to shift under pedal. I rode out to work yesterday first and initially thought the strong winds were the cause, but after riding home and then a couple times again today, it is noticeably much slower. Even on my favourite off-road climb (I PBed it last Friday, so I think my form is fine…?) I had to shift right down to my lowest gear and inch up labouriously. It’s somehow even worse on pavement as I can barely crack 20kph with significant difficulty on totally flat roads.
I’m intrigued on what I’m doing wrong and pondering whether to persist with plus tire life, or just get shorter cranks and use the old 2.35”es, which were fine before the pedal strikes.
I’m running them 13/15 PSI front/rear, though there’s big old butyl tubes in. Surely the tubes are not the problem? I mean I know tubeless offers some gains in rolling resistance but don’t remember tubes feeling like treacle in comparison.

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Not on trend, but stick some more air in them. It’s probably all in my head, but I’ve found running 5psi more with tubes vs tubeless is about right. If you are riding a lot of road/hard pack I’d go even higher. Just take a pump with a gauge drop and raise the pressure if you intend to get knarly.

If those tyres are the same Rekons that i see in the previous photos i completely understand your feelings, because i also have them and i seriously struggle on anything that's not pristine downhill single track. I'll swap them as soon as they're done with some Vittoria Mezcals, take a look at them uf you want

Yeah I’ll give it a whirl! Though the tires themselves are heeeeaaavy too. For now I’ve put the old Schwalbes back on, so I’ve either got to get used to occasional pedal strikes or fit shorter cranks haha

I do get the impression they’re downhill tires or at least serious trail tires, yeah! Should’ve actually checked reviews before I bought them eh 😬

I think I’m going to rename this thread to ‘27.5+ Tire Troubles’ because that topic has evoked a flurry of replies from my friends. Clearly, tire nerdery is a joyous subject!

So, after much consideration and advice, my autistic brain reverted to what it knew best - which is the previous tires, 27.5x2.35” Schwalbe Rock Razors. I quite like them - they’re very agreeable in the dirt and stop gripping both down and uphill at around the same time I decide the trail is too steep for me, if that makes sense. Tubeless, 20/18 psi rear/front. Not sure about TPI but will check. The casing is pretty rigid but I have not punctured them once in 2,500 km. Cue puncture fairy.

I’ve also fitted some shorter - 170 v 175mm - cranks I had knocking about, though they’re the newer Shimano Deore with assymetric bolt spacing, so sadly no more colourful chainrings.
Our school’s Duke of Edinburgh expedition is this weekend, and I’m due to be putting nearly 100km in supporting them, so this setup will come under pretty intense scrutiny. I can’t wait!

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Thought some of you might be interested in this wacky setup for accommodating a front roll, light and GPS for this weekend: stem-mounted Garmin, Restrap bumper bar to save my cables and the light is attached to an upside-down GoPro mount and then the Exposure GoPro adapter, lifting it nice and high to clear the bag.
It’s So Ugly!
I LOVE IT!

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