Cotic BFE Silver Special

£1,929 Cotic’s aggro hardtail gets fully stretched for full-gas riding

- Guy Kesteven

Twelve years after this burlier version of Cotic’s classic Soul trail hardtail first appeared, the fifth generation BFe frame gets a radical geometry refresh that makes it much happier with big forks.

The frame

Cotic have largely kept to their well proven recipe. The down tube is ultra-tough yet light Reynolds 853 steel while the rest of the frame is Cotic’s custom ‘FM’ double-butted steel. Wide-splayed, brace-free chain stays mean there’s loads of mud clearance for 27.5x2.6in or 26x3in tyres. Neat cylindrical bolt-through 142x12mm Syntace dropouts include a pinch-bolt secured replaceable mech hanger, which is rare for steel. Cables are bolt clamped, and because there’s just a single set of bottle cage bosses (on the down tube), you can slam the seatpost. There are ISCG chain device tabs on the threaded bottom bracket (BB) shell too.