The Cotic Hemlock is our super versatile full suspension machine. Designed and engineered with the same painstaking attention to detail and refusal to conform to the marketing led 'norms' of the industry that brought you our award winning hardtails, the Hemlock takes our trail bike philosophy to the next step. Like its hardtail brethren, it allows the use of long travel suspension without the excess weight or overt emphasis on one style of riding

Further development and customer feedback has led to some great additions to the frame for 2009. The super low top tube is still present, keeping the ride tight and chuckable, but following feedback from our small size customers we've incorporated an oversized 1.5" head tube for use with internal headsets which reduces bar height by up to 35mm compared to the 2008 frame. Adoption of the 1.5 standard also allows the fitting of external headsets for 0.5 degree slacker angles, or tapered E2 steerer forks.

The massively stiff 2" down tube continues, joined by a radically stiffer rear end which totally locks in handling confidence in high pressure, high speed situations. There remains, of course, enormous tyre clearance for up to 2.5" tyres, and the new torsion box chainstay brace is sloped away to prevent mud 'shelving' on top of it. The full length seat tube allows full saddle height adjustment and the cable routing is the same mud-repelling semi-outer design as our hardtails.

The heart of the frame is a 4-bar linkage suspension, complete with chainstay pivot and manipulated axle path which gives incredible climbing traction without excessive pedal feedback deeper into the travel. The brake mounting is positioned as far forward as possible to minimise braking inputs so the suspension remains stable. For 2009, we've teamed up with Fox to offer the RP23 High Volume shock as standard. This provides spectacularly good damping and feedback, with tunable ProPedal for your riding preference. The stroke is increased to 57mm, which reduces leverage and improves control for the 150mm set up, and increases the short travel option to 120mm travel.

All the pivot points use double sealed off-the-shelf cartridge bearings, with a massive 15mm main pivot axle and double sided chainstay pivot bearings. This keeps stiffness high and bearing load low, and the use of easily sourced bearings means hassle free, cheap sourcing when replacements are required. How often might that be? Well, the bearings in the final prototype probably need replacing about now, after 2 UK winters and a whole Luchon summer season.

So how versatile is versatile? Some example setup combinations.

Short/Mid:120mm short travel rear, 130-140mm trail forks..

Great for general XC, enduro's, singletrack and hard hitting trail centres, the shorter forks will give you sharp singletrack carving with the pert short travel suspension kicking under power and gripping in the corners. A long haul trucker with that extra security of knowing it can deal with anything the trails can throw at you. (This is Ian's preferred guiding set up in the Pyrenees using Magura Thor forks)

Short/Long:120mm short travel rear, 140-160mm forks.

This is the option for those of you looking to step it up from your long travel hardtail without losing that precision and chuckability. The new breed of lightweight long travel forks give the frame a rock solid stance in the fast rocky sections, with the short travel rear end taking the sting out and upping the grip and grin factor in the corners. You still know what's going on underneath you, and there's 4.5" of extra margin for error without losing all of the purity of response when picking your way down those super technical descents. (this is Cy's preferred setup, using Magura Wotan forks)

Long/Long:150mm long travel rear, 140-160mm forks.

Great for those big rides in the hills and mountains where the rocks are large and the terrain is steep. Insane levels of climbing traction from the supple, long travel rear end, mean winching yourself to the top is only as hard as you make it, and with the forks wound down virtually nothing is unrideable. Dial in plenty of sag and full fork travel and there's loads of scope to crank up the thrills coming down the other side. Go light on the forks and wheels for a mega-mile muncher with serious trail attitude; if crossing maps is your thing, this a great option. Or up the ante with hard hitting big single crowns and super tacky tyres for your drops and DH mega adrenaline fix.

More Options!

Remember, these are just the starting points. It's all about the right option for the way YOU ride. How about taking short/short, but dialing in some more sag on the shock and sticking a stout fork on? Go and bang the berms and play tough on the dual track. Or maybe you want a super stable technical descender? Add in an external headset to the 1.5" head tube and 160mm forks and you'll have a super slack technical trail weapon. No flight of steps too steep!

Why Choose?

Why settle with just one setup? We're selling the rockers as separate items, so if short travel is plenty for the UK, but you want to play with the big boys when you go to the mountains, make sure you've got your long travel rocker sitting on the shelf with your big tyres and you're ready to go. The options are almost endless, and that's great! It'd be a shame if we were all the same, all the time.

In developing this frame, we refused to define capability and type of use simply by how much travel a frame has: the Hemlock can be set up for the kind of riding YOU do.

Cotic Hemlock Specifications

• Custom drawn 7005-T6 Aluminium tubing.
• 2009 Fox RP23 High Volume long stroke shock.Simply outstanding.
• Super-compact frame layout and low stack front end for maximum room to move, and full length seat tube for hassle free saddle height adjustment.
• Fully sealed standard cartridge bearings in all pivots. Frame fitted main pivot bearings with massive 15mm axle make for maximum accuracy and protection. Double sided chainstay bearings for increased stiffness and bearing life.
• Machined swingarm heads and torsion box cross brace with a sloped, mud shedding design maximise stiffness and offer huge mud clearance for up to 2.5" tyres.
• One piece dropout/disc mount, with overhead disc mount location to ease wheel insertion and minimise braking effects.
• Long or short travel options available.
• Geometry for 130-160mm travel forks.
• Sizes - small, medium and large.
• Weight - 6.5lbs for the medium

Geometry and Sizing Chart

The chart is a guide to frame size. Ultra Compact Geometry means that the frames are small and long, and this counts even more so for the Hemlock. The small and medium frames have more standover clearance than a small Cotic Soul, so you'll have plenty of room to move! This also gives you lots of options in terms of setup for your chosen type of riding.

Component Sizes

Seatpost diameter:31.6mm (you'll probably need a 400mm, see our Bontrager deals below)

Front Mech:34.9mm (conventional high clamp, buttom pull)

Bottom Bracket width:73mm threaded

Headset:1.5" Standard (Stock geometry is based around an internal 1 1/8" steerer headset.See the Hope options below)

Shock:200mm eye-to-eye x 57mm stroke, 8mm fittings

Colours:

• Anodized black and laser etched front/anodized black rear
• Gloss White Powdercoat front with decal options/anodized black rear

Decal Options on Gloss White :

• White (top-tube panel)
• Orange (top-tube panel)
• Red (top-tube panel)
• Olive (top-tube panel)
• Lines (new)
• Dashes (new)

Our Warranty

The original owner is entitled to a free replacement within 2 years of purchase, and after that a half price replacement within 4 years of purchase, should there be any problem with the materials or workmanship on the frame.