So, for those that read my last missive, here is the result of much internet auction site searching in my quest to replicate the unobtainable Santa Cruz dream machine that realigned my Mountain biking expectations last time out. It’s a 2019 Cotic Rocket frameset and this will be the basis for my attempt to get the same performance as a £4000 wonder bike on about 1/2 that budget. Can it be done? Or am I about to spend what is for me an awful lot of money only to end up crushingly disappointed?

I’m not going to go into masses of detail on here about how I’m going about the build, I’ve actually dipped a toe into the world of shakily shot badly lit YouTube videos to document the process as I’m pretty sure it would be quite boring to both to write and read about, but if you have a burning desire to see both the inside of my home garage and the untrendiness of my haircut I commend these audio-visual feasts to you! (Search for ‘the declining cyclist’ on YouTube)

No, I want to talk about that new bike fear. The fear that after lots of effort and fiscal pain the new longed for steed might leave you feeling a bit flat. After all this bike has a hard act to follow. It’s going to have to go some to match that instant hit of zingyness that the Bronson delivered. This orgy of self doubt can easily become self defeating. I’m already mentally thinking that the Cotic’s steel frame and coil shocks are going to feel weighty and stolid when compared to the Carbon fibre air sprung Bronson. Then I’m wondering if I really need 160mm of travel? Is that extra 10mm and super slack head angle going to make it a pain everywhere but on the steep technical descents when my own cowardice will be slowing me down anyway? Should I just have held out to find a used Bronson at the right price?

The other problem is that when you build a bike like this up from scratch you have to make a mass of component choices in quick succession and hope all the disparate bits come together in harmony to make a bike that’s more than the sum of its parts. This of course opens up a whole new vista of second guessing of ones self once the order has been placed, money has left your bank account and the anxious wait for various parcels has commenced. Should I have gone wider on the handlebars? Should I have gone shorter on the stem? Are 203mm brakes too big? (Yes probably!) why the hell did I order bright green headset spacers? Should I have stuck to Shimano for the drivetrain? So many questions…… so much room for self doubt.

Time for a metaphorical slap round the chops …….. I need to give myself a serious reality check. Yes the Bronson was brilliant, but I’m wondering in the cold light of day a week later if at least some of that was down to my increased fitness and the fact that I was riding with somebody else for the first time in ages. It’s also a well sorted bike that’s been put together for awhile – I need to remember that the first few rides on the Cotic could well be a bit crap anyway while the fork and brakes bed in and I dial the suspension to my liking. It’s quite possible that after a month or so I decide I do need to go 10mm or so longer on the stem or narrower on the bars. I’m going to have to give it a few rides and not get over anxious if I fail to bond immediately with my new baby.

Ultimately I rode the Bronson with no weight of expectations, I was just curious to see how different it was to my old Lapierre, I didn’t own it and if I hadn’t liked it or had felt it didn’t really offer much improvement it wouldn’t have mattered much as I didn’t have any skin in the game so to speak. I wasn’t worried about what bits were fitted or why Ian it’s owner had put a semi-slick back tyre on it, I just chucked a leg over it and rode it as hard as I could without thinking about it too much. Of course it’s different with the Cotic. This is a big investment for me, a bike that I’m really hoping will kick my riding up several notches and will last me a good long time. I know it’s a capable bike, and it’s a bike I’ve wanted to own a long time. I’m sure it’s going to be fine, I just need to quell that nagging voice in my head that pops up when I’m least expecting it …..

Far to much thinking time due to Covid-19 extended postal times, that’s what I’m blaming !