I’ve a confession to make. Testing hardtails is more often than not a part of this bike reviewer’s job that doesn’t exactly fill me with joy. Most hardtails beat the crap out of you on the kind of trails I love to ride, and seeing as you can’t ever go quite as fast downhill on the best bits as on a full suss bike, I find it all a bit… what’s the point?

Sure, you can rip on the best aggressively-angled hardtails if you really send it, but, holy hell, it can also feel a bit wild and scary letting go of those brakes with only a rubber rear tyre between you and bad things happening.

– Short of time? Click here to skip to the verdict –

Cotic Solaris need to know

• Steel hardtail made from Reynolds 853 tubing front triangle, 4130 chromoly stays
• RockShox Revelation RC fork with 130mm, frame takes 100-130mm fork
• Threaded BSA BB, external cable routing, UDH, SRAM Transmission-ready
• Five sizes based on length, from C1 (smallest) to C5, size tested is C3 with 490mm reach
• Bronze entry-level build gets Shimano Deore brakes and gears

Cotic’s latest Solaris has become my favourite explorer bike, capable of bike miles and fun on the descents too

Call me grumpy (I deserve it), but this means it’s often a case of trying to get a handle on any hardtail fast and then moving on to the next shiny new full suspension or e-bike on the list. Often, that is, but not always. Very rarely, a bike like Cotic’s Solaris comes along that doesn’t automatically get packed into the cardboard box and sent out the door the second my review copy has.

Designed in the Peak District and up to its umpteenth generation, the Solaris goes about its business in a distinctly different way to the kind of aggressive hardcore hardtail I’m talking about above. It’s not a radically low and slack machine, honed in to eke maximum speed and stability out of zero rear travel like Stif’s Squatch Pro or, to a lesser extent, Cotic’s own Bfe. Instead, Cotic’s Solaris full 29in hardtail is more of a classic allrounder that’s up for a bit of everything. And incidentally, the Squatch is one of the only other hardtails I’ve revisited for fun in recent years.

The Cotic Solaris isn’t tuned for pure downhill speed like the Stif Squatch, instead it’s more adaptable for regular trail riding

What the Solaris shares with Stif’s frame is a brilliant ride feel and handling, and being made out of springier steel, not aluminium. The biggest difference for me though is, despite the Solaris targeting the kind of riding that’s not my usual bag, I find myself back out on it time and time again.

Maybe I’m just getting old, but without going all Michael Jackson on you, there’s something wholesome about the way the Solaris makes me feel. It’s back to basics while still managing a smidgen of sophistication, rather than a typical raw, headbanging hardtail ride. This has me having a mooch about the place just for the sake of it.

The Solaris’s blend of compliant steel and trail bike angles has me bewitched, casting my net further afield for out of the way trails

Cruising around in all weathers on the Solaris reminded me of a time before every trail had to have a berm for every direction change, a time when rides ventured further afield than sessioning one side of a hill. And you know what? I kind of liked it.

I’m well aware most people the Solaris is really targeting don’t pretend they’re hardcore DH or enduro demons, like I do. For them, the Solaris will likely suit the kind of exploring and adventuring I hadn’t for years, or they’ll simply soak up the ride.

And before you say, well, you can get about the place on pretty much any bike, I’ll try and explain. It’s the subtleties of the handling, and the fact this is a great bike for feature-packed, man-made trails and covering terrain too. That makes the Solaris a superior package to many.

Reynolds 853 tubing lends the bike some lovely squish and smoothness that alloy frames just can’t match

Frame design and specifications

Cotic’s recipe for an exceptional all-round trail hardtail involves two key ingredients; frame material and geometry. Using more malleable steel means the frame can have a bit more give than a rock-solid aluminium hardtail, and its angles aim for slightly sharper and more responsive steering than pure straight-line stability.

The well-worn cliché of steel frames having a more comfortable and conforming ride quality exists for good reason and the Solaris steel-feel is real. There’s a smoothness here that’s harder to find even on other steel frames though and it’s probably boosted by being built around bump-muting 29in wheels and not an MX set up.

Chromoly stays make up the rear half of the bike, and the Solaris is welded in Chezia rather than the UK like the brand’s full sus bikes

The latest frame is welded in the Czech Republic (not Scotland, like Cotic’s full suspension frames), and uses a Reynolds 853 main frame with 4130 Chromoly stays and the brand’s signature ovalized 44mm headtube. Multiple Solaris generations mean the exact shape and detailing has been refined to within an inch of its life with skinny-ish tubes, slender rear S-bend stays and a stubby wishbone at the top of the seat stays. Having no reinforcing bridge behind the BB presumably boosts the slinky, ground-tracing ride quality, and also affords better tyre and mud clearance.

Cotic Solaris hardtail 2025

The latest frame has a slightly lighter downtube than before and that means it’s now only rated for a maximum of a 130mm fork travel (rather than 140mm before). Cotic recommends using a fork between 100-130mm, which gives you an idea what the Solaris is targeting. I only used it with a 130mm Revelation fork, if you want to go bigger look at Cotic’s more hardcore Bfe hardtail with a slacker headangle, lower BB and rated for forks up to 160mm travel. On this topic, for what it’s worth, I still wouldn’t ever go over a 140mm fork on any hardtail, as it changes the bike’s geometry too much while riding. A compressed fork massively steepens the head angle when the bike pivots around the rear axle.

Back to the latest Solaris, its threaded BSA BB is now a bit closer to the ground and, like plenty other new bikes, the seat angle is also marginally more upright. That said, the BB drop still isn’t huge, so if pure descending is your bag, the Stif Squatch has a much (much) lower BB that really helps feeling more stable and planted, especially if you’re used to riding full suspension bikes on DH sections at speed.

More bosses than Super Mario, the Solaris has water, kit and cargo carrying options galore

Drilling into Cotic’s frame’s details, multiple bosses and mounts have been added to carry kit, cargo for bike packing, and extra fluids. This 2024 model comes with matt paint, but the same colours have now been replaced with gloss paint for 2025, which is a smart move considering the dull orange here is a pig to clean and seems to almost absorb black mud and splashes. Alongside the fresh paint job, new frame dropouts use a special UDH/Transmission compatible design, whereas this model still has a ‘regular’ replaceable mech hanger.

Solaris comes in five sizes based on front triangle length, rather than seat tube height. In much the same way Specialized uses an ‘S followed by a number, Cotic uses C, with C1 the smallest and C5 the longest (at around 490mm reach with a 130mm fork). The Solaris rear stays are reasonably long for a hardtail and fixed at 444mm; there are no size-specific changes across frame sizes.

490mm reach might not sound massive, but another consideration with hardtails is that I just don’t want them to be as long as a full suss bike. The fork compressing not only changes the geo as mentioned, it pulls my hands further away from my feet while riding, because both ends of the bike also aren’t compressing simultaneously.

I opted for a Rekon rear tyre to add some extra zip to the Solaris

Components

Cotic’s “special deal” Bronze build here is built around a 130mm RockShox Revelation RC fork and Shimano Deore brakes and gears. But I’ve added a few tweaks from the brand’s custom bike builder, like faster rolling Maxxis tyres and a dropper post, something that’s essential on any decent trail bike.

The overall package didn’t exactly set my world on fire, but it mostly gets on with it and doesn’t interfere with the ride. Cotic’s own brand bar and stem are a decent enough shape, but if the Deore shifter mounted to them was higher-tier, you could multishift more gears like on better Shimano shifters. The Deore brakes are noticeably less sharp and powerful than pricier 4-pot models too.

RockShox Revelation fork has an old Motion Control damper doing the squishing duties up front, it’s not as sophisticated as the new Charger dampers, but it’s great value

RockShox’s Revelation has been around as long as the Motion Control damper inside this one. The action is less responsive and controlled over rapidly repeated bumps than a more expensive RockShox Charger damper, but you probably don’t need me to tell you that more expensive kit is going to work better than one you can pick up for £275 online brand new.

With 130mm travel, I ended up lowering the bars a tad because it felt slightly harder to control the front wheel up really steep climbs when climbing sat down, but this makes sense considering the frame is designed around a 100-130mm range.

The Shimano MT620 wheels are a spot on match for the Solaris thanks to their ability to track terrain and snake round rocks

One Solaris kit choice that does work well and really matches the frame feel is the wheels and tyres package. The Shimano MT620 wheelset is smooth, quick and comfortable and boosts Cotic’s bike’s canny ability to track terrain without being as jarring or sharp as you’d expect for a hardtail.

The wheels roll really fast with lower profile Maxxis rubber pumped in and cup and cone bearings. Do bear in mind the loose balls need a bit more checking, greasing and looking after over time than sealed bearings though, or you can just run until they die and then swap them out.

I’m a big fan of the Forekaster on trail bikes, it’s lightweight but still manages to grip well beyond expectations

Another thing with the wheels is it also feels like there is a bit of give and twist in Shimano’s rim when the bike is slotting through little rock gaps or root webs or tracing off-cambers. That helps stop the Solaris from pinging about too much. Forgiving then, but presumably not weak, as I’ve also not had a spoke come loose yet or dented the rim either, which can be easily done on an unforgiving hardtail.

In terms of tyre choice, the slightly spikier Maxxis Forekaster front and smoother Rekon rear is pretty much spot on. Unless of crouse you live somewhere really pointy where you might rip the thinner casing, and instead opt for Cotic’s standard but much heavier WTB Verdict and Trail Boss combo.

The Solaris climbs better than gravity bikes like the Squatch thanks to longer chainstays and quick-rolling rubber, but I did have to drop the bar height to keep the front wheel tracking

The Forekaster has enough bite in looser surfaces but still rolls well and I’d rather take my chances with the EXO casing set up here, as the extra speed and acceleration suits the Solaris. It’s surprising what you can climb and scramble up or hold on to with the edge blocks on the fast MaxxTerra rear Rekon, considering how low-profile it is.

Performance

Half the reason I ended riding the Solaris more than I thought I ever would is its ability to get me to ride that bit further. It’s got some kind of perky, on-its-toes, vibe that wants to hunt down the next piece of trail or see what’s round this next corner or over that next horizon. That makes it the perfect bike for a nosy parker. I’d kind of forgotten I really enjoy this too, and there’s something satisfying about cruising along and really getting where you’re going without faff or lost energy.

Short travel bikes I ride all the time like Santa Cruz’s 120mm Tallboy are pretty darn efficient, but still not as efficient as this. I know it sounds obvious, but with the Solaris, you just pedal and you go. There’s not just minimal bob, there’s no bob at all, and there’s something pretty cool about the simplicity of that when sat down spinning or mashing up a steep hill and not wasting precious energy.

The Solaris is no mere touring bike though, I loved its playful ride on the descents

This isn’t a one trick pony to just trot about the place though. Many equivalent weight hardtails can do that, but the Solaris has something extra about the handling. It balances being seriously smooth and comfy, without ever being so soft and numb I’m unable to sense all the little connections and inputs that affect the ride and get the bike to do exactly what you’d expect it to.

The 64.5° head angle isn’t exactly steep, but the steering feels lighter and less floppy than you’d expect somehow. It’s easy to turn the bars and tilt the front tyre form edge-to-edge, but with the longer 444mm rear stays, there’s always enough weight on the front to stop it feeling skate-y or like the grip on the floor is pushing out or tucking in if you don’t get the lean angle and steering input dead right.

Snapping between turns is still easy despite the long chainstays, which provide great balance going down, as well as climbing

That the Solaris isn’t a total stubby back-end wheelie machine like many hardtails is in its favour too. It delivers more grip climbing as much as a more centred riding position where I’m not hanging off the back down the kind of singletrack and natural tracks I enjoy riding. It’s maybe not that surprising though that a bike developed and tested in the Peak District still doesn’t mind hooning along a bit faster though and is planted enough to rip down natural bridleways. Bear in mind though, the Deore brakes don’t exactly pack DH-level power if you want to slow down in a right hurry.

This C3 size ‘only’ has 453mm reach, but on a hardtail, that feels about the same as a 470mm-ish reach full suss bike to me. There’s plenty of cockpit room and no sense of being too cramped. Sat down, everything is in the right place and there’s a solid foundation to pedal and steer from on undulating singletrack without ever having to wriggle about or adjust position.

The Solaris is a hardtail that works with you rather than stubbornly resisting your inputs to pop obstacles

It’s pretty hard to put my finger on precisely the reason I rate the Solaris so much and why it’s the first hardtail in years I have ridden again after testing just for the heck of it. It’s likely it’s the combination of smoothness in the frame and handling and steering that gives it the clever knack of always feeling like the bike is working with me, not against me.

I also really like how it’s slinky and stable enough not to get deflected all the time, but has enough sensitivity and feedback in the steering to really sense the touch of the tyre on the ground and in my hands. This means I can make constant micro adjustments around the edges of grip and precise knob placement without it ever being so sharp or twitchy it catches me off guard or does anything weird. I’m not sure I’d want it to be much more responsive or quicker steering though and can’t comment on what it would be like with less than 130mm travel).

Real riders have designed the Solaris from the ground up, it’s not just been built by CAD and a spreadsheet and you can feel that in its sensitive and comfy ride

Cotic’s latest Solaris definitely doesn’t have the best kit ever for the cash or particularly radical or headline-grabbing angles. The overall effect, however, manages to add up to more than the sum of its parts. Steering, chassis feel across the ground and responsiveness are totally refined. It feels obvious this is a bike that’s been ridden and perfected over multiple generations to iron out any little creases and zone right in on the essentials of the frame feel and tube positions to ensure it handles as sweetly as possible. That’s really saying something too when a good chunk of hardtails I test feel a bit like they’ve been dialled in from a Far East factory or simply drawn up in a computer programme and never actually refined by a real rider.

Simply the best hardtail I’ve ridden in 2025