Cotic Cascade review: the sturdy steel adventurer

Made in the UK, the Cotic is a burly machine that blends relaxed geometry with wide tyre clearance to cope with the toughest of trails

Cotic Cascade gravel bike
(Image credit: Future)
Cycling Weekly Verdict

Considering the price and its confident – and confidence-inspiring – handling it’s an excellent bike to consider if you are new to off-road riding. It won’t be the quickest but it will show you what fun you can have away from the tarmac. It’s for both its price and the fun and confident ride that we named the Cotic Cascade Best Value in this year’s Gravel Bike of the Year awards.

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Sure handling

  • +

    Confident feel

  • +

    Relaxed and comfortable position

  • +

    Technical capabilities

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    Weight

  • -

    Slower on less technical trails and tarmac

You can trust Cycling Weekly. Our team of experts put in hard miles testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

Once upon a time gravel bikes used to sit somewhere between road and mountain bikes. By exploiting the benefits of the latest components and manufacturing, they combined the speed and efficiency of a drop-bar all-road bike with a more stable geometry, wider tyre clearance and kinder gearing from the mountain bike world for fast riding on and off tarmac.

But things didn’t stop there. ‘Gravel riding’ is a broad church and manufacturers have quickly developed bikes to fill every possible niche: from high-paced UCI racing to multi-day adventures to reckless fun on technical MTB trails.

Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1