saracen ariel

lawman

anyone got any info??? cant seem to find any on the saracen website, but ive found some photos and it looks awesome

The Northern Monkey

it does look good.

There is a pic of it in MBUK, along with estimated price and spec list.

Looks like Saracen have gone back to making proper bikes!

lawman

yer looks like it took em long enough

jay12

yeah. great to see saracen getting their heads together again

freeride-mike

really like the look of that :shock:

missmarple

Plain white looks so nice! Lets hope they don't chav it up for the Argos market with loads of tatty stickers.

The Northern Monkey

missmarple wrote:

Plain white looks so nice! Lets hope they don't chav it up for the Argos market with loads of tatty stickers.

+ a gazillion.

missmarple

140mm Travel from the Fox Vanilla RL and Fox RP23 at the back. Deore Gearset. But pricey at £1500.

missmarple

140mm Travel from the Fox Vanilla RL and Fox RP23 at the back. Deore Gearset. But pricey at £1500.

bails87

missmarple wrote:

pricey at £1500.

Get a Boardman instead

Northwind

It looks quite a bit like the old Heckler doesn't it. £1500 seems reasonable, compared to, say, a Zesty 214, if it performs.

Heh, I've got a Saracen Raw 2 hung up in the garage, wonder if I could get a part ex

supersonic

I can think of another 140mm 'British' bike that is more expensive for a worse spec ;-)

llamafarmer

missmarple wrote:

140mm Travel from the Fox Vanilla RL and Fox RP23 at the back. Deore Gearset. But pricey at £1500.

Looks like an XT wheelset though, which is a nice bonus (if they're XT hubs).

supersonic

It is good that they have stopped producing the ultra cheap tat of the past few years. They got a good rep around 2000 for bikes like the NZyme, Xile, Zen, but took the budget flavour to the extreme with some prize poo. like the Vice.

However I don't like the 'brand' image they are projecting as I feel they will shoot themselves in the foot and alienate people.

missmarple

bails87 wrote:

missmarple wrote:

pricey at £1500.

Get a Boardman instead

Already got my funky retro full sus Bails! 8)

The Northern Monkey

Remove the fox fork and it'd drop the price I reckon! Lol. Would much prefer a rockshox setup anyways!
Nice set of wheel for the price as said!

Iirc MBUK said the top model would be around £2300.

lawman

if its 1500 quid thats a bargain. all round fox fox shocks and xt wheelset, that comes to nearly 1000 quid on its own :shock: cant wait to see the top of the range version

Squarepants

The Raw 2 comes to mind when talking about cheap Saracens. I had one and it was awful, the brakes adjusted themselves out so had no braking at the most important moments, the rear swing arm was not connected to the rest of the bike, but; I had more fun on that bike than any other since. It had a charm and personality. Northwind - how much you want for it?

Northwind

Squarepants wrote:

Northwind - how much you want for it?

I'll give you ten pounds if you take it away

supersonic

I had a Saracen DTox which I paid 300 quid for. For the money was fantastic - heavy, but great for short blasts and thrashes.

EarlofBarnet

I had a Saracen Mantra 3 recently and that was a bargain at the price. Really well specced and the frame was alright too. I just had to 'get over' my brand snobbery before I bought it, lol.

Squarepants

Northwind wrote:

Squarepants wrote:

Northwind - how much you want for it?

I'll give you ten pounds if you take it away

And £100 in petrol from South Wales :roll:

If you were closer i'd be having it.

Northwind

I could post it but the postman would need a crane 18.8 kilos of steel-framed glory. The bomber-branded rims say "extreme use only!". The frame says "cross country use only" EXTREME CROSS COUNTRY USE ONLY!

llamafarmer

Northwind wrote:

The bomber-branded rims say "extreme use only!"

Best advice label ever!

What happens to them if you only use them in a light to moderate fashion?

bails87

No one who's done that has survived to tell us!

joshtp

supersonic wrote:

I can think of another 140mm 'British' bike that is more expensive for a worse spec ;-)

only 1? i can think of 5.....

Northwind

Oops, double post

Northwind

bails87 wrote:

No one who's done that has survived to tell us!

Chuck Norris did.

Aaaanyway. I see Real Cycles is now advertising the Deore 140 at £1600. It doesn't say that it's a preorder but I assume it is, since Saracen are still saying February. I don't make a habit of getting excited about vaporware but if they've done it right, that's going to be on the shopping list...

joshtp

Northwind wrote:

I could post it but the postman would need a crane 18.8 kilos of steel-framed glory. The bomber-branded rims say "extreme use only!". The frame says "cross country use only" EXTREME CROSS COUNTRY USE ONLY!

lol, e gave me one of those beasts, totaly rusted! the rims can take a battering mind, even without spokes in.... i took all the spokes out of one of the wheels, then preceded to hit the rim with a large hammer, its still straight....
it does weigh more than my entire bike mind....

Squarepants

I dont recall mine being that heavy.. Maybe I was always delerious with the excersion needed to move it in any direction 18.8 kgs, yikes thats over 40 pounds. I must have been well 'ard to push that thing around Cwmcarn 8)

Northwind

An Idrive is svelte by comparison... But, maybe it's not the same one? I think there's been 2 Raw 2s, this is the ancient one with the steel y-frame and the RSTs