Saracen has announced a complete refresh of its mountain bike line-up, with new builds and colourways throughout the range.
The Ariel continues to inhabit the 130mm trail bike and 160mm enduro bike categories, all the way up to the brand's 180mm park bike. Then there's the Myst for downhill and the Amplitude for dirt jumping.
Saracen uses a direct-sales model via its website. The Ariel 60 starts at £2,599.99 and tops out at £4,399.99 for the Ariel 60 Elite, which features Fox Factory suspension.
Bikes are available to pre-order now and are expected to be delivered early in 2023.
Saracen Ariel
The 2023 130mm Ariel 30 and 160mm Ariel 60 models can run mixed-wheel sizes, with the small and medium-size bikes coming with a mullet setup (27.5in rear/29in front). The large and extra-large bikes ship with 29in wheels.
Saracen says an alternative linkage will be supplied that enables you to change from mullet to full 29in and vice-versa. The Ariel 80 remains 27.5in.
All Ariel frames are effectively the same, with shock length altering the geometry of the frame, giving some unique features to the Ariel 30, such as super-boost rear spacing.
They all feature Saracen's TRL suspension system, which uses a linkage-driven single-pivot design. The main pivot is situated just behind the chainring, with the rear triangle driving a pivot linkage attached to the top tube. This gives room for a bottle cage on the lower down tube.
Saracen Ariel 30
All Ariels feature 130mm of rear suspension and 130mm of front suspension.
The 505mm reach makes it one of the longest trail bikes on the market. The rest of the geometry is fairly conventional, with the head angle being 65 degrees, the seat angle at 76.5 degrees and the wheelbase 1,270mm on a size large.
2023 Saracen Ariel 30 spec details
- Fork: Marzocchi Bomber Z2 130mm
- Shock: Fox Factory Float Performance
- Drivetrain: Shimano SLX / Deore
- Brakes: Shimano Deore BR-M6100
- Wheels: DT Swiss M442
- Tyres: Maxxis Minion DHR II
- Price: £2,499.99
2023 Saracen Ariel 30 Pro spec details
- Fork: Fox 34 Elite GRIP2 130mm
- Shock: Fox Float X Performance
- Drivetrain: Shimano XT / SLX
- Brakes: Magura MTS
- Wheels: DT Swiss XM421
- Tyres: Maxxis Minion DHR II
- Price: £3,299.99
Saracen Ariel 60
The Ariel 60 features 160mm of travel front and rear, and up-to-date enduro geometry. Reach remains the same as the Ariel 30, but the longer travel makes the head angle 64.6 degrees. The seat angle is 76.5 degrees and the wheelbase is 1,278mm.
2023 Saracen Ariel 60 spec details
- Fork: Marzocchi Bomber Z1 160mm
- Shock: Fox Factory Float X Performance
- Drivetrain: Shimano SLX / Deore
- Brakes: Shimano Deore BR-M6100
- Wheels: DT Swiss E532
- Tyres: Maxxis Minion DHR II
- Price: £2,599.99
2023 Saracen Ariel 60 Pro spec details
- Fork: Fox 38 Elite GRIP2 160mm
- Shock: Fox Float X2 Elite
- Drivetrain: Shimano XT / SLX
- Brakes: Shimano SLX BR-M7120
- Wheels: DT Swiss E532
- Tyres: Maxxis Minion DHR II
- Price: £3,499.99
2023 Saracen Ariel 60 Elite spec details
- Fork: Fox 38 Factory GRIP2 160mm
- Shock: Fox DHX2 Factory
- Drivetrain: Shimano XT
- Brakes: Shimano XT BR-M8120
- Wheels: DT Swiss EX 511
- Tyres: Maxxis Minion DHR II
- Price: £4,399.99
Saracen Ariel 80
The Ariel features 180mm of travel front and rear, and uses a pair of 27.5in wheels.
The reach is shorter than the other Ariels at 485mm and the head angle slacker at 63.5 degrees. The seat tube angle remains 76.5 degrees and the wheelbase is 1,268mm on a large-sized frame.
2023 Saracen Ariel 80 spec details
- Fork: RockShox Zeb 180mm
- Shock: Marzocchi Bomber CR
- Drivetrain: Shimano SLX / Deore
- Brakes: Shimano Deore BR-M6100
- Wheels: DT Swiss E532
- Tyres: Maxxis Minion DHR II
- Price: £2,599.99
2023 Saracen Ariel 80 Pro spec details
- Fork: Fox 38 Elite 180mm
- Shock: Fox DHX2 Performance
- Drivetrain: Shimano XT / SLX
- Brakes: Shimano SLX BR-M7120
- Wheels: DT Swiss E532
- Tyres: Maxxis Minion DHR II
- Price: £3,499.99
Saracen Myst
The entry-level Myst AL comes with 27.5in wheels and is more bike-park oriented, while the Pro and Team builds feature a mullet setup and are designed for downhill.
Like the Ariel, the Myst uses Saracen's TRL suspension design with 203mm of rear travel.
2023 Saracen Myst AL spec details
- Fork: RockShox BoXXer Select RC 203mm
- Shock: Marzocchi Bomber CR
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX
- Brakes: Shimano BR-MT520
- Wheels: Formula/KT (hubs), Jalco PHL32 (rims)
- Tyres: Maxxis DHR II
- Price: £2,799.99
2023 Saracen Myst Pro spec details
- Fork: RockShox BoXXer Select RC 203mm
- Shock: Marzocchi Bomber CR
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX
- Brakes: Shimano BR-MT520
- Wheels: Formula/KT (hubs), Race Face ARC (rims)
- Tyres: Maxxis DHR II
- Price: £3.999.99
2023 Saracen Myst Team spec details
- Fork: Fox 40 Float Factory 203mm
- Shock: Fox DHX2 Factory
- Drivetrain: Shimano Saint
- Brakes: Shimano Saint BR-M820
- Wheels: KT (hubs), DT Swiss FR560 (rims)
- Tyres: Maxxis Assegai WT
- Price: £5,399.99
