2012 Saracen Ariel Prototype - First Look

We take a look at the prototype of the new 2012 Saracen Ariel.

“It’s a fun bike.” It’s hard to get frame designer Ryan Carroll to use any more adjectives to describe Saracen’s 140mm bike. In days when the market is full of press releases with lengthy technical explanations of why this new bike or that new bike is great, it’s a real breath of fresh air to hear a bike company talking in such plain terms. Even when we goaded him, asking about four bar linkages and suspension designs, we couldn’t get him to go past “we found a pivot position we liked and the bike’s simple this way.”




Don’t confuse his plain speaking for lack of enthusiasm about the bike though. If he wasn’t so excited about it he wouldn’t have shoved this prototype into his suitcase hot out of the oven and flown from Taiwan to Italy just to show it to a selected handful of Saracen’s dealers. In fact, he was so keen to show the bike off he didn’t wait for the rear end to come out of the oven before running for the plane! When we suggested he carry it up five flights of stairs in the rain to get some pictures he didn’t even blink (although we did nearly lose him to the slippery tarmac coming back down again).

Mountain bikers love categories - admit it, you do - but if you’re looking where to pigeon hole the Ariel, Saracen have resisted doing it and we’re not going to help you. You can happily pedal the Ariel up the hill, but the geometry favors putting a grin on your face coming back down. They aren’t flimsy either, they don’t cross into the kind of big hit, park bike territory, but you don’t need to be too shy when the going gets ugly. The phrase you’re looking for is a “mountain bike.” Or, as Ryan says, “fun” would fit the bike nicely.

The Ariel is an important bike for Saracen – it was the first voyage into full suspension for the revitalized brand and it set the mark for the Myst downhill bikes that you might have seen on World Cup and Halo British Downhill Series podiums this year. So it’s fitting that this is the first bike in the range to get an overhaul, to get a new, more refined look.




This new bike will be mark three: the 2011 bike slightly tweaked the cockpit from the 2010 original. Now they’re comfortable with that geometry this 2012 update is all about details, in fact a lot of it comes down to welding. Take a look at those shock mounts. Sure the CNC’ing looks trick and saves a bit of weight, but the reason they’re like that is to improve the weld. Then there’s the tube set – the profile behind the head tube means there’s a much bigger contact area for the top and down tube, making the frame stronger. Changing from a curved top tube with a flared end to meet the seat tube to a straighter tube and a support strut makes a much stronger contact. Talking to Ryan you can’t help but take in his excitement as he shows you all these little details, how the bike will be stronger, stiffer, clog up with mud less. It’s the kind of attention to detail you’d expect to see from a small boutique brand.




On the rear end that didn’t make it to Italy will be an entirely new look too. Gone will be that big, industrial box section and in will come refined, curved tubes to stiffen the rear end. The bracing around the pivot will be all new too, making the rear triangle noticeably stiffer. Another thing that will also be changing will be the graphics. The current Ariel comes with an AC/DC-style skull affair, that hasn’t been everyone’s cup of tea. Replacing it will be bold, geometric graphics, giving the bike a much more grown up look. Unfortunately this sweet ball burnished finish (does anyone else get a pang of nostalgia for the late 90s on hearing that phrase?) is just for Ryan’s proto.

Anyone who remembers the disastrous, budget Saracen dirt jump bikes from a decade ago might find this hard to say, but it’s lining up to be a properly good looking bike. It’s now coming up to four years since the guys from Madison got their hands on the Saracen brand and on the strength of this new Ariel, we’re pretty excited to see where they’re heading in the next few years. Expect to start see these out on the trails early next year.



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Do you like what Saracen has cooking with their prototype Ariel? Let's hear what you think about this 140mm travel machine!

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