Saracen's 27.5'' and 29'' Myst DH Bike - Lošinj DH World Cup 2018
Madison Saracen's signing of Danny Hart was probably the biggest team news this off-season, and the UK brand has followed that up with not one but two new downhill bikes. Well, kinda. The carbon fiber Myst has two wheel size-specific platforms, one for 27.5'' wheels and the other for 29'' wheels, and the geometry is essentially identical on both. The idea, Team Manager Will Longden says, is to allow their World Cup racers to decide what works best for them.
And, at least for now, the new bike is only going to be for Madison Saracen's World Cup team. That'll surely change in the not too distant future, though, as Saracen isn't about to invest in two different wheel size platforms and then not sell both them to the public.
With geometry being the same regardless of wheel size, the team is able to set up each bike identically so that their racers can jump from one to the other during testing without any second-guessing. Matt Walker, the tallest on the team, prefers the big hoops, while Danny Hart and Alex Martin are both on 27.5'' wheels for now, although Longden did stress that that could change down the road, especially as Danny gets more training and racing on the Myst under his belt.
Coming from Mondraker, Danny is used to the smaller wheels, so it's no surprise that he wanted to stick with those when making the change to an all-new bike.
Saracen committed to the 29'er downhill bike route around the middle of last year, and Matt Walker was on an aluminum mule from Mont Sainte-Anne onwards.
Tweaks and updates were made during development, the most notable being some revisions to the linkage that has seen their team on a setup that provides more progression and works in concert with the coil-sprung Fox X2 shocks all three racers are using.
After the geometry and suspension were dialed in with the aluminum mule, the carbon Myst came out of the mold over the winter. It's not locked down quite yet, however, with tweaks to the layup still being made to fine-tune the feel and strength, and a close look will even reveal different profiles to some frame tubes.
One thing that won't make production is the three-way adjustable swingarm that the team was using at last year's Lenzerheide World Cup, with it now be pared down to a two-way setup with a flip-chip to make the change. This gives racers the ability to choose between a 445mm rear end or a lengthy 460mm setup, although Longden did point out that the team spends about 80-percent of their time using the shorter option, with Leogang and Mont Sainte-Anne likely being the only two tracks that will see the bike's wheelbase grow considerably.
Up front, Matt, Danny, and Alex can also play with a headtube insert that allows for +/-5mm of reach adjustment, a feature carried over from the old bike. Saracen has only manufactured two frame sizes, a 'Factory' and a 'Factory Long,' but the offset headset cups allow for enough adjustment that a tall guy like Matt can ride the same size frame as Alex.
Up front, Matt, Danny, and Alex can also play with a headtube insert that allows for +/-5mm of reach adjustment, a feature carried over from the old bike. Saracen has only manufactured two frame sizes, a 'Factory' and a 'Factory Long,' but the offset headset cups allow for enough adjustment that a tall guy like Matt can ride the same size frame as Alex.
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
Opinions mate
Dentists can have their EWS proven Yetis, i'll stick to downhill inspired brands.
As i said, it´s an opinion. I won´t defend mine to you as it is nothing that can be proven anyway. You´re totally right about wins being only marketing, but that´s not what i´m talking about. It´s simply about the bike as a carrier of technology.
For what it´s worth, it comes down to experience and the "genes" that go into a bike for me. For example, i´ll buy a BMW for the rear wheel drive design because that´s what they´ve been doing for years and their designs have a certain degree of heritage to take from. Again, not objective in any way, but you gotta start somewhere. I trust they know what they´re doing in a segment that is important to me. In the case of a bicycle, downhill oriented performance.
In my opinion it is better to have various sources of input rather than only one, so having a dh and enduro team can only be beneficial.
And then there´s my strong dislike of a company dropping its roots and a whole (dear to me) subcategory of the sport, which is something i don´t want to support. Again, purely based on my personal feelings towards the subject at hand and the fact i do wanna be able to buy a downhill bike in the future, so those who still offer one will get my trailbike money.
This isn´t about what is better, but the question was whether building a dh bike is justified. If there are others like me out there, at least to gain our trust and money i guess it is still justified.
Which makes me conflicted because I love that Santa Cruz supports DH.
As much as i personally dislike the idea of ebikes, i can´t justify limiting myself that much, haha.
I guess it´s also just something no company can avoid really. I mean, let the people who actually need them due to injuries or whatever have them. It´s the douches who will terrorize walkers who are the problem, leading to trail closures.
Since nearly all manufacturers will be hopping on board the e-train i guess there´s sadly not a realistic way to vote with our money on that matter anyway, so we might as well just ignore it really. You know, for the sake of our own mental health
sure im getting paid milions to advertise ebikes. because that makes sense instead of ebikes just being fine
Well of course the bike will feel different, that's the idea of the different wheel sizes. However, weight distribution and overall rider position will remain the same, making it feel as close as it can get. I guess they're referring to geometry only in the sense of the usual measurements used, like headangle, reach, bb height,wheelbase etc which imho is completely fair because while what you point out is right, it won't concern any potential customer.
What they're trying to tell us is simply that while it is a 2 in 1 bike you do not have to be concerned about the bike being wildly different with different wheel setups.
Their press release said the bike is adjustable for two wheel sizes, if i haven't got that completely wrong.
My bad,i read that wrong. You're right
>Their press release said the bike is adjustable for two wheel sizes, if i haven't got that completely wrong.
i dont think it did, they even say "it’s two new bikes because this Myst comes in 27.5” and 29” versions"
Also while what you say is true for bb drop, 29ers do not require a different headangle per se as that really just depends on what ride characteristics you're after. Remember, they said geometry stays the same, they did not say it'll ride exactly the same, because what would be the point of it being different then anyways?
That´s the thing, without actual numbers and/or seeing it in the flesh, we can´t know for sure.
I´m as sceptic as anyone else when it comes to the industry and their claims, but i guess until i can verify for myself what´s true, i assume they got at least the simple part right. That´s why i assume bb drop will be compensated for. As for headangle, who knows.
Somewhere further up the designer responded to what exactly they did with the bike. Maybe that helps clear things up