Serious question.

I always thought that they were just ‘Halford’s Specials’, and suddenly I have started to notice them in proper bike shops.

Is this just an attempt to change image? Or have the bikes improved to such an extent that they really belong in the LBS?

Or were they just never all that bad to begin with?

Saracen used to have some good bikes, I tested a £3k full sus bike in about ’97 which was very good. Couldn’t actually buy one when I put the order in mind…

Don’t think it’s so much ‘changing image’ as ‘re-introducing’ the image.
Decent bikes, waaay back, bit like Muddy Fox. My 1st proper MTB was a Tufftrax in 1991, thats what got me started.

Individually owned up till about 2005 ?

Halfords bought into them

Now Saracen are owned by Madison so who ever is supplied by them can stock them.

This is why Blake Samson now rides for them as he is sponsored by Madison

Haven’t seen too much about the ‘relaunch’ HTs, but the Ariel and the Myst seem to have had a pretty positive response review-wise (dunno about sales though).

slainte ❓ rob

Saracen always did make good bikes, their image suffered quite a bit though,! I’ve had a Kili team and a Zen 1, both were brilliant bikes…

If that 853 HT that was on here the other day is anything to go by I’d have one.

Saracen (and GT to a lesser extent) took a battering in the late 90’s when they knocked out ‘Halfords Exclusive’ bikes which were downgraded versions of mainstream bikes. Saracen did a Raw that a lot of the kids bought round my way which weighed over 30kgs and only had 80mm of unuseable suspension, but because it was black and orange they went nuts for them. Until all the frames started snapping. GT did a few Agressors with really bad components, screw-on 8 speed freewheel anyone??

manon won the worlds at champery on the myst, i think? and the ariel was by all accounts a total steal.

Not a photo of my bike but brings back memories 🙂

I was 14, I had no knowledge of what was good all I knew was it weighed considerably less than my old heap of poop, it looked ace and I loved ripping through the woods on it.

I guess I will always have a soft spot for them! It was a halfords special 😀

Pre y2k Saracen made some really nice bikes

Some i have:

93 race elite based on the 92 kili e-stay frame set

96 kili comp

98 kili comp – not finished it yet

I will be getting one of the new kili flyer frames when i can afford 😉

I broke 2 Magnesium kili flyers, oops.

Satchm00 yours doesn’t count. It looks like a genuinely nice bike. I think the bikes that killed the brand were when Saracen chased the yoof extreme market with hideous box section crappy “suspension” bikes.

i browsed the saracen website the other day and was very tempted by about 4 bikes, including a bmx… 🙂

Wally – Member

I broke 2 Magnesium kili flyers, oops.

was it the landings that did it?

The Ariel is mint. I think when it first came out Benji did a (Euro) Enduro at the Fort William DH track on one. And loved it.

UR BIK IZ SARACIN

I saw a Saracen cx bike at icebike which looked pretty good.

OP – Saracen were bought buy Madison about 3 years ago and have tried to recapture the brand perception from years ago when they were considered good and not ‘Saracin’. To do that meant pulling them out of Halfords and getting them into decent LBSs. Like Skoda it will take a few years to get over the ‘Saracin’ thing, but they’re good bikes whatever.

Those mid nineties skinny steel frames are real things of beauty in my eyes. Oh how I lusted after them but at the time they were well out of my paper round and pocket money reach.

My 86ish Tufftrax had the most wonderful chain-stay canti brake mounting. I cant remember how they justified this at the time, but it was like riding with a mud scoop fitted!

I can remember how they justified it. Apparently seatstays weren’t strong enough to cope with the enormous braking power of U-Brakes 🙂

I remember Tushingham (prior to Orange) had them front and rear on a quite a few bikes.

I had an ’88 Tufftrax as my first Mountain bike. It was a thing of beauty. Colour matched stem, yellow and pink and Shimano Exage Trail iirc.

Then I bought a Kona Cinder Cone when they first came out and it was a different beast.

My first ‘proper’ mountain bike was also a Saracen. A Protrax in a lovely golden finish with full STXRC no less! After that one snapped I upgraded to a Kili comp which also snapped and then a Killi pro which also snapped after a year. All of them snapped on the non-drive side chain stay ❓ My cousin still rides a Saracen like that red one with the elevated chain stays. It’s still in mint condition but is a real eye opener to ride when you realize how bad all the components actually were back then!

luckily enough none of my 90s frames have given up on me yet and no signs of corrosion or anything. I treat all my steel frames with frame saver.. I can’t agree that the components were “bad back then”… Many of the parts were built to last and obviously not so advanced. Not a bad thing imo.

I think the re-launched Saracen brand is well on it’s way to being a success; I was ear-wigging a couple of people discussing the fact that the current Myst seemed like desirable, good value DH bike, as opposed to a halfords special – These are DHers mind, sat chatting atop 3-4K+ Intense/Commencal/Santa Cruz/etc – managing to appeal to this (Very image/brand conscious?) group and I think saracen as a brand are starting to put the past ~10 years behind them…

I also see a few more ariels out on the trail is an indicator that perhaps a few people are giving Saracens trail bike a whirl (it compares well to a 5 or Alpine 160 in the VFM stakes?), still not seeing as many of their HTs out and about though, but I guess that’s where the have far more competition to contend with in terms of british brands offering well thought out HTs…