Best of Madison’s House Show

Before Interbike and deadlines shoved us off course, Chipps nipped down to Milton Keynes (city of dreams) for a look at what’s new for 2014. And now he’s finally back from his travels, here’s a brief look at some of the wonders within. Here’s what’s going to be lining up for your spending money next year from Genesis, Saracen and more.

Genesis Col du Glandon

Building on the very successful Croix de Fer and CdF bikes, here’s the aluminium framed Col du Glandon (which is just down the hill from the Croix). First impressions might confuse you though as this is actually a 650B road bike/cross bike for smaller or younger riders. Using the ‘new’ mountain bike standard, Genesis has been able to make a good and right looking bike for smaller riders without having to do odd things to the geometry. Complete bikes are £599.

Genesis Caribou

Genesis is very enthusiastic about this ‘get out in the woods in all weathers’ approach to mountain biking and has produced this almost-elegant looking Caribou model. It’s one of the few non-Surly/Salsa fat bikes to come stock with Surly rims and (Nate) tyres. The aggressive Nates make it a tiny bit more appropriate for the all-terrain intentions of the bike. It can be yours for £1499 complete.

Genesis High Latitude

The High Latitude is Genesis’ ride-everything steel hardtail that seems to only makes sense to British riders. It’s a 29in bike with 1×10 gears and comes in under a grand at £999.

 

Genesis High Latitude LT

It might look similar, but this is the 27in wheel version of the High Latitude. With Reynolds 653 tubing and a ‘UK favourite’ Ardent/Crossmark Maxxis combo, it also features a brand-new-for-Reynolds 34mm-31mm tapered seat tube that allows a dropper post AND a front mech without either being odd sizes. £1499 complete.

Genesis Core

The popular Core range has also had a mid-wheel revamp and now comes with 27.5in wheels. It also gains wider bars (up to 700mm on the medium and large) and a 11-34 wide-range cassette. Complete bikes are £749.

Genesis Vapour

The Vapour disc ‘cross/commuter bike comes in just under the magic grand and can run as your daily driver as well as a race-day special. Now in eye-popping blue, it features a big, versatile head tube and quality looking tapered fork. What’s not to like?

 

 

 

Genesis Alfine Di2

No, it’s not some kind of NSA concealed listening device, or a seatpost bomb, it’s the battery for the new 11 speed Shimano Di2 Alfine electric hub gears. With discs, hub gears and Di2, it could be the lowest maintenance bike you ever have.

Genesis Day One Alfine

If you fancy even more simplicity, how about the Alfine hubbed Day One, but with a super-neat bar-end shifter. Even more low-maintenance!

Saracen Myst Team

Now we’re going over to the other end of the spectrum at Madison’s other house brand, Saracen. As very successfully ridden by Manon Carpenter and the rest of the Saracen team this year, this bike can be yours. £4899 might be a bit of a stiff price to join the club, but you’d have no excuses for not winning once you joined it.

The, even brighter, Saracen Myst Pro is £2,999 and features the same base frame but with slightly more affordable components. Oh, and arguably, in a faster colour!

Saracen Mantra

A little shorter on the travel is the Saracen Mantra line. These feature ‘UK specific design’ apparently. They come with 27.5in wheels like everything these days (apart from the Myst!). With 120mm forks, there’ll be a range of Mantras from £499-£1199

Saracen Ariel

Now, let’s look to the Ariel. A bike that we’ve reviewed in the past and loved (Benji even went out and bought his own). The Ariel, too, goes to 27.5in for 2014, (though a 26in frame-only option is still available for next year). The Ariel 151 features, 150mm of travel and it gains a carbon fibre back end for 2014. Probably the jauntiest paintjob in the room too…

 

Ariel 152 – £3299 gets you some chunky, more all-mountain spec.

Saracen Kili Flyer

Saracen’s long-running Kili Flyer marque also gets the 27.5in makeover. With 120/120 travel and prices running from £1999 to £3199, the bikes are aimed at being more all-round XC and trail riding bikes.

And here’s one being put through its paces by Manon Carpenter!
http://youtu.be/C2VfkyGx1ok
 

Saracen’s frame-only line up is in a very stealth black throughout – from Myst to Kili. There’s even a 26in Ariel frame in there somewhere…

Saracen’s ‘not a ‘cross bike, not a gravel bike, OK, maybe a gravel bike, maybe a commuter’ Hack range continues to look super smart. This year in more stealthy colours. £799 and £999

Ridley

Meanwhile, across the car park was a quiet announcement that Madison (or rather Sportline, Madison’s bike distribution line) was now carrying the well known Ridley brand of bikes from that Belgium. Known mainly for it’s cyclocross frames, road and timetrial bikes, it also has a few mountain bikes up its sleeve(s?)

Meanwhile, in the car park itself, there was a battle brewing. It seems that even the scoot-along bike world isn’t immune to wheel-size arguments. There we saw Madison guys Oli and Chris arguing over whose bike was the best.

We’ll be featuring a few bits of Madison’s expanding clothing line over the next few issues. Here’s its Pac-it Jacket which is as the name suggests…

And finally, in one of those ‘Could only be designed by a UK rider’ is the waterproof 3/4 baggies from the Madison range.

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