[Closed] Saracen Ariel 2

I've seen the reviews and was wanting a 'real world' view of them, as maybe getting one as a cheap play bike until the 2011 frame I'm having lands in the UK as not riding is starting to grate badly!

There was a thread the other month, but nothing particularly useful seemed to be posted...

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/saracen-ariel-any-good

Thanks, think I'll go for it as need a bike and it ticks all the boxes of what's needed as an interim bike.

Ive had an ariel 3 for a month now, ticked all the right boxes for me, basically something completely different from my singlespeed. The 3 is very plush and loves the downhills, picks up speed very quickly on the downs and has nice sharp handling.

Bit slow on the uphills, but that could be because my singlespeed could fly up them! The suspension doesnt appear to bob on the uphills (there again, im less than 10stone), but i do put the pro pedal on to minimise this.

Have done one epic ride on it, 30km with 2600m up/down hills and it seems to be a perfect bike for this, a little on the slower and heavier side for my local woods (Delamere), where i would take my SS

Cool that all sounds good, no doubt I won't be able to resist fiddling with the shocks anyway, maybe shorten the rear to get a slightly slacker head angle 😀
Must try and resist as that'll be the start of upgrading and it's only supposed to be a 'fill in'