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Guys,
Any thoughts on these bikes? Has anyone ridden both?
Looking At the ariel 3 and pitch pro, the Saracen works out slightly cheaper, has slightly better kit and shock and bolt through rear, surely a winner unless the frame is a dog....?
The Saracen has XT drivetrain but deore brakes which i dont like. the pitch has SRAM running gear and brakes, these would come right off! Mainly interested in the ride/ geo/ etc though.
thanks for any help,
Leigh
(and im working on test rides before everybody says that...!)
The Ariel is suppose to be avery good bike, but many do not see past the name.
What is it about the Deore brakes you do not like exactly?
Is this a real question? - Pitch all the way - search this (and other) forums for "Pitch" and see what comes up..............you won't regret it
lucien - Member
Is this a real question? - Pitch all the way - search this (and other) forums for "Pitch" and see what comes up..............you won't regret it
Thats why sarecen should have changed their name as well as the rest of their brand.....
Biketart have a sarecen demo bike in stock
So long as there are bike brand 'snobs', it means there should be more bargains out there for the rest of us 😉
Lucien, have you actually ridden the Saracen? They're getting good reviews in every magazine they appear in. As does the Specialized though.
this guy seems to like his ariel..
We have a demo ariel in 17" & 15" and I kind of wish it was not as good as it is because it makes it difficult to sell the more expensive brands. Great value, amazing handling. I used to run an SX trail and would much prefer the Ariel for general trail duties and Alpine roadtrips.
@ duncan, would be better with bos devilles 😉
im looking for a ariel too...because i dont feel any brand snobbery as i have only ridden for a few years...specilized are good but dont the bearings wear out quickly and isnt it a more serious bike? not as much fun?
saying that i have friends that all agree that the pitch is awsome with 36s
A 'Serious' bike??
This is a TROLL!! and you are Surf Matte and I claim my £5!
Serious? As in more xc? Or harder hitting?
I really am torn! Not fussed about the Saracen name as long as it works.
Any ideas where I can get a demo near Oxford? Our local apeccy dealer doesn't have a pitch demo.
Pitch is an awesome tried and tested bike, everyone raves about them..
Ariel every day of the week! I Also used to ride an sx trail but i got on an ariel 2 weeks ago and could not believe it. Then i checked the price and nearly dropped dead! Ive ridden a mates pitch plenty of times aswell but it doesnt have a patch on the saracen. If you can see past the name and the re-sale value then go get one. You will love it.
I'd want to try the Ariel. Love the look of it, and I wasn't completely blown away by the Pitch I rode in the Alps. Was average to be honest.
Leigh , last time I saw you dude, you would never have pedalled up a hill!
Rob d....evine? Is that you?! How are you?! No Dh bike anymore so im all about the uphills!!!
all the Ariels have the same head tube length. Not good if you're tall.
Im 5'11" So distinctly average. hopefully not an issue!
Thosew who have ridden how are they at climbs/ flats and longer rides? Confortable to ride for 4 hours or so?
Not had a Saracen since 1992 when I had a Killi Flyer Pro Team Ultra etc. Gotta Pitch and love it for bashing rocks in the Lakes.
yes...by serious, i meant abit more xc... i think the ariel sounds like its more of a fun decent bike.
yea it's me dude, you should come down to the forest of dean someday.
Cheers for the input guys. Seems to be ariel here and team pitch on SDH!
Rob are you on fAcebook or anything so I can get hold of you?
we've got a couple of Ariels here to demo, one is mine (Large, with Lyric 160mm) the other the shop demo, (Med, with 140 as stock) - shout if you want to try either?
Si
Where are you based mate?
Hope valley, peak district- well wortha trip for the riding round here!
Is the 2011 pitch pro the awful green colour?
It's black and green
In this it lists the HA of the pitch at 67 in low setting, any ideas low what? Low fork travel setting?
Is the 2011 pitch pro the awful green colour?
Saw a couple at Aston Hill the other week and they looked great.
Spesh have got some really nice colour schemes this year.
Gopping
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Eye of the beholder, I think it looks sickmaxx.
I have an Aerial 3 and it is an amazing bike to ride, easy to control peddling is great even up hill and the spec for the money is amazing. I'm not fussed that it says Saracen (if it said Spesh or Trek it would cost £200 more!). I ride it more than my Foes FXR which is a great bike too. Saracen is a brand that is going places, the Madison/Saracen DH team are doing well and helping the brand and the Aerial is a cool looking bike.
I think there maybe a few 2010 Ariels still around that you could pick up for a very good price, so far I rather like mine 😀
Youe welcome to have a go if your in the Cwmcarn area soon it's a large frame.
Cheers! How tall are you to be on a large? I was looking at a 17" as I'm 5'11"
6'2"ISH so large is just big enough.
IIRC spesh don't do a demo pitches?
I've had my finger hovering over the buy button for a few weeks, but put off by the fact I demo'd a large enduro a couple of years ago and hated it, fast, but then anything that slack and long would be! But I'm prepared to put that down to a bad bike (shocks were way too hard so no sag, so rode it like a rigid bike, weight back and fork fully extended).
2011 pitch is subtly different (2mm off the chainstay kind of magnitude) to the 2010 and erlier models, guess the lack of fanfare about that means Spesh were confident it didn't need re-inventing.
Spesh seemed to get universaly good reviews. Ariel seems to get good reviews with niggling faults.
Sounds like I'm trying to convince myself....................
no more medium pitchs at specialized....not good...!
I've owned two pitch pros.the 09 brown one and I've recently bought the 2011 new one.it's easily the best bike I've ridden.my only complaint was the white grips which I swiftly changed.it's awesome,buy one!
just bought a 2011 pitch pro as a replacement for a stolen heckler and really enjoying it so far! i test rode a lot of bikes - some of which cost double as much and preferred the pitch. here it is in action 🙂
[url= http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5063/5651018185_f55b44c7a2.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/10999889@N00/5651018185/ ]P1040622[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/10999889@N00/ ]stuartlangwilson[/url], on Flickr
good review here too if you haven't yet seen it
http://factoryjackson.com/2010/11/28/tested-2011-specialized-pitch-pro/
My Pitch is The Mutts Nuts and I LOVE it! had a 2008 wolfridge before
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Man I hate that green. But the poo brown Pitch Pro of a couple of years ago was [i]lovely[/i]. I think I'd have bought a Pitch at that point if they'd not sold out of brown, all that was left was the horrible gunmetal.
i'm colour blind so can't even see it is green 🙂 if i didn't know better i would say it was yellow!
@northwind, when they sold out of bronze there was only blue left.
bronze was the pro, blue was the comp.
Must admit i quite like the new colour
yes at the workshop now, what's up?
poo brown Pitch Pro
[u]Not[/u] poo brown, it's (female) swimwear-model deep-thigh-tan brown...
[url= http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1393/4721476596_42c1c8448f_b.jp g" target="_blank">
(& many thanks to Loco for recent shock service!)
Cheers Rob, don't get me wrong anyone I like the Pitchs too, I just have a Ariel at the moment 😀
Nothing, just wondered if you were a shop or something (or loco tuning!) as most people don't just offer their bikes out!
A guy bought some forks from me a while ago and has sent them for service with you.
How far are you from cwmcaarn buddy?
workshop is about 10 miles from Cwmcarn and surrounded by good trails, bike isn't with me today and busy over the weekend.
The bike is a demo/development one so I'm not too presious about 😀
Cool always useful! Rode my last few bikes at cwmcaarn so should be good to test and compare there
I love that green on the Pitch.
The Ariel seems like it'd be worth a look, they get great reviews.. depending what happens with me going Canada I might get one on return to the UK as it looks like a pretty decent do it all trail bike.
Liking the green. I'm thinking that with 160coil fork and coil rear they'd make a good mini dh bike.
Love mine, can't do it justice but it makes me giggle
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Have to say that the Ariel frameset looks lovely; and at about a grand seems good value.
seanodav - Member@northwind, when they sold out of bronze there was only blue left.
bronze was the pro, blue was the comp.
This was the year after- the Poo Brown was replaced with a washed out silver. The Terrible Comp Blue With Pink Bits was so bad I don't even consider it worthy of a slagging.
Still, at least none of them were green and black eh 😉
LOL I've just bought a washed out grey/silver frame today, not the best looking frame but hopefully i'll enjoy riding it once built up. It's not the ugliest specialized frame i've had though paint job wise - i thought naff paint jobs were mandatory on the longer travel bikes, i had a battleship grey Big Hit and then a sand brown with cable rub as standard finish on an sx trail - both gopping. Personally i think this years black and green is heavily influenced by the whole team Monster energy thing which is a shame as the colours aren't too bad, nicer than the black and red comp imo.
I want a Pitch. When I was in the market for a six inch playbike I couldn't lay my hands on one, so I plumped for a Marin Wolf Ridge instead. It's a proper grin inducing bike, but I daren't ride a Pitch just in case it makes my two year project feel like a donkey to ride.
I had a donkey(wolfridge) before! Awesome bike 🙂 point it downhill and smile. But somehow the pitch just feels better as an all round ALL MOUNTAIN bike.
So far so good " I'm lovin it"
then a sand brown with cable rub as standard finish on an sx trail
I remember those, you have to wonder exactly what they were thinking making something so revolting.
I thought the silvery and blue Pitches were both perfectly fine. Personal taste applies of course, but I can't see why anyone would object strongly to them.
The poo brown has dated more IMO.
Peeps who do have ariels what height are you and what sizes?
Thanks,
Leigh
Just a heads up that Ariel geometry is different this year to last, different top tube measurements i think.
I loved my 09 pitch pro and had changed a 'few' stock items over time ...best of all a new rockshox revelation which balanced the bike perfectly . Never needed the pro pedal as it rode well without it, also an absolute HOOT on the gravity assisted stuff ! I was unfortunate enough to have it stolen in oct and with the insurance money would have gone for the 2011 pitch pro but didn't like the colour and the fact i managed to grab a 2011 enduro for £50 more 🙂 even happier bunny now