Zen
Zen headtube detail
Mantra
Amplitude
Figuring it out
Saracen has had its ups and downs over the years, with the downs being fresher in most people's memories - the company went bust not ever so long ago, returned under a subtly different name and was subsequently sold to UK uberdistributor Madison Cycles. Those with longer memories may recall the glory days of Saracen - it was one of the pioneering UK MTB brands, with bikes like the Tufftrax, Trekker and Traverse being really quite cool in the late 80s and early 90s.
New owner Madison makes no secret of the fact that it wants to get Saracen back to that kind of status. Conscious that the brand's image among enthusiast mountain bikers has been affected by its presence in national chains of sports shops and the like, Madison is keen to emphasise that the rebooted Saracen will be sold only through independent bicycle dealers. It's also come up with a new brand identity, complete with a funky range of characters to represent each of the bike ranges.
As for the bikes themselves, it's clean-sheet time, with the names and generally youth-targeted market positioning about the only things that NuSaracen has in common with the old. There are no scary-cheap bikes, with the entry-level Tufftrax coming in at £249.99. The frames have some neat details, with ring-reinforced headtubes and cowled Breezer-style dropouts. With a size range from 14 to 22in pretty much everyone should find a Tufftrax to fit.
Next up is the Mantra range, running from £399 to £599. While the Tufftrax is pitched somewhat at the crossover MTB/commuter market, the Mantras are described as "ready for the dirt". Topping out the trail bike range are the Zen bikes, with 120 or 140mm forks, butted frames (complete with neat CNCed logos in the headtubes) and components from Race Face, Syncros, Marzocchi and RockShox should make for solidly-performing bikes.
There's also the Amplitude dirt/street/4X bikes, and again the real budget stuff has been cut out - the bottom-end Amplitude is the £369.99 CR1, with chromoly frame and fork, three-piece cranks and 24in wheels.
There are more bikes to come, too - there'll be an Urban range of 700c-wheeled bikes, an all-new Ariel 140mm trail bike (of which we've had a sneaky glimpse, and can report that it looks promising) and the Myst DH and FR bikes. The Ariel should be on show in some form at the London Cycle show in October, with the others being launched early next year. Keep an eye on www.saracen.co.uk for updates.
