Alpine Dreaming – Saracen Ariel
We’ve had the Saracen Ariel since the snows of winter, and it’s time for a holiday…
In a late delivery from Santa with the wintery showers of April came a little red mermaid of a bike. We took a first look and shared the love here in case you have forgotten. Since then it has become bike numero uno in the stable taking on a huge range of tasks from evening blasts on homemade singletrack, big all day adventures like the Dyfi Enduro, hikabike on North Wales’ mighty peaks and just about everything else you might use a mountain bike for.
In due course we will drop a full review of this little beauty, for now, be content to know that I love it to bits. Next week me and my good lady (and my girlfriend) are off to the alps for a summer jollyday. The last few times I’ve taken my big bike for smashing laps before hitting Bar Opera. This year I fancied a change, and a more exploratory set of adventures. I’ve tweaked and fiddled, swapped out a few bits and have created a powerful little pony for getting out back of some mighty peaks, and still getting home in time for ice-cream. You might call this an Enduro bike, but it’s not, it’s a mountain bike!
The 15mm bolt through upfront, and the simple 12mm rear end make it very straightforward to swap in a pair of burlier wheels. These are the Spanks we ran for a season in Whistler on the Orange 322. Martin at Hotlines had a rummage in the tool-shed and found some 20-15mm adaptors for the front end, a simple swap of rear drop outs from 142 to 135mm and we were cooking on gas. The Spank Spike Race 28s are a very tidy set of wheels that didn’t skip a beat last year, either in looks or performance. The double walled Ooh-Bar rims have a wiggle in the middle of them that adds stiffness without loads of extra weight. Shifty and Neil at Superstar also came up with some matching rotors to complete the look. Thanks lads!
While the Hotlines gang were in the toolshed they also dug out a Twinty which has run without a blip since I slapped it aboard. Combining a taco style bash guard with a slider lower guide it leaves me free to retain the granny ring for riding back from the pub after some refreshments.
The 70mm stem hasn’t seen much (any) in favour of this little lovely from Easton. 35mm long and beautifully made.
Sadly the Evolution Series Fox 32s evolved a fault pretty early on. Luckily Mojo put them right with a new cartridge in double quick time, and since then they have performed reasonably well.
Last but by no means least is a pair of the awesome new Der Kaiser Projekt tyres from the folk at Continental. With big old brie wedges on the sides you can batter these tyres into corners and they just grip and grip. The fast rolling profile combined with the legendary Black Chilli compound should ensure plenty of grip on the remote singletracks, DH tracks and everything else that’s coming their way.
So that’s it. Basically just some different wheels and the bike transforms from one thing that I can’t quite place, to another, more gravity focused thing. In the mean time, lets just call it mountain biking and enjoy the sun!
