The Madison / Saracen team were at the first round of the Halo BDS this weekend, so we got some time with their mechanic to go over the new team bikes for you.
Spoke to a few guys riding these at Aston Hill last weekend, one of whom rides on the new Saracen team.. they were raving about them and seeing them in the flesh they look beautiful and are quiet as hell, really good looking bikes.
they are very nice in the flesh - the standard white issue for consumers is also v.cool but the factory colours are special. red and white is the new green and black it would apppear ;-)
I like that these are basically stock bikes, kinda brings it down to the level of the little guy like you and me who doesn't have thousands to spend on a ridiculous race bike!!
The myst is not a boutique frame, it's a budget dh frame. It retails at £1400 with headset and fox RC2 shock. complete is £2300.
Compare that to proper boutique frames - morewood makulu =£2600, V-10 carbon=£2900, trek session 8=£2600, lapierre dh920=£2600
Crunchss is completely right with what he's saying, they have made a proper dh race bike much more affordable. Of course the team will have nice parts, you don't want to ride world cups with shoddy bits. But it shows us that you can start with the frame and upgrade as you go along and end up with the same bike as the team and spend a whole load less than with a real boutique frame.
tbh i really didnt know how much the frames cost, i was just guessin they would be pricey because, well, they look pretty good. Still tho, you're average joe can't afford a bike like this unless it's all he spends his money on (i.e. me).
I think their race bikes look lush in the red but im not a fan of the production graphics, it would be soo much better to get them in the race colours.
It's great to see such a big company backing some younger riders. This is without a doubt the best way to harvest new talent to to make sure the British Young Guns are the best in the world. Props to Madison & Saracen!
At the student champs the other weekend I saw at least 6 of these. Obviously a popular choice with the more empty pocketed of us. I think they look pretty nice in the white.
