Saracen has unveiled a mostly mountain 2019 bike range. The lineup mostly evolves new models we’ve covered earlier this year, two new bikes stand out. Levarg is the biggest detour – a dropbar gravel bike, with a Fox fork for some real adventuring. Plus, their World Cup DH bike gets a little brother, an alloy Myst SL that cuts race ready downhill pricing in half!
2019 Levarg alloy, suspension fork adventure road gravel bike
This year Saracen had the Hack, an alloy road bike for mountain bikers with 32mm Exposures on 700 wheels. That wasn’t apparently enough, so they’re going deep into gravel for next season. The new Levarg doubles down with 650B wheels and suspension for more off-road road cush.
Levarg alloy adventure road gravel bike – Tech Details
The new gravel bike is definitely the result of mountain bikers getting ahold of a drop bar bike. It starts with a custom butted and hydroformed 6061 alloy tubeset with all the features you want in a modern 650B gravel bike. That means a 1.5″ tapered headtube, flat mount disc brake tabs, 12mm thru-axles, rack & fender mounts, 1x or compact double compatibility, and internal cable routing in the alloy front triangle.
Where it deviates from the norm is in its spec. Two models of the bike use a nice, long suspension-corrected carbon fork which allows Saracen to spec one model of the bike with both a 40mm travel Fox 32 SC AX suspension fork AND a SpeedUp dropper seatpost.
All of the Levag bikes share the same alloy frame and geometry in four standard sizes (S-XL). The bikes are designed around Road plus 47-50mm slick tires, so Saracen spec’s the smaller 42mm Resolute for the knobby, trail-oriented model.
Levarg gravel adventure bikes – Complete Spec & Pricing
The Levarg OR is the most striking of the new 650B gravel bike builds. For £2300, buyers get the alloy frame, Fox 32 SC AX fork with its 15×199 thru-axle, SpeedUp dropper post activated by a lever under the saddle, a SRAM Apex 1 hydro groupset, and WTB STP Light i23 rims with Resolute 650 x 42c rubber.
A lighter Levarg SL build pairs the alloy frame with a full carbon fork and an Apex 1 drivetrain paired to TRP Hy/Rd hydraulic/mechanical disc brakes for £1350. You also get a more budget wheelset and shift to gravel-ready WTB Byway tires.
The most affordable Levarg build gets the alloy frame, plus a carbon fork with an alloy steerer. For £1100 it includes a 2×9 Shimano Sora groupset including Sora mechanical brakes, and with a small 48/32 FSA chainset paired to an 11-34 cassette, also with the 47mm WTB Byways.
2019 Saracen Myst AL affordable alloy DH race bike
Then at the complete other extreme end of the spectrum is Saracen’s downhill bike – the Myst, which was one of several bikes we saw customized for DH Worlds a couple weeks back. Clearly with a World Cup (and World Championship) race-ready pedigree, now Saracen is adding a much more attainable alloy DH bike as well.
Myst AL alloy downhill bike – Tech Details
The new Myst AL 27.5 is everything of the same bike with 200mm of linkage-driven high single pivot rear wheel travel, paired to a 203mm travel fork, now in a bombproof 6013 alloy frameset. But now the Myst AL is available for just £2600 (down from £5800 for the carbon Team bike), making this a killer privateer DH racer’s option.
The complete bike gets a Shimano Zee 1×10 drivetrain, four-piston Shimano hydraulic brakes, an MRP G4 CS chain guide, and super tacky Maxxis High Roller II tires. Suspension looks like it is handled wholly by X-Fusion, with a RV1 fork and a Vector Coil RC shock out back. The new alloy DH bike comes in the three stock sizes (S, M, L)
