Lowish top speed due to gear ratios, supplied brake blocks are poor
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Before I dive into my personal opinion on this bike, I will throw the technical stuff at you, so brace yourself.
The saracen Hardtrax is an 18 gear ATB with cantilever brakes. The gear and brake mechanisms are shimano. My bike has 26 inch wheels. The gears are in a low ratio so you can have good uphill and acceleration, but at the cost of top speed. I have an inside leg measurement of 29 and a half inches and there is about 2-3 inches of clearance between crotch and frame with both feet flat on the ground. I don't know what tyres it had when I got it, but you will no doubt fit it with your prefered brand. Now that bit's out of the way, on to the opinion.
I have had this bike for something like four years now and it still performs exeedingly well.
I found that it has incredible rigidity for a bike of this price and is able to hold a very high speed through tight corners when riding on a tarmac surface. Also on tarmac, you will find that the rigidity of the frame will allow you to have blistering acceleration from a standing start and the gearing allows a very smooth flow to your desired speed. Although I don't condone this sort of behaviour(cough cough), with a little practice, you can get away from traffic lights and get a 100 metres down the road before a car even catches up with you. I have found that the only thing faster on the road is a well set up racer, but you can't have everything.
This is a good choice for a second bicycle. When a beginner has finished falling off his first sub £100 bike and is looking for a bike with better performance.
Unless you are riding under completely offroad conditions this bike is virtually a must have. If you can cope without front suspension on dirt tracks, it will handle them too, although you may feel a bit sore in the arms the next morning. However in it's favour on the dirt tracks, I got a lot of feedback through the rigid frame and was able to cope with sections that riders with front suspension bikes found difficult.
Although it is only a small niggle, the braking is only average with standard cantilever brakes. It is easy to fix that though, by going to your local bike shop and buy a set of decent brake blocks. You should be able to get a set thrown in free when you buy the bike if you are good at haggling though.
A perfect first step up the ladder to the +£500 big shot bikes.
When I say I will probably not buy this product again, it is because my next bike is likely to be in the £700+ region so I can get involved in some decent club cycling Although I intend to keep this bike for it's all round reliability.
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