Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Colombian framebuilder Scarab Cycles just launched a beautiful new hardtail at the MADE Bike Show in Portland. The Scarab Cycles Darien is a cross-country, do-it-all hardtail inspired by the rugged stretch of jungle separating Central and South America. Find details here…
When I was riding through Mexico and Central America on the way to Panama back in 2012, the Darien Gap was always a topic of conversation among bike travelers heading south. The isthmus that effectively divides Central and South America is a rugged and often dangerous place, and there’s plenty of stories of cyclists attempting to go through its untamed jungle or around it entirely. Drawing inspiration from this remote boundary land, Colombia-based Scarab Cycles just unveiled a new hardtail mountain bike that they think is fitting for this level of adventure. Find more details below.
Known for their intriguing paint schemes and elegantly finished steel bikes, Scarab Cycles created the Darien with backcountry adventure in mind. With geometry that goes a little bit beyond cross-country, the Darien’s looks similar in nature to the Mason RAW we reviewed today. The Darien is designed around a T47 bottom bracket, 100-130mm travel forks, and it has clearance for 29 x 2.6″ tires. It also comes equipped with a UDH dropout system that allows you to run a new SRAM T-Type transmission.
“Darien is the mountain bike we want to ride in El Retiro. Efficient for long climbs, agile for technical descents and comfortable for long riding,” said Scarab’s product director Santiago Toro. “Our backyard of El Retiro is a never-ending network of dirt roads and endless climbs that connect through rough stretches. When designing this bike, we wanted a bike to do it all with a fast spirit.”
The Scarab Darien is available for order immediately with an MSRP of $3,600 that includes a RockShox SID Ultimate 3P fork and one of Scarab’s standard paint designs. The geometry chart isn’t available at the moment, but you can request more information on Scarab’s website.
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