Haro Saguaro 2 Long-Term Review – The Fun-Focused Hardtail

The name Haro is nostalgic for many mountain bikers, evoking memories of sketchy homemade BMX jumps in the front yard and bombing down the street with your buddies to hit the corner store. Fast-forward to today and Haro is hitting the mountain bike market hard with a new line, including high-end carbon full-suspension models and the more value-focused Saguaro hardtail. With a strong but sensible parts spec, aggressive geometry and a stout aluminum frame, Haro bills the Saguaro as a versatile hardtail that isn’t afraid to get rowdy if it needs to.

FRAME

Haro’s latest aluminum hardtail offering is billed as being “simple, slack and full-on fun,” and the frame’s geometry certainly reflects its downhill-oriented ethos. The bike is designed around full 29-inch wheels, except for the size-small frame that gets a mixed-wheel setup, and the frame is built from hydroformed and heat-treated 6061-T6 aluminum with double-butted top and downtubes.

Up front, a fairly slack 64.5-degree head tube angle is paired with a 76.5-degree seat tube angle, and size-specific chainstays grow from 418mm on the size small to 435mm on the large and X-large frames to help maintain a consistent balance point. Reach numbers increase from 420mm to 490mm across the four sizes, with our large frame measuring in at 475mm.

The fairly straight seat tube allows for virtually any length dropper post to be installed, a welcome sight in a world where 200mm+ dropper posts are becoming more common.

A Universal Derailleur Hanger (UDH) out back makes finding replacements as easy as possible and also makes the bike SRAM Transmission-compatible (spec’d on the Saguaro 1). There is standard Boost spacing out back (12x148mm), and the frame is designed to accommodate tires up to 2.6 inches in width.

Haro also offers generous space for a water bottle in the front triangle, along with mounts along the underside of the top tube to attach spares or a small toolkit.

COMPONENTS

Haro sent us the Saguaro 2 model in their bright Matte Mauve colorway, making it a head-turner at virtually every trailhead we showed up to. There are two other builds available, aptly named the Saguaro 1 and Saguaro 3, that retail for $4000 and $1900, respectively, with our mid-tier spec costing $2400. The lower-tier 3 model is built around a RockShox TK35 Silver fork and an 11-speed Shimano CUES drivetrain (see our review of the 10-speed version on page 54), while the top-spec 1 model gets the more bespoke treatment with a Fox Performance Elite fork, SRAM GX Transmission, DT Swiss wheels and powerful TRP Trail Evo brakes.

Our Saguaro 2 features a SRAM NX Eagle drivetrain, which may be lower-spec on paper, but it worked very well throughout our testing period and gave us a wide range to work with. We only needed to perform a couple of small barrel adjustments here and there, and the shifting was smooth, precise, and consistent.

WTB’s KOM Tough 29-inch wheel and hub combo also worked flawlessly and felt like a good choice for this bike, which is even more paramount on a hardtail. Kenda’s 2.4-inch Pinner/Nevegal combo, both in their ATC compound, proved to be fast rolling on the climbs and hooked up predictably on the descents. TRP’s Slate Evo brakes, paired with their 180mm/203mm rotors, provided adequate power and let us predictably control our speed, even when things got steep and loose. The lever actuation was smooth and consistent, and the simple adjustment knob let us easily change the lever-bar distance.

A 200mm TranzX dropper post topped with a WTB Volt saddle was a welcome sight on our size large, especially since 170mm–180mm droppers are still commonplace on large bikes. We were able to raise the saddle to a comfortable height to climb efficiently, and lower it low and out of the way for the descents.

Looking at the cockpit, a 35mm-long Satori Ursa stem is paired with Haro’s in-house alloy handlebars with 20mm of rise and 6 degrees of backsweep, wrapped in WTB’s Wavelength lock-on grips.

SUSPENSION

Being a hardtail, there isn’t too much to talk about in this regard besides the front fork. Our middle-of-the-road build is spec’d with a 2024 Marzocchi Bomber Z2 fork sporting 140mm of travel, which is the brand’s set-and-forget option for trail riders who want something that is durable and low maintenance.

The Rail damper from Fox Suspension is easy to use and offers a sweeping, low-speed compression adjustment that is easy to change on the fly, and the single knob at the bottom of the right leg allows for 17 clicks of low-speed rebound adjustment.

THE BUILD

As with many brands nowadays, Haro sells its bikes consumer-direct. Building up our test Saguaro was about as simple as it gets; we only needed to install the handlebars and throw on the front wheel, and we were good to go. The drivetrain was accurately tuned out of the box, and both front and rear brake calipers were lined up without any rubbing.

CLIMBING

With Haro’s claims that the Saguaro is a hardtail that is “more inclined to hauling down hills than pedaling up them,” we tried to keep an open mind when beginning our first few rides, and we were pleasantly surprised. Despite its weight, the bike felt eager to jump forward when it was time to head up the trail, thanks largely in part to its lack of rear suspension. On steady singletrack and mundane fire roads, it cruised along with efficiency and rewarded a steady cadence to keep the bike moving forward. The weight was definitely noticeable at times, but the lack of a rear shock made sure that all of our energy was transferred from our legs to the wheels.

Technical climbing, on the other hand, was a bit trickier aboard the Saguaro. The frame’s fairly low bottom bracket height made line choice and pedal placement paramount, and the bike’s weight took a fair amount of effort to get up and over roots and rocks. That isn’t to say that technical climbing was impossible; it just takes a bit more finesse and effort in certain circumstances. While it made the bike more prone to pedal strikes, the low-slung nature of the frame did give the Saguaro excellent slow-speed balance and made the bike feel very planted on the trail.

The 76.5-degree seat tube angle felt spot-on and put us in a comfortable, upright, and balanced position. The 64.5-degree head tube angle also felt comfortable and offers a good balance of stability and maneuverability without feeling floppy when speeds are slower. On the rare occasion that we felt the need to lock out the Marzocchi Z2 fork, the Rail damper’s sweep adjust was easy to turn and gave us a near-rigid platform to climb aboard.

DESCENDING

When most riders think of a trail-focused hardtail, they think of a bike that is lightweight, playful and poppy, but the Saguaro defies that convention in an interesting way. We could tell from our first couple of rides that it was a bike that was much happier with hugging the ground and plowing through obstacles rather than jibbing around and turning the trail into a playground, despite its lack of rear suspension and only having 140mm of travel up front. Part of this was due in part to the Saguaro’s hefty and stiff frame construction, but the fairly long wheelbase and low-slung bottom bracket also played a major part in the bike’s on-trail personality. This combination put test riders in a more upright standing position and our weight over the rear end, which made the bike feel very planted to the trail and let us steer more with our lower body. It’s a bike that prefers the straight line and rewards a more aggressive riding style compared to someone who wants to turn the trail into a playground.

Steep and flowy trails were where we felt that the Saguaro really shined. Dropping our heels and letting off the brakes was met with stability and a very fun platform to push into corners, and the stout frame construction allowed it to feel planted and confidence-inspiring when pushing into a technical section. Bigger jumps also feel stable and predictable, thanks in part to the stout construction.

Despite being a lower-tier spec fork, the Marzocchi Bomber Z2 performed without fault and gave us a well-defined range of adjustable compression and rebound damping. The small-bump sensitivity through high-speed chatter was decent, and it gave us a solid and progressive platform when we needed it deeper in the travel. However, some found the limits of the 34mm chassis fairly quickly, especially when pushing through high-speed corners or trying to carry speed through rough and rowdy sections.

WHAT DID WE LOVE?

We were stoked to see our Saguaro 2 spec’d with TRP’s Slate Evo brakes, which were powerful and consistent from the get-go. Even though they’re lower on the brand’s tier list, we’re big fans of the way they feel and their durable simplicity. We were also thrilled to see a 200mm dropper post spec’d on our size-large frame, which we think should be the minimum on any frame that’s bigger than a medium.

WHAT DID WE HATE?

For being a bike that wants to hug the ground and plow down the trail, we think a 140mm fork might be selling the Saguaro short. In our opinion, a 150mm or 160mm fork with a 36mm chassis would give the alloy-framed hardtail even more descending prowess and let it handle bigger jumps/features without flexing as much.

BOTTOM LINE

If you’re a rider who enjoys keeping the wheels on the ground rather than in the air and wants a bike to make your everyday trails a bit more interesting, then the Saguaro could be the ticket. It may be heavier than some other hardtail options, but it’s a platform that lets you point and plow yet hold up to regular abuse. Balanced cockpit geometry lets it climb with efficiency, and a durable build kit gives you the confidence to bomb down your favorite after-work trail and rail any berm you can find.

HARO SAGUARO 2

www.harobikes.com

CATEGORY: Trail hardtail

SUSPENSION: 140mm (fork)

TIRE SIZE: 29″

Price: $2400
Weight: 34.1 pounds (without pedals)
Sizes: S, M, L (tested), XL
Frame tested: Hydroformed & heat-treated 6061-T6 aluminum hardtail frame

Fork: Marzocchi Bomber Z2, 140mm, 15x110mm, 44mm offset

Wheelset: WTB KOM Tough, TCS 2.0
Tires: Kenda Pinner ATC (29×2.4″) front/Kenda Nevegal 2 (29×2.4″) rear

Seatpost: TranzX JD-YSP39J (200mm travel)
Saddle: WTB Volt
Handlebar: Haro alloy (800mm)
Stem: Satori Ursa
Grips: WTB Wavelength
Headset: FSA Orbit tapered
Brakes: TRP Slate Evo
Rotors: TRP RS01E 203mm (f)/180mm (r)
Rear derailleur: SRAM SX Eagle
Shifters: SRAM NX Eagle, 12-Speed
Crankset:  SRAM NX Eagle (170mm)
Bottom bracket: SRAM DUB BSA 73mm
Cassette: SRAM NX Eagle 12-speed, 11-50T
Chain: SRAM NX Eagle 12-speed
Chainrings: SRAM NX Eagle 32-tooth

GEOMETRY SIZE LARGE

Head tube angle: 64.5°
Effective seat tube angle: 76.5°
Reach: 475mm (18.7″)
Stack: 659.9mm (25.98″)
Bottom bracket height: 301mm (11.85″)
Chainstay length: 435mm (17.13″)
Wheelbase: 1234.4mm (48.59″)