Factor Sarana review: Stylish, modern and hugely capable, but with a weak spot that may leave regular riders wanting more

Factor launched its Sarana ultra gravel race bike at the start of May, and the Sarana now sits alongside the brand's Ostro gravel and Aluto machines. In the brand’s words, the bike was “built specifically for ultra-distance racing, and riders pushing the limit of modern gravel racing.”

There are some seriously challenging gravel events on the calendar now, and they only seem to be growing in popularity. Take the Traka 360 for instance; the Sarana is a bike that has been designed for riders trying to go as fast as they can for hours on end.

Factor’s range is three models strong, and there’s a fourth mystery hyper aero machine floating around that is as yet unreleased. Factor places the Sarana in the middle of the range with a ‘race endurance’ tag.

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Factor released a new pair of Black Inc. Forty Six gravel wheels along with the bike, which are available to buy separately. My test machine came with them, and I’ve been using them too.

It’s worth making the point that not every cyclist is tackling 300km+ ultra races on the weekend. The amateur riders I know do all kinds of general gravel riding with the odd big race or event planned into their calendars.

Factor bikes sit in the premium end of the market, and the Sarana carries an RRP of $8,499 / £8,299 / €10,199. It's undoubtedly a pricey machine; here's how it measured up after testing it out on a wide variety of surfaces and ride durations.

Design and aesthetics

Rob Britton is a name that crops up regularly if you are researching the Sarana. The ex-road pro and now ultra-focused gravel racer had a big hand in the development of this bike, and his super long rides and feedback apparantly informed a lot of the bike's design. He has, along with other Factor athletes like Victor Bossoni, the Traka 560 and Tour Divide winner, been riding and racing on the Sarana since launch. It’s probably a stretch to say this bike was designed specifically for Britton, but my impression from Factor was that he certainly played a big part in its creation.

We’ll get into the details, but Factor has blended and balanced here; this isn’t an all-out, blood and thunder, speed-at-any-cost race bike, and probably won’t be the right bike if you are looking for one. The frame has been put together to provide a balance between speed, comfort and capability, and up front, if you choose to spec one, a suspension fork takes care of the obvious. Throw in 29x2.1 Continental Race King tyres, and you have a bike that can go fast, yet can also be hammered down rough terrain without leaving you feeling beaten up.

There are adventure-focused gravel bikes that are all about comfort, and ones that still address the need for speed. For me, the integrated Black Inc handlebar the Sarana comes with is a perfect example of this kind of bike and the kind of setup you see regularly at gravel races now.

A two-piece, more adjustable unit could have been fitted, but the handlebar provides an aero advantage and a lighter, narrower, stiffer and slightly more aggressive front end. That handlebar, coupled with the big tyres and suspension fork, perfectly sums up the blend of themes at play with the Sarana and what it’s all about.

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To the frame, the Sarana is constructed from a mix of Toray, Nippon graphite and Pan-based (polyacrylonitrile) fibres and has clearance for up to 57mm tyres; there's a T47a bb standard, it's 1x only and UDH-friendly.

The front half of the bike looks pretty traditional; the headtube hints at some aero consideration and the fairly thin top tube looks elegant; the rear end of the frame gets a little funkier. Factor has gone for heavily dropped seat stays, which it says act as a leaf spring and an offset, curved seat tube, which are all designed to build compliance into the platform. The chainstays are also dropped to help with that 57mm tyre clearance figure.

The bike can be run with a suspension or rigid fork, as well as a dropper post if you really want to go for it; this is the reason for the round 30.9mm seatpost and external clamp.

There's downtube storage and a set of four mounting points on the underside of the top tube for bags/bottles. A pair of mounts on the top tube and another two under the downtube. Factor includes the downtube, frame and top tube packs with the bike, which is nice.

Factor has talked a lot about nailing the Sarana geometry. I was slightly in between sizes and went for a 52 over a 54, which would generally be my usual size. The 52 was the right call, and I'm glad I went for it, and I'd possibly advise sizing down if you end up in a similar scenario.

Let's look at some numbers; the full geo chart can be seen below, but the Sarana in a 52 has a stack and reach of 558 and 388mm.

Wheelbase for the bike is 1018mm, and the seat tube angle for the 52 and 54-sized machines is 74.5, whilst head tube angle is 71.5 degrees.

BB drop is 82, trail is 65 and chainstay length is set at 425mm for every size.

Two suspension-equipped gravel bikes I have tested are the Lauf Seigla and the Canyon Grail RIFT. Compared to the size medium Seigla and small Grail RIFT I rode, the Sarana has the same chainstay length of 425.

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Build-wise, in this spec the Sarana comes with a SRAM Force XPLR groupset; always an excellent option in my view. The hooked Black Inc. 46 wheels are 46mm deep and have a 27mm internal width. They are fitted with Continental RaceKing tyres, which have now been succeeded by the Continental Dubnital. Factor told me it designed around the Race King, but overall it is a similar (if not basically identical) tyre to the Dubnital.

The Factor Black Inc. HB05 integrated handlebar comes fitted; it's a pleasingly ergonomic unit with a reach of 75mm, drop of 116mm and a 17.4 degree flare. I've gotten on well with it and tested a 100mm stem and a 360 bar. You can also choose between an 80-130mm stem and 360-400mm bars; good work, Factor.

You can also choose between 165,170 and 172.5mm cranks at checkout, as well as add on a CeramicSpeed OSPW for a cool $600 off dollars.

Performance

I feel it right to mention I haven’t been able to tackle a monster ride or event on the Sarana, which seemed in keeping with what it's about. I had hoped to find the right event to really put it and myself to the test, but nothing materialised that worked in the time I had with the bike. Instead, I have ridden it at home on varied terrain that I test every gravel bike I review on.

I'll talk about what I see as what may be the key strength of the Sarana first: its capability when things get rough and technical. The bike has felt very composed and stable on technical descents and rougher terrain. I have an mtb descent that regularly makes me nervous and that I’ve even had a couple of small crashes on when I've gotten it wrong. I take every gravel bike down it. The top is narrow, fast, rocky and rutted, and the Sarana just danced down it. I've had great fun in these kinds of sections, and the bike let me carry speed and remain composed.

This composure in the rough stuff has been a standout strength. The Rudy fork up front and big tyres do a lot of the heavy lifting, but the bike’s geometry, wheelbase and overall frame angles all help when tackling technical terrain and pushing it.

If rougher terrain and testing yourself off-road is something you go after in your gravel riding, the Sarana will have you covered, and I’d imagine if you're 10+ hours into a ride and are faced with technical terrain when you're in a bit of a state, it should look after you more than a rigid bike.

A topic that needs mentioning when it comes to the Sarana is the bike's overall weight; on my own scales, my test machine (pictured) came out at 9.87kg for a size 52; that’s heavy for a gravel bike, and I have noticed the weight of the bike at times.

It feels sluggish on steeper climbs, and when accelerating at slower speeds, a heavier overall weight will also affect rolling resistance, a more pressing matter when riding gravel.

In these departments, a little less heft would be desirable. That 44 tooth front ring also means I’m grinding a bit on the steep stuff at times, and coupled with the weight, contributes to things feeling a little slower.

On that 44 tooth chainring, it’s going to depend on the rider and course, but I would want a 42 or even a 40 if I was taking on a big, tough ride with a lot of climbing. If I was on my knees and facing a wall, an easier gear would help. Changing chainrings for the demands of a course is nothing new. It might be worth considering some chainring options if you do invest.

I asked Factor about overall weights for bikes as there aren't any published numbers to be found for the Sarana. The brand told me 'the general goal is 1200g for the mid-range sizes' and that 'a more robust, lower modulus layup' was used to add protection in certain areas. So I think from that it's safe to say you can look at around the 1200 gram mark for a mid-sized frame.

The uncut rigid Sarana fork weighs 550 grams according to Factor, and the RockShox Rudy Ultimate fork (with starnut) fitted on my test bike comes in at 1.26kg on my scales.

On a side note, dropping the fork out of the bike to weigh it put a smile on my face; due to the external front brake hose, it was so easy, taking mere minutes, and made for a refreshing change from fully integrated front ends.

We're looking at a 476-gram weight saving if you were to swap to a rigid fork (not factoring the fork expander bung and cutting it to length); It's also worth noting, whilst I'm in weight weenie mode, that the SRAM Red XPLR-equipped bike will save a few hundred grams over the Force model.

By my maths, that still leaves us with a bike weighing over nine kilos, and whilst weight certainly isn't everything, it may be a consideration for some riders.

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When I haven't been throwing it downhill or pointing it upward, the Sarana has ridden beautifully; the bike is comfortable to ride, and that 44-tooth ring does allow you to get up to speed and barrel along on flatter, smoother gravel terrain and on the road too.

The handling isn't race bike sharp, but some of that comes from the big front tyre. It's engaging, smooth and confidence-inspiring, and I always feel confident cornering and turning on the bike.

The more I've ridden the Sarana, the more I've begun to feel that it's quite a specific machine, and one that does seem to align with what Factor say it's been designed for.

If you want an all-out racer, it's not the fastest option, and I can't say it feels race bike fast. I will add here that Factor hasn't shared any hard wind tunnel or testing data on the bike, and we haven't tested it here at Cyclingnews, so I can't say for sure how competitive it is aerodynamically.

If you are a racer that's about to tackle a horrifyingly long, tough ride, and need more comfort and capability, it would very likely be a good choice, particularly, I feel, on rougher, more challenging terrain where it really seems to shine for me.

Weight is more of a factor for gravel bikes, and one concern I do have is that even with a rigid fork specced, the Sarana is still a little on the heavy side; based on my numbers from weighing, a rigid-forked model will still be knocking on for 9kg.

The medium Lauf Seigla I tested (with SRAM Red) came in at 8.59kg, and the small Canyon Grail RIFT at 9.64kg with a GRX double chainset, for context.

Racers generally want speed, and a bike that feels fast; the event and terrain would have to be testing enough to warrant you picking the Sarana. I think racers are often robust (or foolhardy) enough to make a faster, possibly harsher racer bike work for them, unless conditions really are testing.

On this topic, I spoke with an ultra rider who has ridden events like the Tour Divide. They made the case that if you are riding that kind of event on a bike like this, you may end up with it weighing north of 20kg, depending on what you are carrying, further negating overall bike weight for ultra events.

We also discussed the fact that fitter or pro riders have the legs to make an on paper slightly slower bike work on the flat, with something like a suspension fork fitted before reaping the rewards off-road and potentially saving even more time. It was a more nuanced point, but it was good to discuss things like this with someone who had ridden a bike for 2 weeks straight, for example.

I'm not racing a full gravel calendar, but I would ultimately like the Sarana to feel and move a bit faster on certain climbs before I could batter it back down the descent on the other side.

In my testing period, the Sarana has performed perfectly in mechanical terms, plus no flats or other major issues. I've had some rattle at times from the downtube storage bag on rough ground; that's about it and was in part down to what I had in there and how I packed it.

It's been a positive test period, and I've always felt the Sarana has had my back.

Maintenance and servicing

When it comes to working on and maintaining the Sarana, there are some key points to bear in mind:

Starting at the front, if you choose the suspension-equipped version, like a lot of its other forks, RockShox recommends a 50-hour lower leg service interval and a 200-hour damper and air spring service for the Rudy XPLR. So you will need to factor this into maintenance of the bike. Lower leg services are generally fairly low cost, with the bigger 200-hour service costing more. At the very least, try to keep the stanchions as clean and dirt-free as you can.

The suspension fork means an external brake hose, which means you can remove the forks in minutes as mentioned and easily service the bike's headset, a plus point after hours off-road.

The threaded BB is also an easy one to stay on top of, as is the external, standard seatpost clamp, which means no corroded or hard-to-reach internal clamp assemblies to worry about.

Wheel-wise, the Black Inc 46 wheels use a three-pawl freehub body which pulls off easily for cleaning and re-greasing at the least, and the wheels are built with brass nipples which eliminate the corrosion issues that can come with aluminium ones.

Value

The Sarana is an expensive machine, and most of us probably expect a premium price tag when we think of the Factor bike range.

I think if you're gravel bike shopping, there are better value buys out there that will do a lot of the same things the Sarana can, and possibly with a lower overall weight.

Decide whether you really want the suspension fork (and additional associated servicing costs), as it costs several hundred dollars more to spec one, and does add weight. If you think your riding is rough enough to regularly need one, or you like the added smoothing, it will work for you.

If you're invested in the brand and love the design, that paintwork is also very nice; for instance, I'm sure you will be very happy. It's a lovely bike to ride.

Verdict

I've had a great time riding the Sarana; as mentioned, it has performed faultlessly, and I've really enjoyed what it has brought to the table in rough, technical sections.

If you are just shopping for a capable gravel bike to do all sorts of things on, it will be a worthwhile purchase; just switch that 44 ring out for a smaller one if you live somewhere rough AND hilly.

For me, it's also a very attractive bike to look at, and that's always important when you're bike shopping.

The ride quality is good; I have no doubt the platform would provide a comfortable place to spend hours on end during a big ride.

That heavier weight does lead to some sluggishness on steep climbs, a black mark in the bike's ultra-endurance USP and my least favourite thing about it.

I agree with Factor in that it's quite a specific bike all told; I feel unless it meets your gravel bike requirements to a T, there may be more suitable bikes out there available for less cash.