cocodemer
Retro Guru
A little light Resurrection
A good few months back, I was out riding in the woods with my wee lad, and we spotted something fluorescent lying in a ditch beside the forest track
We were literally miles from anywhere, out camping beside Loch Rannoch. We got a bit closer and stopped to take a look. it was pretty unpromising
but I got the familiar tingle, and it was inevitable that an hour later, we were driving the van back up the same forest track, and hastily chucking this sorrowful specimin in the back. I thought t must be fate, very few folk would know that they were passing a fluo icon of the early 90s, and Im not sure looking at it, many who did would have bothered
We drove on to the dump, to drop off the back wheel and other rusty bits to make it easier to smuggle past the missus. Walking up to the pile of rusting BSOs, under the all the crap, something caught my eye, the distinct shape of a Deore DX Thumbie and a Deore 2 finger brake lever!
A bit of bike kerplunk later and I had retrieved a mahoosive Saracen, of exact vintage, with a full 300LX groupset, wheels, and the DX controls! The exact same groupset that was unsalvagable on the Marin!
Fate
It was too good to pass up, so the second bit of smuggling of the day, and we headed home, with even more crap to hide in the back garden. Unfortunately the wee fella let on, "We found a bike in a ditch mummy". Cheers wee guy.
Anyway, took it into the shop and began the process of discovery
It was looking pretty rough, the BB dint move at all, the crank threads has literally dissolved, the bars and stem were covered in green electrical tape, so the slow process of stripping back began
Took the grinder to the cranks to get the BB out, and under the tape was a pretty pristine set of bars...
There followed a full body swap, and as luck would have it, a very tall friend of mine needed a replacement frame for his old Raleigh that had a seized seatpost, so a second swap occurred and he now rides the Saracen - happy fate indeed.
The finished bike looks like this:
and following a bit of robbing Peter to pay the courier comp, finally got its maiden voyage home this evening:
Earning me my third fastest time over a 15 minute Strava section while doing so
I knew them old dears were fast
Not exactly a showroom stunner, but considering its starting point, I'm right pleased to have rescued this one from the foliage and certain rusty doom
A good few months back, I was out riding in the woods with my wee lad, and we spotted something fluorescent lying in a ditch beside the forest track
We were literally miles from anywhere, out camping beside Loch Rannoch. We got a bit closer and stopped to take a look. it was pretty unpromising
but I got the familiar tingle, and it was inevitable that an hour later, we were driving the van back up the same forest track, and hastily chucking this sorrowful specimin in the back. I thought t must be fate, very few folk would know that they were passing a fluo icon of the early 90s, and Im not sure looking at it, many who did would have bothered
We drove on to the dump, to drop off the back wheel and other rusty bits to make it easier to smuggle past the missus. Walking up to the pile of rusting BSOs, under the all the crap, something caught my eye, the distinct shape of a Deore DX Thumbie and a Deore 2 finger brake lever!
A bit of bike kerplunk later and I had retrieved a mahoosive Saracen, of exact vintage, with a full 300LX groupset, wheels, and the DX controls! The exact same groupset that was unsalvagable on the Marin!
Fate
It was too good to pass up, so the second bit of smuggling of the day, and we headed home, with even more crap to hide in the back garden. Unfortunately the wee fella let on, "We found a bike in a ditch mummy". Cheers wee guy.
Anyway, took it into the shop and began the process of discovery
It was looking pretty rough, the BB dint move at all, the crank threads has literally dissolved, the bars and stem were covered in green electrical tape, so the slow process of stripping back began
Took the grinder to the cranks to get the BB out, and under the tape was a pretty pristine set of bars...
There followed a full body swap, and as luck would have it, a very tall friend of mine needed a replacement frame for his old Raleigh that had a seized seatpost, so a second swap occurred and he now rides the Saracen - happy fate indeed.
The finished bike looks like this:
and following a bit of robbing Peter to pay the courier comp, finally got its maiden voyage home this evening:
Earning me my third fastest time over a 15 minute Strava section while doing so
I knew them old dears were fastNot exactly a showroom stunner, but considering its starting point, I'm right pleased to have rescued this one from the foliage and certain rusty doom
