1992 Saracen Kili Racer

First, I think I need to apologize to coomber and Rampage, whose noses I may have swiped the bike from under. :roll:

This bike was a fairly bonkers £35 BIN on ebay, and I managed to get my bid in before them. I think the BIN listing had only been up for about an hour, although my saved searches had failed to pick up the original auction, for some reason.

Without further ado, here is what I found myself owning:


(apologies for rubbish mobile phone photos)

That's it's best side - the decals on the other side are almost completely scuffed off, presumably due to how it was stored. The whole bike is covered with greasy filth, so I reckon it's been living at the back of a garage for quite a while.

The bike's a mixed bag..

The good:

• Can't see any rust or dents!
  Frame paintwork should clean up nicely (altho I confess I don't like the shade of red much.. it might get coated later on).
  Shifters look better than the ones I paid £25 for.
  Brakes and levers look okay, if a bit ugly.
  Stem looks fine.
  Front mech looks alright (kind've hard to tell).
  Crankset missing some chainring bolts, but otherwise fine.

The bad:

• The decals are shot.
  Fork paintwork is knackered.
  The seatpost's seized (so the stem probably is, too)
  The front wheel has a cheap Mach 1 rim.
  Modern Alivio rear mech?
  Patchy looking weld on the circular plate that's on the seat tube.

The weld is the thing that worries me most.. Could the frame have been broken and repaired? I couldn't see signs of a respray, but it was getting dark and the frame is pretty filthy:



Compare that to the other side:



Maybe it just slipped through Saracen's quality control.

So, the plan is to take it apart, clean it, put it back together, and then decide on upgrades. Upgrades are going to be partially defined by another bike that I'm collecting on Saturday, which was one of my unicorns; a 1995 Saracen Tufftrax!

Here's some more photos:







flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spatuluk/s ... 783996285/

oh yeah, and I also need to find a new home for a rusty 1998 Rockhopper. That's gonna be a bit tricky, I suspect! :roll:

What are your plans for her? Wouldn't take much to turn that into a real beaut.

I'll let you know once I've finished hunting through the forums for inspiration.

I'm on a pretty tight budget, so some decisions might be based more on what I've got hanging around, rather than being period correct. At least, initially.

That's a bargain looks like the one I bought from coomber
Weld on mine and some jelly babies

Mine also has the plate on the seat tube, so no need to worry about it.



Should clean up alright, and gil_m has the decals on file should you wish to get it resprayed.
I also notice that you are just up the road from me.

Oh aye, I know the plate is standard, but I've been squinting at photos, and no one has one with a weld showing on it. It was probably just built on a Friday.

I've decided to stick all my XT stuff on the bike, as it needs all the help it can get with weight. I'm veering toward getting it powder coated a light beige/sand colour, but I'm fickle.. I'll probably change my mind several times before it's done.

I had a look at the bike in proper daylight this morning, and I retract what I said about paint condition - it's knackered! That goes for the front mech and the handlebar, too. :|

At least it makes me feel less bad about changing the colour!

Ive had two now and had to pass both on before being ridden due to funds and or space. No grudge though was a bargain you did well!

Original decals on these seemed a bit dodgy so no surprise they are gone a bit. That plate is normal as others have said.

I wouldn't go mad as 90% is there and great. Just needs a proper degrease and cables really.

..and it needs the seat post removing! and the bottom bracket. Everything else is now off the bike, however:



It's cleaned up quite well! I'm still applying lots of WD40 to the seatpost, and I've managed to shred and crack the plastic non-drive side cup (not sure how plastic can get so stuck?), so it might be a while before they're off.

In the meantime, and probably not worth a separate thread because I'm barely going to alter it, I collected my Saracen Tufftrax on Saturday:



This was my unicron bike! I've always wanted one. This one's been upgraded to LX all round, with an XT rear mech. The only things that need doing are the wheels (rear has a cracked rim), the chainrings (not keen on purple), and it could probably do with some pedals.

Needs penetrating oil as WD40 wont do much at all.

Looking good though.