1990 Saracen Tufftrax

1990 Saracen Tufftrax

Here's another Saracen from my collection. This one is a 1990 Tufftrax in magenta according to the catalogue. I still think it's pink though.
I picked this one up from Sheffield via eBay as a complete bike a couple of years ago. Most of the parts were there but in a less than perfect state. Rear dropouts had also undergone some welding at some point along with a bad spray over with the wrong shade of paint.
The bottom bracket had to be literally tortured out of the frame using a drill and a blow torch. The shell threads also needed repairing after that.

It's been built up as a single speed mostly for trips from my workshop to the shops when I get hungry.

And now pictures...










I've utilised the original ST-M050 STI Rapidfire levers but with the shifter pods removed. The shifter mounts have been neatly sawn off and filed back leaving just the brake levers. I'm quite pleased with how clean and tidy this looks on the Saracen bar and stem combination. The bar ends are a pair of the original steel onZa L-bends complete with their rubber hoods. The grips are original too.


The brakes are the original Exage cantilevers but with modern pads fitted and a pair of old but very nice Continental Top Touring tyres fitted to the Exage/Alesa wheels. The colour matched reflector brackets are well worth keeping on there.


Catalogue spec limited edition black Exage 400LX crankset.


Original Exage Mountain flat pedals fitted.


The diagonally slotted dropouts allow a nice clean single speed set up with a 34:15 ratio. The lower part of the rear triangle isn't in the best condition perhaps...


Nobody knows what these numbers mean.




The 1990 catalogue page.

Had one of these and basically gave it away to Daniel

Blunder

Looks good as a single speed.

Re:

Another i'd like!

Re:

I'd like to ask how you got the bb out with those tools. But I might be afraid of the answer!

What is it with Saracen owners, are they colour blind. My Kili was touched up with magnolia colour paint. On white FFS!

Is that a standard chainring Paul? If so, isn't there a chance the chain will jump off on a bumpy road?

Re:

The BB was one of those awful FAG cartridge types with plastic cups on both sides like this one.


The cups pretty much self destruct under any kind of torque when trying to remove them, hence having to resort to a combination of drilling, hammering, chiseling, melting and sawing out the remnants of the BB shell. Brutal but effective.
After they were removed the threads needed retapping to remove the remaining bits of plastic and corrosion.

The chainring is a steel 34 tooth inner ring from a compact road chainset. The benefit of these is that they have no ramps or lowered teeth to help shifting as they don't need any. The teeth are in fact a little taller than the equivalent ring from a triple chainset so, just like a dedicated single speed chainring, are pretty good at retaining the chain.

Also, the chain-line and chain tension mean there is very little chance of losing the chain.

Re:

Thanks Paul, I like learning stuff !
I remember those brakets from bitd, thankfully never encountered one myself though!

Mike