I have just had my SARACEN TUFFTRAX ELITE stolen and I would like it back, although I have little hope regards the police due to cycle theft being of a low priority to them so I appeal to other cyclists here, as my suspicions are mountain bikers stole it.

So, if anyone knows of or gets offered a metallic black early 90's Saracen bearing the frame number ESO52754, it is stolen from me

Other details if the bike is complete include ;

Colour scheme ; Black, red and silver

Frame ;17.5 inch metallic black frame made from tange mtb tubes, decals are present but worn and an 'f' is missing from tufftrax on the crankset side. Also on the frame, the 's' on the rear of the seat tubehas had the paint removed leaving silver metal colour, similarly the 'saracen' stamp around the rear dropouts, the latter rusting slightly

Transmission ;M732 XT 7 speed with a silver coloured cassette made up of odd and unbolted individual sprockets, all Shimano. Rear mech fitted with Crud pulley thing, silver alloy sealed bearing jockey wheels and one red anodised cap screw pulley bolt the other, the upper one is a steel hex head The rear gear cluster is unfastened and has a crud claw fitted

Front Mech ; M732 XT

Crankset ; Altus fitted with two black outer rings the largest being a Raceface ring, the middle ring being different, and the inner ring about 24teeth is a no name red alloy ring. The chain is silver and black and an XT shark Fin is on the chainstay. The pedals are Wellgo spd one side and other flat alloy touring pedals. Bottom bracket plastic colour is slightly burned on the top edge and the non crank side pedal arm has a cut out of the shoulder and the threads stripped and fitted with a silver coloured allen bolt. The chainset arm is fitted with a red surronded allen bolt.

Wheels; front a no name 36 galvy spoked wheel fitted with Schwalbe Landcruiser tyres and held into the forks with a pentagon socketed security skewer. Rear wheel is an Araya 36 galvy spoked fitted with a Schwalbe Landcruiser and also held into the frame with a pentagon socketed security skewer.

Brakes; The rear is black Suntour self energising cantilever type fitted with a silver brake booster. Front brakes are Shimano altus grey alloy fitted with Aztec brake blocks, also a silver brake booster and small round front reflector fitted to the top of it at an angle, Underneath the front cantilever straddle there is an aluminium straddle catcher

Seat; A specialized toupe seat fitted to a faded red USE seat post where the USE sticker was, there is now an original red oval. The seat post is held into the frame with a pentagon socketed sercurity bolt holding a silver alloy seat clamp. Also underneath the seat on one of the rails is a stainless steel P clip rattling about doing nothing.

Stem and handlebars; greyish silver zanzibar straight bar fiited with specialized Dirt Rodz raw alloy angled bar ends with red alloy bar caps fitted. Grips are black mushroom type. Brake levers are M732 XT SLR and the shifters are M732 XT thumbshifter type. Bar also had a Cateye 8 computer and one of those Chinese cree ledded torches under the bar. Aheadset fitted with Tioga headset and stem, bar stem is a no name silver alloy type, with the remains of red paint inside. the aheadset cap is tioga and that held down with a security torx screw.

Other details include; older angular type black crud catcher fitted, and red crud guard fitted minus the alloy stays, as the guard was held up with alloy ties to a Koga Miyata hollow cromoly rear rack, and that held to the frame with only one steel stay ( other one broke due to wrong steel ) On the back of the rack is a Koga Miyata Top light, a large led relector.

Now, I am currently unemployed, and the Saracen was my only means of transport other than the bus, besides the fact that it was my pride and joy, I having spent lots of time and money building it. The bike was stolen from a secured area where it shoud have been safe, but was not, neither were any of the other bikes stolen, including another retrobike, a turquoise Raleigh Montage proudly displaying the words; Reynolds 501, a far more prestigous bike than mine, no bike in that secured area was locked, as normally, we have no crime up here, it is a very quiet area with many curtain twitching OAP's, who saw nothing, and believe me, they normally see everything.

Anyway, the bike was stolen from the Plymouth and surrounding areas, so if anyone hears of or sees anything, please let me know, as the bike is well known around here as mine, many are looking out for it, that being, I expect it will be stripped and dumped, as those I suspect of having taken it, ride retro bikes.

oooh grim, they may ride retro bikes but true retrobikers do not steal.

was it not more perhaps opportunity than targetting your bike

good luck with getting her back though

Lots of second hand shops around Plymouth - check those dodgy looking ones over by the chain ferry area

the usual suspects as lgf points out

local cash convertors type places also gumtree is becoming more and more a place to see them ..they normally don't realise what they have so put an advert in and listed possibly as mountain bike and with no picture

speaking of pictures...do you have any you could post to make spotting it easier should it turn up in any adds?

Good description . Sorry to hear about this though. Good luck

Pain in the A Gutted for you, do you have a picture of it as may help, also keep eyes peeled on free ad places such as gumtree etc.

Fingers crossed for you, My brother got mugged BITD for his Kona lavadome, I managed to get it back after spotting someone riding it 10 miles from our house, A few key upgrades and personal stickers on the bike were the key to getting it back and proving it was ours and not theirs.

yes, good idea, a pic, although the pic is not current.



Also the above image, but for some reason the website will not let me display the picture, and the image does not show up in the g2Img thing, but they are in my user album.


But you get my colour scheme, black,red and silver.



But imagine the bike with a silver coloured rack on the back, also when it got nicked, it had flat handle bars on it and an alloy stem, also Schwalbe Landcuiser tyres, not the Specialized folders shown here.


But perhaps an update of what has happened so far;

The police have failed to turn up like they promised, but hey, that was a foregone conclusion knowing the usefulness of the police when it comes to small property crime, and I have asked around, and no one saw the bike go, nor did anyone see a stranger up here, the OAP radar saw nothing, and that is saying something.

The person I suspect, is acting kind of odd, in that he is keeping well away from me, more so than usual, as usual it is snide insults and dirty stares, in fact, I don't even get the stares.

As to retrobiking, I fear, I am finished with this, as I cannot afford to replace what I have lost a second time, and it seems the belief that old bikes kept in good order are of no interest to thieves, is false, as it is I expect my Saracen will not resurface, but the parts get sold on places like ebay.

If I am fortunate to get a bike again, it will have to be a no name chunk of aluminium junk and go against myself and allow the thing to decay to keep the thieves eye off it.

As to where I live, I feel the place has changed, trust has gone in the people I live with.

That sucks chap, do you have a picture?

Keep an eye out on your local gumtree.

Yeah go check down albert road way and most certainly in town, cash converters and wants.
Will keep an eye out

Damn shame Plymouth is changing, its still better than many many places though

I have toured around most of the dodgy fence type shops I am aware of in Plymouth on foot, even some more legitimate bike dealers, as bikes do get part exchanged, but nothing. I am even watching every cyclist now, and black bikes get more serious scutiny, as I know the geometry even if the decals and custom work has been hidden or removed.

But what is interesting, but perhaps not surprising really and I was wrong to have hope, is the action of the police, although them saying they will contact me within a couple of days of my reporting the theft, up till now they have not done so, same old story really, cycle theft is not sexy enough, it might gasp, shock, horror, involve using real police work.

My suspect remains just that, until the police have the courtesy to speak to me, but as to the bike going, well for an unemployed person whose sole method of transport was that bike, it is like a disabled person having their wheelchair stolen. Though I suspect if it were the latter the police might be more useful than they have been upto now.

Well, an update, the police got in contact with the excuse that they had been trying to contact me for days, to which I asked what time where they phoning, the answer being mid morning and to that I said was the problem, for I clearly said to the person who I initially reported the theft to when they asked when I will be at home, I said after 1900 hours as I am through the day elsewhere, trying to start a career in self employment. A career at a location I used to cycle to but cannot no longer due to the bike being stolen. The bike was stolen in the three days I was fortunate enough to obtain a lift from a passing motorist because I was transporting tools and materials to my future work location, but when I went back to the bike, it was gone, strange that.

Anyway, the upshot of the converstion is the police have been acting, they are scouring the familiar places on the internet for my machine, same as what I have been doing basically, but I did make them aware of my suspicions to which they took a name to investigate, as others whom I know reckoned my suspect to be pretty dodgy and what the hell was I doing conversing with him, for surely I can see what he is like.

To that my answer was that is one of the problems with aspergers syndrome, one tends to be gullible when it comes to people, we can at best trust or distrust and I prefer the former as it is much nicer to believe people are essentially honest and decent as life is much better that way, but a rogue tends to spoil the bunch, but I am trying to not let that happen this time.

I did mention to the police I will be following said retrobiker when he goes to meet his pals for their irregular Dartmoor jaunt and to that I was expecting to be told about taking the law into one's own hands, but nothing but I am doing the best I can to recover my property, which could also mean the police are saying they in reality have little hope of recovering the bike.

Don't suppose it is the same bike but i saw a yoof riding a Tidy Turquoise Raleigh Montage down the high street of Torpoint last week. I was thinking there can't be many left but then saw an identical bike in Fowey two days later.

SJ

There are many an old mountain bike around in good order, this website alone has increased the interest in these old machines, and because of that, created the market for thieves to act. An unwanted side effect, but where there is interest and want, there will be always those around to service that need and want.