Newbie's - Saracen Tuff Trax 1987ish - first retro bike

mattrixdesign2":o0km2v0o said:

Right then, T-Cut and Polish will do it for now.

I need to get my road wheel made true, so I may take this wheel in aswell, but the spokes do seem loose all around, I don't want to pay for a rebuild.

If I keep the wheels is there any tip for getting them looking good, the spokes and rims have got quite dull, is it just a case of elbow grease or can I add some wonder chemical?

What I like about the bike is every seems to be original parts, and made in Japan etc.

It needs new grips and pedals, I presume using modern stuff will fit fine?

Or can you suggest something old skool to keep it looking from its era? I know little about Saracens.

My bikes from those days were Raleighs and a Falcon

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Cleaning you say? Well Duraglit metal polish works well, Astonish also works well, the bikers favorite Solvol Autosol (Every man cave should have some) and beleive it or not but the Oven Bags that you put your metal racks in to remove caked on stuff also works well, but dont put Anodised parts in or they will come out shiny silver I am forever raiding the kitchen cleaning cupboard for stuff, Brillo pads etc

I learnt a few things last night

The bike was originally RED (as already pointed out) - I can not understand how it went so orange, I suspect it may have had some life in the sun, it may explain the cracked/raised paint - as all the drive train/brakes etc are in a good condition, or the bike just spent its life in a garage/shed, being knocked about.

T-Cut works to clear the grime off, but did not have a chance of restoring any colour - no surprise there

It is VERY easy to get new tyres on / off old wide rims

It may not be wise to use the old inner tubes, as when you pump them up hard, explosions can occur - my wife thought I was in a garage incident!!!

"Modern" wide tyres 2.1in, are a VERY TIGHT fit with U-Brakes, I have clearance of about 2mm either side, don't fancy any muddy rides

It took my modern (disc enable) rack no problem

The seat post is not stuck in the tube, however I regreased it, and now I can not tighten it enough to hold the seat in place, I will need to remove excess grease, maybe make a shim?

It just needs a new inner tube and its ready for duty - looks beefy, but heavy, looking forward to giving it a run out.

mattrixdesign2":3qpexx1k said:

The seat post is not stuck in the tube, however I regreased it, and now I can not tighten it enough to hold the seat in place, I will need to remove excess grease, maybe make a shim?

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Sounds like it's slightly too small for the frame.

I think those thumbies are wrong and they were 90's parts found on the Mustang SIS, I would imagine Deore MT-60 thumbies would be right and a whole load nicer. I had a similar rear mech on my Maverick GT and it was also found on the Raleigh Ozark of the same era and badged up as 'Light Action', worked well until I could afford a DeoreII for mine.

Nice old Saracen by the way must get on with mine.

Carl.

I presumed they would be standard shifters, as it seems a bottom of the range bike, the rear mech is clearly labelled SIS, that alls.

I took the hanger off, even that is branded shimano