Saracen Kili Ultra Ti

Been riding this over winter to save my other bikes from getting clogged up with mud and snow. And as winter seems to lasting a long time, its still getting quite a lot of use now!

Was on the lookout for an Orange Vitamin T (mainly because I think its the coolest bike name ever) but as they seemed to be getting too expensive, when this cropped up on eBay I went for it. The Ultra Ti had got a better write up than the Vit T in MTB Pro anyway and I really liked the trademark pierced top / seat tube junction.

The build was mainly stuff I had been using on the Kona Explosif singlespeed but I got the RC30 fork, Chris King Headset and 26.8mm Thomson post specifically for it. Haven't really put any effort in to getting it to look "right" - its been set up to get the riding position the way I like it with the intention of buying better looking bits in the future. However, a DeKerf has now found its way in the the fold so not too sure of the fate of this one now.

Here are some photos of it in its more usual dirty state followed by a few clean ones.

If I were keeping it, I'd be thinking about a black Thomson stem, some new stickers and maybe different cranks.

Re: SaracenKili Ultra Ti

And now for the clean ones:

nice how do you find the tyres ?

kvs766":17gzxk14 said:

nice how do you find the tyres ?

Click to expand...

The tyres are really nice in the mud. They don't grip as well as something really knobbly / spiky like a Trailraker but they clear well and slide really progressively which makes drifting around the local woods really fun. They are also surprisingly drag free and weigh about 520g each. They we only about £15 from Wiggle a few months ago.

The air volume is not the biggest so they'll get changed when things dry out a bit. It took a bit of work but I eventually managed to get them sealed tubeless on the Mavic 517 rims and am running them at about 28psi.

thanks for that
i got some wheels with brand new gato tyres fitted never used them shall now fit them to my attitude and give them a go !!

Needs a black Thomson stem to really set it off.

My dream bike.

So nice. Is it a 19"?

Since I removed all the singlespeed bits for the DeKerf build, I've been wondering what to do with the Saracen Ultra Ti, so its been sat in a box in the garage for the past couple of months.

I'd managed to acquire a set of correct NOS Saracen rigid forks before stripping but never got around to fitting them. This weekend I thought I'd see what they would look like on the frame and was astounded to find that I had almost enough spare retro kit kicking around to mock up virtually a complete bike (thanks to an M900 XTR buying spree over the past few months).

I had bought the sunset rims to go on the DeKerf but they were a bit too much next to the candy frame but I think they look ace against the natural Ti, with the polished XTR and black Thomson kit.

I'm half tempted to continue this as a full on retro build with a full M900 groupset but as I know I'd never ride it once finished, its seems a bit of an unnecessary indulgence when the Pace, DeKerf and PRST1 (not to mention the modern bikes) all need some time and money lavished on them.

So, I've decided that if I can sell it before I go on holiday at the end of May, then its up for sale. Check out the "MTB For Sale" section of Retrobike.

Photos below: