Re:
Saracen was set up by Brian Staples, as we know, when he sold his bike shop in Kenilworth and moved onto new things.
It was set up in Warwick, and made the first 'production' MTB frame in the UK, as we know.
[discounting earlier custom frames made by Roberts and others].
Who made the very first Saracens in lugged 501 with the distinctive rear cable stop - as seen here branded as F.W.Evans - in 1983...?
Tom Bromwich - in his local workshop in Far Gosford Street, Coventry.
Later versions [lugged 531] with the simple cable stop were made by Jim Macilwain who had bought TBC off Tom.
Working with Jim a little later was Lee Cooper, my local frame builder and font of knowledge, who's garage in Ryton needs to be seen to be believed.
There is much more history to this, but that's for another time - the purpose of this little post was simply to set the record straight about who made the very first Saracen frames, as I was a little concerned about well intended, but misinformed, information becoming 'fact'.
As I mentioned previously, Bluemels never built frames - they simply bought Saracen the 'brand' from Brain Staples, and later sold the 'brand' [through being in liquidation] to the Stanford brothers - with all subsequent production being moved overseas as part of their vast profit making [sorry, expansion] plans...
So, there we go, hopefully that clears things up a little and it's certainly eased the little pain at the back of my head anyway.
