'92 Saracen FastTrax, Suntour edition/upgrade?

[thijsvk]

Couple of weeks ago I got a bike from a lbs. They took it from a customer that bought a new one.


They only sell new bikes, and don't do anything with used ones, so they had stuff and bikes to collect, free of charge to whomever wanted it.


Amongst the pile was a nice looking Saracen mountain bike.
After checking the catalogues that I found here, I think it might be a '92 FastTrax, not entirely sure, can't really find anything about it.
It looks similar, but the components don't match: absolutely everything is Suntour.


Originally I had intended on chopping it up, but it was just too nice, so I had a closer look at it.


It's a Tange Infinity chromoly frame, and had been fitted with everything Suntour:
Hubs, cassette, derailleurs, brakes, shifters, brake pads, even the chain is Suntour.
Cranks and chain rings are Sakae.
Full album here: https://imgur.com/gallery/VUf67

If it is a '92 FastTrax, I'm wondering if the original owner had all the components replaced, or if it is some special edition (or it's a completely different model all together)

It all looks very original, and because of that, I decided to restore it and keep it as it is.
The bike is in pretty good shape and would only really need new cables, brake pads, lube and a good clean.
Apart from the rear wheel.


The rear wheel has some snapped spokes that obviously need to be replaced.
I took it to another 'shop' (Halfords) but they couldn't do anything with it.
Their 'technician' said that he couldn't get the cassette off with any of the tools he had.


It didn't make economical sense for him to spend hours on trying to get the cassette off, so I collected the wheel and had a look myself.
Gave it a good clean and had a look online.
The cassette doesn't have a lock ring, or any notches for a removal tool.
The Parktool website suggests that it could be a screw on cassette, with the smallest cog acting as a lock ring.
The way to remove it would be to use to chain whips - one pointing left, the other pointing right, in a V.


Can anyone tell me if that is correct, or if there is a dust cover that I need to pop to reveal the notches?
Pictures of the cassette can be found here: https://imgur.com/gallery/CqYDA

Can anyone tell me a bit more about the bike, and the rear wheel?
Thanks

 

[mynchiboy]

Re:

That's pretty cool! Looks to be of 1992 vintage by the looks of things? I wasn't aware of any Saracen of the time being fitted with Suntour parts - my guessing is that these were an upgrade from original spec perhaps.

The Park advice is correct by the way - the Powerflo cassettes relied on the lower two sprockets to secure so two chain whips are indeed needed. Screw off the final sprocket and it should pop off. There's no internal splines or lockring.

Good luck with the rebuild and I'm glad you saved it from the 'technicians' :facepalm:

 

[thijsvk]

Re:

Well, that's the thing, I don't know if it is in fact a '92 FastTrax or a different model and/or year.

I went through all the scanned catalogues that I found here, and that's the closest model I could find. But in none of the catalogues are any of them fitted with Suntour.

I reckon it must have been a considerable expense to change absolutely everything, but because absolutely everything is Suntour, I wonder if it was done as a one off by the manufacturer.

I did mail Saracen, but no response so far