Early Saracen Lovers Anonymous......
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Cheers all. The beauty of retro Saracen is that you can build a nice collection for very little. All three of these combined cost less than £200 I reckon.
Cheers all. The beauty of retro Saracen is that you can build a nice collection for very little. All three of these combined cost less than £200 I reckon.
markjohnson76
Saracen Fan
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Let me know if you want an original Saracen water bottle holder in the same colour for your new trekker. I'd swap it for the yellow one that's on it....
brocklanders023":3okyingo said:Cheers all. The beauty of retro Saracen is that you can build a nice collection for very little. All three of these combined cost less than £200 I reckon.
Let me know if you want an original Saracen water bottle holder in the same colour for your new trekker. I'd swap it for the yellow one that's on it....
markjohnson76
Saracen Fan
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markjohnson76":821etuhb said:brocklanders023":821etuhb said:Cheers all. The beauty of retro Saracen is that you can build a nice collection for very little. All three of these combined cost less than £200 I reckon.
Let me know if you want an original Saracen water bottle holder in the same colour for your new trekker. I'd swap it for the yellow one that's on it....
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90sCro-MoFan
Dirt Disciple
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I've got 3 "old" Saracens, a '95 Tufftrax and two '97 Protrax SEs - one's pristine and one's a mess, but I'll sort it. I bought the Tufftrax for £35 on eBay and have completely stripped and re-built it. The "famous epoxy polyester powder coat....toughest in the industry" peeled off the frame in long, spiralling strips, with nothing more than a pair of tweezers revealing a really nice silver (looks like it's lacquered too) paint-job underneath! It looked so good I decided to leave it that way and strip the forks too. For some reason they didn't "peel" anywhere near as easily and I ended up stripping and spraying them black. Put a new set of black decals on the frame too and with a black seat post and riser bars, it all gels together really well. The stem's a bit long and stretches me out a bit too much, but I'll fit a shorter one at some point. I also changed the crankset and now only have a single chain ring, because 7 gears is plenty for the type of on-road riding I do and I've never found myself looking for another gear in any situation so far. It also makes the bike simpler to maintain and cleans up the looks. I'm planning to have the Protrax SE shot-blasted and powder-coated. It'll cost me about £70, but it'll make the frame & forks look better than a new bike and something unique.
I've got 3 "old" Saracens, a '95 Tufftrax and two '97 Protrax SEs - one's pristine and one's a mess, but I'll sort it. I bought the Tufftrax for £35 on eBay and have completely stripped and re-built it. The "famous epoxy polyester powder coat....toughest in the industry" peeled off the frame in long, spiralling strips, with nothing more than a pair of tweezers revealing a really nice silver (looks like it's lacquered too) paint-job underneath! It looked so good I decided to leave it that way and strip the forks too. For some reason they didn't "peel" anywhere near as easily and I ended up stripping and spraying them black. Put a new set of black decals on the frame too and with a black seat post and riser bars, it all gels together really well. The stem's a bit long and stretches me out a bit too much, but I'll fit a shorter one at some point. I also changed the crankset and now only have a single chain ring, because 7 gears is plenty for the type of on-road riding I do and I've never found myself looking for another gear in any situation so far. It also makes the bike simpler to maintain and cleans up the looks. I'm planning to have the Protrax SE shot-blasted and powder-coated. It'll cost me about £70, but it'll make the frame & forks look better than a new bike and something unique.
markjohnson76
Saracen Fan
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Nice! Welcome to the club The old Saracens are highly addictive and you're right, they're cheap enough to start a good collection. Though it's dangerous as you end up with too many and the original parts hunt never stops. I saw this Tufftrax on Gumtree today, is it like yours?
https://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/nice ... 1290711792
I have a 92' tufftrax amongst others. Out of interest, did you just keep the centre ring on your crank to make it 7 speed? Or change the crank completely? I was thinking of doing the same on my '90 Eiger.
90sCro-MoFan":tbykk5l7 said:
Nice! Welcome to the club
The old Saracens are highly addictive and you're right, they're cheap enough to start a good collection. Though it's dangerous as you end up with too many and the original parts hunt never stops. I saw this Tufftrax on Gumtree today, is it like yours? https://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/nice ... 1290711792
I have a 92' tufftrax amongst others. Out of interest, did you just keep the centre ring on your crank to make it 7 speed? Or change the crank completely? I was thinking of doing the same on my '90 Eiger.
markjohnson76
Saracen Fan
My collection is growing too. I think I have a problem, too much space and time on my hands means I can't stop. At what point should I be concerned? There are 6 old saracens in my studio now and another on the way. I'm expecting a 1990 Kiliflyer to turn up any day in the post which needs work but looks original and complete. I've never seen another one, has anyone else? Its the metallic dark green one with black XT groupset.
And I picked this beauty up today. It has non original tyres and saddle. I put some LX/Saracen pedals on it as the ones it came with were anodised red ones. The reflectors were missing too though the original colour-coded reflector brackets were there. I think it looks pretty good. I've given it a quick clean and some oil. The rear wheels needs a bit of truing but other than that it's sweet as a nut. Paint is great though the decal on the top tube is peeling a little. It's amazing what you can find when you trawl through all, and I mean all the bike ads on Gumtree while having a coffee. This was under a mis-spelt ad for Mens Bike with a fuzzy picture. A short drive and £60 later it was in may car. I'd swap it of course for a 17" 1990 traverse comp.....
And I picked this beauty up today. It has non original tyres and saddle. I put some LX/Saracen pedals on it as the ones it came with were anodised red ones. The reflectors were missing too though the original colour-coded reflector brackets were there. I think it looks pretty good. I've given it a quick clean and some oil. The rear wheels needs a bit of truing but other than that it's sweet as a nut. Paint is great though the decal on the top tube is peeling a little. It's amazing what you can find when you trawl through all, and I mean all the bike ads on Gumtree while having a coffee. This was under a mis-spelt ad for Mens Bike with a fuzzy picture. A short drive and £60 later it was in may car. I'd swap it of course for a 17" 1990 traverse comp.....
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Thanks for the offer on the bottle cage Mark but I think the yellow works with the blue so not looking to change.
Impressive collection you are gathering. I think I might have seen another green Kili. Could have been on here or bitd but defo remember seeing one as dark green is my favourite colour
Thanks for the offer on the bottle cage Mark but I think the yellow works with the blue so not looking to change.
Impressive collection you are gathering. I think I might have seen another green Kili. Could have been on here or bitd but defo remember seeing one as dark green is my favourite colour
90sCro-MoFan
Dirt Disciple
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Hello Dirt Disciple, my Tufftrax is a later one, as it doesn't have that distinctive seat tube through the top tube design of the earlier models. I think it's a shame Saracen stopped making their frames that way and wish I had one. It was a nice design touch which set their frames apart and made them more unique. My Tufftrax also has a threaded headset and (was) darker blue in colour. I'm not what you might call a "purist", more of a "customiser" I suppose. I like to take these old bikes (not just Saracens) and make them simpler, cleaner, easier to maintain and better to handle. So to answer your question, I changed the crank set completely and also fitted a new bottom bracket. To get the chain-line right, I had to experiment with different bottom brackets until I got a spindle length that took the chain ring in as close to the chain stay as possible. I also had to re-align/re-space the rear hub further over to the right and therefore also re-dish the rear wheel to keep the rim centred. It sounds daunting, but once you've done it once, you'll realise it's not as complicated as it sounds. I Accept that might not be everyone's cup of tea, but cycling is all about having fun at the end of the day, right? That said, I've seen some lovely stuff on eBay that is so pristine, it would be a shame to change anything. Gary Fishers and Voodoos seem to be commanding high prices. Easy to see why, they are quality machines.
Hello Dirt Disciple, my Tufftrax is a later one, as it doesn't have that distinctive seat tube through the top tube design of the earlier models. I think it's a shame Saracen stopped making their frames that way and wish I had one. It was a nice design touch which set their frames apart and made them more unique. My Tufftrax also has a threaded headset and (was) darker blue in colour. I'm not what you might call a "purist", more of a "customiser" I suppose. I like to take these old bikes (not just Saracens) and make them simpler, cleaner, easier to maintain and better to handle. So to answer your question, I changed the crank set completely and also fitted a new bottom bracket. To get the chain-line right, I had to experiment with different bottom brackets until I got a spindle length that took the chain ring in as close to the chain stay as possible. I also had to re-align/re-space the rear hub further over to the right and therefore also re-dish the rear wheel to keep the rim centred. It sounds daunting, but once you've done it once, you'll realise it's not as complicated as it sounds. I Accept that might not be everyone's cup of tea, but cycling is all about having fun at the end of the day, right? That said, I've seen some lovely stuff on eBay that is so pristine, it would be a shame to change anything. Gary Fishers and Voodoos seem to be commanding high prices. Easy to see why, they are quality machines.
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