Says it's a Wheeler e-stay, but looks like a Saracen. Am I missing something?

[incorrigible]

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/wheeler-elevated-chainstay-mtb-90er-tange-rohrsatz-tange-strut/2107659945-217-4808

Did Wheeler buy frames from Saracen?
Did Wheeler buy Saracen outright and sell their remaining stock as Wheelers?
Is this real life?
Did I somehow fall into a black hole in the Retroverse and upset the space/time continuum?
Why do I fell like I just came from the dentist?

It's got a Wheeler head badge, Wheeler tires, a Wheeler saddle, a Wheeler seatpost clamp, and of course Wheeler decals on the top tube and bars.
That "Tange Struts" fork looks pretty sweet.
Can anyone offer more info on this?

 

[baldyonabike]

Definitely not a Saracen: look at the seatpost/stay junction: the Saracens had penetrated top tubes and externally butted seat tubes, rather than the sleeve/lug type affair here. Also, though I can't be sure it looks as though skinnier tubing is being used on the stays here. Different droputs too, and Saracen's segmented forks, to my knowledge always had staight blades.
It does look very like a Saracen though, particularly in the stay department.

BOAB

 

[joglo]

Hi,
it's a Wheeler, the model pro line 1800 is pretty similar

Just not clear on year, because neither the one from ebay classifieds in Germany nor the red one (just Google, there are some more) are in the 1990-1992 catalogs, also not 1994.

Also other Wheeler ECS like 6800 are looking pretty similar compared to bikes from other brands, e.g. an Corratec model.
Maybe they come from same production line in Taiwan?

What kind of Saracen is looking like the Wheeler? Or why are you thinking this is stock from Saracen?
BTW: Saracen had a Struts look-a-like fork, but it had Saracen "S" logos on top.

 

[incorrigible]

It looks like I spoke too soon (I guess there's a 1st time for everything).
Until I saw this, I thought all Wheeler e-stays looked like these:



.......and I thought all Saracen e-stays looked like these:




I'm a huge fan of e-stays but obviously no expert. I just gave this one a passing glance and neglected to look at the details.
I get most of my bike history (and a good portion of my culture) from RB, so this is definitely a learning moment for me.
Thanks to all for the info!