Saracen BackTrax

Saddle to bar height actually looks quite relaxed by retro standards! But riser bar or shorter stem (with rise) will both sit you more upright.

If replacing bar you need 25.4 mm. Modern ones are fatter (31.8 mm) and won't fit through the stem.

I don't know if that fork has a 1" or 1 and 1/8th steerer. You need to know that if replacing the stem. Hopefully someone that knows Saracens will know and will advise.

Still a nice bike for £30 and setting them up is all good fun (I hope).

Twozaskars said:

Try some riser bars if you can? Where are you based? If you're anywhere near me (M1 j26) I've a dozen or more bars you could try.
Earlier comment about twisting them too is a great free idea, I reckon my Karakoram bars are twisted slightly more forward than yours. Little things.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer but sadly I’m based down south but appreciate it! Il give the bar twisting a go though

jonthefish said:

Saddle to bar height actually looks quite relaxed by retro standards! But riser bar or shorter stem (with rise) will both sit you more upright.

If replacing bar you need 25.4 mm. Modern ones are fatter (31.8 mm) and won't fit through the stem.

I don't know if that fork has a 1" or 1 and 1/8th steerer. You need to know that if replacing the stem. Hopefully someone that knows Saracens will know and will advise.

Still a nice bike for £30 and setting them up is all good fun (I hope

Click to expand...

jonthefish said:

Saddle to bar height actually looks quite relaxed by retro standards! But riser bar or shorter stem (with rise) will both sit you more upright.

If replacing bar you need 25.4 mm. Modern ones are fatter (31.8 mm) and won't fit through the stem.

I don't know if that fork has a 1" or 1 and 1/8th steerer. You need to know that if replacing the stem. Hopefully someone that knows Saracens will know and will advise.

Still a nice bike for £30 and setting them up is all good fun (I hope).

Click to expand...

Thankyou very much for the advise. I’m going to start with buying a bar with some rise and then go from there. Il make sure I get one that’s 25.4mm aswel. Yeah I’m really enjoying cleaning up the bike and putting my own twist on it! Like you say for £30 aswel it’s a great bike

Slightly off topic now but me and 2 friends are in the process of organising a week long bicycle tour next year around the uk. This bike fits me pretty well. I’m just curious if this would be a suitable long distance bike. I can change the tyres etc but would I be better off purchasing a more dedicated bike or is the geometry of this bike suitable. I’m not interested in a suspension bike it’s not needed and if I was to purchase a bike it would be a steel framed non suspension one anyway. Is this bike worth upgrading slightly to suit?

Any bike can do long distance provided it comfortable. Having back issues, im very much with you on raising the bar.

Getting a bike to fit for more than a jolly in the woods is a slightly different kettle of fish.

First you need to get the saddle where you need it to pedal effectively, not where it gives you the best each of the bars. Its a common mistake. Then adjust the bars and stem round this point. After all the pedalling bit and ensuring you are recruiting each muscle group evenly and correctly is key.

This becomes more important the more distance you ride.

For touring, i would try a shorter more upright stem....say 25o rather than 10o and also some bars with rise and a bit of back sweep to protect your wrists.

As for tyres, these work well for me touring and allow some green laneing too.

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tyres-l...-continental-contact-travel-tyre-26-inch-559/

Theres also a folding version which is a bit nicer to ride and a bit lighter (80g each), but for £17 those are very good.

They are getting hard to find, as they are being discontinued as they are not EBike ready. As obviously everyone rides an ebike! . This seems true of many tyres now or they are being "upgraded" to be heavier and crappier to meet ebike standards or discontinued as they can't do both.

Rip schwalbe marathon supreme

I would support everything Tootyred said but have some more questions for you.

Are you going to be touring on road only or a mixture on and off and what percent off road in that case?

Will you be taking much stuff with you? If so how do you intend carrying, racks and panniers or bikepacking style?

If you are intending to go mainly road than I'd suggest seeking out something like a Dawes Galaxy...they can be had for silly cheap money and will make your trip a lot easier thaan using the Saracen.

One disadvantage going down that route would be the riding position for you, as Toot pointed out your set up is already on the "relaxed" side with the bars looking marginally above the seat. Your saddle also looks relatively low in the frame, I'd would suggest the Saracen may be a size too large for you and this means you have too long a stretch to the bars (not helped of course by the long stem.

What height are you and what size is the bike? There is a lot of leeway in terms of what size bike a person can ride for an hour or two without problems but for a week long tour of possibly 8 hour days in the saddle then bike fit becomes very important. Also, if wrist issue are a problem then having straight bars (or risers) might not necessarily help matters over long distances since your hand position is not easily changed, although good bar ends can help here.

Trying to do a bike fit over the internet is not sensible so I am just suggesting some options to consider.

Good luck.