1988 Saracen Tufftrax: the banana boat

[Rodrigues]

Maaan this thing weighs a ton. Picked it up for £25 on Gumtree after it was outed on here by Henne (viewtopic.php?f=4&t=347134&hilit=saracen). Lovely guy - owned it since new but now wanted to sell 'because it was too big for him'.....only 28 years to realise this :facepalm:

Anyway it's fully original and tyres aside in good shape (especially the saddle and frame - I don't think I've ever seen an old Saracen Mountain saddle this good...if it wasn't fixed to a clearly used bike it would pass for NOS). I have too many other projects (bike and house....) at the moment to tidy this up quickly so this will just sit in the shed until it's dark and wet all the time. Then I'll get to work....

For now though please enjoy its unusual summertime nuclear banana glow :-D

1988 Saracen Tufftrax by rodders., on Flickr

1988 Saracen Tufftrax by rodders., on Flickr

1988 Saracen Tufftrax by rodders., on Flickr

1988 Saracen Tufftrax by rodders., on Flickr

1988 Saracen Tufftrax by rodders., on Flickr

1988 Saracen Tufftrax by rodders., on Flickr

1988 Saracen Tufftrax by rodders., on Flickr

1988 Saracen Tufftrax by rodders., on Flickr

 

[Muddy paw]

Wow Rod that takes me back too september 1989 when a work mate turned up at work riding his Dad's 88 Tuffrax and then the day after asked me if i wanted to by it for £300 as his Dad had never used it since he bought and now seeing yours makes me wish i had but i was riding an 87 Trekker at the time and didn't need another bike so any how yours looks pretty amazing for it's age and i just love that yellow ..

 

[Ghosty]

Heavy things indeed - I've just made a blue '89 up as a singlespeed and it's seriously hefty - they need the 48 tooth front ring for a reason! Makes for an interesting ride though.

That's looking good in yellow - Saracen really knew how to make a looker

 

[Rodrigues]

Cheers gents....the yellow plus the pink / grey decals and the classic Saracen font from this period does look surprisingly good.

@Ian - cool story from bitd. As lovely as this one is the Trekker is definitely a better spec bike so think you made a good choice

I just can't believe after nearly 3 decades they survive in this good a condition.

 

[Muddy paw]

Hi Rod , yep your bike certainly takes me and i actually preffered the yellow of the Tufftrax to the maize yellow of my Trekker but like you say mine was the better spec bike which i'd fully enough got off the same lad that offered me the Tufftrax .

@Ghosty , your not wrong mate about these bikes being heavy but they were still pretty nippy when pushed to their limit and made for excellent tourers and the thing about Saracens at the time was any that didn't quite measure up at the manufacturers due to minor things like untidy welds were sold on the cheap to retailers and then sold to the public at bargain prices ..

 

[Ghosty]

I'm finding that with use - it grows on you

 

[Muddy paw]

I'm finding that with use - it grows on you

Yep! mate and yes they are a very rewarding bike to ride although 1.95" tyres are the biggest i've ever used on them so can't wait to see what yours is like but that's gonna be some time yet mate ..

 

[Vinevo]

Re:

Nice one looks great condition.