1992 Saracen Tufftrax

[sparkybhp]

So I bought this as a spares bike to help me complete my ‘88 Traverse which is now finished.
It was in a fairly grim state with damaged Deore thumbies, nice brake levers and DX canti’s but the rest was mismatched with Altus mechs, original front wheel and replacement rear. Oh and one crank arm in silver and one in black, yey. However, it was cheap and local so I couldn’t say no.. As a result this one owes me nothing, but having stripped it and cleaned it, it’s too good to chuck away. I reckon it could be saved cheaply enough with parts I have lying around... I think a budget friendly retro build could be on the cards.

 

[drystonepaul]

That's a 1992 model year frame. Or at least the decals are.
Spec, if original, suggests it may be a non catalogue 'special' or 'limited edition' bike sold off in late 1992 to clear out the Saracen factory for the newer 1993 bikes.

 

[sparkybhp]

Interesting... I was surprised by the mismatched components, wasn’t sure if the original owner changed bits on it or not. Can’t decide whether to keep the good bits and just rebuild it with lower end stuff that I have or try to make something decent of it? I’m leaning towards the first option as, ultimately, it’s a tad too small for me.

 

[sparkybhp]

Had a couple of hours free yesterday evening so started cleaning this up and assembling it. I decided to use various bits and pieces which I had in my spares to get it up and together. Groupset will be Acera/Altus, wheels are some decent Exage 7 speed with tan wall Nimbus 1.50 road/gravel tyres. I even had a Viscount titanium saddle in blue/black which looks ok on it.
It’s getting there, just need to add canti’s, cables and pedals and it’ll be ready to ride. The original paint is coming up well - they definitely laid it on thick bitd!

 

[sparkybhp]

Got this finished about a week ago but forgot to update the post.
Turned out well really, it rides nicely even with the low end components fitted. Pretty looking bike too.