Saracen Traverse 1989 - a winter project

[DuoTech]

Had an attempt at getting the seatpost out this evening with absolutely no luck. Wouldn't budge. Did get the seat clamp moving again though.

The screw holding the rear mudguard to the seatstay bridge was seized and threaded but has come out nicely by drilling into it and twisting in a screw extractor. Finished doing that, started cleaning the rear mech and the barrel adjuster crumbled apart in my hands, leaving half of it in the threads. After a bit of panicking I managed to slowly drill it out from the back with a 7/64" drillbit in reverse, being careful not to damage the internal threading of the mech.

Yellow Jagwire cables, NOS LX brake pads and a cheap used pair of tanwall Wildgrippers off eBay ordered tonight. Not sure about pedals yet - might try and source some NOS Tioga Surefoots.

 

[DuoTech]

Happy New Year!

Some progress made today. Managed to get the seatpost to free up by installing an expendable old Selle San Remo saddle and repeatedly hitting it sideways with a hammer over the course of a few days until it started turning. Hammers and bikes, eh? A match made in heaven. I was half expecting it to come out with zigzag scratches all the way up but the seatpost is almost completely unmarked and has cleaned up amazingly well with a bit of autosol, so it'll go straight back on with some grease this time.

Took apart the 1" headset (had a few bikes with this 1" Shimano headset but never managed to find a model number) which cleaned up nicely and will be reused.

 

[DuoTech]

Managed to complete the Mountain LX groupset quicker than I thought with @sparkybhp's Traverse which is doing a good thing and acting as a donor for the black chainset, wheels, front mech and right hand thumbie. Everything else cleaned up nicely from the original frame.

I'll pass on the Saracen love and put up @sparkybhp's frameset for free if anyone wants to rebuild it.

 

[DuoTech]

Link to donor frame give away https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/1989-saracen-traverse-frameset-free.439539/

 

[DuoTech]

Finally had a chance to drop the forks off at the local car powder coaters to be painted in a glorious sulphur yellow. Hopefully a similar shade to the colour of the amateur paint job that the bike came with 'cos I actually quite liked it.

In the meantime some goodies have arrived in the post: fresh brake pads, Jagwire cable, some gimmicky NOS brake boosters and an even gimmickier Lizard Skins headset seal. Tioga grips have been nabbed off an old Saracen Crosstrax I've got from around the same year.

 

[dw_uk2000]

Great stuff, 89 Saracen's are ace! I also have recently picked up a Traverse project. No idea what the weird residue that covers the bike is and it's proving a pain to remove although nail varnish remover seems to work with plenty of elbow grease. It's probably destined for the Turbo so condition isn't really important.

I was also lucky to pick up the correct stem and bar from another member who then checked his garage and found the Mountain LX groupset, including black crank so I'm good to go except for the wheels.

I got the lot for the price of postage so if you ask on here someone will no doubt come up with the parts.
View attachment 592038

That looks like my old frame, the weird residue is some rust treatment as I got it from the coast and it was pretty rusty, was going to clean it off then clear the frame but other projects took over so put it for Karma last year.

 

[DuoTech]

If ever there was a sign that this is a slow build it's that the bloke who came and picked up the free donor frameset has already added a pair of wheels, budget Suntour cranks and a fancy bike bag and listed it on eBay for £330. Gotta admire the enthusiasm!

Vintage Retro Mountain Bike 1987 Saracen Traverse 21" Araya Maxxis SunTour | eBay

Wheelset : Araya 26”. ��⚡️ A beefed-up 1989 Saracen Traverse in vibrant purple. Finished with Maxxis 2.1 tyres. Chainset: Suntour. Tyres : Maxxis Pace 2.1”. Maxxis Pace 2.1" tyres. But the bike is in perfectly rideable condition and has undergone a full strip down, regrease and rebuild.

www.ebay.co.uk

Meanwhile, forks are back from the local car powder coaters and looking superb in sulphur yellow. Sourced pretty much everything apart from the pedals and fork decals which are being drawn up at the moment. It'll come together soon!

 

[DuoTech]

Decals are on the fork and the fork is on the bike. Will get the rest set up in the very near future.

 

[DuoTech]

Mountain LX on, cables wired up, tyres pumped. '89 Saracen Traverse build finally completed! I'll get some fresh Maxxis tyres on it at some point but in the meantime it's ready for some muddy footpaths.









It was never going to be clean for long...

 

[player]

Nicely finished and well done on the seatpost and as Brockers said you can't beat the 89 bikes....