doctorstewie
Senior Retro Guru
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I don't think that many people would argue that 1998 was one of the last years Saracen turned out anything decent until they got sorted a few years back. If you look at the brochure they were already turning out loads of generic ( and suspiciously cheap and nasty) looking stuff. The good bikes were still there : the Killi range in particular ( Have a look at some of Drystone Paul's stuff ) but they were really going at the lower end of the market by this time too.
And smack in the middle was this:
I am still trying to work out who it was aimed at: you could get it with segmented straight rigid forks and flat bars, or Rockshox Indys and a ludicrous braced riser.
It was 600 quid rigid or bouncy for an extra ton, and until a few weeks ago I'd never seen one in the flesh.
So, a quick lowball bid for a frame on Ebay and I got this for a tenner:
In really good condition considering it's age.
In this case I am not too concerned with being original spec or anything, I just want a dossabout hardtail and to see what the frame rides like, so It's getting built up almost completely from bits in my spares stash. Largely the not so great stuff I pulled off my Rift Zone.
I have two Manitou 5cs so it's getting one the Rigida/Dawes wheels and finishing kit I took off the Marin, and an Orange riser.
I suspect the longest bits of the build will be waiting for the brake levers to arrive and stripping and polishing the profoundly ugly Truvativ chainset.
Here's where I am up to so far:
rear triangle with LXrear mech:
Manitou, Orange, Kona, and Shimano Deore V brakes, with the joke wheels and quite nice looking Conti Tyres.
DMR saddle (Scruffy) and a rather nice 2 bolt Kalloy post, Deore front mech:
And a side pic.
And some of the bits: the NDS crank is stripped here, but not polished, and I was just taking a pic of some of the bits I was considering for it.
I actually rather like it, it's chunky but reasonably light ( just over 4lbs for the bare frame ) for what it is, and the colour is gorgeous.
I am debating whether to remove most of the stickers ( because they are rank from a design point of view, they are all in very good condition ) but overall I am looking forward to seeing what it's actually like.
And smack in the middle was this:
I am still trying to work out who it was aimed at: you could get it with segmented straight rigid forks and flat bars, or Rockshox Indys and a ludicrous braced riser.
It was 600 quid rigid or bouncy for an extra ton, and until a few weeks ago I'd never seen one in the flesh.
So, a quick lowball bid for a frame on Ebay and I got this for a tenner:
In really good condition considering it's age.
In this case I am not too concerned with being original spec or anything, I just want a dossabout hardtail and to see what the frame rides like, so It's getting built up almost completely from bits in my spares stash. Largely the not so great stuff I pulled off my Rift Zone.
I have two Manitou 5cs so it's getting one the Rigida/Dawes wheels and finishing kit I took off the Marin, and an Orange riser.
I suspect the longest bits of the build will be waiting for the brake levers to arrive and stripping and polishing the profoundly ugly Truvativ chainset.
Here's where I am up to so far:
rear triangle with LXrear mech:
Manitou, Orange, Kona, and Shimano Deore V brakes, with the joke wheels and quite nice looking Conti Tyres.
DMR saddle (Scruffy) and a rather nice 2 bolt Kalloy post, Deore front mech:
And a side pic.
And some of the bits: the NDS crank is stripped here, but not polished, and I was just taking a pic of some of the bits I was considering for it.
I actually rather like it, it's chunky but reasonably light ( just over 4lbs for the bare frame ) for what it is, and the colour is gorgeous.
I am debating whether to remove most of the stickers ( because they are rank from a design point of view, they are all in very good condition ) but overall I am looking forward to seeing what it's actually like.
