1984 Saracen: The Plated Gate

thekidmalone

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Greetings everyone,

I’m not sure how it ended up here in Switzerland, but I bought it from an online auction, described as a 1984 Scimitar mountain bike from GB. The seller knows more about vintage road racing bikes than I ever will, but didn’t make the connection I did between the names of the weapon and of the the warriors who wielded them: Saracens.

Thankfully, I had the M700 parts on hand to correct the most egregious areas of period-incorrectness: the crankset and brake pads. The 1.75 Michelin mostly slick tyres were suitable enough for riverside rambling with my family, until something bigger and better came along.

When it came time to test prototypes of my RIDER T1, a new tyre design for our original off-road legends, with a Brit riding an aluminium American bike, this Yank chose a super-sized portion of British steel. Although it won’t ever be my daily driver through the rough stuff, The Plated Gate performed beyond my expections high above Lake Geneva.

So, after you’ve recovered from the shock of seeing a mountain bike that’s nearly as tall as a mountain, please let me know if it makes any sense that this really is a Saracen.

Thanks, and ride as much (and as tall) as you can!

Cheers,
The Kid
 

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Love this! I'm still trying to come to terms with the crazy size of the frame (Sorry, I'm a shorty @ 170cm tall)... just how tall are you??? :shock: :D
 
Re:

I‘m 1.86m tall, but have longer legs than average for my height. In the outdoor shots, the seat post is slightly above the maximum height line, but I was still not getting efficient leg extension.
 
Very nice. And a proper size. I have something similar. :mrgreen:
 

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Re: Re:

thekidmalone":1w5qxoo3 said:
I‘m 1.86m tall, but have longer legs than average for my height. In the outdoor shots, the seat post is slightly above the maximum height line, but I was still not getting efficient leg extension.

Not a tall as I suspected! :D Guess the low angle shots exaggerate the height of the frame. Love these 80s mtb’s, they are so nice to bomb around on and always make me grin when I jump on one! Enjoy! Enjoy!
 

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