1991 Saracen Sahara SS

[drystonepaul]

Re: 1991 Saracen Sahara

Was this the one that started at 99p and sold for about 16 or 17 quid?

Yep. I got it for £16.16p. 16 has turned into a bit of a lucky number on eBay recently and everything I seem to buy ends costing 16 quid. I've thought about commissioning the Bank of England to print me some £16 notes to make my life a bit easier.

My '91 Traverse Hydrotech sounds exotic compared to the rest but trust me it's probably the heaviest out of all the lot

Your Traverse Competition Hydrotech has the best catalogue listing of them all.
Check this out; 'Elevated Chainstay Frame in Tange Elliptical Profile Cromoly Lite Double Butted Tubing'

I think you're right that between us we may have the complete 1991 line up soon.

 

[sinnett177]

SS looks to be the way forward Paul. £16 again, its your lucky bid for sure!

 

[DeletedUser006]

Brilliant Story

My mate had one identical bitd and was a great bike after he had XT'd it all

The 200 GS was a truley awful groupset that was heavy as lead elephants. The frame and forks were defo its strong point and always pleasing to the eye in the bright yellow, Yours also seems to be boasting the FJ nephew tyres that were the original spect too !

Look forward to seeing it emerge

 

[drystonepaul]

Yep well spotted GM, a rather tired looking set of FJN's on it.
I'm definitely thinking of singlespeed and I'm on the lookout for some cheap 110bcd cranks to replace the 200GS trip hazards.
Something like Exage would be good to match the hubs, which are very smooth incidentally. I'll most likely rebuild the wheels, replacing rims and the spokes with 72 double butted ones.
I doubt I'll go as far as hanging any XT on it yet.

I am seriously considering some flared drop bars and matching bar tape though...

Could be fun.

 

[drystonepaul]

And this is how it's looking now. Quick test ride before a proper outing in Wales tomorrow.

Gearing is 34:18 with which I can just about manage most of the hills near me. As you can see the slotted drop-outs and a bit of magic ratio, err... magic, means that no tensioner or half-links are necessary.

 

[Easy_Rider]

That looks great Paul, given the Saracen a new lease of life

 

[coomber]

Great work, really is an awesome and unique looking bike.

Looking forward to the ride report.

 

[Dead Rats]

how's the headtube holding up Paul?

 

[drystonepaul]

how's the headtube holding up Paul?

As you know the paint at the down-tube/head-tube junction had a suspicious looking crack running along the top of the weld. I scraped some of the paint off which it turns out hadn't really keyed onto the weld beneath it.
I've inspected the bare welds and fortunately there doesn't appear to be any sign of a crack. I rode it in Wales this weekend and the general opinion amongst us was that there may have been some grease or flux left on the weld prior to the powder coat. Over time a small amount of corrosion would have expanded the surface beneath the paint causing the crack.
Either that or it really is the frame that is cracked.

Anyway here's an extract from the First Annual Creme Egg Ride - AFTERMATH

A titanium test ride vs a £16 eBay special.

Once again a fine selection of old metal was on show including, Sinnett177's Alpinestars Ti-Mega, HarryCrumbs blinged out AMP, Mr K's Dave Yates, Woody's Stumpjumper M2, Fritz's Kona, Volvo's P7, Crud's Saracen, ER's Dawes and m-trax on her M-Trax.
Bike of the ride should surely have gone to my Saracen Sahara, with it's rattly bottom bracket, dodgy free-hub, possibly cracked frame, loosening headset and comic book graphics. Still, I did 'jet' wash it by completely submerging it in a river at the end of the ride only to pour half a litre of water out of the frame afterwards. I digress...

"Double Butted Cromoly Tubing!!!


Oh and since this ride I've tightened up the headset, flushed out the freehub body and rebuilt the rear hub. It seems to be working fine now. I still need to get my hands on some old tools to take up the play in the cup and cone bottom bracket though.

 

[DoctorRad]

I'm about to build up my much neglected '91 Traverse Hydrotech as a 1x7, mainly with my spare SunTour XC Pro kit. Still got original bars, stem, front Magura and one rim which I rebuilt into a front XC Pro hub over ten years ago. Actually, still got the original cranks, but as they were black painted LX, they are very tatty now...!

As mentioned above, VERY heavy frame, but utterly bombproof. Rode this bike into the ground as an MTB before setting it up as a 2x1 commuter. Any tips on how to re-thread the Magura hose inside the top tube gratefully received.

Pics to follow sometime