Embarrassingly I haven’t built up one of my current 2 x projects for a long time…
Competing hobbies, a hectic job and work on my house have forced my retro building to the back burner….
However …. I’ve made a start on this beauty.
It was a one owner low mileage and totally standard bike but as with most of this era Saracen, age had taken its toll on the non laquered decals that have a habit of peeling at the edges and looking rather tatty…
So, I’ve fully stripped the bike, machine polished the gorgeous paintwork (looks better in the flesh!) and treat it to a set of repro decals from Gil which are just perfect. My OCD has seen me apply the decals exactly where the old ones had been and dare I say it, straighter than applied in the factory!
There was a paint bubble on the non drive side seat stay which I rubbed back and found to have been a little moisture at the weld with no sign of any damage so this will be an easy touch up when I mix the paint match.
There ain’t a single dent on this frame and I think I’d be hard pressed to find a better example.
I’ve replaced the Ritchey stem decal too (Gil again) and regressed the headset.
I’ve replaced the standard seatpost with a period Fred Salmon outfit with cool anodised green head.
My turmoil now is whether to rebuild it with the original LX groupset or to fit a full period XT groupset which would have been a natural upgrade I would have done BITD… and I just happen to have the groupset here?
Hope u likee!
Prezza
Competing hobbies, a hectic job and work on my house have forced my retro building to the back burner….
However …. I’ve made a start on this beauty.
It was a one owner low mileage and totally standard bike but as with most of this era Saracen, age had taken its toll on the non laquered decals that have a habit of peeling at the edges and looking rather tatty…
So, I’ve fully stripped the bike, machine polished the gorgeous paintwork (looks better in the flesh!) and treat it to a set of repro decals from Gil which are just perfect. My OCD has seen me apply the decals exactly where the old ones had been and dare I say it, straighter than applied in the factory!
There was a paint bubble on the non drive side seat stay which I rubbed back and found to have been a little moisture at the weld with no sign of any damage so this will be an easy touch up when I mix the paint match.
There ain’t a single dent on this frame and I think I’d be hard pressed to find a better example.
I’ve replaced the Ritchey stem decal too (Gil again) and regressed the headset.
I’ve replaced the standard seatpost with a period Fred Salmon outfit with cool anodised green head.
My turmoil now is whether to rebuild it with the original LX groupset or to fit a full period XT groupset which would have been a natural upgrade I would have done BITD… and I just happen to have the groupset here?
Hope u likee!
Prezza
