2 questions - date for retro bike and also Saracen Blitz

[Bonzo Banana]

Quick questions by someone who hasn't used this forum much and couldn't find the answer. Does the 1997 date gradually increase upwards to encapsulate younger bikes. I.e. 1997 is currently 20 years ago in 2018 will it be 1998?

Also I have a Saracen Blitz and was going to have a look on the wayback machine for info about them but don't actually know the year.

It's the one with the Zoom Gordo upside down front shock. Like this one below. Any idea of what year this actual model was in their range. It seems the Blitz name was used for a few bikes over various years.

 

[Raging_Bulls]

Re:

The date is fixed. 1997 is roughly the point where massive steps forward were made in terms of braking (V-brakes becoming common) and suspension.
Also the manufacturers mostly stopped experimenting with crazy frame designs around that time.
And purple ano finally went out of style.


As for the bike, the archives here only cover Saracen up to 1998. This one is obviously younger. Saracen used the Blitz name on several models over the years, Zoom did the same with the Gordo name. So it's a tough one to google.

If no Saracen experts chime in, perhaps you could try contacting the company. Usually the frame number is all they need, although a picture might help if they didn't keep a list of frame numbers and only have old catalogues.
http://www.saracen.co.uk/contact