84 Saracen ATB Citybike

What a lovely restoration and also a great read.

Following this restoration has been nostalgic for me as I bought my first mountain bike, an FW Evans ATB in the spring of 1984. The Evans being identical, apart from the branding, to the first Saracen ATB.

As I also wanted to ride it on-road and through city-traffic, I swapped the straight bars for drops and soon headed out to do some off-roading. The only off-road rides I knew of back then were the ones Geoff Apps ran each month from Wendover, in the Chiltern Hills. There I soon learned that hub brakes were far superior to cantilevers in the wet and muddy conditions. So on hearing that SA were bringing out an alloy hub-brake, called the 'Elite' I put in an order and soon converted My Evans over to these.
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So hence my deja vu whilst reading this thread.:cool:

PS. The SA 'Elites' were better than cantilevers in the wet and much quieter in the mud because you no longer get the mud and grit on the rim rubbing against the brake blocks. However, in heavy rain water can get in the drums where it gets trapped inside, eventually mixing with the brake dust and rusting drum to make a brown sludge.

In retrospect, the French Lelue brakes Geoff Apps used were far better. They have drainage holes and patented mechanism that encourage the brake-shoes to self-servo whilst compensating for the uneven brake-shoe wear that plagues other single-cam, cable operated, drum-brakes.

A few years later, SA made some Leleu-type versions of the 'Elite' in partnership with Highpath Engineering. But unfortunately, a machining error on the pre-production prototypes made then self-servo a bit to much, and lock up. As a result they never made it into production, though though are still a few of these prototypes around.

There's also a thread on here in which someone converts a standard SA 'Elite' to a Lelue-type mechanism.
 
I have found the thread that includes the conversion of Sturmey Archer 'Elite' drums to a Leleu-type floating-cam mechanism:
https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads...01-english-cycles-highpath-1982.375867/page-5

The Leleu-Type hub-brakes were developed for use on French mopeds but were also used on tandems.

I always set the my front Lelue so that the end of the brake lever touches the handlebars before the front wheel locks up. That way your less likely to inadvertently send yourself over the handlebars when performing an emergency stop.

They have also been known to straighten out the rake on forks, which is why Highpath used very long reaction arms.
 
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Sunny...so popped to a lovely tranquil spot for a bit of contemplation....

And a few more close-ups as I've entered botm!

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People seem to have a good reaction to this bike....if i take it to the local bakery (which doubles as coffee shop and cycle stop), I always get questions and positive comments.........I think its the bars etc, looks like a giant bmx, which hits a nostalgia note with many.

Plus its really nice to ride...not racey, just nice.....jazz club kinda "nice".
 
If mine ends looking half as nice as that I will be a very happy man, the bars aren't my bag but it's such a good looking thing!
 
Well, the vote is now open for bike of the month, which i have entered this bike into....cough cough cough....

But seriously, go join in the fun and vote for a british bike! *



* pref mine 🤣
 
Thought I might do a bit of a quick update on this one. A few things have changed as I've got into riding it, also as a result of selling me 85 conquest.

Saddle and post swapped for more traditional (and i believe as per catalogue) brooks B66. Its taken a bit of wearing in but 200 ish miles on and now todays ride was a breeze.

Also the pedals have been swapped for Suntour XC11. The original shimano were just too slippery, especially as im normally on toeclips. Just need to watch your shins on these....They are killers.

I also found an original mech guard.

Final swap is the stem from the original WIN to a Nitto golfclub. Far more in keeping for the nitto bars and just a touch higher and longer.....which all helps. Plus a touch less agricultural.

20 sunny miles, 2 pubs, 2 pints and a sausage roll in the car free deep suffolk countryside.....what else could you ask for! Some days you just need to take a step back, actually look at your life and be very very happy and thankful.

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