84 Saracen ATB

[Tootyred]

Thanks to the fantastic @Synthiaks im now the proud owner of a Saracen ATB! ...... missing a seat and post.....dont ask, its a long story!.

This is a bit of an oddity as for all purposes its a Saracen Conquest....( well a pre conquest saracen ATB...as conquest wasn't used until after the "conquest of Kilimanjaro).....see my build here.... https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/85-saracen-conquest-what-have-i-started-finished.445308/page-7 for a conquest....

But, it has some differences.....firstly SA drum brakes, and more road orientated tyres. It also apparently came (as far as my limted research can tell fully fitted with a rack and mudguards ( blumells surprise surprise)).

I say limited, because i can only find 2 other references to it in the last few months, both had roughly the same configuration.....

So...I'm going to rebuild it...into something...possibly original, possibly not, depends a bit on what i find, how much is good and how much needs chucking.

I would also like to point out that @Synthiaks is not responsible for the bikes condition as he just held it for a while, before passing it on.....so if I'm cursing "the previous owner" at any point, its not him! Thanks again my friend for meeting up with me on the way to your holiday to help me out with delivery/ collection. Much appreciated....a credit to retrobike.

Here's some random shots to get you going..

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Lovely bike @grantoury @Imlach @Woz @KermitGKona88

 

[Tootyred]

The first thing is to ride it....so i stuck the post from my 89 pine mountain in which is also 26.4mm (good guess for once)....and took it for a spin. But i did have redress the seat tube top before I even tried to insert a nice clean unscratched post.....chewed by metal hamsters!

Hummmmmmm.....wobbly.....its all a bit wobbly.

Crank....wobbly

Front wheel......wobbly

Rear wheel.....wobbly

Freewheel....exhibits its very own elliptical orbit completely seperate from the hub, so.....wobbly

Headset.....oddly very tight!

Front wheel seems to be dished to hit the forks too, which is a strange decision....unless the forks are bent! .....time will tell.

I also removed the rack and guards, mainly as they were rubbing....don't worry, they might go back.

 

[nstarmore]

Super cool, I suppose a similar concept to the S&G/Araya Muddy City but this is a bit cooler imo.

 

[grantoury]

Handsome bicycle, I am interested to see where this is going.

 

[widowmaker]

Quirky and cool

 

[Synthiaks]

Pleasure to meet you and pass it on....really looking forward to seeing what you do with it, its an oddity for sure, but couldn't be in better hands!

Thanks for pointing out it wasn't me that put it in its current condition other than the garage dust. Odd about the forks, not something I'd noticed when I got it, but only rode it on a short test to see what the brakes felt like before it got tucked away.

Also funny we sync'd on choice of motorised transportaion.

 

[Synthiaks]

I do prefer it stripped.....looks very purposeful and clean due to the drum brakes.

 

[27motorhead]

This looks like a lovely project. As @Synthiaks it is in very safe hands regarding the restoration.

Love the first ride write up! things can only get better (and less wobbly!). I do find it funny that they gave a city bike drum brakes whilst they gave mountain bike cantilever brakes...

Looking forward to seeing this progress and finding out more about this model, plus interested to know what happened to the top of the seat tube... even if it is a completely made-up story, metal hamsters are a great starting point!

 

[Tootyred]

The seat tube top looks like someone at some point had a stuck / sticking post and decided to open up the top of the tube in an attempt to free it with a screwdriver.

Its not round and the edges were all chewed up and rather sharp.....all ive done is file off the bad bits so far as to allow a nice post to go in without damage, for testing.

Plan is to put big washers on a bolt through the clamp, heat up the tube top nice and hot and clamp it round an old post to straighten it up.....then re dress the top edge and the slit/ clamp....which I have no doubt will have been stretched....

I think it was Vyvyan's metal hamster