Early Saracen Lovers Anonymous......

[markjohnson76]

I need your Saracen expertise identifying this please ladys and gents. It's a bit of an anomaly! I bought it for £10 off a Facebook ad nor far from me. I have GOT to stop browsing those ads.... Anyway, I saw the saracen logo then the ritcheys and thought I may as well get it for a tenner and bin the rest. I thought it was a knackered Sahara or something from 92-92. However the frame has much older geometry and it looks like a kili frame from 88-89. What did you all think? It looks like factory black not respray. The front tyre is good, rear quite tired. The seat post is XT though worn. The rest 200gs. Was is a frame used up by the factory? It's 17.5" centre to centre. Any ideas? Thanks

 

[Rodrigues]

Re:

92 Tufftrax I think Mark.

 

[markjohnson76]

Hi Rod,

I've got a 92 tufftrax and it's very different. Same geometry as my 88 Trekker. Same smoothed welds on the head tube as the 88 kili. It's not like anything in the 92 catalogue but it does have 92 gears and brakes. Xt seat tube and ones stickers suggest an enthusiast though!

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

That is a lucky find as the filet welds point towards a 1989 Kili as suggested. Looking at the groupset and later decals I'd bet it's another in the long line of Saracen 'Special Editions' where they chuck any old parts at an old stock frame. Jackpot with this one.

 

[Rodrigues]

Re:

Yeah I stand corrected - definitely has that fillet brazed look at the head tube. Could well be a Kiki from 88-89.

In your size too

 

[markjohnson76]

I hoped that's what it was! There are some subtle differences though, I thought the 88 kili was welded at the seat tube/top tube, not butted? I bought a full 91 XT raleigh Dynatech odyssey yesterday too in great nick for peanuts off Facebook again. Going to transfer those parts on to this. The frame on that is too big for me (so up for grabs. I need a stem for this though if anyone has one? And any idea of seat post size? The XT one on it is 27 but feels tight. My other early 88-90 saracens are 26.4

 

[Rodrigues]

Re:

My 89 Kili is 27.0.

You should get it re-painted - I did mine in RAL5018 with decals from Gil.

Check out a few pictures here

https://flic.kr/p/ENFCLe

 

[markjohnson76]

That is a thing of Beauty Rod!! Very very nice, #bikeenvy. Where did you get it painted? I'll get in touch with Gil. Great photos on your feed there too.

That bike cost £10 but it's never just £10 is it?! I can see this getting expensive....

 

[markjohnson76]

what size stem is it? 1"?

 

[player]

Re:

Mark that Trekker is so nice mate