I just added a
Saracen timeline to an attempt to document all mountain bikes built in the first ten years of their existence:
https://mtbtimeline.com/wiki/saracen/start.
It's been slow going - as I'm only adding a brand a week. This couldn't have been done without the RetroBike resources, which are far more thorough than other forums.
Hi enkidu, Well done and good luck in in your quest to create other timelines.
I can add a little information about what inspired the creation of the Saracen ATB. It goes right back to two journalists, Richard Grant and Richard Ballantine who were keen to introduce and promote US style mountain-bikes in Britain. Richard Ballantine was approached by two Australian Law students, Tim Gartside and Pete Murphy, who were studying in London.
The quote below is taken from Richard Ballantine's obituary, and was written by Richard Grant:
"After testing an imported US prototype mountain bike in 1982, Richard realised that they could transform cycling, but needed to be promoted. When two young Australian law students, Tim Gartside and Peter Murphy, approached Bicycle with a plan to ride across the Sahara on roadsters, Richard decided they should ride mountain bikes and that he and I should import them together. The success of the landmark, 3,410-mile, north-south crossing of the Sahara inspired us to import a further 20 mountain bikes to kickstart interest in them. Subsequently Richard co-launched the Fat Tyre Five series of mountain bike races, staged over five weekends in 1984."
For the February 1983 expedition, Charlie Kelly in the US sent two Ritchey Montare mountain-bikes to Richard Ballantine in London. Ballantine took the bikes to F.W. Evans shop at the Cut, near Waterloo station to be prepared for the ride, racks fitted etc. F.W Evans manager Garry Smith was so impressed by the bikes that he decided to have copies made to sell in his shops. I can only assume that he approached Brian Staples in Warwickshire. In October 2010 Elaine Dunn (Brian Staples daughter) said: "He did use the name of the Knight Saracen frame to brand his own products which became Saracen Cycles.
The first UK ATB was sold from these premises and subsequently Saracen led the way in the production of this new trend."
The above story has been published somewhere. Probably in one of Richard Ballantine's or Richard Grant's publications.
Ideally, to complete the timetable we need the date that the Reynolds 501 ATB tube-sets, lugs, fork-crown etc. became available, as no 501 ATBs could be produced before this date. The earlier 1982 Cleland Aventura, a non US derived mountain-bike, was produced using smaller diameter Reynolds 531st tubing and cross-braced frames.
It may be that Brian Staples sold bikes sold Saracen ATB's from his premises before he supplied them to F.W. Evans. What I can confirm is the date that Evans received there first delivery of F.W. Evans ATBs. I first heard about these bikes in the Waterloo shop and was told by the staff F.W. Evans branded mountain bikes would be arriving at their Kingston Cycles shop. I took the day off and went over on the allotted day to have a look at these newly arrived bikes. There I made arrangements to come back the on a Saturday and hire a bike for test riding over a weekend. The date on the deposit receipt was 12/5/1984. The frame number recorded on the chit was 001. This bike had a black frame, Reynolds 501 tubing, a SunTour group-set and the characteristic over built brake bridge, as did all the other F.W. Evans ATBs in the shop and the silver one I bought a week or so later.
The first Saracen branded versions I saw was some weeks later at Bell St Bikes in London. Apart from the logos, they were identical to the Evans ATBs but only black ones were stocked. I recall that the Saracen Touring bikes also stocked in that shop were also in black.
I notice that the picture described as a 1983 Saracen that is ATB posted on:
https://mtbtimeline.com/wiki/saracen/start#saracen1 is described as a 1984 Saracen ATB when you follow the link. This bike shown is the same spec as my 1984 F.W. Evans. Also, the bike labelled as a 1984 Saracen ATB links to an image of a Saracen Conquest model circa 1985.
If you do have evidence that Saracen were producing or selling mountain bikes before May 1984, I would love to see it so that I can update my own records accordingly.
