Saracen Tufftrax ( Original equipment )

[Bungie]

Brought, I think in 93 for £550 plus extras...
All original inc tyres
Came across this site whilst on another forum looking for tips on a new bike for the lad which i pick up this afternoon and thought i'd give you a pic of old faithful.
Took this morning and needs a clean me thinks.

The seats low because the lads been on it 21"

 

[Xesh]

A Fred Salmon bottle cage! And it's in blue too!

I know someone who's looking for one of those if you want to sell it.

BTW nice bike and welcome to the madhouse.

 

[coomber]

It's looking pretty clean to me mate!

Nice bike indeed. Love it.

Welcome to the site.

 

[Neil]

Looks slightly newer than 20 years?

In 89, boingy forks were rare. And is that aheadset? Also top cable routing seemed to be phased in more in the 90s?

I would have dated it early to mid 90s (rather than late 80s)?

 

[JohnH]

I'd say mid-nineties. Later than my '93 Sahara. Looks in great shape, tho.

Are the wheels the same size? Or do I need to go to Specsavers? :shock:

 

[Bungie]

It's 20 yrs to me :roll: I did say can't remember the year but it's more early than late, How many wifes have i had .
I will see if i can find the receipt, Halfrauds first batch, or so i am led to believe if memory serves correct so whatever that was :!:

I only posted a picture

 

[Neil]

It's 20 yrs to me :roll: I did say can't remember the year but it's more early than late

Tempus fugit.

No need to roll your eyes, though - this is retrobike, after all. Lotsa people here, have lotsa retrobikes, and probably had several, BITD, so 20 years, would make it late 80s bike, but that photo isn't of a late 80s bike, that's all - no need to be touchy about it.

There was lots of changes in the late 80s to early 90s, so some things stand out clearly. I'd agree with JohnH, with mid 90s as it's date - looking at the kit, the suspension fork, what looks like an aheadset, and cable routing as it has.

And I wouldn't worry about a receipt - 'cos unless you've got a time machine, it ain't from the late 80s.

That's nothing to worry about, we all get a bit foggy about the date of things over time. There's no harm in the comments posted, if you went to retro car forum, and posted a car from an era that was a little out, people would point it out, to.

Think of it like this, if you now know a reasonably accurate period from whence it came, it's easier to find bits that are appropriate for it.

edit: must have been after 92, 'cos the 92 brochure was posted on this thread http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=62724 and then it clearly had a rigid fork, cable routing on the downtube, and a threaded headset.

 

[Bungie]

Who said anything about being 20yrs old i'm going for 93 then, what's 4 yrs between friends.
93 e'm,,, started my current job in 88 and got it a couple of years after that :idea: couple x 2 = about a couple so it's gotta be right this time.

 

[JohnH]

So we've gone from '89 to '93... That's quite a jump, Bungie! (sorry, couldn't resist)

I'm afraid that if your Tufftrax was a 1993 model, it would have been fitted with Saracen's own "Max Drive" suspension forks like my Sahara Elite originally was...

You'll also note that the model name down the seat tube is not in italics. Now I know that the model names on 1995 Saracens were italicised, but I'm not sure exactly when the change occurred. Anyway, I stick by my original guess that your Tufftrax is from the mid-nineties...

....Just dig out that receipt and put us out of our misery!!!

 

[Neil]

I'm shooting for 95 (possibly 94, but more likely 95).

It looks to have rapidfire plus shifters on.

My 92 Diamondback Apex had push-push STIs, and threaded headset. Think the cable routing was part top-tube, part down tube. My 95 Apex has rapidfire plus shifters, like this Saracen, plus aheadset, plus the same type of canties that this Saracen has, so I'm going for 94-95.