Refurbing old Saracen Maxtrax, sus fork & stem advice pl

elcani

Hi

I've just pulled out my old Saracen Maxtrax from the horrible 'death garage' at my sister's. The damp has done a good job of destroying it, but the alloy frame is sound and some of the components are probably salvageable.

The idea is to get it going again for my girlfriend, but the frame is a bit big, making the riding position too stretched out. However, the current stem is quite long so I think a much shorter one will improve things. This http://tinyurl.com/65b6sg looks a decent bet, but if anybody knows of anything shorter, that'd be great

The existing steel fork has rusted badly, so I want to replace it with a front suspension fork. Is it realistic to get something decent for under £100? She's a beginner and won't be tackling anything major. I had a look for the Suntour X-100 that gets such a glowing write-up in the GT Avalanche 1.0 review on this site, but it doesn't seem to be available to buy seperately. Whatever fork I get must have V-brake bosses.

Back to the issue of the frame sizing, the addition of a suspension fork will presumably alter the geometry of the bike, raising the front. Am I right in thinking this will make the riding position more compact?

Many thanks in advance for any replies.

norco forever

you should be able to get a tora fork for around £100 though does the frame support sus geometry

elcani

you should be able to get a tora fork for around £100 though does the frame support sus geometry

I don't know. How do you tell? What would the effect be of fitting a sus fork to a frame that had non-compatible geometry?

norco forever

it'll ride like an old style cruiser and if you hit something to rough the frame could snap, have you not considered just replacing with rigids? you could get a really good set for £100

elcani

Yep, could replace with rigids, I just thought that if I was getting new forks, they might as well be sus. Is there any way of telling if a frame's geometry is ok for front sus just by looking at it? I'm pretty sure sus forks were around when the bike was built (STX RC groupset).

norco forever

i'm not sure, nick will be able to tell you lol, tbh if its not going to be doing too much hard off roading then rigids will be lighter stronger cheaper and much better suited.

supersonic

The frame works with 80mm forks.

The X100 is OE only.

I'd go for a Tora.