Saracen Maintenance

PAO72

Hello,

I'm new to this forum so please forgive me if this type of question has been asked and answered before.

A friend has asked to to refurbish his old Silver Aluminium Saracen mountain bike which has seen better days. It was covered in dirt, mud, oil you name it is was totally manky. The brakes and gears were seized as are the suspension forks. After using a bottle of bike wash to get rid of the majority of the dirt, I noticed there are many parts of the bike that are covered in a hard white residue. Is that a form of rust on the aluminium frame? If so how do I get rid of it?

My other question is about the headset, that is well worn and will need to be replaced. How do I go about finding the right headset for the bike? Do I replace the complete head set or just replace the ring(s) with the ball bearings in it?

I took out the fork tonight and found that only the lower part of the headset had a ball bearing ring in, whilst the top section had what I think is a gimbal is that how it should be?

You advice would be very gratefully received.

Paul

The Rookie

Aluminium oxide (corrosion) is soft and powdery.......

As long as the races are OK then you only need new balls, either loose or in a ring (I prefer loose), you have a lower race on the forks, you have a loose upper race held in place by a seperate centering sleeve.

FunBus

If the bike is in that bad a condition, is it really worth restoring?

PAO72

Thanks for responding to my enquiry and advising about corrosion and how the headset is constructed.

He did say originally that if it would cost more than £60-£70 to get right then, he would probably scrap it. I looked at it and quoted between £100 and £150 to sort it out fully. That includes replacing the headset, forks, seat post, saddle, front mech and all cables.

I expected him to say scrap it, but to my surprise he didn't and gave me £100 up front to repair and service the bike. So it's an ongoing project.

As stated previously I managed to take the forks out, but can't reattach them as I can't get the compresion ring to fit over the fork steerer. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can fit this back on?

Best Regards,

Paul

cooldad

It just slides on, and is split, so no idea - but bearing your earlier questions in mind, are you sure you know what you're doing? Do you perhaps mean the crown race.
Presumably if you are fitting the compression ring, you have already replaced the forks and fitted the new headset bearings? And put the crown race on the new forks?

PAO72

Hello, I have never replaced a headset in my life before. I thought it was just a matter or taking out the old ball bearing rings, cleaning and re-greasing the original headset parts. after buying a book on cycle maintenance I have found out that is not the case.

I asked my local bike shop if they can obtain a headset for the bike, they said that thay would see their supplier. So I waited until today, I returned to the shop and they said Saracen bikes don't use the standard off the shelf headset (e.g FSA etc) he advised me to find a local Saracen dealer and ask them about obtaining a replacement headset.

So now I am stuck with the bike in pieces wondering what to do...

If anyone can advise me any further about wheter a standard Headset can be fitted to a Saracen bike then I would be very grateful. also if anone knows of a Saracen dealer in the Greater Manchester area let me know so I can get in touch with them directly.

Thanks,

Paul

The Rookie

The Beginner wrote:

As long as the races are OK then you only need new balls, either loose or in a ring (I prefer loose), you have a lower race on the forks, you have a loose upper race held in place by a seperate centering sleeve.

photos........