Whats the crack with the newer GT Zaskar frames not being as good as the old ones? Whys that?

And anyone know the difference between the late 90s Zaskar and Zaskar LE frames?

Ta

 

i got an old school Zaskar LE frame, i think its got bigger dia tube than the Zaskar.

only other differences mines got is a big dent from a slight off

 

I think the Zaskar LE has more butting in the tubes iirc

Anyway, if you abuse an old bike like that now it'll crack. Plus the geometry is all wrong for modern forks, stems etc.

Good bikes back in the day if a tad gimmicky

 

I've got an older style Zaskar frame! I built the bike about 6 years ago (chucked about a grand at it!) and never used the fooker - and still havent to this day!!!! Dont think ive even pumped the tyres up since fitting them!

 

Did the same thing with my Dyna-Tech about 5 years ago. Just started riding again this year though and I fancy building a Zaskar up. Theres a couple of brand new frames on fleabay but have heard people say they arent as good as the older ones.

 

The 1996 Zaskar and Zaskar LE were the SAME frame fudge

and i know that cos you have my old frame
the difference came when you bought the full bike
(Ł1k difference!!) the LE came with XTR everything.

After that, the LE came with smaller tubes as it was made from Easton
tubing and was aimed more at XC people..

Shame really as the 96 Zaskar was the First 'harcore hartail'
and it was that bike YOU have fudge 9along with 3 others exactly the same that caused Mountain bike UK mag to write (based here)
'it seems the people at Box woods knew something we all didnt.
and now its not just them riding hardtails with big travel forks'

jesus, that was back in the day now!!

yeah, newer Zaskars were shite compaired to the 96-97 ones

 

box woods, so many memorys of painfull crashes

 

lol.
can remember when there was 50 people up there at weekends.
and in the holidays.
they were the days!! reckon could of callled 90% of them mates as well!!

 

90's zaskars were hand built in america if i can remember correctly. where as the new breed is mass produced in thailand or some bollox

how much do they retail at these days?

there are probably a lot more better and stronger frames out there for less money

 

Anybody remember the GT RTS-1 That was the bike I hankered after when I was first getting into mountain biking

 

i remember the LTS bikes not an RTs tho

 

The RTS-1 was the fore runner to the LTS

I'm old though as I still have my 94 bike.

 

the RTS locked out the rear suspension under pedal loads
hence it bobbed like a right coooont..

they were the days though!!

this was my first DH bike (almost the same as this)
for my first sponsored season
quite a beasty!!

 

Pee vee you lazy cunt hope your racing this year

 

Nicolai!!!!

One day, I'll have one of them!

Fookin gorgeous!

Neil.

 

lol
they are heaaaaaaaaaaaavey mate!!

i had one of the first 5 in this country, they were a bit of a revalation at
the time! (8" rear travel was huuuuuuge at the time!)

they are super cool though because they look so different!!
wish i still had it!!
(managed to crack it in 5 places round the head tube,
and the sponsor got me a different bike after that )

 

aaahhh box woods, i remember them days

i used to fall off EVERY fukkin week without fail

damian broke his collar bone, james landed on his handle bar in the kidney and i dislocated my shoulder all in the space of about an hour

only needed 1 ambulance tho

i so gotta get that Zaskar re-built, and err AHEM have thos Marzocchi's back yoooooooooooooooooou c....................nt

 

I can't beleive you broke one!

They are stunning bits of kit like, and have you seen all the options they do? Amazing!!

Neil.

 

that Nicolai was a fukkin ace bit of kit, not just cos it was yellow either

i think phils had extra gusseting too, but he still managed to break it the crazy mo fo

still, his specialised FSR is an awsome bit of kit, but its fookin heavy too, not much when you want to ride up hills too

 

Is it a big hit or a demo or something?

I've got a Cove G Spot, just ordered some Fox 36 VAN RC2's for it

Neil.

 

its a big hit mate very

 

Sounds like a Box wood meet is on the cards

 

My mates custom full sus frame. Uses an RM9 swingarm. Has 12" super moster t's on the front and 12" + travel on the back. Thing is an absolute beast.

 

Yes mate! The Nicolai died !! lol
snapped a pair of Azonic world force DH bars with that bike too

went to warrenty them at a bike shop local,
'just riding off a kerb i was'

they turned to the Mountain bike mag which clearly showed me 6ft in the
air, and said
'just off a kerb?.. sorry no warrenty sir'


coonts!! pmsl

 

89XR2, does the tail wag the dog like on an RM9?

PeeVee, snapped bars are a real fear - my mate snapped some and ended up in a helicopter with a totally sheared pelvis!

 

It's no where near as bad as an rm9.

Considering the amount of travel it has it isnt actually that bad. It's got too much travel to do anything other than huck drops though. That and gap big double flights of stairs.

 

Jesus!!
luckily mine REally DID let go over a kerb!!
(after a big ride)
Luckily i was Heading off the road, not onto it.
else i would of been under a car, and deffo not here today
Definite wake up call to replace your bars once a year (AT LEAST!)

 

That's the big problem with mountain bike bars.. everyone uses ali bars which don't bend first (like steel) before cracking. Personally I ride bmx and use steel bars. Used to run ali bars on all my mountain bikes though but these days I wouldnt even think of it. Steel all the way.

 

yeah
thing is at the time,
steel bars were only just coming about,
DMR etc started doing them
but i think it was mainly a name thing at the time
Azonic were the ones to get, so i did lol

 

It's really cool to see folk trying different things

Did he build that himself, if not who did it for him, out of curosity?

Yeah Ian was really lucky considering. He got a lengthly stay in hospital! Thing is, round here there are some surprisingly remote and inaccesible places, so you quite often see the copter out and about...

Neil.

 

Yeah, he built it himself. He builds custom bmx frames and stuff like that. It's a beast of a bike. That was his first full sus frame though. Don't think he'd build another one though. He was talking recently about making a hardtail jig so he can build some high quality t45 steel jump frames.