Looking to get back into mountainbiking - advice needed!

Hi everyone!
I guess I never really "got out" of mountainbiking as when I stopped racing and gave my race bike back to the shop I bought a Trek Fuel 80...
That was about 5 years ago and I still have it but am looking to buy an retro frame to build up.
Never rode a GT Zaskar but always thought they looked cool - how do they ride and are they easy to come by on ebay/classified ads?
Can anyone recommend any frames or bikes that often come up for sale?

Are there any clubs/rides/events in or around Devon?

Any advice greatly appreciated!!!

seem to be plenty of rides going off around Devon - check the Rides/meets section.

Zaskars seem to come up a lot here, as do Konas. Just have a browse through our For Sale or Ebay sections. Plenty there to keep you entertained for years

HI welcome to the mad house keep a eye on our sw meets and rides or you can post when and where your going for a ride. Which part of devon are you to ?

Cheers Steve

totti1978":298xuw3t said:

Never rode a GT Zaskar but always thought they looked cool - how do they ride and are they easy to come by on ebay/classified ads?

Click to expand...

Hi, and welcome to the site.

I, like you, back in the day always thought Zaskars were cool. I have only recently now realised a childhood dream and brought one It hasnt dissapointed, and is the best bike in my shed. It is comfy, forgiving and is a great long ride bike.

As orange71 says they do come up often, just make sure though if you look on Ebay that your not scammed for a fake. Genuine complete Zaskars go for £250+ depending on spec.

Zaskar's are great, bought one in 94 and loved it, go for an earlier one though with the thin downtube, and watch what you are buying, a lot of cheaper GT frames are done to look like Zaskars, a genuine one will have a flat cap on the rear of the top tube where it ends behind the seat tube, others are curved, the Zaskar LE has slightly more kudos than the Zaskar, both are cool though.

The Zaskar rides like a lot of other rigid alloy frames, very stiff and responsive, they are very light frames but also very strong, never heard of Hans rey breaking any frames.

I've spotted a couple of Zaskars for sale today without really looking, as orange71 said they do come up often.

Go for it, just watch your bank balance as building bikes is addictive

I've been done twice on fake Zaskars.. you'd have thought I'd learnt to tell by now :roll:

Thanks for the replies guys,

I'll keep a look out for dodgy fakes, good job you said!
Until the day when I get one I'll have to "put up" with my Trek...

toadoftoadhall":36f3pu99 said:

HI welcome to the mad house keep a eye on our sw meets and rides or you can post when and where your going for a ride. Which part of devon are you to ?

Cheers Steve

Click to expand...

- I live in Torquay and regularly head up to Haldon, be good to hear from anyone who lives/rides nearby...
Cheers!
NW

You just missed a retro ride at Haldon!

As others have said, check out the meets & rides section. There's a South Wales one in th offing for Feb 14th, Forest of Dean March 15th(?), and others being planned too.

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=48445

http://public.fotki.com/BikeHoarder/haldon-forest-ride/

a word of warning on zaskars, and any other bike for that matter

you either love them or hate them. i hate the way they ride personally. so try to try one first.

i used to live in paignton fella

pop into bikinmotion and say hello to jason and superted ( the blond fella ) out back , they will be able to tell you of the names of places to ride ( i can never remember names )

if halfords is still where it was last time i was there in 05 go up the road from there a bit ( riding or walking you cant get there by car ) you will see an opening on the side of the road with the stone wall and trees and in there is some good woods

cockington is good , albeit entirely off camber

if you fancy dicking around you can go to wotcombe bmx track , again i cant remember the names of roads to get there

when i lived in brixham pretty much every night me and a load of mates would slowly ride along the seafront to torquay . ahh truly excellent times

theres ( or at least there was ) an old second hand bike seller in the indoor market in torquay . its unlikely but worth a look for some good old parts

can you wheelie ? it used to be tradition that whenever we were in torquay to go down the hill claires and venue is on on only the rear wheel

not that i miss it