GT Zaskar LE 1994 - Restoration - Help!

Hi There

I am a complete newby to this forum, however after a little searching it appears that the team here are the best in the business for restoring older classic MTB's.

I want to restore my 1994 GT Zaskar LE and was hoping to get some advice on how to go about it. I've always kept it in good working order and serviced it at least once a year.

Ideally I would like to keep the original components however I need some ideas on how to clean up the frame, and components.

In any case, here are the current specs:

Zaskar LE 6061T6 Frame
Deore LE Crankset
Deore XT Shifters
Deore XT Front and Rear Derailleur
Avid V Breaks (w Shimano
Race Face Stem with FSA Spacers
Azonic Bars
Mavic Ceramic 17 SUP Rims with XTR hubs
Manitou Shocks MACS MRP Hyperlite Crown

Not sure what else I should be calling out?

I was thinking of polishing the frame with Autosol or similar BB Alu cleaner and then similar with the components.

To be fair i'm not a bike mechanic, so what should I be doing myself and asking others to do for me?

In addition , the decals are a little damaged. Should I be getting new ones or are authentic originals better?

All thoughts greatly appreciated.!

Cheers
AB
Sydney Australia

and here is a current picture of the GT!

Welcome to this forum AB!

Here is the original spec. list from your bike back in the days: http://www.bikepedia.com/quickbike/Bike ... =Zaskar+LE

Autosol will do fine to give the ball burnished frame new live! That is going to be a good workout but the results are rewarding!
For a new set decals RB member 'gil_m' is your man!
His profile page:
memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=10
A Zaskar decal thread: viewtopic.php?t=144266

Good luck with restoring! Looking forward to seeing some results!

Re:

Hey, welcome to the forum

The bike looks like a 1996 to me, and I don't think there's any original parts left on it anyway so don't worry about changing bits If That's what you wanted to do. Have a look at the links at the bottom of this message, I've restored a couple zaskars myself If you wanted to take a look at mine

Anyway autosol polish is a good idea, but don't sand it because you'll struggle to get the grains back out. Also new graphics are easy to get hold of for these, Gil is definitely your man. There are are also cheaper sets on eBay that will do the job too

Sean

Re:

SEANSTEPHENS is right, the current decals are not '94....you can check the framenumber at the rear dropout...

Re: Re:

Irvinizer":1nf5ridn said:

SEANSTEPHENS is right, the current decals are not '94....you can check the framenumber at the rear dropout...

Click to expand...

The frame itself is probably a 96 or 97. If the serial number starts with 0296 for example, that means it was made february 1996. Have a look

yep you guys are spot on! its an 0306 model!! I've attached the serial number in the photo.

it was bought from Ashgrove Cycles in Brisbane Australia and built up with components it currently has by a friend. I always thought it was a 94, even though he got it in oct 96... i bought it in 98 from my mate and have loved it ever since!!

Would you suggest keeping this period components or put something else on it?? It still rides really well..

In addition, is it definitely worth stripping the decals and putting on new ones? Does one try to keep the original colours etc?

Thanks for your help guys. You have done an awesome job on restoring your rides as well!

I think you caught the 0 key instead of the 9 there, guessing the serial is 0396 so then march 96!

In fairness i would say maintain/rebuild the bike as you want to ride it, if it rides well as is then a simple stripdown and clean up will be the order of business, and the decals dont look too perished or damaged from that pic so i would consider leaving them as they are, if it aint broke dont fix it and all of that!

New decals can be sourced very easily, i got a copy set from ebay as my 93/94 was naked when she arrived and mine seems to be a not very common purple anno (albeit faded a touch) so instead of the factory white decals i went for blue to compliment the current purpley-pink colour and i think it works very well, but it is purely down to your preference as to how you build and spec your bike!

Good luck and enjoy!

Re:

Graphics are original so if they're okay then try to polish around them, because autosol can take the colour off. If you like the parts then keep them, they're not original but if you like it the way it is then who cares Right? You could look for period shimano XT m737 and m739 parts if originality is what you are going for

Sean

Re:

Or XTR 950 series!

http://www.bikepedia.com/quickbike/Bike ... =Zaskar+LE