Twin Trailstars project(s) 1997 Mk1, now Racing Sidekick :S

You're right not only is there a top secret bike there, there seems to be a suspicious man lurking!

It's come a long way this build I was meant to cobble together a cheap build I could go to the shop on without too much attention, still I've used a lot of recycled parts and stock parts so the outlay has been little really but the blingy red and gold highlights will stand out. Thanks. It's a nice ride, the Rythm is more playful and even smaller though its not a fair test with my stiff riding!
The other builds are well and truly next! Off road will be better on a suspended knobbly tyred bike.

So I lucked out yesterday and randomly found some 1997 Z1 Bombers, the first good strong forks and date stamped 96, so perfect vintage and style for this and equally legendary game changers for the MTB movement,
Rob Warner apparently won on a set of pre production Z1's in 1996 so fab history. Sadly mine look like they need a service with oil gushing through the seal and seemingly little preload available. so I need to get them rebuilt. Cosmetically they look alright, honest for age, there was one other issue, the wheel fit in to one side, and i'm not sure why, the V brakes make that obvious, and the bridge brace, for the pic and set up the wheel is not sat fully in the dropout so looks OK but it isn't. oh well thought it would be too good to be true!
Oh and its a bit of a clash against the red!
Hmm, have some pics anyway, I've now got my Freeagent oversized rigid forks back on!

Those forks do suit it....they just look proper. Easy to rebuild and service too.

Thanks, They look surprisingly good despite the red, and absolutely the right forks for this too. Need to find the bits and do my first fork rebuild. Maybe even do up them original V12's too...
Obviously it's quite nice to have some original Z1's since I've had my 2007 anniversary forks a while.

No real changes apart from a new Azonic stem in blue. But I've been recently researching for fun as my mk2 is for sale but no skin Flint wants to buy it!

Anyway turns out its 2005/6 model not later as I'd thought, and the mk2 is a tough cookie, it's oversized down tube and gusset junction added strength and also the front triangle was heat treated too.

Catalogue:
2005/6 model see old 2006 catalogue here: http://web.archive.org/web/200605231133 ... alogue.pdf

And this is my fave from 1997
" We chose to use Chrome – Moly steel tubing to give the frame toughness & durability [as it was conceived as ‘play-bike’] plus it gives the bike a bit of ‘ping’ due to the springy nature of steel compared to an aluminium frame of similar strength.
Finally cro-mo steel is that bit cheaper. This enabled us to get the price down as we wanted to offer an affordable frame people could build up from odd bits to make a versatile ‘thrasher’ as an alternative to increasingly specialized downhill stuff."
Perfect then!
http://web.archive.org/web/199910182341 ... ailsta.htm