1991 GT Zaskar - barn find

[aguh2]

Beautiful!
Looks like a Zaskar to me. I'm pretty sure first Pantera was in 1992.
Love how it looks polished up. Looking forward to seeing it finished
Cheers!

 

[Factory Jackson]

One happy bunny here.

Mag21 SL Titanium's arrived today courtesy of Marcin (sztopi17). Top service; cheers fella.

1st piece of a complicated jigsaw.

Test fitted with a spare Hope headset and the wheels from my P7. Lighting in my garage is awful, so apologies for the rubbish photos.

Untitled by FactoryJackson, on Flickr

Untitled by FactoryJackson, on Flickr

Untitled by FactoryJackson, on Flickr


Next step will be contacting Gil for some of his excellent decals.


So the build on this...

What I'm thinking is keeping it period correct as possible (not OE as these didn't come as a full build at the time). So M730/5/6 etc XT. Maybe a nice blue Hope ti wheelset. Maybe Syncros or Control Tech finishing kit. Or alternatively GT stem & bars and XT post. Then some light blue/turquoise bolts/details.

Feedback (positive or negative/constructive) as always is more than welcome.

cheers
Chris

 

[cherrybomb]

(not OE as these didn't come as a full build at the time).

They mention a full build in the '91 catalogue in the archive, but I've never seen a spec.

 

[Factory Jackson]

(not OE as these didn't come as a full build at the time).

They mention a full build in the '91 catalogue in the archive, but I've never seen a spec.

Cool, i'll have a look into that.

However, big problem.

I've got some M730 chainset, so thought lets pop a bottom bracket in and get the chainset fitted.

What previously looked like OK threads in the bb shell are in fact stripped to 12mm back on the driveside. So much so, that a bottom bracket just slides straight in. Non drive side is fine however. This may have been why the frame stripped down and forgotten about for so long.
Arghhh.

I've been having a look into solutions and came across this old post on YST Threadless bottom brackets :
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=117049

A few question:

- Has anyone had any experience of these YST (other than those in the above thread of course)?

- Sizing. It's a 68mm shell does has anyone know the required axle length for the bb?
I tried a 113mm bb and the M730 cranks hit the frame on the non drive side and the rings are about 0.5mm away from the chainstays. I'm thinking a 122.5mm
I know the rear ends on Zaskars flare out a lot, but is putting such a wide axle in going to cause issues with chainlines or not being able to shift into the big ring?

- Are M730 cranks unusual in their fit? ie, if I were to fit some Middleburns, M900 etc would they be a similar fit?

cheers in advance
Chris

 

[Coleman]

Re:

122.5 sounds about right for XT on this, (m900 about 5 or 10mm less and cooks/top line about 5mm more), I thought these GTs should have a 73mm shell? Will check mine in the morning.

 

[marge602]

Re:

Nice job with the elbow grease and Autosol. It's amazing what can be achieved with a tube of that stuff. I bought a 91 Zaskar not long after I left school and went out to work that year. It would've been in September or October, cos it was definitely in the sale and it took me a while to save up for it.

It came with a Suntour groupset, XC Comp I think, but could've been LTD. It had the GT flip flop stem, and the horizontal dropout fork they did which allowed you to adjust the trail, and the wheelbase. The Suntour was so bad I took it off to put XT on it. And Quadras. And Scott AT4s. Plenty of MBUK stickers, and eventually a hand painted flame job on the front end........

It was acceptable in the 90s :facepalm:

Regards

Marge

 

[Factory Jackson]

Re: Re:

122.5 sounds about right for XT on this, (m900 about 5 or 10mm less and cooks/top line about 5mm more), I thought these GTs should have a 73mm shell? Will check mine in the morning.

Measured it with the verniers, and definitely 68mm. IIRC the early Zaskars were 68mm then changed to 73mm around 93.

I've ordered one of these.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112265466981? ... EBIDX%3AIT

Fingers crossed it will work.

It was acceptable in the 90s :facepalm:

Ha, brilliant Marge, everything was acceptable in the 90's

 

[cherrybomb]

Re:

The Suntour spec makes sense. XC Pro was an option on the Zaskar LE.

 

[Factory Jackson]

Threadless bottom bracket arrived today.

Really simple to fit. Although there is a slight gap between the shell and the bottom bracket is it is chamfered so it centres itself.

Untitled by FactoryJackson, on Flickr

And chainset fitted.

Untitled by FactoryJackson, on Flickr

Hopefully more parts arriving before the weekend to bring it along further.

 

[Lhatch4]

It looks great with those cranks. Glad you could sort out the BB issue. Will the threadless BB cause any further damage to the threads?