early 90s zaskar (hopefully) looking for some advice

[legrandefromage]

NEVER lacquer an aluminium frame - it will literally fall off within a few weeks.

The original ball burnished finish was essentially a layer of hardened aluminium and was very tough and good at warding off even winter salt. What went wrong is that magazines like MBUK promoted hard polishing of alu frames which ruined the original finish, so years on we end up with a lot of dull oxidised frames.

Polishing to a reasonable finish is better than a mirror finish as it can be looked after easier.

Your forks look like the correct '3D' forks of the time.

 

[gmac123]

thanks all,

now to find the decals, get the forks blasted and powder coated

AND happy days, just tracked down an old bike of mine. It was alan frame, unfortunately the frame got cracked and disposed off, alans road bikes were soft so that's no great surprise.

however I've managed to get a hold of the wheels mavic 531 hubs on mavic 230 SBP rims, with blue nipples & complete with a good ole fashioned sachs free wheel. handbuilt in 91 bearings still smooth and rims true
An atac stem, blue use bars, blue use post and a blue odyssey toro needle bearing headset. The headset is minus the 2mm hex clinching nut.. Ohh and a blue ringle bottle cage.

All for a 3hr drive and bottle of whiskey, thanks to an old friend, cheers mate.. Not to mention the 94 XT front mech & shifters and a lx chainset, 91 XT brakes & my first Ti flite also aquired.

should the zaskar be finished with the blue of use and friends or black of syncros?? guess i need to swap it all around and see

regardless i feel the search for another frame coming on.... happy days

thanks again

 

[mfh126]

gil_m is your man for the decals. gm1230126 applied the decals from Gil before I bought this frame from him. They look spot-on!