Jan 25 1996 GT Zaskar

[SeeingisBelievingGTMuseum]

The 96 Zaskar was a hot bike for the buck. GT was feeling competition and published a special retailer guide highlighting the spec and value of their bikes compared to most of their competition. I've included a scan...some of you may remember some of the bikes listed. The 96 Zaskar frame featured some new butted tubing and it was the first year they used the bi-oval down tube. They redesigned their seat stay bridge to shave some weight and went to single bolt rear hanger.

 

[SeeingisBelievingGTMuseum]

I chose to set this one up with a rigid fork after I picked up the frame. I used a painted Bologna Lite fork that was a new take-off from a Backwoods that was set up by a dealer with a suspension fork. GT had had such good success with their ano colors that they went to their paint provider and had them mix and blend colors until they got them as close as possible to the sheen of their ball burnished ano frames. All the GT ano frames from 92 through 96 were ball burnished first and then anodized to give them that bright sheen and luster. I picked up a NOS Mavic 217/GT Hub wheel set with the red ano hubs. The rest of the parts mix on this bike M737 XT with Ritchey brakes, lever and seat post.

 

[SeeingisBelievingGTMuseum]

A few more. Will be back tomorrow with a 700C bike.

 

[Maxipedia]

Digging this one up. I just got one, after hunting for a proper Zaskar for years, but actually being too cheap to pay for a good one. Compared to what I see above, mine came with XT V-brakes and levers, GripShift SRT-800 X-Ray and an interesting Titec titanium handlebar. I put a Flite Ti, some Bontrager tires and GT flat pedals on it for now; thinking about throwing a silver Kore Elite seatpost at it, or a black Control Tech, paired to a black Kore stem. Maybe different tires. Pondering...

Cheers,
Mx