Zaskar 97 fork options

[jimmyricket]

afternoon all,

not having had a mtb since the early 90's, i'm a little lost as to what fork I should be ebaying/buying for a 97 Zaskar.

I guess I'd need to stick with one that has 80mm travel, but really open to advice here. What works best?

thanks

 

[petitpal]

I've currently got PACE RC36 on my '96 and they seem to fit quite nicely (although yet to do a proper off road ride with them). I used to have RockShox Mag 21s on it and those were always good too. I've seen plenty of Zaskars with Judys on as well.

-----

Edit: Forgot to say, critical factor when getting new forks is a-c (axle-to-crown) height. If the new forks you get are too high then they will chuck the front of the bike up and this will alter the handling characteristics and risk damage to the head tube.

Btw, my RC36 are 80mm travel.

 

[trickylad]

i got some fox float RLCs 80mm travel on my 97 zaskar and they're bloody ace

 

[coomber]

Marzocchi Z2s

 

[jimmyricket]

some really good advice here, thanks all!

time to start ebaying I reckon.

 

[coomber]

Not sure if you know or not but on the top look at the gallery archive, and GT catalogues are there. Has teh 1997 one in there. Historically GTs came with RockShox so consider Judy's too chap.

 

[petitpal]

some really good advice here, thanks all!

time to start ebaying I reckon.

To be honest, I wouldn't unless you get desperate. Check the 'for sale' forums on here (both pre and post 9. You'll find the prices are much better than eBay and the sellers, generally, much more friendly and reliable.

 

[merckx]

modern fork like a FOX 80mm travel fork with cantilever bosses ( no longer in production, but still around second hand etc) would work best, if we are talking functionality..

marzocchi Z2 are a fantastic fork of the era, very on par with a modern fork. for mine, that would be the best performing period option for you.

and who doesn't love marzocchi's advertising campaign....

a rock shox judy xc or sl would be nice, thats what i run, but they are more prone to problems..the bushes and staunchion tubes were suseptible to wear, and the cartridges were very unreliable. the elastomers are best replaced with steel coil spings, and you can also still find good aftermarket alloy cartidge dampers for them, but they are rare.

MAG 21 rock shox are a bit older in vinatge than your frame, but still would be nice. they are a bit better than the judy in reliability, mine seemed to be relatively bomb proof back in the day. they have their negatives though, they are very flexy due to the old school brace design, and the also suffer badly from seal stiction, as many early air spring forks did.

stay well clear of manitou.

 

[t-stoff]

I wish i had my mag 21, at least i could use it for swap ;/
because my judy xc is beyond repair, im looking for good Judy SL from 98 or early SID.... i havent found anything cheap

 

[matthew71]

Marzocchi Z2s

plus one for the bombers, people will say you must use rockshox but the bombers are way better