1994 Aqua Blue Zaskar LE- FINISHED (Photos page 6)

[cherrybomb]

No, I don't want to know if it is one I'm pretty certain it is!

I've just acquired this rather tasty '94 Zaskar LE frame off of mtbdave.

Cheers Dave!

It's in the rather fetching aqua/turquoise that was available in 1994 but it's definitely more turquoise than most I have seen photographs of and I wondered if there were two different colours produced (early & late maybe?) or if there was just variation between batches.

I guess it could be that a lot of them have faded in the intervening 20 years and this one hasn't so much, but it would just be good to know one way or the other.

I'm guessing it's a February 94 frame going by the frame number

How many 94's can you get in one frame number?? :shock:

It's also got unusual decals, I'd always thought that the 94 frames had white letters on a black background, but these have a pattern in them which is just visible on the white part. Is this correct for a 94 Zaskar LE?

i was going to replace them, but if they're unusual I might keep them?? Or get Gil to reproduce them.

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[mtbdave]

Re: Calling all GT experts; I have a Zaskar question!

Glad it got there ok,
I never realised it had all those 94's in it,your right about the colour it's really striking!!

As for the decals I would leave them as am not sure what would happen if you applied heat to them what will happen to the anno?

I did notice the different colours in the white of the decals I thought I was a bit different too and wasn't sure how normal it was.

 

[zetecmk2]

Re: Calling all GT experts; I have a Zaskar question!

looks alot darker than my old one....and mine never had those decals....in fact, i've never seen them before!

 

[cherrybomb]

Re: Calling all GT experts; I have a Zaskar question!

Hi Dave,

Its lovely and the colours almost neon its that bright- I'm really chuffed.

Some gentle heat from a hairdryer won't damage the anodising. It's a chemical reaction in the surface of the metal rather than a separate layer like paint. The decals should clean off relatively easily without damaging the surface should I decide to go down that route.

I've got a pretty cool plan forming for the build (and a lot of the parts I'll need squirrelled away), but I've got another 96 to build up first :shock:

 

[mtbdave]

Re: Calling all GT experts; I have a Zaskar question!

I just looked in the archive and you could get a turquoise zaskar le in 95 but not sure abt 94?

 

[cherrybomb]

Re: Calling all GT experts; I have a Zaskar question!

looks alot darker than my old one....and mine never had those decals....in fact, i've never seen them before!

The colour reproduction in the photos is pretty good, and yes; it is a lot darker than most I've seen photos of, even in the 94 GT catalogue.

The decals have got me, I'm sure I've read somewhere that the Tech Shop frames had different decals. I wonder? :?

 

[mtbdave]

Re: Calling all GT experts; I have a Zaskar question!

Just looked in the 94 catologue and it says the le version was ball burnished only and the zaskar was in turquoise.

But like you say maybe in the tech shop catologue you could pick from a choice of colours I think there was purple 100% certain.

 

[cherrybomb]

Re: Calling all GT experts; I have a Zaskar question!

Yup. Just looked in the archive.

The decals definitely look like the ones on the darker blue LE in the one 1994 catalogue. I'd never noticed the pattern in the letters, I'd just assumed that was poor picture reproduction.

The darker blue in the one catalogue also suggests that the colour changed sometime in 94 rather then for the new 95 model year?

I don't know!

 

[merckx]

Re: Calling all GT experts; I have a Zaskar question!

i have a 94 build, burnished, with those same decals (though they are orange)

i would honestly suggest, do not remove the originals! they would be very hard to reproduce accurately, and they are a very cool decal that was not used for long in the GT history.

a gentle clean, and built with really nice parts will make a nice bike. it doesn't have to "look" perfect, i reckon. patina is good. check my links in my sig, for my '94

 

[cherrybomb]

Re: Calling all GT experts; I have a Zaskar question!

Thanks for that Merckx, I'm guessing that the decals are from early 94 then as your frame is late 93 and mine is Feb 94.

I do like the style, but they are quite badly damaged (some more than others). I'll have to have a think about what to do, it may be possible to touch up the originals to tidy them up. :?

This one is going to get properly used, so the build will be practical (but stylish I hope!).

The plan at the moment is to go with XT737 and a splash of Syncros

I'd like to find a Bologna Lite for it if I can. A rigid fork seems more practical than retro suspension on a bike I intend to use a lot from both a ride & maintenance point of view.