Austin Dave
Dirt Disciple
I need three more posts before I can post pictures so I'll break this into thirds:
So, a year ago last spring there was an interesting ad on Craigslist, locally. The subject line just read "Mountain bike." The pictures showed it to be a Zaskar. They were asking $90, for the bike. I went and checked it out. It was a 1992, and it was built with XTR m900, parts except for the rear brake--that turned out to be a WTB Togglecam. The seatpost and seat were junk. It was a 19" bike-- just my size.
I told the lady selling it that the bike was worth much more than they were asking, and the lady said, "I want it gone." So, I did her the huge favor of buying it.
The bike had been ridden hard, a long time ago, and then it sat in a garage for long time. No one had ridden it in a while. The tires were like cardboard. The shock was spent, the parts were scratched and dirty, the big chainring needed replacing, and, though the frame had no dents, it did have plenty of scuffs, scratches, and scrapes—“Beauty marks,” we’ll call them.
Anyway, I have a strict bike budget, so it took a long time to get the parts together. My goal was to make it a fun, modern trail bike, with vintage character. I'm tall and weigh about 210, so parts had to be sturdy. I chose a mix of original parts, older, reliable parts, and new, project-bike parts. I kept everything I took off, and it’s all reversible.
The only XTR parts I did not use from the original bike on this build were the M900 rapidfire shifters. I've kept them, though, and will try them out sometime (If I can get them to work--they are a little sticky). I like the old Deore top mounts and found some nice ones cheap for this bike.
So, a year ago last spring there was an interesting ad on Craigslist, locally. The subject line just read "Mountain bike." The pictures showed it to be a Zaskar. They were asking $90, for the bike. I went and checked it out. It was a 1992, and it was built with XTR m900, parts except for the rear brake--that turned out to be a WTB Togglecam. The seatpost and seat were junk. It was a 19" bike-- just my size.
I told the lady selling it that the bike was worth much more than they were asking, and the lady said, "I want it gone." So, I did her the huge favor of buying it.
The bike had been ridden hard, a long time ago, and then it sat in a garage for long time. No one had ridden it in a while. The tires were like cardboard. The shock was spent, the parts were scratched and dirty, the big chainring needed replacing, and, though the frame had no dents, it did have plenty of scuffs, scratches, and scrapes—“Beauty marks,” we’ll call them.
Anyway, I have a strict bike budget, so it took a long time to get the parts together. My goal was to make it a fun, modern trail bike, with vintage character. I'm tall and weigh about 210, so parts had to be sturdy. I chose a mix of original parts, older, reliable parts, and new, project-bike parts. I kept everything I took off, and it’s all reversible.
The only XTR parts I did not use from the original bike on this build were the M900 rapidfire shifters. I've kept them, though, and will try them out sometime (If I can get them to work--they are a little sticky). I like the old Deore top mounts and found some nice ones cheap for this bike.
