Zaskar Carbon Team II

toasty

Held back a bit on this one as I was still messing about with bits until I was properly content. I changed a front hose and stuck the F100s on last week, the steerer on the Rebas was too short unfortunately. It's also got some meatier tyres on now, I'll swap back when it dries out but it was scary in the with with the Captains.


Click for a bigger pic.

Frame: Zaskar Carbon Team
Forks: Fox F100 RL
Stem: 90mm Truvativ Team
Bars: Truvativ Team carbon riser
Grips: Ourys!

Wheels: XT M775
Front Tyre: 2.1" Blue Groove DTC
Rear Tyre: 2.1" Kenda Nevegal UST - I didn't actually ask for UST, CRC sent UST so I went with it
Cassette: XT

Chainset: XT
Bottom Bracket: XT
Pedals: M520 or V8s depending on where I'm going

Shifters: SLX
Front Mech: SLX
Rear Mech: SLX
Brakes: SLX

Seatpost: Thomson Elite
Saddle: SDG Bel Air RL Ti

Had an awesome ride today actually. Lungs are feeling a bit crap at the moment but the second they cleared off a bit it was off like a rocket though, merrily chasing people down. Much fun, same again tomorrow! Looking forward to this summer. With the front at a proper height and wider tyres it feels even more like a trail bike, spin it up to a decent pace and hold on for dear life.

Not sure what it weighs, 100g lost with the fork over the Rebas, 300g gained with the tyres Around 23-24lbs I'd guess with the Captains back on, the brakes are the biggest dead weight but I quite like them, 1650g is as light as I'm prepared to go with wheels too, Truvativ/Thomson bits are nice and light though.

The one remaining issue is the clicking seatpost, it's driving me bananas. It's been run dry and with Pace carbon grease, both creak like mad. I think the seatpost might be slightly off, might try the one on my Meta and see if it's any better. Grrr! It gets better if I tighten it briefly, then requires tightening up again 5 mins later as the seatpost has squidged into shape a bit more, it ended up obscenely tight.

gcwebbyuk

Nice 8)

adb1006

Very very nice!

I have the same seatpost as you i think (7deg layback?), and no creaks from mine. Is it possibly the seat?

toasty

I've greased the seat rails up a few times, the creaking also varies depending on how tight the seatpost QR clamp is, it's almost silent when I clamp it down obscenely tight.

I've caved in and bought an SDG Formula FX and micro seatpost from Wiggle instead. The Thomson one is fine on my aluminium frame, not sure what the issue is, I'm assuming it's not QUITE perfectly round and the stiff carbon doesn't bend around it in the same way aluminium does. My Raceface Evolve post was fine in the Zaskar but too short. Still, there's another 50g or so saved, hehe.

Once this is sorted I'm done tinkering for a while, this is getting expensive! :?

adb1006

I loved my old Raceface post but it didn't fit the new frame so i HAD to chop it in for a Thompson one. Lovely seatposts though, the Thompsons. Only problem is, it doesn't now match the Raceface bars and stem...

gcwebbyuk

Used my Thomson post today - no squeaks

Anonymous

Nice bike there Toasty,
are those SLX brakes better than the deore setup,
im after another raceface seatpin as the old one did'nt fit this frame so running a Richey comp in there at the mo.

smf_12

wheel stickers look kool!

The Northern Monkey

I like that....a lot.

MeddlE

Nice, very nice. Rode last years on a demo day and thought it was a fantastic bike.

Speed_King

got some news for you mate it was your frame creaking, as odd as this may sound its true lol i had this on my rockhopper with my thompson masterpeice then i swapped for my ritchey wsc carbon

And now its perfectly fine i dunno why it is the frame but its somethign to do with the seatpost/ frame combo ??/

Figure that one out huh? lol

toasty

Yeah, mine's a bit better now. I'm using a Hope seatclamp and Formula FX saddle + seatpost now, it knocked another 75g off too, hehe. It still creaks unless I go it up pretty tight though unfortunately, ah well.

raceface gt wrote:

are those SLX brakes better than the deore setup

Yeah much better. Oddly though I'm not really getting on with them, I prefer the XT brakes on my Meta for some reason. I'm actually tempted to sell them on and get a set of Avid Elixir CRs while Merlin is doing them cheap.

tptvmbircn

A lovely machine, i've always had a soft spot for GT's after owning the avalanche back in 04' really wish i kept the frame now!

toasty

I'll have to follow suit after supersonic's update and update mine. My new wheels came today and I'm just waiting on Merlin now for some Formula Oro K18s I've ordered.

If anyone is pondering any wheels at the moment the Stan's on Pro II seem like a bargain. Very stiff and only set me back £228 from Winstanleys, who managed to get them delivered impressively quickly (although I was a bit worried, I must admit ).

I've had a bit of a wheel frenzy recently, here's a few random genuine weights of bits. Wheels are rear, then first, all ready to use but with no skewer weights. The XT wheels are the XC version of those pretty looking wheels you see on Lapierres.

M775 XT + UST Valve - 795g
M775 XT + UST Valve - 926g

Hope Pro II + 355 + rim tape - 780g
Hope Pro II + 355 + rim tape - 905g

Hope Pro II + Flow + rim tape - 888g
Hope Pro II + Flow + rim tape - 1014g

I'm using tubes now so gained about 150g over my previous setup, the wheels are much tougher though. I purposefully went for the 32 spoke older model rather than the flexier 24 spoke versions. Fortunately the brakes should balance that back out and leave me back on the 23.2lb (without pedals) mark. Pics incoming again when I get the brakes fitted

TarkMalbot

NIce! I have always been a fan of the Zaskar! 8)

supersonic

I got more to come, some new scandium bars on the way!

toasty

Truvativ Carbons Teams here, the shape seems slightly odd and even after years I'm not 100% sold on them. 166g weight though for 660mm risers, I can't complain

What scandium risers did you order?

supersonic

Exotic from ebay. Bit weighter than the carbons, but great price and will be very tough.