GT update...good and bad.

The good...

Yesterday the GT threadless rigid fork showed up, via Santa Clause in the brown truck. Today, Santa in the white truck delivered the NOS DiaCompe Aheadset, a proper era model for the 1995 frame. The stem is a Profile BOA, polished to match the Zaskar, and I even had an extra GT sticker for it...I'm a dork.
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Note my tomatoes growing crazy in the planter in the background. What can I say? I love bikes, AND tomatoes!
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Fork! Even has the original GT Cro Mo stickers....neat little GT dropouts too.
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Not bad at all...
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BOA, salvaged from the Trek 8500 carbon that I parted out earlier this year. Sticker came as an extra in the Xizang replacements I got for the Zaskar. Clearly I'm not using the Xizang stickers themselves, just all the others in the kit. They are the same style and color as the originals on this frame, so I grabbed 'em. Blue top cap here actually was the first top cap I bought, back in 1994, for the white EWR...still have it.
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Deore DX rear hub, but something's weird here...Hmmmm.
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Yup, its wearing an 8 speed hub body from the next generation XT hub.
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That's it for the Good...all Zaskar. Now for the bad.


Here's the RTS, also delivered by Santa in the brown truck. See anything here...compared to the Zaskar?...


It's Little! Not sure what I'm going to do here...but until I think of a game plan, I'm just going to hang it up. I may find a larger frame with a bad swing arm, or maybe one with no cable noodles or brake cam or a bad shock or something, and this sucker has all good stuff in those departments. I think it's a 16", what with the TT being CtC at 21.5" and the ST CtC at 16" on the nose. My stamped 18" Zaskar has a ST of exactly 18", so I expected the RTS to be the same size as that. If only it was an 18" like the Z. I judged the RTS size by the numbers on the auction (listed as 18" and 22.5") and the head tube and gusset layout, which matches the Zaskar's, but apparently the next smaller size down uses the same head tube orientation, and the RTS frame measurements were given in the auction as C-T, not CtC. Oops.
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Floating brake cam, complete. On bikes of this era, these usually went in the dumper when owners went to side-pull style brakes that needed no cable housing stop. This one is in great shape.
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Cable routing noodles, again complete.
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So the RTS is on hold for now...I'm in no raging hurry to buy a second one to rectify the situation, but if another el-cheapo deal comes along then I'll swing on it.

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Besides, Santa should be here soon with the Orange beastie a few posts below...