Zinn 753 19"

iveto1983

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I'm the happy new owner of the bike spoken about in this thread. I was fairly confident that I was correct in my assumption that it was a real, early, 753 Zinn, and not a rebadged 531 before I bid. This is mainly due to the great work of members of this site sharing their knowledge in their build threads. You all have my gratitude, thanks. The main things I spotted from the auction pics were the distinctive headtube reinforcement, rear facing seat clamp and lack of mudguard/rack mounts.

I now have the bike in my hands, and I still think it's 753. It has the flat plate seat stay and chain stay bridges, and the seat tube doesn't step down under the top tube junction. It is older than I expected though, I thought it would be a '90, but the serial starts Z8900*, with the last digit being hard to read. I think it's a 6, but it could be an 8. Does this align with previous knowledge regarding 753 frames? I have sent Andy a message about it.

My initial idea was to leave the spec pretty much as is, except swap out the stem, bars, grips, tyres, and sort the cabling and set up. I know M900 is too new for the frame, but it's been like this for 25 years, so it seems a shame to change everything. My only little hang up is the frame is 130 spaced, so it's a bit of a faff putting the rear wheel in.

I'm going to strip, degrease and treat the frame at the weekend, before I make a decision regarding the rebuild. I won't be respraying it because the condition is decent, with no dents or corrosion issues, and as it's black it can be touched up fairly easily.

Also, I know it's a long shot, but if anyone has a lead on the correct stem and bars, I'd be forever grateful.

I'll post some pics when it's stripped and cleaned up, but for now here are a couple from the auction:

35129519154_c502314c25_b.jpg


35129519734_0a2ef045fd_b.jpg
 
:cool: nice, glad its going to be on here so i can drool over it some more. If your going to use it you might as well leave the xtr, nothing wrong with that, and are you running a 130 hub?

Mark
 
Good score. Personally I'd go back to an age appropriate spec, but that's just me :)
 
Re:

Can't disagree with any of the above, its a lovely thing all right and actually looks great in black IMO :cool:

Tempting though it would be, I would avoid the time and hassle of sourcing bits for a euro build and stick to Shimano if it's a rider. Just to play Devils Advocate, I also think that it looks good (and fast) with the M900, but I suppose a nice set of XT II would work as well.

iveto1983":r7y6rzhx said:
Also, I know it's a long shot, but if anyone has a lead on the correct stem and bars, I'd be forever grateful

The 753 'Mang Moly' bars which were fitted to these (I think!) do tend to crop up occasionally and were OEM on some higher end Dawes bikes, if you need to go by way of a donor. As for the stem, you need to send a begging PM to retrobikeguy I reckon ;)
 
Re:

A brilliant score . Very Cool. subtle with the Ringle.

Thanks for the better pic too. Look how svelte the 753 seatstays are when compared to 531 tubes, its just lovely.

If you cant source a stem, id have a one piece bar and stem made for it. And perhaps aside from personal choice on things like grips and tyres, id leave the rest alone and ride it, it will certainly ride better with XTR, and you will fall in love with the ride of the frame.

Zinn Stems always come up short for me, its my only critique.

Very Cool in black.
 
Cheers, guys. I appreciate all the input.

I think I will initially rebuild it with the m900, after that we'll see. I do have most of an XT II groupset I could use, but I'd want a 130 hub. The current hub is 135.

Thanks for the tips on the bars and stem, I'll look into them.
 
common roadie lore (where there's a lot more 753) is that you shouldn't "spring" the frame for a larger hub with 753. But it's been so for 25 years, I guess it's just fine...
 
Re:

I'll do a ride report just for you Neil.

Thanks for the tip about the 753 stays. It makes sense and I was already wary, even though it's survived for years, it doesn't mean it's doing any good! Guess that means I'm looking for some new hubs or wheels. Initial thoughts are Dura Ace.

The bike has now been disassembled without incident. I'll be giving it a good clean in the morning and then start sympathetically touching it up. I'll put some detail pics up when it's clean, before I do the light restoration.

What do we think the weight should be for frame and forks separately? It's still got the 7410 headset cups and bearings in the frame, and race on the forks. I'll weigh it after it's cleaned up.

I've spoken with the seller again. He says he owned it from new, and it never had the Zinn stem. Maybe it was a NOS frameset because he thinks it was in '93 and always had the XTR, but it's got to be an '89. He says he was a roadie who got into mtb to train, but ended up riding this bike in some Nemba races and at one Grundig in Inverness. Maybe it's the black bike Lee saw on Facebook? I can't see that pic because of the dreaded photobucket! I'll send him a message asking if he can send it to me.
 
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