The Ken":2jvmvpbw said:
they seem to be random but if we put them all here we might see a pattern forming.
I'll start with mine.
1992/3 18" GT XIZANG LE 3lbs 4oz - G18065 - Made in USA
Well, as the serial number of the 18" that's on E-bay now starts with G18 also (it's G18533 btw), lemme be the first to throw in the idea of "I think the first two digits are frame size" :?:
Maybe the last 3 digits might be something as a "batch" number or run? Dunno how many were made each year, but since you don't see them around much I don't think this was anywhere near the amount of Zaskars etc coming out of the factory?
So if anyone might have an idea about the number of frames made per year, maybe you would be able to date it that way. Like G"framesize""framenumber". For example yours would be let's say a 1993 18", so 18 for size and 065 for frame number. If that other one on E-bay is a 1998 18" frame and it has 18 for size and 533 for framenumber, you could date them if there were i.e. 100 made each year (because 1993 + 5 years times 100 frames/year would end up in the 500 range right?).
Depends on when they started making these models, though... the first Xizangs were different from the ones that came in 1992/1993 IIRC?? Otherwise my thinking is complete and utter b*ll*x, since then they'd only made 65 frames in 2 or 3 years ;-)
But then again, maybe I'm way off... I just know I want one of those early Xizang frames for my collection :twisted:
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Man I'm deep eh?