Newbie advice - sell a GT Lighning complete or split?

[racer x]

I think there was lots of Titanium xizang frames hanging around in one of the GT warehouses after the Zaskars came out so they was changed to v-brakes from cantilevers for late 96- 97 and called it the Lighting

All said there is not that much difference in the two frame up close, from the two i have

 

[cce]

if you do split, i'd like to register my interest in the forks, provided they have at least 195mm of steerer

 

[mechagouki]

I think there was lots of Titanium xizang frames hanging around in one of the GT warehouses after the Zaskars came out so they was changed to v-brakes from cantilevers for late 96- 97 and called it the Lighting

Assuming that statement was not intended as a joke, it is wrong on so many levels.

The Lightning was an Asian made frame that was sold as a complete bike equipped with an STX/LX mix. The material may be the same, but the craftsmanship is not, the crude stamping on the endcap and the weld quality are two obvious differences, along with the blasted finish instead of the very expensive hand polish on the Xizang.

Xizangs from this period (97-99) were made in the GT Tech Shop in California, and to the best of my knowledge are identical to the frames used by the factory team. The frames were compatible with both V-brake and cantilever for 1997 and 1998 (the small loop on the back of the seat tube on these years is for mounting a stop for cantilevers), they were V-brake only for 1999, the last year of production.

There's nothing wrong with the Lightning, it weighs about the same, size for size, as the Xizang, I honestly don't know if the tubes were from the same source, but the dropouts are identical. they just don't have the cachet of being the 'team' bike. They should also not be considered the second place in GTs hardtail lineup. I personally would rank the top 3 as:

1.Xizang
2.Psyclone
3.Zaskar

Depending on your taste in frame materials you might want to swap 2 and 3, but for me a fillet-brazed steel frame trumps TIGed aluminum.

 

[matthew71]

Ok.. so whats the difference between the Xizang and Lightning frames ??

A lot of money and several places on the periodic table.

The Lightning is aluminium and the Zizang is titanium.

Lightning is also ti,but made in asia unlike the xixang which was built in the us.lightning was also ball burnished not polished.but I would disagree with poor welds,they are very neat and tidy on my one

 

[racer x]

Same here the welds on my lighting back to back are much cleaner than my Xizang. I still like my Xizang more as like you say they was all like the team bikes

Riding both bikes there is no difference in the ride with the same component set up

 

[orange71]

My understanding in addition to the above is that the Lightnings had plain gauge tubing whereas the Xizang had butted. But I may be wrong.

 

[Drencrom]

Lightning is also ti,but made in asia unlike the xixang which was built in the us.lightning was also ball burnished not polished.but I would disagree with poor welds,they are very neat and tidy on my one

There is a lot of confusion over the Lightning, mainly because it was a bit of an oddity. From what I can recall it was produced in '97-98, from Anotech ti tubing in India (or thereabouts, I'm sure it was South Asia). The finish is 'Bead Blasted', as opposed to 'Ball Burnished' for the Zaskar/Avalanche et al. The Xizang was often sold with a highly polished finish, as opposed to the slightly matt finish on the Lightning.

The frames are great quality, and were a bargain back then, as they are now. It seemed to suffer from being less flashy than a lot of other GT's at the time, and seemed a bit bland back then, in my opinion. I'd be more than happy to own one now though - even if it is a bit of a poor man's Xizang - it's still a lovely frame.

 

[racer x]

not sure matey both as nice Im really liking both GTs the Xizang is used in the summer and the lightings used in the winter, I just love my Xizang to much to get it that dirty

 

[JeRkY]

I haven't read so much confusion and misleading information posted on here since the last time someone asked "is it a zaskar?"

Any way, price depending I'm still possibly interested in a full bike purchase (I haven't bought a bike this month!)

 

[Drencrom]

not sure matey both as nice Im really liking both GTs the Xizang is used in the summer and the lightings used in the winter, I just love my Xizang to much to get it that dirty

Sounds like an ideal situation - I'm not envious!