The "IRON LADY"......Zinn.

[Muddy paw]

Awesome looking bikes and i've always loved zinn bikes right from the day they were 1st made and sold to the public and i could never understand why they never got the attention that they deserved ..

They did indeed have a short run, which I have never got to the bottom of, I have heard allsorts through the years, but nothing of substance.

I wondered on the builder moving on, the relationship, funding, sales, and even the European direction at the time campag etc..., But then from one model to a range of bikes in one year from a standing start in a bitterly fierce market being dominated by Heavily marketed American product and Far east Imports bearing British handbuilt decals couldn't have made it any easier to be fair.

I believe it was one welsh guy on his own that started up making Zinn mtb's and i assume he had others working with him on the bikes but from what i remember his bike building company was very small and i also remember advertisements being in MBUK for a short while which is where i 1st came across Zinn and i suppose i was one of many mtber's out there that assumed that the Zinn company would do well because it was advertising in a very popular mountain biking magazine :facepalm: , i can only assume just like yourself that the company didn't get the opportunities and the funding it needed to progress throughout the market and like you say the likes of Specialize , Marin , Diamond Back had already gota big foot hold in the MTB market world by the time Zinn came along so just like yourself i'm afraid to say i've no real idea of what happened to Zinn although the thought had crossed my mind that the company name was sold along with the business to a bigger company or the worst scenario of it going into liquidation due to the lack of profits but until someone comes up with a deffinite answer we will just never no :cry: ..

 

[Smithjss70]

I like that a lot Carl. The campy was a nice touch and goes so well with the pastel colors. Nice job!

 

[M-Power]

Re: Re:

My favourite British made bikes, just something about them, as well as the cool name.

I think it would be fair to say the closest comparison to an imported American handbuilt bike/Brand would have been Fat Chance too.

And Petes right too, there is something about the softer colours, skinny tubes and Campag.

100% agree with that. Love the little touches and attention to detail that set it apart from the rest :mrgreen:

 

[Featch]

I'm astounded. I remember that bike, I remember building the frame, painting it and assembling it. One of the very first and only one of 2 or 3 in pink. I had a pink one in a very large size and completely wore it out over the years.
As for the inside knowledge? It's all a long time ago and some of it definitely not for public forum!

Andy

 

[Muddy paw]

Come on then Andy at least give a bit more info please regarding what you know as their are quite a few interested parties on here and as you say some of the inside knowledge is best kept unrevealed whch we can all appreciate that but any info regarding the Zinn company would help all the Zinn fans understand a bit better what happened .

Cheers Ian .

 

[Giom6]

I'm astounded. I remember that bike, I remember building the frame, painting it and assembling it. One of the very first and only one of 2 or 3 in pink. I had a pink one in a very large size and completely wore it out over the years.
As for the inside knowledge? It's all a long time ago and some of it definitely not for public forum!

Andy

Is it pretty much as it was when you built it Andy?

This one has been stored in a garage for about 15 years so I think that has saved it...

Did you have a lot of influence in the design of the frames or was it a team effort?

Are the differences in the design that Carl mentions above pretty spot on?

 

[sinnerman]

I'm astounded. I remember that bike, I remember building the frame, painting it and assembling it. One of the very first and only one of 2 or 3 in pink. I had a pink one in a very large size and completely wore it out over the years.
As for the inside knowledge? It's all a long time ago and some of it definitely not for public forum!

Andy

Andy, really really appreciate the post, I knew the pink was in only small numbers, but I hadn't realised quite how few, it does make me wonder if this is the actual bike that was displayed that I rode at the Malverns. (I did think the display bike was a smaller size, but as you mentioned it was a long time ago now).

the frame number for this is 022. And hopefully I haven't forgotten any of the modifications for the later models from my cursory view either.

Rear seat stay join,
Rear seat stay bridge,
Front facing seat Q/R
Alternate top cable routing
Reinforced seat tube
Segmented fork
Rear cable hanger
and the trickest upgrade in my book.......The cable rollers

I mentioned in a previous post, that I know of no other UK frame builder that was using a frame gusset on the down tube other than yourself at the time this bike was made, you mentioned your cyclocross influences to me previously, was this part of you thought process for building a bike with so many standalone design features that were yet to be seen by other UK fabricators at the time, or was it in part your personal experience and overseas design elements too...? This is something that certainly made the frames stand out so much for me BITD, and I still ponder over it now.

Also, a burning question I do have, whos choice was it to take the Brand the European build route, Campagnolo/Sachs? Was this as much a spec choice based on Stock and availability/ease to purchase in smaller numbers as had been previously suggested, rather than having to buy/wait for Shimano in dictated larger quantities as other frame builders have mentioned, or was it simply because Campagnolo was deemed the best at the time from a road based back ground and No other Uk builder had taken this route...?

Sorry for sad questions, 25 years is a long time to have it rolling around my head....lol, I wont ask about the other, I appreciate its not for an open forum.

 

[sinnerman]

some of the frame changes (appreciate they are different models, I was thinking more model year than anything).

 

[Rod_Saetan]

Fantastic Carl! Now go and thrash the crap out if it.

 

[Giom6]

Re:

I had the pleasure of meeting Andy yesterday in Warwick and we had a very good chat.

Carl, turns out your Zinn is probably only one of a couple of prototypes made before Andy starting making the final frames.

This bike was not for sale so it must have been given to a supplier or rider to test but they must have sold it on at some stage...

Makes it even cooler