Have your Phil

Zinn/ Lew more info...

Here is a quick exerpt from an email exchange between Paul lew and I regarding the frame and its origins.  The next phase of the restoration will be too fly the built bike to Texas and do a photo shoot of the completed bike at KGS Bikes  with Paul Lew and a borrowered Black Hole Project wheel.  Right now shooting for May if we can all get together.

Phil,

Carbon fiber hand lay-up by Paul Lew, T-800 unidirectional carbon fiber reinforcement, ACG LTM25 pre-preg epoxy, autoclave molded at Carbon-Carbon Advanced Technologies in Ft. Worth, TX over a hand-shaped Rohacell 31 I.G. foam core, co-cured to a CrMo hand built frame by Lennard Zinn.  A steel down-tube joining the head-tube and bottom-bracket remained in place during the forming, molding and curing of the front-wheel splitter to ensure the frame alignment was not changed during the cure cycle.  The down-tube was cut away after the cure cycle was complete and the exit holes were sealed.  The special low-temperature cure pre-preg (Advanced Composites Group LTM25) was selected for a low-temperature 24 hour cure cycle to further reduce the likelihood that the long tubing lengths would expand, and alter the frame alignment from high-temperature curing. 

Paul

Paul Lew, Director of Technology and Innovation

MacLean Quality Composite/ Reynolds Cycling

Zinn custom restoration part 3

The Zinn/ Lew bike has reached another level in its return to the road.  through some research and a brief conversation with lennard Zinn the bike has been confirmed as a collaboration of lennard Zinn and Paul Lew.  The carbon fabrication was the work of master carbon engineer lew while the rest of the bike gets credited to Zinn.  The fork which has been baffling me, has also be confirmed as a replacement fork.  Turns out this bike frame was originally designed for Lew's Black Hole project, and integrated front end. 

   As you can see the idea behind this bikes design was all about reducing leading drag forces.  For now I am going to continue too restore the bike with the dual Disc set-up and parts circa 1994-1995, the approximate original build date of the frame.

 

Zinn Custom Restoration part 2

The original plans for this bike have been thwarted by a series of discoveries. 

#1 - The Headset can not be removed as the Fork Crown was bonded to the fork steerer to place it in a position specific to the intended geometry.  The bike being a custom one-of-a-kind was bound to have quirks but this was unexpected.  Not an issue as the D/A is obviously orginal but my black chris king from the same year would have been even cleaner. 

#2 - Due to the unusual shape of the frame the bike can only be run with one chainring.  This is fine and was and still is a common practice, however when designing the build for this bike I was planning on a full Mavic Group.  With 1 chainring, No Front derailleur and only 1 shifter it would seem a waste of the intended mavic group, so I am rethinking the crank choices.

I had thought to maybe sport the bike with a Sante Group and go for a black and White look, but I run into the same issues with the bike having an incomplete group.

#3 - Rear Brake.  Due to the carbon fairing extending from the Seat Mast the intended Dura-Ace AX brakes will also not fit.  Oh well, back to normal brakes. 

Current Specs:

• Front Wheel        Aerosport Disc
• Rear Wheel         Hed Disc
• Bottom Bracket   Dura-Ace 7400 103mm
• Crankset            Custom Caramba Double Barrel with 55T single chainring
• Rear Derailleur   Dura-Ace 8spd
• Freewheel          Regina 7spd 12-21
• Chain
• Front Brake        Dura-Ace Single Pivot
• Rear Brake         Dura-Ace Single Pivot
• Brake levers
• Shiftlevers         Dura-Ace 8spd bar-end (rear only)
• Headset             Dura-Ace 1" Threaded
• Stem                  Look Ergo
• Handlebar          Scott Mini 1-piece aerobar
• Seatpost            Kalloy Black alloy
• Saddle                Avocet O2 air

Zinn Custom Restoration part 1

The Zinn has arrived and the restoration has begun. 

To start the restoration I have begun with the de-rusting of the dropouts and bottom bracket.  The frame itself is in decent shape, the carbon is sound and other than the exposed surfaces their is no additional rust. 

#1 - Cleaning of the rust.

 

                                       

  #2 - The rust removed and initial cleaning/ polishing completed.

  This is as far as I have progressed at this point.  Here is a couple of quick bike shots to see the overall look.  Notice how the Top Tube is parallel to the ground even with a 650c front/ 700c rear wheel combo.

Newest Aquisition

It's on its way!!! My newest aquisition to the collection.  A custom one-off from the partnering of two great industry names.  The new frame was commisioned through Lennard Zinn and built in conjunction with Paul Lew.  The frame is a mix of Carbon and metal.  The Carbon aspects of the frame are a bit "radical" and were Fabricated by Paul Lew of Lew wheel fame.  The rest of the bike and overall design is attributed to lennard Zinn and the bike bears his name and lews original company name.  Once the bike arrives I will post several pictures and further details.