acetech09

Hi everyone. Long time lurker, first time poster.

I recently uncovered two Zebrakenko Record Tour touring bikes from my family's basement. The story is that a late relative bought these cheap from a failed, liquidating sports store in 1980. He wasn't a cyclist, just knew a good deal - so he bought them and put them in a basement where they have sat unmoved for 43 years.
They are clearly un-ridden, and still have the original price tag. One of them has a "new" Avanti bikepack too.

Photos:
I hope the admins don't mind if I skirt the rules that new users can't post links or photos. You'll have to replace the underscores with periods in the following "definitely-not-a-url"
photos_app_goo_gl/RjH6NaJUWvd9246c9
These are high-res 50mp photos. Very zoomable.

Condition:
All the moving parts are aluminum or well-coated steel, and are like new with almost no rust. The brake hoods are dry, but not sticky at all. It needs new tires and tubes of course. I was able to gently roll around the garage and verify the mechanicals all work.
43 years in a basement has caused some light rust spotting on the chromed chainstay, headset nut, and some various small parts like the cable clips and reflector bracket.

Parts:
I found an old catalog here on BF with the specs and parts list, and confirmed that everything matches and is original:
- Ishiwata 022 "Speed Gallant" double-butted CrM, forged Sun Tour GS dropouts
- Sugino Mighty Tour 34/45/50 165mm Crank
- MKS Quil K pedals
- Sun Tour Pro-Compe Gold 14/17/21/26/32 freewheel
- Sun Tour Cyclone GT FD/RD w/ bar end shifters
- Gran Compe GC 500 brakes
- Sunshine Pro-Am hubs
- Araya 27 x 1 1/4" aluminum rims
- Jaguar 11 quilted leather saddle
- S.R. seatpost and bars
- S.R. forged aluminum stem
- They both have Pletcher ESGE kickstands - which weren't in the original build, and must have been added by the bike shop prior to sale.

It's a great looking bike. I tried to do my research and see a lot of "zebrakenko's an unknown bike boom boat anchor, $50 is all you'll get". But seeing this bike in person, in this condition, I find that really hard to believe.
Thanks for the input.
- acetech09

jdawginsc 

Ishiwata 022 tubing is not stove pipe.

And it is pretty well clothed. Cyclone GT/bar ends (I assume the FD is Cyclone too?), Super Mighty cranks, Araya rims, Sanshin Pro Ams. No junk there.

No way to honestly value it in my opinion because it is virtually NOS, yet not a marquee of prestige. You'd have to find the right buyer, I'd think?

Mr. 66

I did not look at your pictures. From your description it sounds like something that sells for about $125, perhaps more, at least that's what it would have sold for a couple of years ago as a Craigslist add in the Seattle market for a 27" wheeler. I'm guessing it has diacomp brakes center pull, with 'safety levers'.

Parts wise your bike could be worth more, not by a whole lot though and that takes time and space to break down, store and sell.

JulesCW 

Looking at the photos does help OP -- a full drive-side photo would be good, too.

It has Gen 1Cyclone derailleurs with barcons, Gran Compe brakes (sidepull, no safety levers) , and a decent frame with good forged dropouts -- your guess is wrong.

Parted out it is likely worth $250+ It's a nice bike, but might be a tough sale. If it were mine I'd clean it up and list it for $275 and see what happens before parting it out.

Mr. 66

Ok, pictured as-is I have that lower, about $80 Craigslist my local on a good day if you can air the tires. As a Goodwill type buy about $40. It's not as clean as I thought, the one hood looks ripped, the flat tires look like they may have dry rot. Even though unused all the bearings probably need repack, the cables are all probably ok. Diacomp sipe pull nothing special there, old pads probably hard as rocks. The oxidation on the chrome, most people buying don't know how to take care of that.

To get more you need to put in some effort, putting money in, imo, is or would be diminishing returns.

3alarmer 

.
...these are "project bicycles". For someone looking for a "project" road bike of this vintage, they might bring $100 each.
You have to factor in all the labor and costs of making them rideable again.

As stated above, not junk. But requiring considerable investment of time and energy, as well as some money, to be rideable bicycles.

Doing that work yourself will just be a sunk cost debacle, from which you are unlikely to recover much in return. Not sure, but it's possible that the Cyclone derailleurs and the Sugino crank might sell for more than that as individual items on e-bay. But that requires listing, shipping, e-bay fees, etc.

It's an interesting comment on Suntour derailleurs, that the manufacturer would use them on this bike, coupled with that dreadful, cheap saddle. Thanks for the photos.

abdon 

Yeah, but just like you putting a ton of time and energy doesn't raise the value of a bike you want to sell, one that requires a good amount of time and energy doesn't get devalued to negative numbers because of that. Chances are any $50 bike will cost more to set right than the final value.

OP; few things evaporate value faster than little known brands with no following. Most people here would love that bike for the chance to strip the parts; finding clean cyclone rear derailleurs is not easy. But make no mistake; they were fine Japanese bikes that should be a joy to ride. If you want to dodge the trend and enjoy a vintage unknown brand with really nice component that would be respectable.

I would aim for under $100. Bar end shifters alone are about $40. Can't tell what the crank is because the shot is of the wrong side of the bike

rustystrings61 

The included spec sheet, the last photo, indicates 165mm Sugino Mighty Tour with 50/45/34 for the chainset. Unfortunately, no matter how cool this bike is - and I happen to think it is VERY cool, and would love one in my size, thank you! - the unfortunate reality is that it is a project bike built by a lesser-known maker. I think I have actually seen exactly ONE Zebrakenko in the steel with my eyes, and a smattering of photos. They appear to have been very fine bikes, and if it fits you I would say keep it, replace the consumables and ride it.

Selling it as it sits, I would throw it out there on the dreaded Marketplace and start it at around $200 and be ready to take less - but I am not in a hot market for bikes, and bike prices are all over the map here.

jdawginsc 

Agree with RS61 above.

First and foremost, a good cleaning costs you nothing. Are the tires dry rot central? Then those might be something you might consider changing out if you want to get full price.

Foam - cork type bar wrap is cheap. Find a nice neutral color.

Depending on your expertise in overhauling bearings, that could be done but if they aren’t crunchy, I wouldn’t at this price point.

zukahn1 

As is worth $100 pump up the tires clean and light lube clean with some WD-40 on moving parts and good cleaning test ride it couple miles to verify every thing works and it's a $250 bike.

WGB 

Not sure where OP is located?
Big city?
Small town?
Countryside?
Is OP located in a bike centered community?

Those factors can have great bearing on sale pricing.

JulesCW 

Sheesh. The new, not worn Cyclone Gen 1 RD and barcons combined are worth $100 easy. Those are GranCompe sidepulls -- pretty nice. If you get unused old bikes with this level of parts and decent frames selling for $40 near you I hope you're buying lots of them, as you can really make some $$ via arbitrage -- reselling or stripping for parts and selling those. If i only lived in such a wonderland! I guess I'm saying that location matters a lot. If the OP is in Mr. 66's locale he's going to have a hard time getting anything approaching the value in other places. YMMV, Y$MV.

brian3069

There's still a strong market for parts in this condition. Maybe I'm an orphan, but If this popped up locally to me at $250, I wouldn't be able to get my wallet out fast enough.

Mr. 66

Oh gosh! I think I'm in the minority's side here on Cyclone. I think the stufff works ok, I think of the old Cyclone as flexy. I probably have 4 or 5 of the of the old style GT, 3 that probably work. As a kid I just thought most of the old Suntour as pot metal. I did like the Suntour 7 as an update to whatever Huret I was running.

This was my last Cyclone purchase, I got this mainly for the strait and true Super Champion rims.

This was too clean, on the high side of my buy. The Chestnut Trek was $80. I was on the fence at that price, $100 would have been a no zone for me.

This is what it looks now.

The Cyclone drs has been replaced with Superbe long cage and Sachs fd. The diacomp G has been replace with Superbe. Presently rolling Miele wheels with Cyclone hubs.

I have the Cyclone mini group at about $90 for the trio as a type Craigslist sale.

Chombi1 

We had a family friend in Wisconsin who owned a bike dealership that sold Zebrakenkos back in the mid 80's.
Zebrakenko bikes presented good value for the price they were sold.
The frame quality is quite good and was pretty much what you'd expect from the recognized brands from Japan at that time.
I would say that the brazing work on most of their frames were actually better than what was coming from Euro bikes like Peugeots.
They were like the typical mid priced bikes that were coming from Japan. Not quite as good quality as Fujis, but pretty close.