raoul duke

This past summer my dad bought a Trek Madone 5.9 and gave me his old (1988, I believe) Cannondale road bike.





(It normally has Ultregra PD-6610 pedals on, but I took them off for biking around town when my other bike was in the shop)

Now it's in good shape with the exception of the drive train, which needs to be replaced. However, next summer I hope to get seriously into road biking and I'm wondering whether or not to overhaul this bike with a budget of about $1000 (maybe a bit more though) or sell it and spend the money from the sale and what I would have spent on parts on a new bike. I realize that buying a new bike is probably the easier way to go and I might even end up with a better bike, but part of me really wants the project of overhauling a bike.

I was thinking of replacing the front fork, switching from downtube to integrated shifters (which means a new handlebar if I'm not mistaken), the cassette, chain and chainwheels need to be replaced (pretty much the only things that really need to be replaced on the bike), and a new wheelset. I would also love to paint over the horrid 80s blue, green and purple dots and lines, not to mention the paint scratches and just make the bike solid yellow.

So what I'm wondering is:

1. How much money could I get for the Cannondale if I sell it?

2. Is it worth upgrading the bike?

sydney

Don't need a handlebar. It's good beater material. Otherwise send it to the landfill, rather than falling in love with it.Maybe worth $100 on a good day.

Sprocket Man

You may want to have someone at an LBS look at that dented chainstay. It could be dangerous to ride if that dent is deep enough.

14max

You might consider just getting it tuned and using it as a trainer instead of going through an overhaul. It appears to have some life left in it.


If you sell you *might* get $300 - $400 on eBay. That could be a bit high. I don't believe it's worth upgrading but it's not landfill material either if you can get some use out of it...

14max

That dent was built into the stay by C'dale to give crankarm clearance since the chainstays were so big...

DvB

How well does the frame fit you? How much do you like its ride? These are the two most important questions to answer -- everything flows from there.

I made the economically inadvisable decision to upgrade my late-80s steel-framed Schwinn Prologue because it fits like a glove and it's the best-riding frame my 6'3", 195-pound body has ever experienced. Thus the decision was easy. You're lucky -- you have plenty of budget to make that Cannondale sweet or to buy a nice new steed.

If you go new, don't sell the Cannondale as it is. Part it out on eBay or on the marketplace area of this board. You'll definitely raise more cash this way.

sydney

Not the one further back.

14max

You mean this one (circled)?

Sprocket Man

That's the one I was referring to. The indentation looked kind of knarly, as if it occurred in a fall. But that could be due to the paint scrapes...

merlinextraligh

I think you'd be lucky to get $200 for it. I'd put a new cassette and chain on it, tune it up and ride it. Then buy a nicer bike when you can afford it, and keep this for a backup, bad weather, bike.

14max

It appears to be paintscrapes. The indentation was designed to be there. The 2.8/3.0 models sported that as well.

Edit: Damn, the pictures posted small. The indentation shows a bit better here: https://i24.ebayimg.com/04/i/05/66/59/d9_12.JPG

hi565

woh, custom paint job

I think you should get that baby running well, and smooth. Then get a nice bike and then you can have a rain/weather bike, and a nice roadie.

Phantoj

17 years ago, people could "get into road riding" on a bike like this. Has anything changed? Do modern roads require a modern bike?

Fix what's broken, replace what's worn out (make sure it's really worn out, though), and ride. After you ride it a bit, figure out what you do like and don't like about it and about riding in general. Then use that knowledge to make a wise purchase on a modern bike, if desired. Sell or keep the Cannondale.

Currently, it might be worth $100-200. Consider any money you sink into it as being gone.

sydney

Depends on where ones head is.

Gogocld

As a cyclist on a ridiculous budget, the wife still has no idea how much money I've sunk into cycling, I bought a cannondale 3.0 frame for $50 and its a nice ride. However, I have $500 worth of campy, cinelli, 3ttt and cinelli parts hanging on it. So that helps out a lot. I did have to upgrade the forks as the old alum ones spread. Nashbar had an Easton EC30 Carbon Fiber fork on special for $99, which was an incredibly cheap upgrade considering what it did for the overall ride.

Now that you know where I'm coming from let me address your concerns. If you want to get serious about cycling then I would just tune that puppy and ride it. It's 7 speed index Dura Ace right? Not bad stuff, sti/ergo is great but you can get a lot out of index shifting. If that's 8 speed stuff then look into getting some old 8 speed sti shifters and ride that thing until you can afford something else or until you can't stand that cheesy 80's custom paint. As far as upgrading to increase resale value...don't bother. If you want to sell it sell it as is and don't put any money into it.

As for the "dents" in your chain stay, they are part of the frame design and aren't anything to worry yourself over.

nova

That is a t400 i have the same bike. In good shape they go on ebay for between 200 to 400 bucks depending on the condition. One that was converted to a fixie went for 800 including shipping. The "dent on the frame is by design. Mine has one one each side in the exact same location. Theres one further up on chain side for the chain rings.

Do some minor upgrades/updates on it slap a good paint job on it (nothing fancy) and ityher keep it or ebay it. It should bring right around 250 to 300 on ebay. I noticed its got a dura ace logo on the chain stay.

Mine is a 87 heres a pic for reference
https://spellbound-guild.com/cannondale.jpg
It does now have a front derailer not worth a crap though heh.

edit to add
You want a accurate date drive side chain stay bottom of it look at the serial number
It will be in this format xxMMDDYYxxx For example mine is 28040787480 unit 28 march 7 1987 480th off the assebmly line in march

Examples of 5 tx00s of various years that sold on ebay
https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MEWA:IT <sold $212.50
https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MEWA:IT <reserv not met $302
https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MEWA:IT <sold $225
https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MEWA:IT <sold $256
https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MEWA:IT <sold $305

sydney

It isn't a T model,they have canti brakes,and no DA. Got that saddle low enough??

raoul duke

Thanks for the advice. My roomate said he would probably give me $500 bucks for it so that might be my best and easiest option.

It does have a practically brand-new Bontrager Race X Lite Pro seat, which are about $155 USD new, so I figure that's a bit of a perk.

I checked the serial number and it was made on January 14, 1987 and was the 28th bike off the line.

I might even change the seat and use it as a commuter bike, although I don't really intend to do anything with it until next May.

sydney

P.T. Barnum ws right.

nova

Not all of them did. Some older ones had caliper systems. Including mine. I was down at a reliable lbs in my area looking for a few misc parts. He remembers selling my exact bike back in the mid 80s. Even showed me a parts catalog for them. Its very possible they were sold both ways. What makes them touring or not is the forks and frame tubing etc. The forks have lugs for a front rack for bags and the rear drop outs also have mounts for a rear rack.

nova

28th unit not bike off the line. Same year as my bike it would seem. Unlike sydney i dont think 500 is a suckers price at all. Looks like its got possibly mavic cpx rims older dura ace derailer etc etc. Hes probably paying maybe a 100 for the frame rest of what hes paying is for the parts id say.

nova

Hey what topeak did that bike have on it? I reconice the magnet on the fromt wheel. Looks like a mount for a 150.

sydney

Lots of non touring bikes have that. In fact they were commom on all but all out racing rigs in the '80s and early '90ss

nova

Like i said the owner of a local bike shop knew exactly what it was when he seen it. 1 or 2 people on these very forums also said it was one of the tx00s probably a t400. T400 is what the shop owner told me it was. He knew what it was cause as i said he ordered them and sold them back then. He had parts cataloges for ordering various replacement parts including my old dia comp breaks. They likly did come with catalever breaks as well as calipers. Ive seen some older fairly high end mtbs that had calipers. I did however notice that his bike is missing the screw locations on the drop outs. So it infact likly isnt a tx00 bike. Intrestingly enough it does have a identical frame other than that one thing.

ooops just noticed it uses a braceon derailer hanger on the front derailer mines a clamp.