Sure, they'll work - in friction mode only, though. You may lose a gear if you buy the generation 1 Deore shifters you have listed and you stay with the indexing.

Your best bet is to try and locate some Deore II or Deore XT 7-speed thumbshifters at eBay - preferably the latter. They won't be cheap, but they will be a substantial upgrade to the LX shifters, and period-correct.

See - http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...hifters&_rdc=1 for more details.

Cannondale used thumb shifters for a reason. They work, and they have friction mode selectable from the bars. It's an important consideration for those of us that ride in the woods here in PA. "They work" isn't something you can say about Shimano's RapidFire push-push shifters of the same era. Those were a complete pain-in-the-ass, as it was often possible to upshift when you wanted to downshift. Also, they were hell-on-wheels to keep tuned and shifting properly - and if they broke, well, Shimano said "buy some new ones, baka!".