I sold Cannondale products in bike stores from the mid-'70s, when their seat bags were shipped with "some assembly required" (we'd sit around the shop laboriously working the foam liners into place under the little flaps inside the bags), through the introduction of the bikes in 1983, when the frame came in one box and the rest of the bike came in another.

Looking back, it's amazing that Cannondale was able to persuade their first bike dealers that it was worth carrying the bikes even though they cost more than equivalent steel bikes and took much longer to assemble. Wacky company, great bikes.

Loving all the pictures. Best thread in a long time.