Originally Posted by
neikirkdk
Hello! New to the forum, and just starting to ride. I can tell you that at 51 years old, and not riding in over 20 years, it's true you never forget how to ride a bike.
I dug a couple of bikes out of my dad's storage barn. They are black mountain bikes, branded L.L. Bean Pathfinder. My dad claims he purchased them in 1989 or early 90s, and that they are a Cannondale built bike. Anyone know if they are indeed a Cannondale? My dad says they are the low end of Cannondale, sold for around $400 through L.L. Bean, but Cannondale sold the same style for $500. I can't find anything saying they are Cannondale anywhere on the bikes. I've searched online, but I can't find anything on these bikes in any searches.
The bikes are in surprisingly great shape after being in storage for nearly 30 years - tires do not even look dry-rotted. We are going to tune them up and get riding. I would post photos, but it looks like I have to have 10 posts to the forum before I can posts photos.
Hi and welcome. Do a google image search for
ll bean pathfinder cannondale bike
There are a few pictures of LL Bean Pathfinder bikes. Yeah, it's a Cannondale. Totally worth fixing up, and perfectly ride-able as is. I do recommend you replace the tires and tubes and brake pads - basically all the rubber things. They degrade with time.
Cannondale models all used the same frames, at least within a genre, so it's kind of irrelevant if the LL Bean model used some cheaper parts, because you can hang the very best parts on them and it's still appropriate and worthy of the upgrade. The 'Pathfinder' bikes I've seen looked quite decent anyway. I wouldn't bother at first. Just get some decent tires and do some maintenance and tuning.