Originally Posted by Lemond1985

I am in a unique position to comment on this. My first new bike I ever bought was a 1987 SR500 in Blueberry. I paid $750 for it out the door. It had indexed Shimano 600 6 speed SIS (the first year for Shimano indexing) and crappy Wolber wheels that lasted me about 2 weeks.

During a crash while riding in a paceline, I broke the derailleur hanger on the frame. Since these were not replaceable back then, I went back to the dealer who sold me the bike, who got me a brand new SR500 frame, also in Blueberry, under warranty, which I transferred my parts over to, and the dealer sent the broken frame back to Cannondale.

The 1987 and '88 frames were identical, paint and geometry-wise, but the decals were slightly different. The 1988 had the "Criterium Geometry" sticker on the seat tube, and the "Patented Construcion decal on the right seatstay. It also had the "Shimano 105" decal on the chainstay. Based on that, I would conclude that the frame in the picture is a 1988 model, not a 1987. IIRC Shimano 105 had not yet been introduced in 1987.