I have a 1994 Cannondale R500 that was my first road bike, purchased brand new back in 1995. This is the 3.0 road race frame, with and RX100 triple, and 7 gears in the back. I rode that baby a lot the first 2 years I had it, but then bought a better bike - which I also still have - that I rode a lot more. I'd swapped some parts, getting rid of downtube shifters for Sachs New Success Ergopower levers and 8 speed 105 rear wheel. It's been hanging unused for most of the last 20 years.
SO last month I got a wild hair to bring it back to life, and use. I didn't want to remake it as a triple, but I did want the whole downtube shifter aesthetic. So I spent a couple weeks combing Ebay for RX100 parts, since I still had the brakes and brake levers, and the shifters (but 7 speed rear, and I wanted 8 because I have a couple 8 speed 12-25 Dura Ace cassettes from that better bike I mentioned, which I had since converted to 10sp. SO, RX100 crankset, BB, rear derailleur, rear shifter, and wheelset: a new bar and bar tape. I had my favorite LBS swap out the old crank and BB for the new one, and then spent a happy evening putting it all together.
Last Sunday was its maiden voyage. I was going to take it maybe 20 miles and then switch to one of my newer bikes, but it was so much fun I did the whole 51 mile ride on it! Here it is, about 12 miles in:
This is with a spare wheelset I had, since the RX100 wheelset hadn't arrived yet. When it did, I mounted the tires on those rims. The rims are dark gray, which, combined with the black sidewall tires makes for a rather dark aesthetic, but I also got some gumwall Vittorias I might use instead.
