paulfischer

I have a friction shift cannondale I picked up at a bike swap some years back. I recently started stripping it to replace or tune up its various components and learn more about building bikes.

The issue I'm having is trying to discern the basic setup of the bicycle. The crank, cassette, and chain got mixed in with a mass of old parts over the years. The friction shifters aren't indexed but the rear derailleur is a shimano rd-4500.

• How can I determine the speed the bike was set up for?
• Any recommendations for a crank? It had a two piece compression slotted that failed. I'd like to keep the rest of the group set as it all appears in working order.
• Interested in a mentee? I have so much to learn.

BTinNYC

The rd 4500 is a 10 speed derailleur. Shimano documentation is all online, and folks here will help decipher the Shimano-speak.

paulfischer

Is there a way to determine what was going on in the front say 2x or 3x? The fd appears to be fsa but I don't see anything else.

dedhed

See what the serial number tells you for year and look at old catalogs to see how it was originally equipped.
For one thing friction shifters and RD-4500 would not have been used together. Not that they won't work together.

https://vintagecannondale.com/info/serial_numbers/

https://vintagecannondale.com/catalog/

TPL

Any questions concerning anything ShimaNO ....contact ShimaNO directly

KCT1986

Also measure the rear dropout spacing. Could be from 126-130mm for road frames, depending on year. This will give you some idea of how many speeds you can reasonably run in the rear.

Hard to guess what may have been done prior owners. Are you trying to restore to orig. specs or just make it rideable to your needs/preferences?

dedhed

You really need a new shtick, that one is getting stale.

paulfischer

Just trying to make it rideable for as little as investment as possible.

paulfischer

[QUOTE=dedhed;22425774]See what the serial number tells you for year and look at old catalogs to see how it was originally equipped.
For one thing friction shifters and RD-4500 would not have been used together. Not that they won't work together.

Dang, that's very helpful. So it's the t700 circa '95: 7sp; coda 300m crank. From the photo it looks like a 3x.

mstateglfr 

What is your deal with this?

BTinNYC

Do you have shifters in the box o' parts? Why do you say friction?

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Shim NO NO got me to find the Ingore User feature, whew, I'm done with that useless pile of 1s and 0s.

dedhed

[QUOTE=paulfischer;22425842]Full specs on page 57 of pdf.
https://vintagecannondale.com/year/1995/1995.pdf

CODA stands for "Cannondale Only Design Application" meaning Cannondale USA made proprietary designs were deployed only on their bikes.

Yes, a touring frame would have a triple crank.

According to specs That bike is pretty standard 128-130 mm spaced, BSA threaded bottom bracket. You can pretty much put any components on it any way you like

paulfischer

If the shifters and RD weren't technically meant to be used together, should I look do something different at the shifter or RD?

And I guess I'm still unsure what the RD is, e.g., 11 sp. ? I have a tough time telling what components are compatible.

bboy314

From what I’ve gathered, they are still very mad about Positron’s shortcomings.

MNBikeCommuter

The rear is most likely 135 mm as the touring bikes were spec'd for mountain bike components in the rear. My '92 T600 is 135. The touring bikes were/are? a mix of "road components up front, rear in the back," generally speaking.

My T600 is currently running 10 spd Ultegra up front, including triple crank, and XT/XTR in the rear. So yes, there are several options available on how to configure things.

dedhed

"Rideable with minimum investment"

Friction shifters are compatible with everything depending on what they are. The Rd-4500 is a 9 speed RD which really doesn't mean a lot as the speed indexing is in the shifter based on the cassette cog spacing and cable pull ratio of the RD. Even the cable pull ratio didn't change on Shimano RD from 6-10s in road components.
What speed cassette is on the wheel? The only caveat is depending on the speed of cassette, the RD swing, and the friction shifters being used, is if the shifter has a large enough drum to take up the amount of cable required to move the RD completely across the cassette. Try it and see. If the shifters will move the RD across the cassette I'd just run it with a 9 speed chain and call it good.

I have a tough time telling what components are compatible

"In General" Shimano (or is that ShimaNO?) 6-10 speed road and 6-9 mountain RD components play together if the cassette and shifters match speeds. There are some anomalies that aren't worth mentioning at this point and FD pull is different between mountain & road.

Iride01 

You might find that just scrapping all the old components and putting new 9 or 10 speed Shimano parts all from the same group an easier thing and not worry about what will and won't work together. You could even put 11 speed on it, but that's several much higher priced groups.

If the bike has 130 mm spacing on the back and a BSA threaded BB shell, then you are going to have a lot of choice. Even if it's 126 mm rear spacing you should still be good for most anything new today. Though disc brakes are probably not a good option to consider.

https://si.shimano.com/#/

Use the above link and you can find out everything you may need to know about most every component made for bikes by Shimano. There are compatibility info, specifications and other stuff too. Older stuff you'll need to look in the archive links for compatibility and line-up specs.

KCT1986

Don't quite understand what you are describing with the crank failure comment. Can you provide more details.

The Cdale T bikes have a following on here so many are quite familiar with them and are very knowledgeable of them.

Detail pics of what is still on the frame would be helpful. Get up to your post limit, 10 I believe, and get those done, so we can see what you got. Think you only get 5 per day so use those up soon.

Description of your rear hub would be helpful as this will determine how many speeds can be run in the rear.

paulfischer

This is such great information, thank you for taking the time. I took off the cassette years ago and I couldn't discern what was what now. At this point, the components on the bike are just frame, shifters, brakes, and FD and RD.

So to get it riding again, I need to replace the cassette and crank elements in the drivetrain. I'm OK with purchasing new parts obviously, but my bikeshops are still struggling to source parts and when I order online (because I'm still wildly uninformed) I have had issues with compatibility.

paulfischer

There is no rear cassette, chain, or crank with this bike. At this point it's just the frame, shifters, headset, FD & RD, and cantilever brakes.

If I obtained the correct crank, I feel like I could guess and check with some used 9,10sp parts.

The bottom bracket had the following information; I'm not entirely sure what it means.

SM-BB5700
BC1.37 x 24 Road KK

wrk101

Making rideable as cheaply as possible? How much does it need? If you need quite a few parts, then find a donor bike and do a transplant. If you are one or two parts away, head to the closest co op.