casanewt

Question: I have a large frame 1987 ST400. I was thinking of swapping on a Shimano Deore DX full drivetrain(circa 1990) from a mountain bike to give it better lower gearing. Can you think of any issues I may encounter?

Mr. 66

Sounds like a good idea, the only thing off the top of my head would be just make sure you have the correct chain line. The MTB stuff may be a little far out. I put mountain groups on a couple of bikes lately.

casanewt

Thanks. I was thinking I my have to see about the crank arm length as well since this is currently rocking a 175 I believe.

billnuke1 

I miss this bike, but, no regrets...great guy got it! Picture taken just down the street...maybe a little regret...gotta move on!

The “twins”...they went everywhere I went when camping or on vacation! They covered all/any terrain I might encounter!

RiddleOfSteel

RAD Super V!

Also rad ST (with cantis!).

iLLb

Alot of awesome Vintages in here. Cant wait to find my own

billnuke1 

The Super V still tugs...
The ST is moving closer to the down stairs...in the queue...

Lemond1985

1988 SR500 Criterium Series. Originally had the “Blueberry” paint job, but I got tired of the silver steel fork (polished and clearcoated) not matching the blue paint on the rest of the frame. The plan was to strip the paint, polish, then clearcoat with 2K Glamour paint. After reluctantly stripping the excellent DuPont Imron factory paint, I started out with steel wool to take down the machining marks on the various frame tubes. The tubes on my frame looked as though they had been turned in a lathe. Those marks took a while to smooth out, but the aluminum was pretty soft. Once the tubes were relatively smooth, I used Barkeeper’s Friend (the kind for aluminum) to polish the aluminum finer, and get a shine.

It looks pretty good, I think. I may still clearcoat it if the bare metal corrodes, but I prefer the simplicity of just leaving it bare, and using Barkeeper’s Friend to clean it. Would love to do this to one of the 2.8 cantilevered frames, I think that would look awesome. Good project to keep me busy during the downtime and steady rain of the past few weeks.






NDS

Rear Dropout

Weld textures ordinarily hidden by paint

Finished?

Ironfish653

Looks really good. I'd just leave it as is, and maintain with something like Mother's mag wheel polish.
Could also go with a basic black graphics package (downtube and headbadge) IIRC the 2016 Synapse came in a 'Raw' finish, that was just that. Looked mega.

curbtender

This showed up at the recycling yard years ago and a fellow worker saved it for me. One of the dropouts seems to be worn more and the wheel sits cockeyed when fully dropped in. Built it up with JB weld, but I may end up grinding a little on the drive side. Seat tube measure c-t is 54cm.

Lemond1985

My SR500 is like that too. For years I used to cock the rear hub a bit when clamping down the rear wheel, so that the wheel "looked even" between the seatstays. And for years I'd get a broken rear axle about once a year. Until I figured out to just let the wheel sit all the way into the dropouts, and ever since then, there have been no more broken axles.

That one could be a candidate for paint stripping. There's a Terminator lurking under that paint job. I'd love to use something like this for my head tube badge:

flying_rhino

A 2.8 like this one? The frame's hanging in my garage since I reduced the number of bikes I own, so if you ever get out to western SD look me up and I can give you a deal on the frame & fork!

Lemond1985

That looks wicked! Those frames really polish up nicely, don't they? And no worries about rust.

curbtender

Quick question. Anyone mount a front rack on that low rider eyelet? I see it's not threaded and goes through the fork. I would guess you just run a bolt all the way through?

joluja 

Couldn’t pass this up a few weeks back since I have a soft spot for Cannondales and everything Campagnolo. It was a bit rough but totally original (I swapped out the Sampson clipless pedals)..

hazetguy 

Nice! really clean, and very uncommon.
Welcome to the Athena SR900 club! I'd be curious as to what your serial number is to see how close it is to mine.
i've been doing a few things to mine to make it more user friendly. It's a nice rider!

joluja 

Thanks! 58030689137

curbtender

I was out buying a 10 speed group for a project. When I told him it was for a 93' Cannondale, this came out...85' sc300 with owners manual. Has been upgraded over the years.

RiddleOfSteel

I really wish vintage Cannondale paint was more durable than it is. They're so lovely, but it doesn't take much to make them look nicked up. Fortunately with a black paint pen, it'll look dynamite in no time, with no color-matching anxiety!

fasthair

@joluja ​​hazetguy There was one of these for sale around here 3 years ago that I posted just for the sake of archiving such a cool bike. As I said in this thread if this one was my size I would have owned it. Still kind of wish I had bought it. I mean it's not like it was that much too big.

fasthair

curbtender

It has a metal flake to it. I'm going to try some touch up paint that came with my Infinity. Definently wont hurt it.

RiddleOfSteel

Ah, right, they did have metallic black. I've still used the black paint pen because it was a whole lot better than nothing. Your solution will be even better.

curbtender

Should have used the black pen. The paint had some pearl in it so it's a tad grey.

RiddleOfSteel

Dang, that's a bummer. It's still a serious looking bike with cool flashes of white--it'll be good and a repainting/re-coating can always happen later if you like.

bigalo

This is a Beautiful bike!