Hi folks. I just wanted to get your thoughts on my newest acquisition, my 1987 Black Lightning. I picked this up off of craigslist from the original owner. The plan is to modernize it a bit. It took a spill and the guy put on a 105 RD. I think I will expand the group slowly. The crankset is shot.









oh yeah... I found these at home while I was visiting for the holidays


I've decided to post pics of the finished project for those of you who don't want to skim 4 pages of build thread. (If you want to see the agony, keep reading)...

Nice rig. If you modernize it, keep the original parts on hand since people like to keep these babies original in their all black coolness. Also, if it's too small for you I will happily take it off your hands as it appears to be my size...

Oh and I bet you'll be getting a PM shortly from a prolific C&V'er offering to buy your saddle

Love the JP Lotus look. Why don't they make them like ths anymore?

Love that bike. Did it come with a 7-speed cassette?

You can keep it pretty close to the OEM look with black 105 stuff.
I've been able to buy black 105 modern stuff (9s and 10s) for decent prices out of Taiwan.
I still have a couple of the bits.

That was my first and only Cannondale, bought as a used frameset in 2002 and built it up with mostly 105 parts. Beautiful lightweight and stiff bike with great handling. Sold me on aluminum road bikes and I have been riding one ever since......

That's quite the coincidence. Did the OP know you were on BF? I mean, how often does that happen?

I've always thought the Black Lightning was the best looking bike Cannondale released.

Beautiful

I love it. Nice find. The sinister factor is totally intact for a real head turner.

Yepper, that's my next bike right there. I'll hopefully snag one somewhere between now and summer. Ride that thing and let me/us know what you think of it.

The bike came with a seven speed freewheel and a different set of wheels. It is "borrowing" a set of wheels off my other bike as the stock set had crap tires and some wobble. I have it tuned to a six speed freewheel at this time.
Unfortunately, I had to leave town for a few days right after I picked it up, so I was only able to test the shifting. I'm excited about this thing because it's my first real performance based platform.
Moving forward, I am wondering about wheel compatability. The plan is to use a modern cassette hubbed wheelset. Do I need to worry about chainstay widths?

You can jam a 130mm rear wheel in and run modern components. Many of us have done it with old Cannondales. You can't "cold set" it though.

What's shot about the crankset ?

I guess "shot" is overstated. The chainring teeth are heavily worn.

You must have one that's been ridden like it was meant to but not quite the maintenance it required.

Have you inspected the frame for cracks?

I checked it out while I was wiping it down, nothing so far. Where do the cracks form on these frames?

I'm new to C-Dales but my son has an aluminum framed BMX....I check the joints/welds/stays. Not sure where the C's would have a prob.

Are there any chainrings out there that are black anodized? I have seen pics of the black lightnings with shiny alloy rings and cranksets and wondering if they wore the black off or scuffed them in wrecks so switched over to a more uniform look conventional chainring.

Who knows? I'm gonna stay as close to the solid black theme as I can. Does anyone recognize the headset? Mine is pretty beat up. (pics added to first post)

Help me learn. If you could only get replacement in silver or natural or whatever, and powdercoat it? The wear areas would scrape down but the other surfaces would remain black, right?

I'll PM you.

Lawn Darts! Cool! When my mother passed, my sister threw my Lawn Darts away out of some sense of safety. I still want a set. One of the best products liability examples of all time.

The chains were gold so it may be yours was replaced at some point? Or maybe it's me not seeing the chain clearly. Sorry I cant add any info on the headset.

I assume you've found the vintage cannondale site? I'm looking at the picture and specs for the '87 there.

https://66.147.244.179/~vintagm8/year/1987/1987.pdf

Strange to see the significant weight increase between the '87 and the '89....I'm talking LB's. If that is accurate I'm wanting the '87 like yours.

Looks awfully familiar.....hmmmm...



I have the original RD, you have the original saddle, go figure.

I found the yellow Cannondale bottle on eBay, I'd LOVE to find a second. My saddle is a Turbo special with gold rails, it fills in the for Volare SLX pretty well I think.

Nice bike, I have to approve

Hawt bike. I hope you get a lot of enjoyable miles out of it.

Whole hog, updated '87 BL. Didn't mind doing this since the original bits were all messed up. Went with a Tricolor 7 speed group.
Frame was powder coated, new decals, the whole schmear: