I found a Cannondale Black Lightning frame on craigslist and want to know if I am getting a good deal. I posted the link to the ad below. He's selling for $250 but I talked him down to $160. My concern is that it's only the frame and I don't want to have to spend a ton of money adding cranks and wheels etc. I wouldn't mind going multi or single gear. Whatever would be cheapest/most convenient. Can anyone help me out?

https://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/bik/3185171806.html

To do this 'cheaply', you need a donor bike. Look for one with nice components that is very very tall- it will be less expensive. Pretty much any american/japanese brand would do.

Unfortunately, unless you are very resourceful on acquiring parts cheap, and have the time/tools/aptitude to do all the work, this will not be a cheap project. Better off finding a complete bike.

Acquiring parts cheap is not buying parts used on ebay, +1 its finding a suitable donor bike. I just finished building up a Fuji Robaix with a Schwinn Passage donor bike I picked up this weekend. What made the Passage a good donor? Decent components, complete, but heavily damaged frame (so the price was low).

It is VERY easy to get upside down on a frame build, where you could have bought a complete bike for A LOT less. And it really only kind of makes sense if you can do all the work yourself.

It looks like there may be a spare dent in the chainstay?

What is this all about? Looks like a real MickeyMouse single speed setup of some kind. Unless you can easily thread a Derailleur bolt into that hanger I would not buy this at any price.



As for building it.... I agree with the above look for a donor bike. Also you are somewhat limited to a 6 or 7 speed freewheel or cassette hub on this frame. You can't coldset it (have the rear triangle respaced) to accept 8+ speed wheels.

One last thing without all the original black Suntour parts there is nothing special about a BlackLightning

The dent was put there at the factory for crankarm clearance prior to heat treating.

Vertical dropouts aren't SS/FG friendly, though it's been done many times. It looks to be a metric bolt in the hanger and as long as the threads weren't damaged can be built as a multi speed bike. You can get it running cheaply with parts from a spare bike fairly cheaply and save up for black parts that are "in the spirit" of a BL, or just ride the second bike.

If what is in the pictures is what is for sale (more than the usual frameset), then you'll need a saddle, wheelset, RD, FD, braze-on FD hanger, crankset, BB, shifter cables/housing and shifters.

Brad

+1 on the donor bike.

The frameset as it sits is a steal at $160 IMO and finished bike will be well worth the effort to get it on the road. Nice find.

Check the whole frame carefully for damage. Esp. rear dropouts, see if anything is bent. Maybe they installed 110m OLD track hub and compressed the dropouts/rear-triangles in, who knows.

If that's exactly what you want it's still a good deal barring fatal damage. Ask owner if he has original bits n pieces lying around.

Ok I apologize I shouldn't have said "cheap". I don't mind how much its going to take to add the components I just want to make sure I'm getting a good deal on the frame? So far its been mixed. Should I lower my offering price if he doesn't have any of the original parts? Thanks to everyone who has responded. Much appreciated. I could use all the help I could get

erose22, $160 for everything pictured is a good deal, if the frame fits (looks to be a 58 or 60 cm).


Brad

Now would I be better off trying to find parts for a single or multi speed? I've been going back and forth with the 2. I have another Cannondale w gears so I was going to use this one as a project to restore. I'm pretty new to road bikes still but confident that I can restore it. Just looking for some suggestions

Like others have said.. the rear deraileur bolt attachment is kind of frightening.. try to thoroughly look through the bike first.. look for dents or bends that will affect the ride quality

I agree with BianchiGirll, without the original components, it's simply a black Cannondale frame.

Not that it can't be a good value and really nice, especially if you find a donor bike.

It can be really cool done back up in modern stuff, all black, but the cost/value ratio would be well over 1.

Restoring, and buying the pieces you need individually, with patience, can put you on a pretty cool, very close restoration for a decent price. They're out there. Much easier would be to simply find black items you need and install them. You have some of the parts, so the shifters, FD/RD/crankset/wheels are what's left.

That's an ingenious single-speed approach to the rear dropout, but he/she should have at least painted it black.

$160 on the frame is OK if the RD area isn't buggered up by the rigging.

As I always noted in these BL threads, there was also the special option from Cannondale that sold them as just framesets with a special black and gold anodized Suntour Superbe Pro derailleur set (I don't remember exactly, but it might have included a similarly finished Superbe headset too) that makes it more special than the package that came with the fully built bikes. Finding those derailleurs would make any Black lightning more desirable.
My brother still has one that he bought new in the 80's and I'm hoping he restores the thing back to it's former glory soon.....
Here's a not so clear pic of the gold and black Superbe Pro RD from his BL that he traded me for my Cyclone MkII many years ago because he wanted a more weight weenie RD:

I've since given it back to him so he can restore his BL back to original one day....


Chombi

I still think it is a great bike and not just a cannondale. You already have bunch of black parts like the original brake set and it has gold decals (paint). C-dale alluminum frames are probably the best production aluminum frames you can buy. Period. The tension is well thought out but then you have a gap between the axle and the drop out and that is just stupid. SO I would use a proper drop-out mounted tension assuming he bough the proper bolt and didn't bugger the hanger threads.

thanks for the replies. i will most likely buy the frame tomorrow and just look for black parts. keep the replies coming! i can always use the help with finding parts, advice on parts etc

"Restore" to me means to return it to original spec, which would mean a geared build with the original black-and-gold components. If you're willing to pay top dollar it shouldn't take long to track down the original-spec parts; if you're needing to keep the budget low you could be hunting for a while.

If you're not looking to restore it, then you're just looking to build it up. If you want to build it with vintage period-correct but not original-spec equipment, you could go either geared or fixed; ditto if you want to mix vintage and modern equipment. Keep in mind the vertical drops make chain length/tension difficult building fixed unless you use a modern rear wheel w/eccentric hub/axle, or install a modern Phil eccentric bb. It's not impossible to go fixed without an eccentric hub or bb, but it can be a pain.

Do check the frame for alignment and cracks, aluminum frames are less likely to bend than steel but more likely to crack. The extra hole drilled into the rear drive-side dropout for the makeshift wheel stop would be at least a minor concern to me. There's a fair amount of beef in the dropouts, but the hole is in an unusual spot (compared to, say, a rack/fender hole). If you don't see any small cracks radiating from the hole it likely won't be a problem, but it's generally not a great idea to be adding holes in random spots that normally don't get drilled.

Just as a FWIW, hearses in Japan are black-and-gold like just like the Black Lightning. SunTour Japan staffers never really understood the appeal of the color scheme, some of them were slightly creeped out by the whole idea. The Black Lightning was usually internally referred to as "the hearse bike," and the color scheme was called "the hearse finish." I always thought the Black Lightnings looked cool built up.

Thanks for the "hearse" info, I have one of these bikes and found that interesting.

These frames have almost trackbike-like frame geometry, "north" of 75 degrees on my 56cm.

I'm not thrilled with the extra hole being drilled in the dropout, would pay about $80 for that frame if that.

Agree with DDDD....not worth over 100.00 if that. I bought one with all the original parts for 200.00 in great shape. Didnt like it....too harsh of a ride....sold it to DDDD for the same price. Wait for something like a vintage steel allez with the 600 tri color group for 200.00...better ride...cheaper....last longer

There has been at least one aluminum bicycle featured in this forum over 100 years old, this Cannondale can out last anyone reading this thread so how long does it need to last?

Brad

Well, yeah, but any frame's reliability comes down to a builder's quality-control and testing, and this frame was never tested with that hole in perhaps the most highly-stressed location in the entire frame.
The R&D will be at the new owner's expense you could say.

I have an '89 Raleigh Technium PRE that is black and I've swapped out most of the components to black. You can find the stuff but it probably wont be standard to the BL if you cant find a donor bike. There are black chainsets/cranks over at Nashbar that look snazzy and are very reasonable in the "road double" 53/39 version. For 50.00 it was a good deal and exactly what I was looking for. If you go that route, be prepared to also swap out the BB for the ISIS integrated unit. It's easy and cheap.

Dia-Compe makes sets of black sidepull brake calipers, rims/wheels might be a little more challenging but quite available.

The other day while resting in the shade on a distance ride an older lady was staring at the black bike. She looked at me and said, "that is a pretty bike". I would have preferred "villainous" but I knew what she meant.

Black Lightnings are my dream bike but since they are so difficult to find and usually priced in the 500.00 range.....my PRE will do just fine.

The dropouts are pretty beefy, but if the OP is concerned a screw can be threaded and lock tighted in that hole.

Brad

Or have the hole tigged up by an area shop.