Converting to disk/Frame repair.
 

Hi all,

I have a cannondale RT-1000 and was wanting to get a disk fork, non carbon. I have found that Santana makes them, but I was wondering if there was any other options? All of the forks that I have found in my searches are carbon, which I would rather not deal with.

Additionally the same tandem's water bottle mount threads on the mount under the downtube have become stripped, I was wondering if anyone knew if Cannondale would repair this? I haven't really found any private frame builders willing to mess with AL frames.

Thanks for your time!

Will a Santana fork work. I think they use a 1 1/4 in. steerer. Does Cannondale use that as well or are they 1 1/8th?

If your Cannondale has an 11/8 steerer then Co-Motion (co-motion.com) or R and E Cycles (http://www.rodcycle.com/) might make a fork for you. If these don't work out for you there are several fame builders who occasionally build tandems who might build you a fork.

Cannondale's have used 1.125 (1 1/8) steerers since 1996. Co-Motion has an OEM steel disc fork that would probably work pretty well on your Cannondale. The dimensions and rake are probably a little bit different (a tad shorter and a tad less rake), but that might not be a bad thing.

As for the water bottle bosses being buggered up, you might just call Cannondale tech support to see if they have a recommended solution. I think most bosses are bonded-in on aluminum frames so drilling out the old ones and bonding new ones in place shouldn't be all that hard... but that's merely a guess as it's nothing that I've ever done.

Is the boss spinning or stripped. If stripped, just go to a hardware store and get the next larger sized bolt and see it that works.

Can you heliocoil threads that small?

On the boss, if just stripped and still well seated in the frame...., If you can't get a heliocoil that small, I would go to the next closest size up (either metric or SAE) and carefully re-tap the threads and go to a larger bolt.
On the fork...If you email Cannondale's contact/tech suppport folks and actually get a meaningful response (not an automated "thank you for your question and we will get back to you on that.......like NEVER!) please do a follow up post here and share your success story with them.
Good luck.

Bill J.

I think Sheldon Brown has a tech page for rivnuts.

Ha! I hadn't used heliocoils in so long that I had forgotten about them! I'll give that a go, I hadn't really fooled with it at all yet.

I believe the fork is indeed a 1 1/8.

Has anyone else gone from canti's to disk on their front end? I was going to go with road BB7's. I've always felt that I would like a bit more braking power and confidence.

Thanks for the info!