brixxton

Looks like I can't resist one. Black and Gold with Dura Ace gearset, the main reason I want it. It would be my only Aluminum frame, not counting the boat bike
What does the C&V guru's think of the Canondale ?
Being Alumium maybe I could build a fancy gravel bike for the boat? Deore gearset?

mstateglfr 

Huh?
Why would you use a crit frame for a gravel bike? And what does a boat have to do with anything?


Cannondale bikes are all over the forum. Take that as an overall view of the brand.

brixxton

any way I pulled the trigger...
Thanks for the input and you really didn't help. I was looking for an opinon from the folks I normally bang heads with as I repect if somewhat grudgingly sometimes.
Why put quality gear on a huffy,?
Why turn a sprinter into a gravel?

DMC707

since it is now in your possession you can take as many hours as you need to ponder the tire clearance and brake clearance afforded by the Cannondale criterion model. Take that information and make a determination on whether you should enter this into Unbound soon.
You will get a lot of applause on the rollout but will possibly be contemplating why this was not the best idea at mile five

It is a fine frameset. Fast, stiff and responsive are all Words accurately described for this bike . If you are not familiar with criterium racing it might be worth a Google. I have owned two of these bikes over the years and including 1988 when they were current. Criterium racing is a little bit like track racing in that it requires something stiff, responsive, and the current fashionable trend towards big fluffy wide tires is not applicable (as much)
Throw on a set of brifters of your favorite flavor and the bike would still be competitive in your USCF category. (Just assuming that category is not pro 1/2)

It would also be perfect accompaniment on a seafaring vessel. As you pull into port you can rest easy knowing that you have aggressive pedal powered transportation To get you to the bar.

Your bike has been dragged through the parks been a little bit but the parts do appear to be pretty nice, So you can offset the purchase of that current Shimano GRX group set and 38C tires

Bianchigirll 

You only gave an hour on a sunday night to get opinions?

Interesting mix of parts. I kind of agree that tire clearance makes this an odd choice for a gravel bike. I used to know a guy who did cyclocross on '86ish Cannondale and even with the smallest 'cross tubulars he had very little tire clearance. Putting anything bigger than a x25 might be tricky

brixxton

I realized that for 1bill I would have regretted not picking it up especially being half campy and half Dura Ace , campy rims. Riding it down from Daly City its very quick but super twitchy ,the wind wasn't helping but I got a lot more than I was expecting. Now I need to figure out whiçh steed it's gonna replace.
Would anyone have passed on this? I know the bottoms falling out of the used bike market but I have to keep my stable in single digits.
You're right the Gravel idea, terrible.

pastorbobnlnh 

Great find! I have a '93 R600 2.8 and really enjoy the quick and lively ride. Mine is spaced 130mm and I've set it up with modern 9-speed gear and plan to update to 10-speed later this year.

As far as gravel is concerned, it's a no-go due to the lack of large tire clearance. Depending on the manufacturer, the largest I've known anyone to succeed in were 28mm wide tires. Most owners must resign themselves to 25mm widths and smaller (IIRC they came with 22-23mm tires).

Your Cannondale did come with an interesting assortment of high-end components. We C-Dale riders look forward to how you build it up to your own personal preferences.

RB1-luvr

I raced a couple of these when they were new. They were perfect battle axes for crits, but other than that I did not like them. They are brutal on less than perfect roads, which is all the roads here in New England.

jdawginsc 

Ditto the above. It was a steal at $100. You will be lucky to get 25s on there.

That said, the components more than make up the price you paid.

I’d just ride it on decent road jaunts and enjoy.

please re-cable the brakes though...be sure the cable follows the bend of the bars and tape. Then wrap the bars.

Breadfan

I have an R300 and the clearance for the frames are about the same. I wanted to try gravel so I squeezed 30mm tires on mine, and that was with grinding the rear brake bridge to get it to clear and getting a longer reach caliper (to move it up a little) , plus I had to remove the FD because the cable would not clear the rear tire. I only did it because it's all I had and if I had to go back, I would not do it. Although I have put 500 miles of gravel riding on it, it constantly throws rocks, sticks, leaves, into the the front and rear brakes, many times making me stop and clear the obstruction. Mud? nope. it will clog bigtime. It's twitchy and it really makes you pay attention to where you are going to say the least. It is not an ideal, or even the slightest idea of a gravel bike. But, it has gotten me out and now I'm building a dropbar bike made for the off road but I cannot wait to get off of the R300 and get to some real gravel biking. I would have jumped all over that deal you got too for 100 bucks but I would move everything over to a more gravel friendly frameset. Surprisingly, I've only had one flat!

Mr. 66

Yes you did goof... lol, at least on your title.

Hondo6

Nice score, but as others have said it might not be a good choice for conversion to a gravel bike.

If you do decide to use it as your "boat bike" and that boat will be used primarily in salt water, you might want to keep a close eye on the bike - both the components and the frame.

A saltwater environment - including ocean spray - can be somewhat unkind (AKA corrosive) to aluminum.

IAmSam

For a while now I have noticing a phenomenon showing up in other bicycle discussions and here it is as well. Questioners, like this one, have gotten more aggressive in how they respond to answers that are not what they want. Who would expect to be attacked for giving the correct answer about this very nice bike's lack of gravel DNA?

Classtime 

Cool. brixxton should be convinced that this Cannondale is not a Gravel Bike (and I will add that Aluminum bikes do not belong on boats). Therefore, he should send it my way in return for one of my Motobecanes which would make great gravel bikes

DMC707

I probably would , but the vast majority of CV'ers would not (only ecause im burned out on projects and just want to ride now -- but $100 is an awesome deal. If parted out, the crankset is worth more than that

Sell that and use the proceeds to purchase a correct Dura Ace 7400 crankset, bottom bracket (im hoping the Campagnolo crank is not jammed onto the stock bottom bracket with JIS spindle flats), and left side shifter and its good to go.

Perhaps you can drill a 3 hole Look pattern into the bottom of your topsiders to complete the boat bike ensemble properly while still pedaling in a sporty fashion

Shiver me timbers

Chr0m0ly 

Awesome AWESOME bikes.


I’ve had two, a pristine Black lightning and a ratty SR500.
They take off like a scalded cat!

they don’t have clearance for more than a 25mm wide tire, you can sometimes find one that’ll go to 28mm

I love repurposing bikes (well anything) for fun and challenge, and I would toss a 650b wheel set on here for fatter tires on a tight geo bike. The tight clearance will HELP with getting brakes that reach.

wasn’t that the original purpose of the size, guys? To get race bikes onto the trail?

oh, but USE FENDERS, old Cannondale paint has a tendency to fall off the aluminum frame if you look at it wrong 😂

I ended up moving my two crits along because I like storage on a bike for a sweater and a sandwich, but I've been thinking about getting another beater canny crit. The Lightning just felt too precious to ride, would never be comfortable locking it anywhere... Beautiful bike, but just not for me.

That blue beater bike with a fork I replaced was ugly and anreal scream to hoon around. I never thought I'd miss it more than the Lightning, but there it is 😂

Breadfan

30mm Gravel. Pushing the limits.

Bad Lag

That bike was the beginning of the end for the bike design trend which saw super-short wheel base, extremely upright tube angles, brutally stiff frames forks and near-zero tire clearance.

No doubt, it looks cool, especially in black (red is better, ). No doubt it has good components. No doubt $100 was a great price.

When they first came out, I wanted to buy one.

Personally, I would not buy it at any price as a rider. As a gravel bike, if I understand that term correctly, it is the perfectly WRONG bike.


P.S. - Is that a humongous dent in the drive side chain stay? Ah, yes, now I remember. Thanks to Chr0m0ly for reminding me. So tight, there isn't even clearance for the crank arms to spin.

Chr0m0ly 

Those are for clearence, the "dents" are put in on purpose to clear the crank arm. All the 80's and early 90s cannondales have them. They were put in before alignment and tempering, so not even a stress riser. Those chain stays are like an inch in diameter. The two in my post both have them if you zoom in 👍

Piff 

brixxton
I agree with the others, part it out and use the funds to fund a frame that is actually capable for gravel. If it's going to be a 'boat bike', I'd recommend something like a 70s Raleigh Supercourse made with straight gauge (i.e. thick) Reynolds 531 tubing. They're ubiquitous and have plenty of room for tire clearance with 700c wheels. The thick tubing will stand up to years of punishment of rust if things go poorly on the boat. And you won't cry if it rusts through after 10 years or so, there's a million of them. I'd still give it a good once-over with frame-protection on both the inside and outside of the bike.

Yeah it won't be lightweight...but this is a gravel-boatbike (bicycle manufacturers, get cracking. You've a new niche to fill.) You don't want thin tubing near all that saltwater.

brixxton

Is this proprietary to the year/model I can't find any similar, cheers
It's definitely a keeper and with my Super Sport Schwinn and Reparto Corse Bianchi i feel lucky.
i need help. there is a sweet Bianchi, 600 Arabesque, Brooks saddle on S.F. CList for
$100 or offers. Please pick it up before I do!!!

Classtime 

I believe your bike was purchased as a frame and built to the buyers specs. Hence no R600 or R###

TireLever-07

Looks like a smaller diameter wheel. On the back of the subject bike. cheers

pastorbobnlnh 

I believe the rims are the same, but the brand of tires (and thus the size) is different. Mismatched tires goes well with the rest of the build.

mstateglfr 

A "I am thinking about buying this crit bike with an infamously stiff and limited clearance rear triangle."
B "Why would you want to use a crit bike on gravel?"
A "Why WOULDNT I do that?!?!"


I have noticed this narrative often plays out with someone who wants to try out gravel, doesnt want to spend money on a new bike(reasonable), and wants to repurpose a bike for frame they already have since its easier/cheaper.
It really seems to be seen in the c&v forum too, since repurposing/upcycling/saving is a natural mentality within the forum, and many are borderline hoarders so they have plenty of frames, wheels, etc.

Everyone is different in terms of comfort and stability tolerance, and everyone rides on surfaces that vary widely. With that said, I just dont understand why anyone would want to ride general gravel using anything smaller than a 32. And really, that would be for situations where the gravel is a brief connector to paved, or it is dry smooth hardpack.
Anything where gravel is the predominant surface for the ride and it isnt just a hardpack limestone path or dry smooth hardpack, I would want at least a 38mm tire. I use 43 now because why not- it isnt goofy wide and it allows for plenty of size to help ensure the tire doesnt dig into the loose surface, and gives me some build in comfort for the rough surfaces.



On a similar note, I wouldnt want to try downhill skiing for the first time with cross country skis.