vqstaphbeard

I love these older cannondales and are pretty much the only time I stray from steal. That black lightning is awesome!

human33

I agree...

pouncingmailbox

I love these older cannondales and have been using them to commute to work for the past 3 years year round in Minnesota and Iowa. The red one fits fat studded tires and fenders for the winter months and the black one is my summer speed machine! At this point I wouldn't even consider trading or buying another bike.

Henry III

I'm building up my first C'dale as we speak. It's a 93 H400 that I picked up as just a frame for $25. Being it's a hybrid it's got some decent clearance for some chunky rubber and uses canti's. I always like the cantilevered dropouts on these early 90s Cannondales. I'm only halfway done with the build but I'm excited to finish it and try it out. Decked out in a mixture of 80's Campy goodness and have that Italian flare but with a gravel grinder intent.

bobbyl1966

this is my bike. I not know what year is made.

OldsCOOL

Very nice, Bobby! You can find the date of the build in the serial number stamped on one of the rear stays, go to the vintage cannondale site and track it down quickly.

OldsCOOL

Here is my '88 Cannondale Criterium Series from one of our summer evenings in August.

bobbyl1966

Nice bike you have. How much cost that vuelta wheels you have in your bike. What size crank and cassete you have in your bike

OldsCOOL

Wheels are the 1500gr Corsa Lite from Nashbar, approx 245.00 the set. Crankset is a road double 53/39 and cassette is a Shimano HG 12-28 7 speed. The front fork is a vintage aluminum Litage FX. With a few weight savings parts it will come in low 18lbs.

bike_forever

I had a 1987 Black Lightning (SR700?) with Cinelli and Suntour Superb Pro components all blacked-out! It was a great bike and was in perfect condition. I really should have never sold it.

kwcahart

I just acquired a 1995 Cannondale R300, a beautiful dark green color, looks brand new. Trouble is I can't seem to match it with any of the bikes on the old Cannondale sites. It has RSX group, 26-36-46 chain rings, a seven speed 12-25 rear end which appears to be a cassette type. The brifters were so stuck I had to remove them and soak them in mineral spirits overnight to get the old grease out of them so they would index. Now they both shift okay. The chain rings are worn out, the chain is worn out and must be replaced. I think the cassette is probably okay, but some of those cogs don't look the best. Any comments or constructive suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Ken.

bradtx

Ken, A picture would help. Is the frame designated R300?

Brad

Spaghetti Legs 

My wife has the exact bike, dark green, almost black R300. Same specs, Shimano RSX, that we bought in 1996, but probably is a 1995 model. It was the first bike with brifters for either of us. The left shifter crapped out a while back and I "temporarily" replaced it with an Ultegra shifter. Dang those RSX shifters are expensive! The brakes on it don't compare to the higher level Shimano stuff, but otherwise the bike has been rock solid and a workhorse for years. It's been collecting dust now and I was actually planning on selling it this spring.

kwcahart

Brad; yes the frame is designated R300. Spaghetti Legs, these are beautiful bikes. You can probably fix your left shifter by taking it off the bike and soaking it overnight in a good parts cleaner/solvent and then blow it out with high pressure air. If the little spring that goes inside the front cap isn't correct it will not work also. Take the shift cable out first, it makes the job much easier. I am thinking about making mine a 3 X 9 speed but haven't decided if I want to spend the extra bucks. Also, don't try to put anything but 23 size tires on it, they won't fit. I bought 700c X 25 gatorskins and put them on. I had a really hard time getting the rear wheel back on, the 25 size tire pushes up against the front derailleur so hard you almost can't get the wheel on. Anyway, I am going to fix it up with new gears and chain and different tires and ride it. I also have a nice Fuji that I ride most of the time. I really like this forum, there is a mountain of info here.

bradtx

Ken, Two possibilities why your R300 is equipped more like a R500. One is that a PO added the integrated shifters and triple, along with a long cage RD or that Cannondale made a running production change. Because Spaghetti Legs has the same bike, I think the latter possibility is more likely. Unusual in the extent of the change, but I've had, I think, three Cannondales and one Trek that differed from a catalog.

Brad

qcpmsame 

I was thinking much the same as Brad when I read kwcahart's post, it sounds like an R500, RSX group was added to the R300 frameset, to me. The RSX line is nice, good working stuff, the shifter/brake assemblies can get gunked up, as he said happened, but they can be easily cleaned up with a little work. The 95 catalog shows the 93 as you described, but with the double chainring set up and the R500 having the triple. Might be a dealer upgrade, also, the triple brifter, derailleur and crankset/bb are all that would be needed . The dark green is really a nice looking bicycle, it should be great when you finish it up.

From experience I'll suggest not to try and take an RSX brifter apart unless you are familiar with their design and construction. They can get expensive, as said, ebay prices are sometimes scary for them. There is someone on ebay that rebuilds the RSX mechanisms, you may have some luck with a member here knowing who that is. If you got them sorted out and shifting correctly you should hang on to them, my old '97 R500T is still in use by my daughter and with no issues what so ever.

If you can post the serial number it can be decoded easily at the Vintage Cannondale site. I'd love to see some pictures of the bicycle, if you could. Any 'Dale is worth saving to me, JMHO. Also, Welcome to the Forum.

OldsCOOL

Trek, in my experience is notorious for throwing on components (differing from brochure info) to complete a bike. Good parts, just causes some headscratching when you acquire a bike.

greg3rd48 

I have a '94 Cannondale R600 that I acquired on CL about one year ago and I have put easily 2000 miles on it and have ridden it for over 60 miles at a clip. I absolutely love it. Yes it is a bit stiff but it is responsive and a smooth, fast ride. It has a Kestel EMS composite fork and a Cane Creek headset that a previous owner put on it but I don't know if that improved its original design or detracted from it. The current rims are Mavic Cosmos, Mavic (unknown which). It goes to say I really enjoy this bike.

kwcahart

The chain rings are worn out and I have a set ordered plus a new chain. Surprising to me is the rear cassette, it looks new, hardly any paint worn off the teeth. I know the original owner pretty well, and he said he never changed anything on the bike. I will get and post a picture tonight or in the morning. It is a beauty, I can't hardly wait to ride it. I also put Shimano 105 pedals on it so now I have to change my shoe cleats. One thing leads to another doesn't it? Oh well, it's a great hobby, and I love working on the bikes. I will also post the SN, but basically all it says is that it is a '95 and a bunch of sequence numbers.

Spaghetti Legs 

Too late on the advice not to take the shifter apart! I've got the paddle soaking in mineral spirits as we speak. Thanks for the tip.

Here's an R500 I came across today:

cannondale r500 road bike

OTS 

The paint job on that Cannondale is so awesome.

Iridescent blue to purple fade.

Reminds me of a Klein Mountain Bikes

kwcahart

Spaghetti Legs, you don't have to take the shifter apart to make it work, just remove it from the handle and soak the entire thing in solvent until you get all the old grease off. Then lube it with either a good dry lube or Triflow or Breakfree. There is an excellent video on how to do this on youtube, just google "Shimano RSX Shifters", and it will come right up.

On the 1995 Cannondale, here is the serial number stampings on the bottom of the BB. It does not match exactly what Cannondale says it should look like:

First line: GAB1 - 302 06159
2nd line 116553 5BON46

Between the 116533 and 5BON46 is the screw hole that holds the shifter cable router. The GA should be January 1995, but there is no explanation what the B1 -302 is on the Cannondale site. Also the 5BON46 is the frame code, but that doesn't tell me much???? What is a good file size for pictures??

qcpmsame 

SpaghettiLegs,
If its apart the crying is over and now you need to get the springs reset properly. there was someone here that had gotten this accomplished, maybe they will meerkat and give you some help, if you need. I made the mistake of taking the front covers off and that released the spring from its point. I tried a few times, loaded the R500 up and took it in to the LBS, took the mechanic maybe an hour to thoroughly clean them, check them over, reassemble them and mount them, along with cables and then he indexed everything for me. Great shop, BTW, I get everything there, including the new CAAD 10, in 2012. My daughter still uses the R500 for her riding, no issues to date.

Like KW said, taking them apart isn't really necessary, but its a moot point. SRAM is the same, I cleaned mine last summer when they felt sluggish while shifting, now its smooth and just as they were when new. I did spray things inside with some Bel Ray light lubricant, for applications like this, not too thick at all.

Hope that you post where everything is back in place tomorrow, best of luck and be sure to follow up, I bet you can get it together, unlike my feeble attempts.

Bill

kwcahart

An update on the 1995 Cannondale R300. I talked to the previous owner this morning, he told me they bought the bike brand new and has never changed a component. After looking at the '94, '95 and '96 Cannondale catalogs I think I know what has happened. The bike shop that sold this bike had to have upgraded it to the same group as the '95 R500, or maybe it came from the factory like that. The R300 had downtube shifters and a double crank, the R500 had the RSX STI shifters and a triple crank, just like the R300 I have. So, I guess I have an R500 with an R300 sticker. The frames and everything else from the factory is the same, so I really do have an R500. I wonder if I can get a sticker?? ha ha. I might just put it right in front of the R300 sticker.

OldsCOOL

Ride the crap out of that thing this summer! Cannondales beg for that.