'89 Cannondale SR500 "Black Lightning"

A few weeks ago I came across a black Cannondale for sale close to home. Went on spot to take a look and ended up buying it.. although I negotiated a bit 'cause the paint's not in good shape.
There are spots where the paint has bubbled due to some dust under it (I believe this is called alumina, caused by the aluminum's corrosion).

The serial no. says it's from '89 and after sifting through some catalogs, I found out that it's the model SR500, "Black Lightning" edition. Size is perfect for me, a 56 square.

This is how it looked the day I bought it:

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8668/16685362895_9122d4b4b2_h.jpg

Around these "bubbles", the paint comes off quite easily if scratched, but other than that it's in good shape, so I decided to keep the original paint if I manage to work around the decals (which are almost intact).
The idea is to only paint around the affected areas, which are already sanded and cleaned up:

I still need to find the right paint, sand the overlapping areas and then apply some 2k coating.

And if all this doesn't work, I'll try to find the original decals and respray it completely black, but I was thinking in adding a personal touch: rainbow sparkle (tamiya ps 53 for those who know it)..

black lightning!!!!!!

Hehe, I know! Seems this edition's quite rare..

Otherwise, thanks to @Gaston_Fr this will be the groupset I'll be putting on it:

I also found a headset in my price range, it should arrive within a week..

The groupset won't be 100% complete, I'm still missing the brake levers and seatpost, which are awfully expensive on the bay..

Nice!

I found a NOS one.

Doesn't say "black lightning" on it though, weirdly enough.

Mine is a 54.. But with a 55.5cm top tube :-/

If you do choose to repaint, you have to be wary of the plastic guides on the TT. They attach with weird little pins that need to be hammered through into the tube and shaken out --- if you break one they are nearly impossible to find!

The super-oldschool logo is excellent.

There are CAAD7 Black Lightening re-issues - also hens teeth. Came with BB30 and the original SI chainset...but in black.

@D_Mars Great find! Mine it only says black lightning on the left part of the right base, close to the rear dérailleur's hanger.. I think the stem had the logo too but it's long gone, the previous owner painted over it..
Good to know about the cable guides, they do seem hard to find so I was thinking of masking them before painting..
According to the serial number on yours, it was made in '89 but I think you have '90 model's forks?

@Howard yes, I saw a couple of those caad7 while researching infos on these ones, they're pretty sweet!

Some news on the paint, I managed to paint it and save most of the originals stickers. I had a reproduction of the cannondale one on the top tube and this is how it turned out, with its final clear coat:

I'll let it dry for a couple of days and then slowly start putting it together, I'm still missing some parts on the ssp's gruppo anyway..

Paint's bubbled up because this bike lived on a trainer. Cleaned up nicely!

Hadn't thought of that, but I don't think it's the sweat that did this.. I had another cannondale that had the exact same problem, but the owner rode it outside, he was in a club and all the components were quite used (and abused)..

So this is getting built slowly but surely:

Headset, bb, derailleurs and brakes are mounted.. but that's pretty much it. I haven't had the time to start lacing the hubs to some mavic open 4 cd rims I bought and I still need to find the pedals, brake levers and seatpost..

Track fork??

No, the original forks.. you can see they're drilled a couple of pictures back.. ;)

And actually I just bought this for a tenner:

A small but key update, found some time to finish lacing the wheels:

And here's the frame now, still need to fit the matching suntour bb:

Found the levers, but pedals are still MIA..

So nice!

Thanks!

Very nice!

Super nice!! And lovely groupset! Great job!

Thank you! By the way, if anybody has a pair of suntour superbe pro road pedals > PM me please..

I have a pair of 'suntour superbe' (not pro) they look pretty much the same... I'm slowly building a superbe pro groupset for my build as well.

I'm also after dt levers if you happen to have a spare set..?

Got tired of waiting to find the superbe pro pedals, so just put a pair I had laying around and took it out for a spin and take some pics:

More pics here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/49131693@N03/albums/72157650700108488

Big thanks to @Gaston for most of the parts and specially the bar tape!

Aw yiss!

Good work