Cannondale ATB commuter + 2.8 series road bike

Rebuilding a thing after a few years of disuse.

The frame is a size 22" Cannondale SM from 1987. Wheel size is 26" both front and back, as opposed to the mullet version with 24" in the back (the rear drop-outs are helpfully stamped 26). I got the presumably original fluted Sugino seatpost with the frameset, which based on the 1987 US catalogue would make this either SM500 or SM600 -- though I assume the difference between the models was just the groupset / finishing kit. Colour looks like "lavender" listed elsewhere in the same catalogue.

I found a photo of my original build from 2017 in the CP chat thread:

Later I tried old 3TTT dirt drop bars which didn't quite work for me despite the massive head tube, so now I'm going with upright bars.

A few more photos of the frameset in flickr.

That's really nice

That is fantastic.

oh yes

How do you like those roller cam brakes?

Honestly I don't think they make much sense, but these are actually pretty nicely made parts and fun just because. From what I remember braking power was comparable to cantilevers. An obvious downside is that there's not a huge amount of clearance for mudguards under the cam.

interesting brakes.
same principle is used on modern aero Trek Madones for instance. their performance is pretty good actually. i guess this wedge pull design can be refined

The bottom bracket is really high. Obviously I knew this, but it still managed to surprise me a bit when riding the bike (or getting off the bike to be precise). Brakes are pretty much as I remembered them. They work, but I don't see much of a betamax effect here. Of course it's possible I haven't set them up perfectly.

Next up mudguards. I wanted to use stainless steel Gilles Berthouds. A local shop sells them, but 60mm wide 26" guards were out of stock and apparently GB aren't making the wide version at the moment due to material shortage. I had unused SKS guards in the parts bin, but they turned out to be some extra wide version (I have no idea what I've meant to use these for). I guess I'll try to grab something cheap, and think about the GBs later.

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@SteadyCam

very bobish

Maybe mostly finished for now. Some random thoughts:

• I'm not 100% sold on the green saddle 😬 (my excuse is that it cost a little less than the normal retail price).
  
• Installing mudguards was the usual joyless bodge fest. Feels a bit like a wasted effort since I couldn't get the stainless GBs.
  
• Handlebars and associated paraphernalia probably still need some tweaking. I think I'll at least lower the bars. Other than that the bike feels fine, relatively speaking :-)
  
• Super C saddle bag with the quick release support rack seems great for my commuting needs. Size is perfect for a 14" laptop, and a D lock just about fits in a side pocket.
  

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Amazing looking bike. Looks a bit like The Joker with the purple and green!
If you're interested in a SMP Drakon in black let me know.

@motoko Thanks! The purple/green reference dawned on me only after I put the saddle on, and I'm not sure I can get behind it. I was thinking I could either balance it out with bright grips (like pink or yellow), or swap a black Dynamic from my drop bar tourer.

As you happened to mention Drakon, I was actually wondering whether Dynamic was the best choice for such an upright position, but maybe I'll need to do some more riding. Also I don't live in the UK which could make posting less appealing.

A very handsome bike. Top build. Love these Cannondales. I wonder if it is less capable that a bike straight from the shop. I suppose disc brakes make a difference but not sure how much.

Ta! I genuinely like the aesthetics of early MTBs, but I suppose for me part of the attraction is precisely in the obsolete design. I'm not much of a mountain biker, but I wouldn't want to ride this in the same places that I've ridden confidently on a relatively modern 26er hard tail -- and that's firstly because of how the bike handles rather than the brakes. (Sorry if I'm stating the obvious!)

Yes, I agree the 'Dale is very appealing visually. You've inspired me to consider a build of similar nature to your own, Where I live in Yorkshire isn't so demanding for mtb riding - more easy going trails like the Trans Pennine path. Performance isn't the first criteria. Rather comfort is. A retro mtb or indeed a touring bike would suffice.

Sure, and one perk of this frame is that I can just about get away with using a road chainset. At least for me personally this makes for much more pleasant riding compared to a wider stance MTB set. Though not everyone is similarly bothered by wide Q factor, from what I've gathered.

Did an image search on the Trans Pennine trail, looks lovely.

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I'm not 100% sure where I should put this, but since I'm upgrading my other old Cannondale, maybe there's enough turd polishing synergy to justify a mashup thread.

The goal is getting my one and only road bike off the smart trainer and out on some actual roads. The original idea was some TLC, maybe a new chain and cassette, but that plan went down the drain when I scored a partial SRAM Red upgrade group at a MASSIVE DISCOUNT! ...unsurprisingly, the final cost is ending up to be somewhat less palatable ¯_(ツ)_/¯.

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This is roughly what the bike looked like before going on the trainer, sans the ugly bottle cages and with somewhat grubbier bar tape. A nineties Cannondale 2.8 (1994 I believe), carbon forks have tapered steerer, 1 1/8" to 1 1/4". I do also have the original aluminium sub-1 forks, but I've never tried them.

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Rest of the Red swag 🙄. Line drawn at the power meter option, and front derailleur is Rival.

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Following. Recently picked up an identical frame and looking for inspiration (not Sram Red-level, but other stuff e.g. forks.)

Presumably you had to change the headset for the tapered forks, yes? If so, what did you go for?

Yeah, the frame had straight 1 1/8" headset with shims/adapters when I bought it. The tapered forks and headset were NOS (no idea why I ended up using Hope for the top, possibly just had a set unused). I built the bike originally in 2016, and haven't really looked since how common the 1 1/4" tapered stuff is. If it's any help, the headset was listed as Principia Ellipse, and I think the forks are Focus branded 3T Rigida Pro.

Nice one. I might keep the Sub‐One forks for now, but there seem to be a fair number of options for 1 1/8 to 1 1/4 forks if I fancy a change. My biggest issue is the downtube bosses, in that I don't have any.

It would be interesting to hear how you like the original forks. I think they are cool, but at the same time I guess I've been a tiny bit suspicious of them.

I'd love to help you out with the downtube bosses, but it's within the realm of possibility that I might want to swap the wireless stuff to a different frame at some point... so I want to hang on to all the bits just in case.

Oh, no problem at all. Wouldn't expect you to; those things are gold dust. I'm going to Macgyver something and display it on the bodges/hacks thread. :)