The ‘Dale Chronicles - a tale of many Cannondales

But the real #structurals is yet to come and starts with a question.

Should the caliper mount on the brake bridge be perpendicular to the stays?
I.E at a tangent tyre circumference?

Cos mine angles the brake caliper into the tyre….this seems unusual.

These were “handmade” frames that were never designed to be ridden for ver long. It was probably welded on the wonk

Yeah, it looks that way tbh. At the angle it runs it it may struggle to clear even 25s

Pics show how on the wonk it is.

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If it clears, it clears. You can angle the pads for a reason :)

It does, but only with the rear brake forward facing…. #aero

If it works it works?😅

so rear brake caliper inside the rear triangle? 🤔
perhaps a tapered washer might help angle it up a bit? might need to re-drill the bridge to gain some angle?

Thinking this or filing an angle in. Seems overly complex though when there is no reason for the caliper not to go inside the triangle, apart from looks

no reason for the caliper not to go inside the triangle

Shirley the hole sizes in the bridge will be the issue? You won't get a recessed nut on the outer face and the inside triangle hole will be too big for the caliper centre bolt?

nope, on these dale frames the hole was often equally sized, been that way on everyone i've built

So they are, i think that's actually standard on most frames and i'm still half asleep.

Gonna look crap on the inside triangle though! Cable angle will be pretty severe. I've used a couple spacers before to push the caliper out/up, just need the longest recessed nut that'll fit in the bridge to keep the threads engaged.

yeah, i think i'd need to file away part of the mount, to allow the nut to angle up enough.

will set up with inside first though before making any modifications.

that's unfortunate.

in my mind the reason not to put a caliper inside the triangle is safety. If the bolt undoes itself - which *can happen - it can just fly away. A normally installed caliper will most likely stay put even if the bolt is loose.

the frame color looks great with tanwalls !

aye, the tan sets off the blue delightfully imo.

i'm sure this can be made to work, and worse come to worse i can just run a forward facing brake, won't be the first time i've had some weirdness on a bike.

I’m talking myself into this silliness

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Is cable routing not going to put a stop to this?

Probably

Have you considered filling the current hole with something like JB Weld Steel Stik and redrilling at a better angle ? (not sure if the body of the brake boss/bridge will allow you to do this?)

Appreciate this perhaps isn't an area you want to risk something coming unstuck, but should leave minimum JB Weld after drilling, just enough to reset the angle.

https://www.jbweld.co.uk/steelstikep

Don't forget to file the face of the brake boss to suit the new angle, otherwise it'll work it's way down again.

Or alternatively file a spacer accordingly if you don't want to file the frame

@Rodolfo @zootsuit ended up lightly filing the bolt hole to allow the nut to reach the right angle, and using a wedged spacer.

Clears okay now on 25c but the faff has sucked the life out of the build for me. Finishing it out of stubbornness.

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I would have thought my frame would be the same geo as yours but I clear 28s pretty comfortably with the same calipers.
Anyway looks great.

Yeah, it should do, but the brake nut at the rear apprars to have been welded in not straight, and then successive attemps to correct it haven’t helped i feel. Before I filed it again it wouldn’t even clear 23c, and now it will only with a pretty hefty wedge spacer. Still, it works now.

@Matisse if you get fed up with it I have a couple of Cannondales (CAAD5 & 3.0) to put up for sale that both clear 28. Bristol based if you're interested

Thanks bud, I’ll give it some thought, especially the 3.0