Cannondale Six13

I realised that my favourite part of any gravel ride was putting the hammer down as I rode back home through town. And I've always liked the lines of old Cannondales, so when this came up on fleabay I pulled the trigger pretty quickly.

Shameless plug, selling my gravel bike to fund this project here.

I got so lucky with this, it is absolutely immaculate. It barely looks ridden. And prior to selling it the owner installed:

New wheels - basic alloy Vision 30
Ultegra R8000 shifters
105 R7100 rear mech
New chain
New cassette (assuming 105 also on these two)
New bar tape (did a terrible job of it though)

It's also got Deda 01 bars and stem. I feel very lucky with this bike.

Having said that, I absolutely want to keep working on this. I've got a box of bits waiting to be installed, this includes:

R7100 brakes and chainset (the silver has got to go)
Tubeless conversion - GP5000
Re-do the bar tape with Supercaz

I think it's going to look loads better with full black drivetrain, and it'll make my OCD much happier.

Appearance wise, in the short term I'm going to take a few stickers off, including those on the wheels. But long term I'm not sure. I'm thinking either a respray - I waver between black, or some hipster sky blue type colour. Or, strip the paint and polish it up bright silver. I've seen some other six13s done like this and they look so good.

But, part of me is hesitant to do that as it genuinely looks new, and I just want to enjoy it as it is.

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Nice bike, paint looks good so I wouldn't bother repainting it

Tonight's progress - chainset and brakes on, chain swapped, pulled the bar tape off and re-did the cables, swapped the saddle, set the bars up, swapped the bottle cages.

Still need to put the bar tape back on, set up the brakes and gears and swap the tyres. So happy with how it's come together so far.

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Got it finished last night, and will be getting out on it tonight for the first ride.

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Really nice! Looks great with the black finishing kit..

When I saw it on eBay my first thought was 'that silver chainset has got to go'.

Good job!

Couple of small updates, mainly for aesthetic reasons. The cables were way too long and had barrel adjusters, which I know are very practical, but the front mech and rear mech has got their own adjusters so I think were surplus.

I've also trimmed the steerer down and taken the stickers off the wheels. So just generally tidier and neater.

Still desperately needs deep wheels.

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Nice and clean, perfect

I'm really debating getting it resprayed. I know it's in really good condition, but it's just not really to my taste.

Really!?

This looks absolutely banging. Just the right balance of lary racer X Rapha Sunday.

A big fan of the current wheel depth too. Just get out there while the weather is on point.

I was originally thinking something like the below, bright polished bike I found on the weight weenies forum, but I'm not really leaning that way now. But, the SSCX bike in the image below has been my favourite looking bike for a long time. I really like the matt / satin, dark pastel paint with the black finishing kit. And the totally impractical wheelset. It's close to perfection for me.

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I'd get a different frame if it's not to your taste? The colour scheme and graphics are pretty individual to that frameset, be a shame to remove them. I think it looks great, especially the bubble-writing Cannondale on the downtube.

Obviously horses for courses, but both of those look nice as custom bikes, but quite flat IMHO.

The current bike has the OEM+ look nailed to a tee. Making it all silver or black just makes it look like any other silver or black bike, and once it's gone you can't get it back.

But ultimately it's not especially rare or anything so why not? Although, I would have thought if you sell and put that money plus what you'd spend on a respray you'd get a more modern carbon frame.

If it does happen it won't be till next year, so got some time to sit with it and have a think.

And appreciate what you say @hugo7 about getting a more modern bike, but I'm a big believer in following heart over head (to overstate it a bit). Yeah a modern carbon bike would be better on paper, but I like this one. I really like the lines and proportions of it. My one big bike-selling-regret is the polished silver Cannondale Capo I had years ago - it was needs must at the time, but I bloody loved that bike.

The one concession I'll give to a modern bike is the room for bigger tyres. Before a respray or anything else will be the search for plushness as this does get a bit rattly on bad roads. When I bought it had 28s fitted, but bloody hell they were close. I think Challenge do some 27c, 320 tpi tyres, so they might happen before long, and with TPU / Latex tubes rather than tubeless.

Update!

Had a bit of a head wobble with this bike and put it up for sale. After some gentle, but deserved, ribbing, I realised I was being a bit of a fanny and wanted to keep working on it.

Part of the reason for putting it up for sale was that I didn't find it particularly comfortable, I was way too stretched out, and it was a pretty harsh ride.

That meant, stem and tires. For the tires I went with Challenge Strada in 27c. I chose these because:
They have a super high thread count.
27c fits nicely, with good clearance.
They are not tubeless compatible - which in my head means they're more comfortable. If there is any science behind this I don't know.
I also switched to latex inner tubes.

Hoping that moving away from 25c tubeless, to this setup, will take some buzz out of the road.

And then the first stem that popped up that I liked in 90mm, was a Thomson. Which then meant I had to get a matching seatpost and seat clamp. Zero benefit to this, it just makes me happy that it all matches.

I also didn't like the headset cover it had on previously, and the spacers had a different OD, so it was all a bit off. Being a campy-type headset meant that I had the world of BMX headsets to choose from.

I want for the simplest, most minimal one I could find. I like the look of it, but the fact that the frame and the headset cover have a different OD is going to BOTHER ME.

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Next up in the project, I've just ordered some 50mm carbon rims from here, so will need to get these built up and fitted. This does mean I am on the lookout for some hubs. 20h front, 28h rear, and black ideally. If anyone has got a line on some, give me a shout.

And then I was reading around and found that this rear mech, while not advised by Shimano, works absolutely fine up to 40t. This means that going 1x should be plenty comfortable. I'm a big fan of 1x, I much prefer how clean and simple it is. I have a vision of an aero chainring, but can't find any nice ones that are compatible with this chainset, but I have a plan for that...

Before I take the plunge though, I want to test if a 40t cassette really does work, so if anyone has an 11 speed, 11-40 cassette lying around I could be interested. Doesn't matter if it's battered as I just want to test it in the stand - if it works I'll get a nice one.

This is very handsome. The new tyres will make a big difference. High-end tubeless tyres are no less comfortable than high-TPI clinchers, but I'm sure you'll love your setup

1x could look cool, but the 2x setup is quite handsome too – classic.

not sure it's really worth ditching 2x for a road bike but 🤷
looks pretty banging as it is to me

Picked up a cheap 11-40 cassette off fleabay and just did a test fit, and can confirm it works flawlessly, just had to wind the b-screw pretty far in.

This means that 1x, with a 42 up front, is a distinct possibility.

I rode 1x on my gravel bike for years, doing as many road miles as gravel and never really felt the need for 2x. But cost will be the inhibiting factor here - this is a cheap cassette, weighs a ton, and would want to get a different crankset and chainring if I want to do it right. So, might be a longer-term project.

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