Cannondale r1000 Race Bike

This has definitely progress from a purchase into a project so thought I'd start a thread.

I wanted to build up cheapish bike for crit races. The criteria was stiff, reasonably light and preferably aluminium. I saved up some money working over summer but missed out on the 2014 sales and none of the 2015 offerings really fitted the bill (mostly due to budget constraints). So, I started looking for second-hand options, this popped up on eBay, poorly listed and I ended up getting it for a bargain. Leaving me with a good bit of change to spend on upgrades, rollers, quick wheels, tyres etc

Wish I'd taken a photo set upon first getting it to properly document its transformation but this screen shot will have to do:

Here it is as I first got it.

I had to make plenty of changes to stretch it out to fit me and set it up as per my preferences:

• 130mm PRO stem
  
• 3T ergonovas courtesy of @Cupcakes to match contact points with my other bikes
  
• SPD road pedals
  
• GP4000s ii tyres
  
  

This bike is just for racing really so doesn't see many miles. It's quite strange when I first jump on it as the position is exactly the same as my Orlowski and Dolan (which see 99% of my milage) but it behaves very differently due to the different geo and stem lengths but it doesn't take long to get used to it.

It's a really great ride, especially considering its age: 12 years old! The back end is super stiff and gives plenty of feedback, when properly pushing it in corners I know exactly where the limit is.

What CAAD model is this? Looks a beaut. It's about the same age as my CAAD4 that I'm almost finished building into a commuter/racer/sportive bike.

I had my first race a couple of weeks ago and snapped my chain on the first lap. Lesson learned: it doesn't matter how quick you are, if you have a mechanical failure you're not going to place.

I took it home and inspected everything and decided new chainrings would be a good idea along with a new chain. I ordered a Sram road chainring from Planet X, but instead received a TT ring and decided to keep it as it looks cool and I didn't have time to send it back and get a replacement.

New chainrings and chain installed and gears properly tuned, the chainring plays nice with the Ultegra group and everything feels lovely. Rims also destickered.



Here you can see the crazy fluro fade paint-job, not that the low light and phone-pic does it much justice.

The next upgrade is new wheels, which are sitting in wait and the eagle-eyed amongst you may be able to spot.

I'm pretty sure it's a CAAD4, the r1000 just refers to the build spec. Although I'm sure a Cannondale aficionado will be able to confirm

Nice man, looks fast! These make great cheap crit bikes IMO & the colour is fantastic. What size is it? 58? You must have a pretty long torso

How big is the ring? 53 or 54? TT rings on road bikes = yes

Ah nice! Yep, mine is the poverty-spec R400 with external headset, whereas yours has the integrated. Pretty much identical, otherwise, as far as I can tell.

wasn't optimo the name of the caad5 when it went to the second line? caad4 was 1" ht with external headset cups

It seems like the ultimate crit bike - light and fast enough to be raceable yet cheap enough not to be heartbreaking if I crashed it. Yeah, it's a 58, long torso and long legs to match, I normally ride a 60 but this is the perfect size for the use. and yeah the big ring's a 53 and is definitely growing on me, makes the bike look serious!

Yours is that huge Saeco one that was on sale here a while ago right? I was tempted by it but would have been a bit big, is lovely though

I think Optimo was the name they gave to the tubeset but tbh I'm not sure. I've done a bit of googling, not that it comes up with much, and it seems this version was 2003/2004 which I think corresponds to either CAAD5 or 7. Anymore info would be appreciated though

Huge, yes, but not the Saeco model.

http://www.lfgss.com/conversations/260832/newest/

Was considering making it more of a down to earth build but the frame condition is so stunning I've ended up putting quite nice bits on it.

Btw, was looking at your Warchowski build thread earlier and noticed you're 6'6" but you're riding a frame that, to my eyes - at 6'4" - seems woefully small for you. Having done some measurements, a 63 is practically bang on the money for my size. I currently ride a Genesis Vapour 60cm which is clearly too small, resulting in me needing shitloads of saddle post and stem spacers to match.

Not trying to say you're wrong, obviously, just curious.

Ah yeah thats the one I was thinking of, it's a beaut, looking forward to seeing it built up.

6'6 is a slight exaggeration, I'm 193cm, which is a shade over 6'4 I think so same as you pretty much. The fit triangles on all three bikes (the Dale, Dolan and Orlo) are exactly the same, just the different geometries require different set-ups to get there. The Orlowski is perfect with a 100mm stem, the Dolan is long and low so I need lots of seat post and spacers and for the Dale I need a long stem. The whole fit triangle sits lower relative to the wheels on the Dale due to the BB drop, so I don't need the head tube length/spacers like on the other two.

When I saw the Dale on ebay I did a bit of bikecad-ing to try and figure out if it would work or not but at the price thought it was worth a punt. When I got it home I got out the plumb lines, spirit level and tape measure, worked out the right stem length and it now feels spot on

I see! How big is the Orlo?

60x60 c-c with 23cm of headtube inc headset cups, the Dolan in the pic above is 58st x 60tt c-c but only 19cm ht so I need the spacers there

Sorry, late to the party, but yah Optimo is the name of the custom tubeset developed with Alcoa.

Also it's a CAAD7, no? It has the heavily profiled down tube / headtube junction.

Cheers for the info, yep just done a quick bit of research that points to CAAD7 aswell

So is this what the flo wheels in the corner are for? Not the orlowski

Both :)

Optima alloy is stupid light, IIRC there was something in the Cannondale user manual that came with these that stipulated that the tubing was so thin that they shouldn't be clamped anywhere on the tubes by workstands

Well, yes, you shouldn't really clamp an aly or crabon performance frame anywhere but the seatpost or seat-tube, and only the later if it has a post in it and it extends to where you are clamping it :)

The optimo frames had a supplement that detailed the fatigue life, if raced, of about two racing seasons.

c-t seat tube? That 23cm headtube is actually longer than the CAAD4 - mine's just 209mm, and I thought that was really long.

Bloody lovely stuff, love the big bikes! Cannondales just look special in big.

I've seen a quotation that essentially said you've chosen a lightweight frame rather than a rugged dent resistant frame and so check for cracks when servicing the bike. Although it's old the guy that had it before me just used it for pootling around the countryside. I'm only gonna be using it for racing, I'm sure it's up to the job

c-t on the Orlowski is 62, your Dale will have about 2cm more BB drop so the two frames would fit very similarly