One day, while browsing ebay for cool Cannondale 3.0-series road frames of the early 90s, I came across this rare-ish cyclocross frame, which I had never seen in this vintage. Happened to be ~46cm yet take 700c wheels, so I had to buy it ($75 or so). The person listing the frame didn't even realize it was for cx -- the brake posts were the only evidence.
This thing is fairly scratched up, but is in good straight condition in general, with lovely deep-blue metal-flake bass-boat-ish paint. Looks awesome in bright sunlight.
I really like Cannondale's decal aesthetic from this era, with the "PATENTED DESIGN" and "made in usa" stuff all over the place. And the "3.0" looks super cool of course (3.0 lbs. is the rough frame weight of this series of bikes).
Standard 6061 T6 aluminum and some decent parts, and this thing with knobbies is about 18.5 lbs.
Building this one up, I soon noticed that they didn't leave a whole lot of room for mud/tire clearance, especially at the fork, so I put 35mm tires on it, which are pretty tight. Makes me think this was intended more as a touring bike than a cyclocross race rig, per se.
IRD cantilever brakes were a pain to setup, but are remarkably strong. The rear locks up with ease on dry pavement, so I think they might actually work in wet conditions.
Made in USA... until about 2009.
Decided to go with a 1x9 setup on this one for simplicity; we'll see if the chain wants to drop, maybe I'll throw a chain-minder or something on it. Front brake lever is an older Shimano 600, rear/shifter is a Dura-Ace 7700, the gold standard of cyclocross. Picked up a good used 7700 group recently for $300 complete, which was a steal for sure.
Component highlights:
- Dura-Ace 7700 rear shifter, crank
- XTR derailer
- 11-32 XT cassette
- IRD canti's
- Cannondale CODA hubs, Mavic Open Pro rims, in fetching gold
- Ritchey cx tires
- Easton EC-70 carbon post (will replace with Thomson at some point)
- Shimano 600 left/front lever
- Salsa Poco handlebar, for small girly hands
- Ultegra 6500 bottom bracket
- ITM Eclypse quill stem
- Terry Gelissima seat
Pretty cool little bike overall, we'll see if it actually ever sees a race course...
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| 19.59 lbs., not too bad |
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| From bikes! |
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