1988 Black Lightning

[IdahoBrett]

the golden chain looks brutal! which one did you choose?

KMC 8 speed. The only manufacturer of reputable quality that has a “gold” chain.

I haven’t got out on the road since I got the derailleurs adjusted perfectly. But it is working great with the bike in the repair stand.

 

[Peat]

Interesting. You're limited to CAAD4 and older with a quill stem. I'm with you on the level top tube, though I have a few bikes with sloping. I don't mind threadless stems though. Here's the first new Cannondale I owned, a 1999 R4000 purchased as a frameset and built with Campagnolo Daytona 9 speed and Ambrosio rims. This is as close as I have to a Saeco as the frame and fork are the same as the 1999 team frames except for the paint.View attachment 11192

Absolutely gorgeous!

 

[Peat]

Good enough for a ride! BL II did fine. The indexed shifting was difficult for me to tune.

View attachment 11193

So nice!

Haha yes tuning those Suntour indexes.
I found it was more or less a matter of accepting the least amount of compromise with the freewheel indexing and then also accepting that it would only really stay in place for maybe 20-30 mins or so if you were lucky.
Most shifts are a ‘click and hope’ kind of thing.

 

[Peat]

KMC 8 speed. The only manufacturer of reputable quality that has a “gold” chain.

I haven’t got out on the road since I got the derailleurs adjusted perfectly. But it is working great with the bike in the repair stand.

Interesting!

I had only tried mine with 9 speed chains. Perhaps I should try an 8 speed.

When I tried a Shimano 9 speed HG chain I had this extremely odd scenario where sometimes when shifting to a larger cog on the freewheel the chain would shift up but not fully engage. It would grab the teeth with the edge of the outer plate and still keep riding.

Overall though I found the KMC to play much nicer with the Suntour drive train. Time to grab an 8 speed one, thank you for sharing that!

 

[IdahoBrett]

Overall though I found the KMC to play much nicer with the Suntour drive train. Time to grab an 8 speed one, thank you for sharing that!

No worries! I was concerned that there wasn’t a modern chain that would play nice. I don’t have much bike mechanic-ing experience. So it’s trial and error and a bunch of reading about others experience.

It’ll be a bit before I can ride. It’s -12C with 30cm of snow on the ground today.

 

[black lightning 1987]

Interesting comments about 8 vs. 9 speed chains. I'm having a bit of shifting issues with one of my SunTour 7 speed indexed bikes. I don't remember what chain I used but it's likely 9 speed - because I have lots of new ones.

 

[Peat]

Interesting comments about 8 vs. 9 speed chains. I'm having a bit of shifting issues with one of my SunTour 7 speed indexed bikes. I don't remember what chain I used but it's likely 9 speed - because I have lots of new ones.

My interest peaking here too.

I can’t actually recall why I went with a 9sp chain (and am actually on my 3rd one!)

I remember doing lots of reading and getting as much info from people as I could and landing on the conclusion that I should go 9sp.

I’m about to put an identical bit better condition crankset on mine (which has the model correct ovaltech chain rings) so I’ll need a new chain anyway. Will try 8sp and report back!

 

[black lightning 1987]

It's hard to evaluate all the differences between 6-7-8-9 speed chains. Overall widths vary, as do plate shapes. Some are made to run in only one direction. I know why I went to 9 speed chains on everything below 10 speed bikes - I was able to buy 25 or 30 FSA chains for about $4 each. With the exception of one bike that I mentioned the chains have worked great on everything I've used them on. The shifting issue on the one bike may have nothing to do with the chain.

 

[IdahoBrett]

I can confirm the KMC 8 speed chain works well.

I somehow managed to tune the derailleurs to where I think they’re working like magic. I don’t know how, considering my level of experience.

Black Lightning II ran very well on it’s new rubber. I did ride it with the mint condition seat. I’ll be sure to take care of it and likely swap it back to the other one it came with. I’ve got another set of AR1 pedals that I’ll install once they are turned black.

 

[black lightning 1987]

I've had a gold KMC chain sitting here for years with the intention of putting it on my black/gold custom David Kirk. Just another thing I've put off doing. I should order a gold 8 speed chain for the '87 Black Lightning. The front hub in the first photo is a Zipp with carbon center tube and gold AL flanges. Unfortunately the matching rear hub broke several years ago. After running another set of wheels for a while I rebuilt the rear wheel with another hub, can't remember if it's black or gold but I kept the Zipp on the front.

.

 

[IdahoBrett]

The first Black Lightning has started to be assembled. The bottom bracket and headset service was accomplished today. Wheels, bars and seat mocked up.

 

[IdahoBrett]

Cables, brake levers, shifters, pedals, bar tape and chain to finish.

Now that I typed it out, I’ve got plenty to do yet.

I was unable to locate an original BL front derailleur. I have located a stem. But it requires some tlc. Unsure what I’ll do yet.

 

[IdahoBrett]

For some reason I overthink chain sizing. Until my brain hurts.

It’s installed. Now where did those derailleur cables go? I could’ve swore I had another set…..

 

[JohnnyD]

I love that gold chain on the bike.

 

[IdahoBrett]

I love that gold chain on the bike.

I originally sized this one too short while working on the other BL. I just ordered another one awhile back. Looking now they’re out of stock everywhere and no mention on KMC’s site of a “gold” X8.

I installed a new pin on this one and took a chance and ordered another gold X8 from a seller in China. The one from China is authentic. I’ll hang on to it as a spare if indeed KMC no longer offers it.

 

[JohnnyD]

I hadn't looked to see if KMC still made the 8 speed chain in gold. I do know they still make the 9 speed one though. It "should" work just fine on the 8 speed system. I used to run KMC 9 speed chains on my 7 speed cassette and never had an issue, but that was with 7 speed Shimano mountain groupset (Deore LX M550 on my M700). I run 10 speed chains on those bike with 9 speeds(including the MicroShift Advent 9) and don't have problems with that either, but everyone has different opinions and experiences with that.
Regardless, I am pretty sure that the groupset shifts pretty nicely, I still think that my aforementioned 7 sp. M550 derailleur from my M700 is the smoothest and fastest shifting out of all of my bikes. It makes ZERO noise going up or down the cassette, unlike the SRAM 12 speed derailleurs I have on several bikes which always have a nice "clunk" when shifting from 10th(15T) to 11th(13T) and and 1st (50T) to 2nd(42T) every other gear change is silent up or down . No amount of tuning has gotten rid of it either, I just except it now.

 

[IdahoBrett]

I’m not looking to experiment. But I do wonder @JohnnyD how well a 9 speed chain would work with the Accushift indexed shifting.

 

[JohnnyD]

I’m not looking to experiment. But I do wonder @JohnnyD how well a 9 speed chain would work with the Accushift indexed shifting.

If you keep the drivetrain nice and clean, you will likely get many thousands of miles on the ones you have now. A dirty drive train is the chain killer.

 

[black lightning 1987]

I thought I might have a black Sprint front derailleur but so far I haven't found it, only a silver one.

 

[Peat]

Cables, brake levers, shifters, pedals, bar tape and chain to finish.

Now that I typed it out, I’ve got plenty to do yet.

I was unable to locate an original BL front derailleur. I have located a stem. But it requires some tlc. Unsure what I’ll do yet.

View attachment 11494

I recently bought a BL crankset from this guy on eBay, he also has some derailleurs that may suit yours?

Vintage Suntour Edge 4050 Front Derailleur Braze On Bottom Pull Black Lightning | eBay

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