Hello from Michigan!

[chilehed]

Hi all!

After about 35 years of ownership and untold thousands of miles I’ve decided to give my ‘83 ST500 (#AA00966) a refresh. I’ve never been this deep into a bike before, and have a lot to learn.

I have a bunch of components on the way from South Salem Cycleworks: shorter crankarms and new chainrings, freewheel, and chain – thanks to Michael for his advice and help selecting components.

BB is the original UN26 square taper, it’s got a very slight rumble but no end or axial play and it’s not creaky at all. I’m sure I can get more life out of it but while I’m this deep in I might as well get something better. I’m very interested in the Phil Wood BB; I’m gonna email and ask about dimensions but if someone here knows whether or not it’ll fit I’d appreciate it.

The headset’s in decent condition, I don’t see any reason to replace it just yet.

The frame’s stripped and ready for primer, I have some good aluminum-compatible epoxy stuff. I can’t find anyone to shoot the paint (WTF is with body shops nowadays?), but a local supplier turned to me on to an isocyanate catalyzed auto paint system in a spray can so I’m giving it a go.

I’d like to find a set of stickers for the logo on the top tube. Scaling from the photo in the old sales brochure pdf I have, it looks like the original Cannondale logo was about 128 mm long. I'm planning to use them as stencils over a white basecoat, shoot the rest of the frame with a cool looking Graphite tone (the original color was Charcoal), then remove them before clearcoating.

Need a new saddle as well. Was interested in the Rivet stuff, but no one has any stock (including their own website) and they’re not responding to email. Contacted Selle Anatomica just now and got an immediate response with info about local dealers, so I’ll arrange to go for a visit.

More will be revealed.

 

[IdahoBrett]

Hello! And welcome!

I'm a former Michigander. From North of da bridge.

 

[chilehed]

Hello! And welcome!

I'm a former Michigander. From North of da bridge.

Thanks! I'm a Troll, but I did just have a pastie from Lehto's in St. Ignace.

 

[black lightning 1987]

Phil Wood makes a number of different spindle lengths. The cups require a special tool and it's best to have two of them. A good local bike shop may have them. Once installed you shouldn't have to touch it for a very long time.

 

[chilehed]

Finally shot the color. I grabbed a jpg snip of the logo from the '83 pamphlet, and used my wife's Cricut machine to cut out masking tape stencils from it. Should have let the white flash off longer before I applied them, some adhesive got left behind when I pulled them off. The Graphite basecoat's a bit thin in spots, should have gotten more but I can live with it. I think it turned out fairly well, not good enough to deliver to a customer by any means but I'm okay with it.

The parts from SSC still haven't arrived, shipping issues due to USPS mistakes. No biggie, I still need to clean up other components and straighten the forks (which have been tweaked to one side a bit since before I bought it).

No response from Phil Wood, but that's fine. I probably ought to assemble it first with the original BB so I can assess the chainline before pinging them again. And I'm gonna hold off on new seat/bars/pedals as well until I get to a good fitter; I've never really had my setup looked at and it occurs to me that that might be contributing to my knee pain. I don't want to blindly buy stuff only to immediately have to get something else.

Whaddy'a think: black saddle and tape, or brown?

 

[IdahoBrett]

My vote is brown/brown. As in Brooks honey brown saddle and tape. Classy look in my opinion.

 

[black lightning 1987]

Paint looks good, quite an improvement over what you started with. I think I'd go with brown also.

 

[chilehed]

Getting closer. The parts finally arrived from South Salem Cycleworks, it was a bit of a cluster but Michael kept at it (it wasn't his fault) and made sure they came through. I'd certainly recommend him to anyone looking for parts.

In the meantime I cleaned things off and got the fork straightened. The clearcoat took FOREVER to fully harden, I had the frame hanging for at least two weeks (including a couple of days baking in the sun) but it was still soft enough to take an impression from the chamois I wrapped it in when I put it on the stand. I didn't clamp it very hard, either.

My knee issues have had me toying with the idea of putting a midrive e-motor on it (CYC Photon), but hadn't realized how whacky the chainline is. The main rings are lined up with the smallest freewheel sprockets, but the granny is so close to the frame there's no way to move the crankset inboard. And the 44 tooth ring is only ~7mm from the frame, so even with a single ring on the motor I'd be pretty much stuck. Some of my rides involve 5%+ uphill grades for miles (which I always did on the 30-tooth chainring), and I don't think I want to risk destroying my new chain and freewheel trying it on a 44. Maybe I can find a torque sensing hub motor.

More will be revealed.

 

[chilehed]

Got it together enough for a short ride last night, it was good to be in the saddle again and it rode very nicely. Lots more to do yet, but it'll happen more slowly now. Saddle, obviously. I want to go to 32mm tires, so new wheels. Fenders. Good racks and bags. Pretty sure I want to increase the handlebar height, so at least a new stem but I'll wait until I get to a good fitter to see exactly what I need there (she's booked out until December). I'd really like to find good replacements for the rear brake cable guides on the top tube.

The statue is locally known as "The Ugly Naked Guy", but IMO it's the best piece among all of the public artwork in my town.

 

[chilehed]

Getting closer. I put flat pedals on and found that the natural position of my feet is about an inch and a half farther out than how my clipless were set; I rode that way for thirty years so I guess it's no surprise that it aggravated my got-kicked-by-a-horse-once knee.

Got a threadless stem adapter and butterfly bars from VO, and the adjustable stem off Amazon; I really like the more upright riding position and the variety of hand placement options. The Dia-Compe DC189 brake levers I got from Blue Lug, I thought they were supposed to have a short throw but I guess not. If anyone knows of something similar that'll work with my side-pulls I l'd appreciate hearing about it.

But now it's harder to get to the shifters, so I want to move them up onto the stem. I don't see many good options for that, I might have to fabricate my own mounts.

I'm not crazy about the VO saddle, but it was only fifteen bucks. I figure I'll end up with a Brooks Carved or a Selle Anatomica something-or-other. I'd also like to get some road isolation on the seatpost, something without too much bounce.

I stumbled on the B1200LI rear panniers on FB marketplace, they're not quite the right period and are smaller than I was really looking for but I think they're probably big enough for the rides I'll actually be doing most times and they're in really good shape. My wife thinks they look great. The seller also had a pair of B119EBO front bags in black, so I got those too. I'm scoping out front racks, and am thinking that something from Old Man Mountain would be a good choice.

As for an ebike conversion, I found a square-taper BB with a torque sensor that might work. To use it I'd have to drill a 10mm hole in the front of the crank housing and fabricate a guard to protect the wire from getting hit. There are a couple of threaded inserts at the bottom of the down tube that I could use as mounting points, I have no idea what their intended use originally was.

 

[letsbike]

Maybe?

 

[letsbike]

Do you have any history on the chrome fork?

 

[chilehed]

Maybe?

Thanks for breaking the logjam free, it helped me find these, these, and these as well. I'll look closely at all four, some are not cheap but I've had more expensive hobbies in the past.

Do you have any history on the chrome fork?

I'm not the first owner but far as I know it's the original part. I can't find my note of what markings were on it, but I'm also searching for a sealed bearing headset replacement so I can have another look when I yank it out. The VO part looks good but they're OOS.

 

[black lightning 1987]

Those Dia Compe levers are designed for time trial bikes so I would think they should work with most any side pull caliper. What calipers are on the bike?

 

[chilehed]

Those Dia Compe levers are designed for time trial bikes so I would think they should work with most any side pull caliper. What calipers are on the bike?

The original Gran-Compe NGC500 sidepulls. I've got a fresh set of Shimano pads on, with the original Gran-Compe levers I can do a stoppie easily but not with these Dia-Compes. The Gran-Compe levers are ~22 mm between the pivots, while the Dia-Compes are ~25, which means 12% less force applied at the calipers.

 

[black lightning 1987]

Do you have a local bike co-op? Perhaps a pair of dual pivot calipers would improve the braking. Used Sora/Tiagra/105/Tektro shouldn't cost much. I can spare a new pair of Sora or Tiagra from the 9 speed era.

 

[chilehed]

I'll have to consider that, keeping in mind that I need to package protect for fenders and 32mm tires. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[black lightning 1987]

I've never owned a bike with fenders so can't address that issue. Since it's an ST frame I'd surely think that fenders were something they considered when specifying calipers but I don't know how dual pivots compare in regards to fender clearance. If it turns out to be an issue I would apply aviation snips to the fenders where more clearance is needed.