CANNONDALE Prophet 3SL - NOW REBORN

Well, a couple of months ago I finally took the plunge and bought my first 'new; bike for 20 years! My signature has a link to my other steed, a '92 DB Apex which I built pretty much as shown in 1995.

A friend of mine bought himself an Orange 5 and asked if I wanted to purchase his 'Dale Prophet (a last of the USA built 2007 models). I took it for a test ride and liked it enough to take it off his hands. To be honest he is not known for his maintenance skills (despite being an RAF Engineer) so I bought it knowing it needed some bits sorting on it. Therefore, in the short time I have had it I have changed the stem, headset, wheels, seatpost, saddle, crankset, BB, pedals and grips as well as doing a full service on the brakes.

Having worked in the industry for a couple of years selling Kleins, Cannondales, Trek, Specialized et al back in the mid '90's (still the best era for bikes IMHO) I was startled how much the game has moved on. I will never get rid of my DB, but ride the 'Dale almost every day as it has re-ignited my love of riding.

Frame: Cannondale Prophet SL
Fork: RockShox Recon 120
Headset: Cane Creek OnePointFive
Stem: Titec
Bars: Cannondale
Shock: Fox Float R
Hubs: Hope
Rims: Mavic X317 Disc
Tyres: Tioga Psycho 2 (HATE blackwall tyres!!)
Brakes: Avid Juicy 7 (180/160)
Front Mech: Deore LX
Rear Mech: Deore XT with Avid Rollamajig and BB Tensioner
Crankset: Race Face DeusXC
Shifters: Deore

Nice looking bike and you're right those skin wall tyres make it better. Glad to see someone else loving the 'Dale.

...always liked Cannondales since I sold them - think that the 1995 KillerV 900 was one of the nicest (polished of course). The early SuperV's looked superb but were flexy (stamp hard on the pedals and you could change up 1, maybe even 2 gears ).

I find it impossible to find any decent, reasonably priced skinwall tyres these days - what is it with blackwalls? (god I sound like an old fart!) I know there is a market for these things but £140 for a pair of bike tyres (as advertised on here recently) is excessive when I can retyre my car with decent rubber for just over £200 - madness!!

You can get Charge Splashback folders new for about £25 each in both 1.8 and 2.1 for some skinwall goodness and they'd be my choice over anything else just for the look. I am also an old fart in that respect but also a tight old fart so insist on using up my shoddy blackwalls before buying anything new !
Also a fan of Cannondale from the early days and always loved the fattest downtube wins approach. The Raven was a particularly beauty I think and now have got a new Scalpel which is an engineering marvel IMHO. But Lefty ? Nooooooo ! I know they are stiffer, lighter etc but it just looks like the front wheel is going to come off as soon as you turn a corner.

Liking the retro touch witht the Bullet Bros tensioner.

Well, after having had the bike for some months I came to the conclusion that it is a touch too small for me. My DB Apex was always long in the top tube so I think I have just gotten used to those proportions. A layback seatpost, longer stem and the saddle mounted back on the rails wasn't enough so the only option open was a new frame.....

Placing an advert on Pinkbike I didn't expect too much joy. However 2 weeks ago a chap from Brimingham way called to say he had a large Prophet frame which he would happily swap for my medium one. A £10 contribution towards his fuel costs and a blue Prophet frame ended up in the garage.

With the bike stripped down I thought it was the ideal time to build the bike how I wanted it. I have always liked my bikes quite plain, and blue really isn't me. So, the frame, forks and chainset are all at the powdercoaters (thanks for the tip Wadsy). The chainrings are being blasted and lacquered, and the rest of the items are being done in plain gloss black. The basic idea is black bike, white decals and silver mechanical bits.

I bought a set of Avid juicy Carbons from here (konasexthreerider) as these are silver out of the box. These will replace the black Juicy 7's I already had. The mounting brackets have been dremmeled and polished. I have also fitted braided (silver) hoses and have a set of braided gear cables ready to go on.

The new frame came fitted with a blue Hope bottom bracket, which I promptly sold and instead purchased a black XTR one (making a profit in the process). Removing the head race from the forks was a one way process so a new cartridge bearing unit (in black of course) is another item sat on the bench waiting for the assembly to being.

The forks are of course in bits, and a service kit is sat ready for when everything comes back next week. I am on the hunt for a set of M770 shifters and maybe an XTR rear mech (nice to have rather than essential).

Looking forward to hopefully getting the frame back next week and getting stuck in to building it - my way!

Ade

Good stuff, really like these. They are so versatile, so can be built up as a more XC oriented bike or amore heavy hitting play bike.

I'd snap up an MX version if one ever came up for the right money.

I love it - it is the only bike that persuaded me to move on from my 1992 DB Apex as in my eyes it still looks relatively 'normal'. They certainly seem to have a good rep for the most part....

UPDATE:

Received the frame, forks and cranks back on Saturday after having them painted. Have spent the last few days getting everything put back together which has been relatively easy fortunately.

The bike as it stands now only has a few components remaining from the Prophet 3SL that I bought last April, namely forks, shock, rear mech and handlebars. Everything else has been replaced (sold or swapped) to give me the bike I have now.

Anyway - this is the spec now:

Frame: Cannondale Prophet (large)
Forks: Rockshox Recon 351
Shock: Fox Float R

Wheels: Hope hubs laced to Mavic X351 rims
Tyres: Continental Traction Pro

Cranks: Race Face Deus XC
Rings: Race Face (blasted and lacquered)
Bottom Bracket: XTR

Front Mech: XTR
Rear Mech: XT
Shifters: XT (with double downshift conversion on Hope matchmaker brackets and braided outers)

Brakes: Avid Juicy Carbon (with braided hoses) 180/160

Headset: Superstar

I wanted to keep the build nice and clean, black metalwork, white writing and silver mechanicals. It turned out so well that for the first time I have named a bike

Just need to get out and ride her!