Delta V 700 - Done (I damn well hope so anyway)

clubby

MacRetro Rider
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Typical of this place, you go browsing in the classifieds for something and a week later something completely different turns up in your shed. Such is the way I became the owner of an early 90's Cannondale Delta V when I had been looking for an RTS.

Thing is, I was never a huge 'dale fan back in the day, just a bit too quirky for me. Don't know if it's an age thing (mine or it's) but I like the way a lot of the design and technology has stood the test of time and is still around now in some shape or form. Last years purchase of a new Flash 29er proved that bloody single mindedness in refining a concept can work. So while browsing this caught my eye.

viewtopic.php?t=211365&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Not what I was looking for but after a days thinking ( quite a long time for me) I stumped up the electronic cash and went for it. So it arrived yesterday, minus the stem but I'm assured thats on the way, and after a quick look I popped it in the shed until tonight. Other half at work, so I had loads of time to have a proper look.

First the good points.

The frame is in great nick for its age. Loads of wee scratches but only one big one on the top tube. Frame colour is a kind of black/gunmetal so I may get an airfix enamel in a rough match. Not going to bother with a respray as I'm not too precious about this kind of thing.

Headshok forks seem to work fine, and are nice and smooth. Bike doesn't look like it's seen much offroad use so I'm hoping the forks are pretty good internally considering their age.

Came with original coda bars, bar end and seatpost. Pretty scratched and manky but I'm sure they'll come up ok with a bit of work. Original stem (to follow).

Headset bearings present. Need a flush and grease, but will do fine.

Came with bottom bracket, but this was a mixed blessing. Good to have one so I know what size to get, but I had to wrestle it out first. It'd been in a while (possibly original) and assembled by someone allergic to grease. A lot of swearing, brute force and a 12" adjustable knocked by a rubber mallet eventually won the day. Frame threads look pretty good, not a sign of any water sitting in the the shell. Will get my LBS mate to chase the threads before re-assembly as a precaution.

Now the bad points.

No rear canti bosses. Missed this in the original photo so my bad. An easy fix I thought. I have a set of M8 Fox bosses but when trying to fit the wouldn't go in. After checking I have discovered cannondale use an imperial size (bloody Americans!). See my point above about "quirky". Available new from Qwerty for 6 quid so not a big deal, but I do wonder why they were missing in the first place? There's no disk mounts so it can't be that, but the threads look ok so I don't think anything has snapped off. Worst case is I have to drill them out and use an M8 helicoil to fit the fox bosses. Half a mind to do that anyway at least I know that'll work.

Headset missing the upper seal but again a cheap fix.

Now the big one. Headshok forks missing the top cap. An easy replacement you'd think but this is a cannondale. From what I can see, the fork has had so many varieties over the years it's difficult to know what flavour I have. I know its early and basic but thats it. Not sure if I need it to tension bearings a la aheadset, or if it works a different way. Will need to wait on stem to see how it all goes together in the metal. Used to ride with a guy who'd ride nothing but cannondale, so I think I might need to track down a number for him. At least he could have a look over it for me and hopefully have a secret stash of obscure spares.

So, the plan. The bike hails from the days of 7 speed and cantis, but I'm going with a mid 90's build. I still have a lot of M739 stuff from when I rebuilt my STS with XTR, so I'm going to base my build on that. Already have STI units and rear mech, along with a set of LX parallax hubs built on mavic 221s. Bought an LX chainset from Tazio, so I'm down to looking for a front mech, V's and a cassettte and chain. Tyres are nobby nic's as thats what's left in the shed, as were the hugely heavy DH inner tubes but they'll re-inforce the paper thin schwalbe side walls. Stem, seatpost and bars will be the originals for now but that may change as time goes on. The original bars are very narrow. Saddle will be my original 1991 flite that's been on more bikes than I've had hot dinners and grips will be whatever.
As you can see I'm not going for a perfect restoration, frankly I don't see the point. The frame design was around for years, so I think it'll stand the later parts and it'll also keep costs down. When I was riding at the time the bike was around, we were always upgrading to the newest parts so the finished bike will be representative of what I would have had back then.
 
I have some canti pivots i think American and imperial.
They are i think off a dmr[or something]jump type bike,theyre screwed into an alloy cnc fitting that in turn uses 2 bolts to attach it to each stay.
I unscrewed the actual pivot from thee mount and it certainly looks non metric.It wont fit into any of my dies from m8 through m12 so maybe it is imperial
i'll do you a pic later :)
 
dyna-ti":1taxg0nh said:
I have some canti pivots i think American and imperial.
They are i think off a dmr[or something]jump type bike,theyre screwed into an alloy cnc fitting that in turn uses 2 bolts to attach it to each stay.
I unscrewed the actual pivot from thee mount and it certainly looks non metric.It wont fit into any of my dies from m8 through m12 so maybe it is imperial
i'll do you a pic later :)

I'd imagine DMR would be metric, maybe it's a funny pitch to the threads?
 
Stem & collar went in the post yesterday,
& I'm not going to use the original wheels now so they're an option for you if you need one?

Tc
 
Been away for a few days but was watching a few items on ebay before I went. No internet where I was heading so i set up fairly conservative maximum bids on a couple of sets of brakes, thinking I might get lucky with one. Yes you've guessed it, I've ended up with both sets. The one I'm most pleased with is a full set of M950 XTR v's for £36 posted. I do now have a set of Avids with levers to sell on though. Oh well.
No pictures yet as I've a big pile of "while you were out" cards to exchange for parts at the post office tomorrow morning, but I have stripped and re-greased the headset bearings and they're feeling ok.
Been on a spending spree on CRC for some of the missing parts (new 8 speed cassette and chain, and brake cables/outers). Also been on the fab cannondale parts site QWERTY cycles and bought the missing headset seal and canti bosses. I think all I'm missing now is a front mech.

So the price update :-

Frame and forks (+ original stem, bars, post etc) £85
Chainset £20
XTR V brakes £36
CRC order (as above) £33.95
Seal and canti bosses £13

Total so far £187.95 (not bad with only front mech to find, should stay under my £200 target.)
 
Utility room looks like Santa's grotto of bike parts :)
Good news is that brake bosses from QWERTY fit perfectly, no need to worry about helicoil or other extreme measures.
One more parcel at post office to collect and then I can start building!
 
Excellent.Nightmare over :LOL:

Is it all XTR or just the main bits? rear mech,brakes shifters etc
 
dyna-ti":zf8o0sct said:
Is it all XTR or just the main bits? rear mech,brakes shifters etc

Only the brakes. Would have loved to do the whole thing in XTR but not at the moment. It's XT sti shifters/brake levers, xt rear mech and LX cranks and wheels. Sram 8 speed block and chain as they were the cheapest shiny plated ones on CRC. No front mech yet. It's the stuff that came off the STS originally when I upgraded to XTR over the years. May chip away at XTR but nice pieces are going for scary prices, I'm just glad I got front and back brakes at a decent price.

Started the re-build today. First job was getting the headshok steering bearings in place. A very strange arrangement I've never seen before, with a split bearing cup which is pinched up when the bearing are knocked into place. Looks like this arrangement tensions the bearings so all the top cap does is cover the top of the fork. I think the current SI stem cap may work and is a cheap fix. I'd regreased the bearings but the top one is pretty rough. I'm going to ride it for now but this may need replaced soon. New upper bearing seal fits nicely, which is a relief as I took a punt on which size to order. Amazing that cannondale still use the same parts from 20 years ago.
Cleaned up the bars with some alcohol and they look great. Seatpost is pretty scratched up from years of use and looks to have been cut down. Cleaned it up for now and I'll see how it looks when at proper riding height. I have a faded but good condition Deore XT post from 1990 in the right size which I might use depending on how it looks.
The bottom bracket that was a pain to get out went back in nicely then I fitted the cranks. Once fitted it was pretty obvious that the spindle was way too long and the whole lot had to be removed. Actually quite glad as the bearings were rough as a badgers arse anyway. Had an old UN91 in a drawer so fitted that instead and it looks much better. Only time will tell once everythings fitted whether the chain lines up ok.

Off to the Edinburgh festival one day this week so I'm going to try to get to the Bike Station and see if I can pick up a reasonable front mech and maybe a seatpost.

Taken a couple of pics of progress so far, will hopefully finish before the weekend.


IMG_0088 by steven.clubb, on Flickr
 
Finished building the parts I have, still need a front mech though and stem cap.
As I feared the original seatpost had been cut down and is too short, but my XT looks fine, if a bit faded. The original bars had also been cut down, even my girlfriend who knows nothing about bikes commented on them. I can't believe the bike was also fitted with bar ends! Have a pair of early Easton monkey risers but due to massively wide stem clamp I can't thread them through even with spreading the clamp. The bars in combination with the massive stem makes it feel like I'm riding tri-bars, looks like I'll just need to get used to it for now.

Unsurprisingly after 15 years the forks are pretty soft , but amazingly smooth. Not going to bother trying to get them fixed, I've heard horror stories of the cost involved. 50mm was never going to do very much any way, I run that much sag on my Mojo HD!

Pretty happy with the result, ok the paint needs some touching up but at least I don't have to fret about crashing it.
 
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