Calling cannondale know-all’s!

[Freddyman90]

So I picked this up yesterday, saw it on marketplace and saved it from the skip. The guy who had it bought it 25 years ago from a guy who apparently rode it quite competitively and hardly used it.
Now, I know nothing about Cannondales at all, I was drawn to it due to it being retro and cheap .

I have had a browse through the cannondale catalogues and it appears to be an SM???. The serial number is under the chainstay and shows it being an 86 year model - I think.

It has a mixture of groupsets which is confusing me but they may have been upgraded - they do appear quite period correct though.

It’s got a 24” rear and 26” front wheel which I only noticed when I got it home. The tyres, farmer John’s nephew on the front and ground control on the rear are in great shape and don’t appear to have cracks at all.
It’s full of pigeon poo, cobwebs and general muck.
I’m in 2 minds whether to restore or break for parts.

Any input would be great! Thanks

 

[gtturbo]

Hi, It will be an SM model, pretty sure they all were in the earlier days. Funnily enough I picked up a 1988 26/24 SM600 'dale this week as well. My guess is that you have a 1987 SM500 purely based on the colour of the frame and the double U brakes. If you do break for parts I would be very interested in the frame and forks, as in fairness the one I have is a little small for me. In fact I would probably just buy the whole thing and restore it if your looking to move it on

 

[raidan73]

Nice! Pretty likely to be an 87, built in 86. By 88 all models had cantis up front and the decals are newer than 86. May have been sold as a frameset, or a warranty replacement

 

[Freddyman90]

Thanks for the info guys, it’s definitely an interesting bike! I’m quite intrigued to see how it will turn out with some tlc. Don’t see many of these around at all, well, I haven’t seen any for sale anywhere previously.

 

[Freddyman90]

Few more pics

 

[KermitGKona88]

Would most likely have come with front and rear Suntour roller brakes but looks cool with the double U brake set up too

 

[raidan73]

So built October 2nd 1986

As @KermitGKona88 says those u-brakes would’ve come later on. Really nice find. Should look great with some TLC. The 24” GC are really hard to find

 

[FluffyChicken]

Not sure which catalogues you used, but if I was our site, then you may also want to look at this site.
https://vintagecannondale.com/

 

[Freddyman90]

Not sure which catalogues you used, but if I was our site, then you may also want to look at this site.
https://vintagecannondale.com/

That’s the site I used to get what little info I have! Loads of info cannondale related, it’s a great site!

 

[raidan73]

Oh and if you do break for parts, I’d love the rear tyre @Freddyman90