Build My Cannondale!

[Alistair]

A 1994 Cannondale Killer V "appeared" in the bed of my truck yesterday.

Talk my in (or out) of doing a drop-bar build. All the cool kids are doing it, right?

Anyways, a few oddities to address...
- Stem. Bike has a 1.25" steerer - any good options here? Looks like Redshift offers the suspension stem in OS steerer and 80mm, so that might work if I don't need something shorter. Any options in 50-80mm lengths, in case I need it?

- Brakes. Has Cannondale label cantis and Force 40 pivots. Keep the pivots? Swap to mini-Vs? Something else?

- Tires - what are y'all liking in 26x2.0 to 26x2.3? Probably want something gravel-ish - some tread, not a slick, not a full mountain tire.

- Microshift - anybody tried the Sword or Sword Black stuff? Any clue if those cassettes will fit on a 7-speed FH?

Budget it TBD, but probably frugal but not cheap, if that makes sense.

[.RJ]

I would keep the brakes, they should be Dia Compe. I'm not sure on the whirlydoodle on the crown, opinions seem to be pretty polarizing on them.

I have one on my s-works 26" hardtail and its... fine? But I also dont think its dramatically improved over other cantis I've used. So you could leave it and see what you think, if not switch to a crown mounted canti hanger. Road levers should plug in fine.

Tires, find 26x2.2" race kings on sale somewhere, easy.

Bars, salsa sells the cowchipper (I think, the one with Flair) in silver and they're cheap.

[oliver1850]

I think the easiest solution for a stem is the Nitto threadless adapter and threadless stem of your choice. I wouldn't change the build much. Bar end shifters would be my choice.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by oliver1850

I think the easiest solution for a stem is the Nitto threadless adapter and threadless stem of your choice. I wouldn't change the build much. Bar end shifters would be my choice.

Its not a quill stem.

[Alistair]

Originally Posted by oliver1850

I think the easiest solution for a stem is the Nitto threadless adapter and threadless stem of your choice. I wouldn't change the build much. Bar end shifters would be my choice.

Look again, this is a 1.25" steerer threadless setup.

Yes, somehow Cannondale managed to build a bike with older spec 7 speed AND newer spec threadless (but in a non-standard size). Because of course they did.

[NHAero]

That looks like a great project! +1 on Race Kings. The lower end Shimano stuff these days works awfully well.

[Alistair]

Originally Posted by NHAero

The lower end Shimano stuff these days works awfully well.

What group were you thinking? IIRC, everything below 105 is getting merged into CUES, which is disc only. And soon-to-be-dead Tiagra and Sora are 2x - no 1x with wide cassette option. Or were you thinking Deore? Not sure there's a drop-bar lever that works without some sort of cable ratio adapter.

SRAM Apex 11s 1x might work. Not sure if it's any less expensive than the Microshift stuff.

[charliedid]

Nice

Straight up 90's ano purple everything.

[mickey.d]

I had the model above that in that classic cannondale hunter metallic green and XT.
That thing(well any old mtb) won’t handle right on the road with anything shorter than a 120mm stem.
a 140 or 150mm with some trendy modern swept back alt bars might work.

Those parts are fine for riding around on dirt roads, just find yourself a few comfortable hand positions.

[tellyho]

90s MTB are not visually appealing with drop bars, IMO. Stack is teeny. You need an LD to get the drops up where you want to ride them, because that's where you really want to be on a wide tire gravel bike, no? Instead, do some alt-bar something that gives you an aero position and flat bars to actually MTB, because that's what you'll want to do with this thing.

[oliver1850]

Originally Posted by Alistair

Look again, this is a 1.25" steerer threadless setup.

Yes, somehow Cannondale managed to build a bike with older spec 7 speed AND newer spec threadless (but in a non-standard size). Because of course they did.

Actually didn't look at all as I knew my 1993 with 1 1/4" fork was threaded, and assumed the 1994 was the same.

Not sure what's out there for threadless 1 1/4" stems for 26 or 31.8 mm bars. Might be a few for 25.4 bars but not sure about clearance to feed a drop bar through them.

A Silk Road or CX Headshok stem could be shimmed down to 1 1/4" and there were several angles and lengths made.

[Alistair]

Ugh, so the hub has a 7-speed HG freehub. Was hoping it was spec'ed with an 8-speed since the RD was 8 and other models in the KillerV line were all 8 speed.

Oh well.

I think my options are (please correct me if wrong)...
- grab any 8/9 speed FH body (from a Shimano QR hub) and drive-side cones to move to 7-speed shell (re-dish and fiddle with spacers required, probably). Use whatever 8/9/10/11 speed combo I want (11 speed with 34t+ cassette only)

- Do a "9 of 10" on the 7-speed body (use 9 cogs and spacers from a 10spd cassette) with a matched 10speed shifter (use RD limit to avoid the extra click). Should be able to retain XT 8 speed RD that came on the bike.

- New (to me) rear wheel or wheel set. Use whatever 8/9/10/11 speed combo I want (11 speed with 34t+ cassette only)

[mickey.d]

135 qr hubs are basically free now, but you already have a triple ring, you aren’t going to gain much range “upgrading” to more rear clicks. Swapping out to some thumb shifters and seperate brake levers and your choice of alt bars is all that thing needs. Well, that and tires that aren’t 20 years old.

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by Alistair

What group were you thinking? IIRC, everything below 105 is getting merged into CUES, which is disc only. And soon-to-be-dead Tiagra and Sora are 2x - no 1x with wide cassette option. Or were you thinking Deore? Not sure there's a drop-bar lever that works without some sort of cable ratio adapter.

SRAM Apex 11s 1x might work. Not sure if it's any less expensive than the Microshift stuff.

OK, duh on my part.
I guess if I were to go 1X I might find a 10s 105 brifter and use an older Shimano MTB RD. I have a 105 10s set-up on my Bob Jackson with a RD-M952 MTB derailleur. Maybe the smaller brands have what you need. I had a Microshift bar end shifter on a bike a few years ago and it didn't work as well as a Shimano, so I've shied away from these smaller brands. Current products may be much better.

[tellyho]

Group-wise, 10s Shimano brifter with 9s Shimano mtb RD is a budget option. But again, getting the bars up... Maybe a Surly corner bar build: drop bar functionality with mtb components