1995 Cannondale R500

[earlsays]

Howdy folks, I recently acquired a 1995, possibly a 1996 Cannondale R500. My dad bought it new, put maybe 50 miles on it, and it sat unused until 1999, when i rode it that entire summer, maybe put 400 miles on it, taking a break from my specialized mountain bike. Since then the bike has been hanging in the carport, unused...for 13 years. Well, I finally convinced him to let me have it cheap. I pulled it down today, cleaned it up, and it needs a TON of work. I am going to have the local bike shop look it over, but my big concern, there is a bracket near the rear derailer which holds the cable in place, it appears to have been held in place with a screw, the screw is broken, I am attaching photos...I am thinking it really needs everything, is it worth it to bring this one back from the dead?

 

[ambal]

Nice bike! it looks to be in reasonable condition for its age.

 

[Eichers]

Hi earlsays, you should be able to have that broken bolt removed quite easily without damage being done to the frame. They usually drill a hole through the bolt, then insert a tapping tool which tightens in the direction that unscrews the bolt. Once remove they can gently retap the thread to ensure it is clean and ready to accept a new bolt.

With all the bolts on the frame, perhaps it is a good idea to undo all of them and applying anti-seize grease to the threads. You might need to apply a thread penetrating oil first, before undoing them.

Let us know how it goes

 

[AlanG]

It looks to me that the little plate perhaps was originally glued to the frame in addition to being bolted. This should be an easy repair for a shop. If by chance the brifters are not working well, spray some WD40 into them, let them sit overnight and then work them a lot. I've brought several sets back from the dead this way.

This bike looks complete and pretty good and the advice to clean and grease the bolt threads makes sense. Pull your seat tube out, clean and grease it too. (Occasionally these seize up if the aluminum oxidized in storage.)

I don't know how competent you are with bike mechanics or if anything is out of adjustment. But if you want to be thorough, all it probably needs is to have all of the bearings cleaned, re-greased, adjusted; the wheels need to be checked for true and adjusted if necessary; and the brakes need to be checked/adjusted. (You might need new cables, brake pads, and new tubes/tires - I can't tell.) In any case, what stops some people is that it might add up to have a bike shop do this but it is really pretty simple work if you have the tools and knowledge.

 

[cpurx]

+1 to both of the above

[COLOR= black]If it was a rivet and they can't tap it for some reason, use JB Weld. There's tension back there but not that bad. In a worst case would be that you single speed back home, through an extra zip tie in your pack and ride on.[/COLOR]

 

[AlanG]

Originally Posted by cpurx .

+1 to both of the above

[COLOR= black]If it was a rivet and they can't tap it for some reason, use JB Weld. There's tension back there but not that bad. In a worst case would be that you single speed back home, through an extra zip tie in your pack and ride on.[/COLOR]

I don't know if the OP has come back to this thread. But if it was riveted, it would be a piece of cake to drill out the old rivet and use a pop rivet gun to install a new aluminum rivet. Yeah I'd probably glue the piece on too with epoxy or JB Weld. (I'm not familiar with JB Weld though.) OK, I just looked up JB Weld and it is like a thick kind of Epoxy.

 

[alienator]

+1 to what AlanG said. There are quite a few adhesives that would work. My guess would be that cable stop was riveted to the frame.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

It might take all of 15 minutes to drill the broken rivet or screw out and install a new one. Easily repaired.

Coat the drill bit in grease to catch the chips, if you are concerned about them going into the frame. Drill carefully or use a drill depth stop to avoid hitting the opposite side tube wall. If just the rivet shell is left the drill bit will self-center. If the pull stud of the rivet is still in place or a screw was originally used, use a center punch to start your hole on center and prevent the bit from walking.

If the original fastener was a rivet and you aren't concerned about the stub, a couple of light blows with a drift pin punch, nail set or simply a blunted nail will drive the stub into the tube. Depending on the BB-chainstay design, compressed air might blow it out.

 

[earlsays]

Well, I took this bike around to a few bike shops today, one of them being a Cannondale dealer. More than likely this is just people trying to sell me a new bike vs. fixing up an old one...but everybody told me the same thing, yes I could repair the bike, but between having the cable bracket repaired, and having everything torn apart, greased, bad parts replaced, etc. the cost of refurbishing this old bike quickly climbs to new bike prices, or close.

I was looking at NEW bikes today, both road and mountain, and honestly, I think I am going to go with a new bike for a number of reasons, first off, I have always been a fan of Specialized products, I had a 97 Hardrock GX that I put a few thousand miles on, loved it, never gave me any problems.

The technology in the new bikes far exceeds anything I ever had any serious riding time with, so I am thinking I'll go with a nice new Specialized Rockhopper FSR full suspension mountain bike or something comparable...thanks for the advice, can't wait to go riding again!

 

[jagman]

please shoot me an e-mail at [email protected] before you get rid of the bike if you are interested in selling it. Please put 95 cannondale r500 in the subject line, so I know it is not junkmail. I don't want to promise anything, but I may be willing to buy the bike from you for the parts. I am trying to buy a 95 R500 frame. If so, your bike would make it easier for me to build up that frame.

 

[alienator]

please shoot me an e-mail at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx before you get rid of the bike if you are interested in selling it. Please put 95 cannondale r500 in the subject line, so I know it is not junkmail. I don't want to promise anything, but I may be willing to buy the bike from you for the parts. I am trying to buy a 95 R500 frame. If so, your bike would make it easier for me to build up that frame.

You might want to PM the owner and delete your email addy from the message. It's typically not a safe idea to post your email addy in public like that. The Steve (the admin) and the mods here won't do a thing about because they don't give a shite about things like that.

 

[DJ SORIN]

I LIKE THIS BIKE.

 

[alfeng]

FWIW. Remove the rear derailleur cable from the rear derailleur ...

CLEAN the bare metal of any residue ...

PAINT a thin layer of JB WELD on the bare metal on the stay & on the cable guide ...

SECURE ("pin") the cable guide with either a small self-taping metal screw (or, any screw of the appropriate diameter) OR a small hose clamp OR a zip tie ...

LET cure for 24+ hours ...

REATTACH the cable.

VOILA!

 

[AlanG]

Yeah am I missing something? Other than the easy fix of that bracket, is something else broken? It looks good to me and only has 400 miles on it. If everything spins smoothly, why not just fix the bracket, adjust the brakes and derailleurs (if necessary)... you can learn how to do that in a few minutes, and ride it. Spray some WD-40 into the brifters and clean and lubricate the chain. What's the problem? If you get motivated, you can later learn how to clean and grease the bearings. It isn't rocket science.

BTW, I had a 1989 Trek 1400 that sat indoors for about 10 years. When I finally took it apart to clean and grease the bearings a couple of years ago, all of the old grease was clean and like new. There was nothing wrong at all. The cables were fine too but I did get new tires as the old ones had dry rotted. I checked it all out and sold it to a very happy buyer.