Qui si parla Campagnolo said:Dave Mayer said:Found but have not yet bought an interesting bike from the late 80's. It is
a black Cannondale with black-anodized Suntour Superbe Pro components.
Hubs, derailleurs (with gold accents), crankset and a black Gran Compe
brakeset. Gold-anodized friction downtube shifters with a 6-speed freewheel
setup. It all looks really sharp.
The bike is too big for me, but I'm thinking about possible resale value. I
have never seen this combination on Ebay. Advice?
Quick sea story about a C-dale like this. I was a long time runner, got
hurt, decided to ride vice run. Went into Ocean Front bikes in Va Bch
to look. Rode a Cannondale with gold Suntour, really liked it but the
owner, Stuart Moon said, for comparison, ride this Italian job, Ciocc
with Campag and tubulars. Rode it, loved it, the rest is history. I
often wonder what path into the bike biz I would have taken with the
Cannonball/Suntour stuff/clincher bike.
Funny - I was shopping for a bike about the same time (1984-5). I
rode many steel bikes, and couldn't find one that felt right. I ended
up riding a Cannondale SR-500 (that was the green model with the
Suntour Sprint derailleurs, but had a Superbe Pro crank), and was
hooked. I remember looking at the "Black Lightning" (which, AFAICR)
was equipped with Superbe Pro derailleurs. The funny thing about
those frames was that they had chunky oval seat stays turned the wrong
way to the wind (presumably to reduce flex). The tubes looked
enormous in the mid-80's, but almost svelte by comparison to today's
big tube aluminum bikes.
That bike influenced my philosophies on how much flex is too much, as
is still reflected in the Habanero frames (which aren't as stiff as a
'dale, but are a lot stiffer than most steel frames).
Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame