New steed in the stable

I happened to stop into Saint Marks coffeeshop for an americano and spied a few old bikes for sale on the sidewalk rack out front. One in particular caught my eye- a sweet old Cannondale Criterium road bike in nice shape. After a couple days of phone tag and some inner debate on whether or not I really need another bike, I finally caught up with the seller and took it off his hands for a cool $150. (Turns out he's the owner of said coffeeshop, a mellow guy who likes to tinker with whatever he gets his hands on.)

So, I've finally graduated from cyclocross to full on roadie. Turns out it's a 1987 bike, almost all original parts:

frame originally built on 8-28-1987, my 'new' Cannondale Criterium

I dug up a bunch of spare parts from my boxes of bikejunk, and was able to upgrade to Ultegra derailures, built up some wheels with combos of Ultegra/Campy and Dura Ace/Mavic and Maxxis tires, threw on a Thomson seatpost, SLR saddle, ATAC pedals, shorty Nitto stem and some low-end STI levers. My only cost was $12 for cable stops to replace the downtube shifters:

the upgraded setup: $12 and many hours of work later

Along the way I deconstructed an OLD front wheel that I used to ride on snowdays and never really serviced, in order to reuse the Dura Ace hub with a better rim. Unscrewed all the nipples to find the spokes held their cross-pattern from gunk and corrosion alone!

 

A bearing rebuild was clearly in order but it rolls smooth now. This bike is really fun, extremely stiff, and fairly light for it's age and components. I'm looking forward to some good exploring in the hills this spring and summer!

While in the mode of bike overhauls, it's time to lace up a new front rim on my mountain bike as well... a couple seasons overdue....