1988 Cannondale SM700

[nagymate]

I never though that I will do this, but I realized that I finally bought a proper, almost period correct 1988 mountain bike.

The story begins with me finding a 1989 Specialized Stumpjumper, abandoned in a bike shop for the equivalent of 2 dollars. Even though only the brakes, headset, seatpost and the handlebars front derailleur remained from the original spec, and very little of the paint was left, I built a semi-modern 1x10 banger, enjoyed it for a few months than sold to nice lad in Budapest.



12 hours later I way on my way to a well known bike hoarder of our country. It was advertised for over a year, I it was pretty obvious why.(yes it was also slightly overpriced) While the peeling paint was easily visible on the pictures, the dead drivetrain was not added to the features list. Completely worn middle ring, broken teeth(!) on the freewheel etc. I personally could not care less, I already has a plan in my mind before we struck a deal. I testrode the thing I felt that it rides miles better than expected...

More story and pics coming up

 

[xxnick1975]

Dales of this era are class and do ride very well indeed. This was a time when they were double the price of most everyrhing else dont forget.

Now they are almost value

 

[nagymate]

Re:

I completely understand and appreciate the value of eighties Cannondales, however, srcolling through vintage mtb discussions, they are often regarded as second rate in comparison with the loved ones, eg. Kleins, Fat's

Things are different here in Hungary though, as Cannondales always had been hugely expensive and considered to be almost unattainable.

From a user perspective, though I my Klein is way small for me, my experience is, that my SM700 is more fun that any other hardtail, except my '06 RM Blizzard, which says a lot to me.

Yes, the high bottom bracket takes some getting used to, but once you're up in the saddle, the only thing you need to be aware is the fact that low-hanging trees are lower than they used to be

Here is one from the listing:

More on the changes later.

 

[calorrado]

Lovely find, more pics please, looks a beauty!

Agree with you, dale's being considered lesser than the Klein but I must say the welds on my 88 SM1000 dale are so much cleaner than my 92 Klein Rascal, so can't beat their build quality!

 

[xxnick1975]

Re:

Very good. Roller cam on the back? Sweet

 

[kingbling]

Was checking out a friends dale the other day did realise they had built in pumps

 

[narcotitlan]

Agreed - very classy indeed

 

[nagymate]

Re:

No rollercams on this one, Dia-Compe AD990 U-brakes at the rear, AD982 Cantilevers at the front.
Batwing levers. Well one at the moment, need to find a left one to replace the XT730.
Cannondale SM700 by Máté Nagy, on Flickr

I think '87 was the last rollercam year for Cannondale.