Cannondale SM400 Singlespeed

[aardvarkash10]

from almost the lowest depths of the Cannondale range in 1988, this SM400 came to me in 2011 complete except for wheels.

Its had a hard life.

Spraybomb paint job and some very rough repairs made it an unlikely candidate for restoration, so its become a singlespeed beater instead. Not a lot spent and not built to be pretty, this one can wait for the right time to get its rat looks improved.

Still got its dia-compe (diabolical...) brakes and the original cranks, stem, bars and fork. Everything else was either in the parts box or traded for as little cash as possible!

No chain tensioner even with the almost vertical dropouts - a lucky break with chain length...

 

[Bugga622]

Hey man! Great looking bike!
I know this is an old post, but I just wanted to let you know that you inspired me to do this same conversion to an old SM400 I had lying around!

It should serve me well, as a quick low maintenance way to get around town!

 

[zetecmk2]

twins....how cute!!

 

[aardvarkash10]

haha! Great fun to ride this thing. It now has a tensioner and went to a 17 tooth freewheel cos the dicta 16 tooth crapped out (as they do...) Otherwise its as in the images and has been as reliable as a housebrick.

Hope you have lots of fun with yours!

 

[Bugga622]

ah! I bought a shimano 16T freewheel, I've read mixed reviews but hopefully she holds up. Did you have to use the tensioner because of the 17T or did the 16T without a tensioner end up not working out?

 

[aardvarkash10]

Probably could have got away without the tensioner on both 16 and 17 tooth. Call it fashion and it was only $20...

 

[cs1]

That is a very clean and elegant bike. Bling is highly overrated.

 

[ez054098]

I love those old 'Dales

 

[Bugga622]

I love the clean look it has without the tensioner

 

[aardvarkash10]

yeah, agree on the clean look, but the tensioner did that nice parallel chain runs thing...