By guest author Rangga Panji, Pancalen Cycles. As much as the coveted ‘classic’ bicycles, the specimens from the last decade of the twentieth century tickled my fancy. This could be attributed to many an experiment in design and materials, namely aluminum, that brought us unique or iconic — if not quirky — bicycles as the result.
Being one of the early purveyors of mass-produced aluminum frames, Cannondale introduced the R500 in the early years of the nineties. It’s unmistakably distinctive: massive alloy tubing with a skinny headtube and fork, combined with the rear dropouts that were extended way behind the junction between the chainstays and seat stays.
Other than their road frames, Cannondale also incorporated these design cues on their mountain and track frames, but only for short time period. Andy Lie lives in Jakarta and is a great fan of early nineties Cannondales: he once owned up to three Cannondale Track bikes from the 1990s, all in pristine condition.
So when he found a sad-looking 53cm 1992 R500 frame and fork in Singapore that was being sold for peanuts — USD180 peanuts, to be exact — he immediately snapped up the opportunity to give life back to it.
Once the frameset reached his homeland, Andy set to work. The frame and fork were sent on a jet plane again to Borneotrack in Balikpapan for major repair: it was missing all but one of the top tube brake cable guides, and the right seat stay was slightly bent.
The paint was also in a horrible state from years of weather and sweat so a repaint was also scheduled. While waiting for the online-auctioned, near-complete Shimano Dura-Ace 7700 groupset to arrive, Andy sent me a set of Dura Ace 7900 hubs that I built to H Plus Son TB14 rims with Richman double butted spokes.
They were shod with 25mm Panaracer Paselas with tan sidewalls, further adding to the classic looks. New reproduction decals were procured from overseas, but much to Andy’s surprise a set destined for an R600 arrived on his doorstep.
He then sent the decal set to Borneotrack where they were lovingly applied after taking the chance to change the color from dark blue to more majestic dark candy red.
When Andy brought the finished frameset to our shop, I was surprised. Not only from seeing the beautiful transformation that had happened to the frame, but also from his extra effort to source a few more Dura-Ace items: an SP-7400 seat post, HS-7200 stem, and HP-7410 headset.
Crankbrothers’ Candy pedals made switching between his bicycles easy. The nineties vibe was then further enhanced by the Selle Italia Flite saddle perched atop an aero Dura-Ace seat post, while Nitto’s M106 compact drop bar, wrapped in Supacaz bar tape, connected Andy’s hands to the front wheel.
The overall process took months, but now Andy can proudly say that he owns one unique nineties Cannondale: one that he lovingly gave a new lease of life.
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Big thanks to Mohamad Abrar Faris for the great photography.
