South Salem Cycleworks: 1991 Cannondale 63cm SR1000 bicycle

Hi, Nate Taylor here. Please reach out to me at nate@sscycleworks.com for inquiries on parts availabilities and shipping estimates.

South Salem Cycleworks Museum:
Owner Michael Wolfe's 63cm Cannondale SR1000 Bicycle

Owner Michael Wolfe's 63cm Cannondale SR1000 Bicycle

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The frameset:
Frame: 3.0 “Pro Series” Road Race geometry.
Cantilevered rear dropouts.
Fork: Aluminum, hard anodized finish

Seat Tube: 63cm
Seat Tube Angle: 73 degrees
Top Tube: 58.72cm
Head Tube: 20cm
Head Tube Angle: 73.5 degrees
Chainstays: 40.54cm
Wheelbase: 99.57cm
Bottom Bracket Drop: 27.31cm
Fork Rake: 3.51cm
Fork Trail: 6.35cm
Weight as equipped 22lbs

Components mounted on the frameset:
Rims: Mavic Open 4 CD 36h. Second set uses 32 spokes.
Hubs: Mavic 550, sealed bearing, alloy axle
Spokes: DT 14g, replaced with 15/16g w/alloy nipples, cross 3.
Tires: Michelin Hi-Lite Super Comp HD 700x23, Kevlar beads.
Rimstrips: Velox
Pedals: Mavic 646 adjustable float clipless
Crankset: Mavic 631, 39/53 rings, 172.5mm left arm, 175mm rightarm.
Chain: Sedisport silver
Freewheel: Aris New Success 8-speed - 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 24-tooth cogs
Bottom bracket: Mavic 610, sealed bearing, adjustable chainline.
Front Derailleur: Mavic 862, braze-on.
Rear Derailleur: Sachs New Success
Shift Levers: 1991-22 Campagnolo Record ergoshifters with Campagnolo housing.
Handlebars: Mavic 351, 42cm center-to-center.
Stem: Mavic 365, 14cm.
Headset: Mavic 305, sealedbearing, locking.
Brake Calipers: Mavic/Modolo 440 with leaf springs.
Saddle: Selle San Marco with Titanium rails, Sospenioni Attive Pirelli
Seatpost: Mavic 330 black, 27.2mm
Cannondale & Specialized cages.
Cyclometer: Avocet 50 altimeter.

About the bike:
I’d been working for Nelson Sherry at Monmouth Cyclery in the early ‘80’s, but after he regained his senses and closed up his shop, I was hired at the Bike Doctors in West Salem. Steve Weiss, Steve Dolan, and later Burke Schmidt, were the partners there. By the mid-‘80’s, they were selling a new brand, Cannondale, made in the USA with oversize aluminum tubes with ugly bubblegum welds, and until Cannondale began heat-treating the frames, crooked tubes were an accidental result of the welding. Still, they were a marvel, a new technology only surpassed by Gary Klein’s custom work up in Chehalis, Washington.

I’d ridden and raced my Eisentraut on Campagnolo Super Record for nearly a decade, and working in bike shops, watched the evolution of indexed shifting. It was still downtube or barcon shifting – integrated “brifters” were on the horizon, but only rarely seen. In the fall of 1990, I ordered a SR1000 in Mavic yellow, with full Mavic components, with the exception of the GripShift mechanisms on the drops. Cannondale even spec’d the Gripshifters on their tandems at the time.

I had quit substitute teaching at this time, and had spent a legislative session as a copy editor in Legislative Counsel, working weekends and spring breaks at the Bike Doctors. Thinking I would continue to work, maybe even full-time with the Bicycle Doctors, was the rationale of purchasing a Cannondale, and of course, enjoying more modern componentry.

The test rides on bike builds and repairs had convinced me that the Cannondales were faster than my Eisentraut, and were definitely lighter. It was only after a year of riding the SR1000 that I realized that it really wasn’t faster, especially on century rides. The stiffness of the frame, enhanced by a shorter top tube and cantilevered rear dropouts, transmitted the vibrations from the road surface at an increased rate, giving the illusion of going faster. And I was certainly more fatigued at the end of those rides. Even the addition of the San Marco Titanium suspension saddle didn’t help.

But it was an eye-catcher, and when the first carbon fork appeared, many suggested I replace the aluminum fork with one. I didn’t do that, but the GripShifters had to go. The front derailleur required a lot of twisting turn, and my wrist felt it. I tried Shimano barcons, something that went against my Euro-grain of passion, but despite repeated attempts at indexing them with the Mavic rear derailleur – changing housing and reverse placing of the cable in the clamp of the derailleur, even changing to 8-speed from 7-speed, I couldn’t come up with a solution.

I’d been riding with a 5mm shim between my cleat and the sole of right riding shoe ever since I began serious cycling. Somewhere I’d been measured and it was discovered that it was my femur that was the shorter part of my leg. I was fortunate at that time to trade crankarms around in the industry. Later bikes were equipped with 175mm crankarms as the industry became less open to mismatched cranksets. Did I notice a difference? No, I could not, but physics are physics!

This was the bike I rode up Green Springs Highway from Ashland one late spring. It was sunny, and even having ridden this 50-mile route on the Eisentraut up to the Mountain Lakes turnoff, and descending then Dead Indian Road, failed to remember the 5,000 foot elevation gain. That might mean a decrease in temperature, which happened. My fingers were frozen to the point that I dreaded descending Dead Indian, attempting to use the brakes. I watched the roadsides, hoping to find something, a paper or plastic bag that I could wrap my hands in to prevent the additional cold from the chill factor in descending, but to no avail.

On another trip, I rode the Cannondale past the Mountain Lakes turnoff, not knowing I’d passed it, and found myself only 16 miles from Klamath Falls. Not prepared for the additional miles, I only had enough money with me to buy a bag of chips before finding that end of Dead Indian to return to Ashland on. We had tickets to a play in Ashland in the late afternoon, and when I failed to return as anticipated, my wife called the sheriff’s office and they conducted a search for me on my intended route. I barely made it back in time to attend the play.

I reluctantly changed out the Mavic 840 rear derailleur for a Campagnolo Record 8-speed and installed the ’92 Record ergoshifters on the bike at some point. Back then, I’d typically build two sets of wheels for a bike, a 32-hole for lighter, faster rides and 36-hole for rougher terrain. I’d upgraded the freewheel from 7-speed to 8-speed using Sachs freewheels, but the additional spacing required re-dishing the wheels and getting new axles for the two sets of Mavic hubs. Because of the increased dish using the 8-speed Sachs freewheels, I encouraged customers to use 36-hole dimensions to increase strength. According to the late Jobst Brandt, a 10% increase in strength. Interestingly, as time went by, my bicycle distributors began building bikes using 32h only, saying that because of technical improvements, 36-holes were no longer necessary, and they could save SKU’s as well. I found myself both building and sourcing 36-hole rear wheels for customers purchasing hybrid bikes as the 32-hole version failed repeatedly.

The Sachs freewheel used twist-tooth cogs, and did increase the shifting performance over the typical freewheel tooth configuration, which became more and more important as indexed shifting became the norm. It still didn’t shift as precisely as Shimano’s HyperGlide that had ramps carved in the side of the individual cogs, as evidenced with Mavic’s introduction of Mektronic wireless electronic shifting in 1999. They issued their 9-speed cassette using twist tooth configurations, and finally recommended replacing it with a Shimano HyperGlide.

In 1990 I was managing the south branch of the Bicycle Doctors. Despite outselling the west branch, it was decided to close the south branch and focus on the west store. I’d worked there, and the single window in the door was the only vision of outside. I didn’t want to begin working there once more. I re-opened the south branch as South Salem Cycleworks in October of 1991 with the help of my then partner, Jim Scott.

Cannondale was reluctant to open another dealership in Salem, and I ceased riding my Cannondale as it wasn’t a reflection of the lines we sold. Miyata was a brand I’d sold in the early ‘80’s, and I was soon riding a Miyata Ti with the Mavic Zap gruppo.

The SR1000 remained in the shop back on the museum row. It sat as confirmation that I had experience in riding oversize aluminum tube frames when selling another material, whether steel, titanium or carbon.

In 1994, Cannondale opened us as a dealership – customers who’d been with the Bicycle Doctor’s south store came in requesting Cannondale’s, and no other aluminum frame had the same appeal. We placed the required pre-season, which included apparel, and which sold favorably that year. The following year, 1995, we again placed a pre-season, not knowing that the outside rep would open a Upper Echelon in Stayton as a dealer, and who would sell everything at 10% below retail. We did not place a preseason again with Cannondale, even after Upper Echelon folded a few years later.

When Cannondale declared bankruptcy in 2003 and was absorbed by its creditors, the Made in USA logo began disappearing, first in accessories and apparel, and then the frames themselves. I stuck a Made in Taiwan sticker on the SR1000 as a sign of protest.

Photos of the 63 cm 1991 Cannondale SR1000 Bicycle: