Our resident Rat Rider Ryan has been churning out a constant flow of unique, radical bikes with his mate in their workshop lately. From chopped choppers to cruisy shoppers, the results are always like nothing you’ve seen before; every bike a one-off, something we are completely au fait with here in Chainslap Garage.

As we’ve become Cannondale-obsessed lately, it was serendipitous and auspicious when an email arrived from Ryan with this little ripper.He, and I, aren’t fully sure of an ID on this one, but my guess is an early CAAD road frame, as the dropouts are non-cantilevered (so it’s not a 2.8) but runs a 1-1/8 head tube, and sports mounts for down tube shifters. The carbon fork is definitely not original, looks like it could be a Giant or similar generic model, but it looks sweet! Whatever it is, it’s built into a cool little roadie/townie with more than a dash of character.

Here’s Ryan’s tale of the ‘Dale…

I’ve always wanted any Cannondale or Klein, just to say I have one, and now I have two ‘Dales of my own. Now to get a Klein! Myself and a friend are colabbing on builds, he sources the bikes, we both source parts and come up with a build plan (which always changes). Mock-up’s are done and agreed upon, then I do all the clean up fine tuning and detail, we do it for shits and giggles for now and strictly for ourselves but guess we will catalogue each one for a portfolio of sorts then sell off.

I was looking through the local area for bikes on Marketplace and came across an “old road bike for sale” listing. It was all original looking but I couldn’t make out the brand or components clearly, but could tell it was decent and the fatter tubes told me it was alloy. It was going for a $100 and I offered a cheeky $80 and got a $90? reply and a deal was done. I went and picked it up and straight away. I thought it was a Cannondale with the smooth welds and oversize downtube but without decals I wasn’t sure, but the Coda branded seat gave it away.

It looked all original except for the rear wheel and in a used, dusty, not maintained but ok condition, loads of small scratches and scuffs. I stripped it down and cleaned everything, I’m not a dropbar roadie so unless it’s worthy of a restoration to original I like to convert old road bikes into commuters, or what I call street fighters (urban riders I guess). So that’s what happened here! The colour of the frame really pops in the sunshine with a metallic goldish colour with a, I guess a rootbeer? clear coat. I’m guessing it has been professionally painted because under the scuffs and scratches the paint job is flawless.

So everything got regreased and fitted new inner/outer cables in braided gold for some bling, and a few gold ano bolts to accent the frame colour. Brakes and drivetrain are all Shimano 600 and 600 front hub, gearing is 2×7 39/53 and 13-23 using classic Suntour ratchet friction thumb shifters. The Cateye bottle cage that was on it got resprayed along with the shifter covers to add some colour along with the Charge seat and Funn lock-on grips. 700×23  Specialized All Condition Armadillos stayed on as they are in good condition although 25s or 28s would be better for the urban riding. It’s a rocket ship to ride and very responsive even in its commuter configuration. Another keeper for my stable. Enjoy!