Those who know me personally know that I love my bikes. Presently, my garage is home to about five of them in various states of disrepair. But the undisputed jewel in the crown is my restored Cannondale CAAD4 racer.

My restored custom Cannondale CAAD4

There is something about Cannondale bikes.

I love that they’ve stuck to their guns on traditional geometry while other companies went down the sloping top tube path (I’m looking at you Specialized Venge). I also appreciate that Cannondale have continued to innovate with aluminium, and their CAAD series bikes are still extremely good frames that compete well with the low to medium level carbon offerings of others.

Some of the guys I ride with are also Cannondale aficionados — between them owning CAAD10s, 8s and even a US-made CAAD7. Late last year, I was despondent, having just missed out on a gorgeous tin-can coloured CAAD9 frame, when this blood-red beauty came my way.

The history of this frame is unknown. It doesn’t have the same markings as other CAAD4s of the era, and had the stamp of a previous owner — a male, presumably, going by the name “Mick Green” — on the frame. I’ve since covered up the name with custom decals of my social bicycle club. This frame may have belonged to a professional at some point given this fact. — if anyone knows who ‘Mick Green’ may have been, please get in touch! The internet hasn’t been helpful in finding out.

It’s also clearly a custom frame, as evidenced by the Cannondale custom badge on the front instead of the usual Cannondale logo. After getting fitted to the bike recently by The Spin Doc at Bardon, my fitter (‘hey Joe!’) noted the odd geometry of the bike, with the frame being short at the rear and long at the front, confirming the custom-made nature of the bike.

Anyway, partially inspired by the beautiful restoration job I read about over at Veloaficiando of a Cipollini-era CAAD4, I resolved to build this frame up, putting on a mix of modern day components with some more period relevant gear as well. It would be my first ‘proper’ road bike.

The hunt for parts began. I got my paws on a mint condition Shimano Ultegra 6700 groupset along with cranks and shifters. Wiggle helped out with things like bottom brackets, headsets, chains, pedals and cables. I threw on some gorgeous looking stainless steel Elite bottle cages. My friend Warren supplied me with a Fzik Arione saddle, era-specific Deda bars and stem. I also invested in some perfect second hand handmade wheels with HED C2 Belgium rims and some great looking Alchemy hubs.

Weirdly enough, the last bit of kit I got for it was some black one inch headset spacers — difficult to track down in a era where larger spacers reign supreme. Around the same time, I located an era-specific Cannondale competition seatpost, replacing the random Chinese-made seatpost that came with the frame.

Now, how much did this cost me I hear you ask? Well, with all the parts and a bit of labour involved for things I couldn’t do (nor my friend Warren couldn’t do either — like installing a bottom bracket as we lacked the proper tool), this probably would have set me back about $1K for all the part minus the wheels. The wheels are pretty darn good and got for about $500. Yes — I could have bought a good second hand modern carbon bike for this amount, but this one oozes class, so I’m not too worried about the end cost.

And that’s it — all done. It’s a strange melange of the modern and the past, but I love this bike and I’ve now rode it about 2,000 kilometres with little trouble. And it’s fast, very fast. It’s no wonder I see people still riding these frames at local criterium races.

I’m very happy with the job I’ve done with it, and while it’s no Saeco CAAD4 of Cipollini vintage, it still gets compliments whether it’s out climbing up the local hills or sitting beside me at the coffee shop after a early morning spin.

Thanks for the help!

Thanks to the following for helping me with parts, ideas and inspiration.

Warren J for a lot of gear and the guy who did the bulk of the build for me! Dill, Paddy, Ben and Matt from OBG, Manning for the wheels, Joe from The Spin Doc for the fit, James F for the hard to find headset spacer!, and Max for the seatpost..

Specification

If you’re interested in the specification, here’s the list of parts as best as I can manage or recall:

FORK Carbon Slice by Time

PAINT Cannondale Factory finish — Blood Red

HEADSET Cane Creek 40 Series

STEM Deda Zero

HANDLEBARS Deda Piega 44mm

BAR WRAP Bontrager

BAR PLUGS Cannondale

FRONT & REAR BRAKES Ultegra 6700

BRAKE LEVERS Ultegra 6700

FRONT DERAILLEUR Ultegra 6700

REAR DERAILLEUR Ultegra 6700 Ten Speed

CASSETTE Ultegra 6700 11–28

CHAIN Dura Ace 7901

CRANKSET Ultegra 6700 175mm

CHAINRINGS Ultegra 6700

BOTTOM BRACKET FSA Gossamer

PEDALS Ultegra 6800 SPD-SL Carbon

FRONT HUB Alchemy ELF (24h radial)

REAR HUB Alchemy ORC (28h radial)

WHEELS HED C2 Belgium rims, Sapim CX-RAY spokes with brass nipples

TIRES Continental Grand Prix 25mm

SADDLE Fzik Arione

SEATPOST Cannondale Competition

SEAT CLAMP Cannondale

BIDON CAGES Elite Ciussi Inox

(Robert Cobcroft of Veloafiacinado - if you’re reading, I love the way you lay out the parts list on your posts, so I’ve “borrowed” your style — I hope you don’t mind)