Hi,
I had a chat with a bloke at my local riding spot who offered me a free Dawes galaxy tandem frame.
He works for a local bike recycle place and can't sell it as it's rusty round the bottom bracket. As it could possibly be dangerous they can't sell it, but he didn't want to see a frame that almost certainly just needs a wire brush and some hammerite go to the tip.
I went and had a look. 50 something seat tube and on that vintage of frame I'd be needing a 64cm.
Lurking at the back was a Cannondale cad 3 in Volvo Cannondale blue/ yellow with a headshock and big enough to fit me.
A quick trip to the vice to get the seat post moving and it's mine 😀
The headshock is totally solid and they said they would get it working for £50.
I had a lefty ona scalpel 15 years ago and it was £££ getting anything Cannondale serviced then. Some of the lefty's the specialists were not interested in.
So I'm not expecting 80mm of plush well damped goodness
Am I likely to get a complete pogo stick?
Looks like this but with paint chips aplenty
https://www.bikeawayberlin.de/product-page/cannondale-caad3-mtb
https://www.ridewise.org.uk/ lentin Abby shop in Nottingham if you are interested in the tandem
Crappy photo as I was more excited about the bike than my very bored 5 year old 😀 
I predict the frame will be stiff as hell, like most Cannondale hardtails of that age, even if they get the fork moving. Lovely colour scheme. Surely it needs a set of Magura hydraulic rim brakes?
Ideally I'd like to keep it budget and not be to precious about it.
I've got some hope pro 2/ Mavic 719 wheels horded and a variety of disk brakes so they will probably make an appearance.
It's a 27.5 seat post, so I'm hoping it that will add some compliance 😀 hoping, not expecting.
In my experience it'll be at best a pogo stick and that's after an indecent amount of time and effort. BUT, that actually really fun when your brain adapts! I have a soft spot for those old Cannondales....
I rescued an early 90’s delta v a few years back and even found a replacement spring online. The headshok was great. Mine had 50mm travel and took the sting out of roots and washboard stuff really well. Never going to feel like a sofa but for old school xc/ gravel, it was lots of fun.
Not sure if the site still exists but Dr Cannondale in Germany was a great source of small spares.
Never mind the head shock it'll looks great (if battered) and will do a perfect job of going to the shop / pub / hardcore cycle path riding/ etc.
Needs some balloon type tyres like Scwalbe Big Ben or Billy Bonkers for round town and gravel cruising.
Even has rack mounts for guards or luggage if you go down the practical runabout route.
Loved mine for a few years. Then it went from finely engineered suppleness to a rusty grumpy mess. There are plates of needle bearings in there, so if you/they can get replacements it should be possible to make it good again. Or you can get adaptor cups to run a normal headset and fork.
I had a yellow CAAD4 (I think), bought it off here pre-hack, it was an absolute rocket ship! Stiff, but in a good way. As long as you had a decent amount of seat post showing they weren't that uncomfortable.
The forks seize down because the bearings migrate up the steerer, you have give them a good clean with WD40, let it dry/drain out, slather with appropriate grease, flip it over, stand on the bars and bounce the suspension down and pull up as hard as you can on it to jolt them back into position.
Depending on the model some had a damper, some just had a lockout.
That is a yr2000 F800 with a Fatty DL headshok I think. I've had a lot of cannondales over the years, (series 3.0), CAAD3, CAAD4 and CAAD5. my favourite was the CAAD4, but there'#s not a huge difference in ride feel between that and the CAAD3.
They are direct to pedal, but they are not that harsh IME. You will be limited to about 2.2" tyres, but you can also squeeze a 700 x25c in there, should you want.
My first CAAD frame was a CAAD4 with the fatty SL. like the DL it only had 70mm travel, but it was smooth and well behaved. I actually have a CAAD3 with fatty headshok in my shed unloved that I need to sort out and sell....
the headshoks are, as above, easy enough to get free, but the seals in the damper stiffen and dump their oil, leading to an air sprung pogo. simple enough to fix, if you have the castle tool... I'd love to know what they'll do to get it working for £50.
this was the last of my cannondale hardtails (in roadie mode) it did end up with 26" wheels back on it and USE shokpost. (and a matching front tyre)
The road bike at the front of the photo looks way more interesting, and I'm not much of a roadie! What looks to be fillet brazed, wishbone stays etc.
Thanks for all the above 😀
You will be limited to about 2.2" tyres,
Almost bought some 2.3 cheap specialized ones. I'll hold my horses.
I'd love to know what they'll do to get it working for £50.
The mechanic was talking about putting an inner tube up to get a grip on ...( five year old starts yanking arm and shouting).. and it will be easy.
He seemed to know his stuff, I'll ask when I collect it with out my bored wee one
The road bike at the front of the photo looks way more interesting
Looks like a Dave Lloyd, maybe a Concept 90 with 650c wheels?
Its a tri bike from a 4 time iron man winner for a bargain. I did have a look but couldn't back up that it had won 4 iron man triathlons. I'm sure there must be some.site like roots and rain for triathlon but I couldn't find it.
I guess it's this lady's as it's got her name on it 😃
https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/8194333.iron-lady-anne-shows-mettle/
https://m.facebook.com/groups/450550069015417/pos t's/1892403554830054/?view=posts
They were after £200 or £250 for it
There were all kinds of old but shiny things. They seemed keen they went to someone who would use them 😃
Thorn road tandem
Dawes galaxy tandem
A MTB tandem they were putting hydraulic magura brakes on.
Felt a bit like Aladdin's cave
Or you can get adaptor cups to run a normal headset and fork.
I've got a lower Cannondale headset unit designed to step down from a 1.5" headtube to a standard 1 1/8" fork steerer. External cup, race and bearing. Took it off a defunct frame a couple of weeks ago, yours for postage if you want it.
Ah yes, Dave Lloyd. I thought the decal looked a bit familiar. Made some cool MTB frames BITD.
Or you can get adaptor cups to run a normal headset and fork.
A ZS56 upper and EC56 lower headset fits headshok head tubes providing it's got a short insertion depth. Superstar components do a nice fancy one I've used on a couple of prophet's before.
Headshok technician here...
If the fork is seized and not moving it will require stripping down in its entirety and replacement of any/all corroded needle bearings and races. Trying a quick-fix of spraying lube inside might get the fork moving, but you'll just end up with horrible rusty spray residue running out of the bottom for some time. And even if you get it moving it will feel rough as hell.
Before commencing with a £50 repair it might be worthing asking what is being done and what (if any) parts are being replaced. I'm not wanting to put a downer on the potential ownership, but most Headshok forks that come through the workshop here that are seized will need new needle bearings and likely new races too. This will easily set you back £150+ for the full repair.
Contrary to what has been said in previous comments, the damper seals don't harden up over time, in fact it's very rare that they ever leak due to wear or fatigue. The most common reason for the damper to weep oil is due to the air piston seals failing and this leads to the migration of air into the damper, and the pressure builds up inside the damper which leads to forcing oil out.
Happy to give you some advice if you want to give the workshop a call on Monday.
Race Ready Suspension 01539 720609
Thanks very much for the very kind offer. It's the (working) headshock on the bike that attracted me to it. If I end up with the bike and decide to get some normal forks on it I'll drop you a line.
I have some old fox talas forks ( that can be wound down to 80mm in the loft. They do need a full service before being used on my kids bikes.
Thanks!
All the above is exactly why I sold a lefty rather than getting it serviced. £150+ didn't make sense on a £500 scalpel with full xtr. It's not making financial sense on a battered battered beater.
I'll give them a ring and see what they are actually going to do.
