I wrote a previous entry about what I was going to do to my Cannondale frame to make it into my dream work bike. This new entry is about what I've actually done and the various difficulties I encountered along the way.

I've been slowly buying parts from Chain Reaction Cycles, still the cheapest place I can get things in Australia, despite being sent from the UK. These are the various parts I've purchased and placed on the new bike:

* Nutrak Tubes Butyl Lightweight 26 x 1.0 - 1.25 Schrader x2 - $12.60
* Shimano Cassette - Road Ultegra 9sp 6500 11-23 - $52.66
* Custom Wheel with Hope Pro 2 Disc Hub, Mavic XC717 32h black rim, DT Swiss competition DB black with brass nipples - $188.56
* SRAM PC 951 9sp chain - $25.37
* Cane Creek Double XC Short headset - $169
* Truvativ XR Stem 105mm 12 deg black - $27.37
* DMR Chain guide - $46.43
* Tioga PowerStud 6 Mini Barends in black - $26.48
* Yeti Hardcore grips black in grey - $21.05
* Hone cranks 22.32.44 - $158.02
* Shimano XT rear shifter pod - $52.66
* Shimano PD M520 pedals - $46.32
* Cannondale Fatty R rigid forks - $55
* Titec carbon seatpost - $84.27
* Amoeba carbon bars - $30
* Various cables and small bits - $20

Total cost of parts: $994.74

The Cane Creek headset was a little harder to source as Chain Reaction were having trouble getting hold of one. This was an essential part of the bike as the head tube on a Cannondale is the 1.5" size so no regular forks would fit. I wanted to use a pair of Cannondale Fatty R rigid forks I'd bought from a guy in the UK on ebay so a headset reducer was needed. The Cane Creek headsets are really good quality and certainly look robust when you first see them, they look pretty cool on the bike too.

To fit the headset I had to first remove the Cannondale's Lefty Jake fork. This involved unscrewing the top cap on the Lefty then undoing the screws on the struts so the the Lefty can slide out. I had to remove the stem and top cap then knock out the steerer tube from the headset. Finally the bearing cups had to be knocked out, for this I needed the assistance of the local bike shop as they were very firmly pressed in and I didn't want to ruin them. I got them to press in the new cups and I also needed assistance getting the crown race of the Fatty forks, it was some weird kind of race with almost no way to get a screwdriver on it to tap it off. The local mechanic also pressed on the Cane Creek crown race, a huge diameter slab of metal, to make my life easier. Once all that was sorted I had the forks on and the bike was starting to look very nice indeed.

The original Hayes 9 nine brakes were left on the bike, so I mounted them on the new forks and the back triangle of the frame. The new wheel I bought was so that I could keep the Lefty hub attached to a decent rim so that I can convert the bike back again in the future if need be. I used the original rear Mavic rim attached to a Cannondale Fire hub for the rear wheel.

I've flipped the Travativ stem over so the angle is more extreme, more aggresive, with flat carbon fibre bars and Tioga mini bar ends for extra power on ascents. The Titec carbon seatpost complements the Fizik Arione saddle, which is truly an amazing thing to be sitting on all day long.

Anything I've missed? Well, the handling and ride is certainly different now that the shorter forks are on the bike instead of the longer Lefty. The bottom bracket which was already quite low even with the Lefty and fat tires is now very low so that with the long crank arms its getting to be impossible to pedal around corners at much of an angle. This isn't too much trouble and just needs to be taken into account in my riding style. The bike now turns very nicely with the lower front end and is incredibly light and agile, with quite a low centre of gravity. The frame's quality really shows in comparison to my previous work bike, the Avanti Escape, in that power is transferred really smoothly through the cranks while being super smooth to ride. The Avanti was also stiff but it picked up all the vibrations from the road and its this level of comfort that the Cannondale frame provides that I think I'm going to enjoy over the next few months of riding.

I'll add a photo here of the finished product once I've borrowed a digital camera.