Cannondale Flash

[seismic]

Hi All,

In this thread I will try to revive an old 2011 Cannondale Flash Ultimate. As the built is soon to be 10 years old, some of the parts will be semi-retro while others are recent purchases. Common for all is a focus on bringing down the weight of the bike to a proper WW built. During this thread, any input from fellow WWs will be highly appreciated as I hope this can help generate good ideas and improve the final result.

Looking at recent WW parts on the net, I realize that a few companies have gone quite extreme and are also putting weight restrictions on their products. In this connection, I have to admit that I am not the lightest chap around (85 kilos), so there is a natural limit to how extreme I will be able to go. Further, it is my intend that the bike will be used for actual riding and training and not only for display.

It is further worth mentioning that I am living in a rather falt, urban area (Tokyo). This means that I will be using a smaller cassette and general higher gearing than I would normally consider for mountain biking. Should I end up near a wood or mountain way forward, the gearing will be changed for sure. For the time being though, I will take advantage of the flat surroundings to save a bit of weight on the cassette and rear mech

So here we go. Starting out with the frame including paint. First step is to sand it down and save a bit of weight (and lose the decals)



The frame with paint is coming in at 930 grams.

[seismic]

Paint gone. Unfotunately, not too much paint in the Flash design so the weight reduction was not too impressing. New weight 879 grams.



Frame stripped:

[seismic]

Now, next step is the headset bearings. I was originally looking for something better/lighter/smoother than the orginal Cannondale bearings. I reached out to Chris King to figure out if they could supply a set of bearings in the right size. Unfortunately, that was not an option. Has always been impressed with CK, so it would have been great if this was possible. Will have to look into alternatives...

[seismic]

Considering wheels, I decided to stick to my current set which comes in at 1216 grams for the set. Not super light, but still durable enough to widthstand a fair amount of use and abuse. Wheels consists of AX Lightness rims, Sapim spokes and Tune Cannonball front hub and Prince rear hub.Pink edition and Tune - Shimano compatible freehub.






QR Ti from Tune and color to match the hubs. Good weight hitting at 18 grams.


I have decided to still run tubes. Maybe I am too old school to try out the Tubeless setup, so we will see how this works for now. With Tubolito tubes it was still possible to hit 39 grams per piece, so not too bad...



Next step is where it kind of goes bad for the whole WW project. Tyres ! While I could have good with some very light weight options, I decided to go with real set of tyres which can actually handle rough conditions, but still has a good level of rolling in them. Some may ask why I did not go lighter considering the flat area I live in. The overall reason is that I want to keep the bike as a MTB of which I like the touch and feel. Too skinny tyres makes me feel I am back on a road or city bike Hence - RaceKings forth and back...killing it at a 1068 grams for the set...



Now, as mentioned a few times, I live in a very flat area. This means that I often struggle on a normal MTB cassette with gears being too low. Hence, I decided to experiment with a road casette and see how that will work out. There are natually tons of options in the market, but considering weight, fair quality and hopefully a few rides before teeth are flying off right, left and center, I am going to give a Steel Recon a try....145 grams...



Next are cranks. I have always been a fan of THM's Clavicula, so here we go....426 grams without Chainring and bolts.

[jeanjacques]

Add the same low weight reduction for my stripped Focus frame, black paint, white letter too.

For your bearings headset, try a search with FSA Superlight, plenty size available.

[Rodigan]

Good work. What gearing is the cassette?

[cerro]

Are the wheels 26" or bigger? I built a set of wheels for my Scalpel with AX-Lightness rims, Tune Cannonball/Kong (xd-driver) and Sapim Superspoke at 1001g

[seismic]

Add the same low weight reduction for my stripped Focus frame, black paint, white letter too.

For your bearings headset, try a search with FSA Superlight, plenty size available.

Sounds good on the Focus. Link to pic?

I will definitely be looking into FSA and see what they have avaliable. Not having much experience with FSA, what is your impression of their quality?

[seismic]

Good work. What gearing is the cassette?

The cassette is an 11-23 (11spd). Quite an unusual feeling to be adding such a gearing on a MTB, but let's see how it works...

[seismic]

Are the wheels 26" or bigger? I built a set of wheels for my Scalpel with AX-Lightness rims, Tune Cannonball/Kong (xd-driver) and Sapim Superspoke at 1001g

Well spotted. I run 27,5". I would not say that running 27,5" has transformed the Flash, but it does run a bit better when the terrain gets rough. Of course, a downside is that wheels/tyres get a bit heavier though. Hopefully the bike will come out fairly well on the scale in the end regardless....

[seismic]

For fork, I have been scratching my head a bit on what to do. Initially I will be running my old Lefty DLR SL. I have considered an Ocho, but the weight does not come out that favorable. I do however recognize that the Ocho may be a better fork though. Let's see. For now, the DLR SL has Ti bolts whereever I could fit it in. Still considering if there is other ways to get the weight further down on the fork though. For overall bike design, I would prefer that the fork bridges were a different color than green. However, I cannot get the bridges off and sanding them down will leave them silver which is not ideal either (black would have been godd). Well, for now, 1196 grams....

[godzuki26]

Wow! Great start. Is the weight of your THM crankset with the bottom bracket cups? If so, you should weigh without them since you are already planning to replace them. Those Claviculas without the cups should be in the low 300 gram area. If you are already sanding your frame, you can sand another 10 grams of unnecessary clear coat off those cranks.

If you are going with a cassette that is 32T or lower, have you considered using a SRAM Red road rear derailleur? You will save some good weight over an overbuilt mtb rear derailleur.

[seismic]

Thank you for the advise. I will definitely consider if I should sand down the cranks. It may also match the frame better with the Matt look rather than gloss.

Now, you definitely have a point on the road rear mech. While it was never made for 11 spd, I have dug up this relic which I will see if I can make work. It’s all about the challenge right? And the weight is not too bad




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[michel2]

Your a brave person fitting that rear mech on an mtb hope you dont run into to manny sticks and that she wil stay in one piece !
love the tires i never seen those before, where did u get them from ? Thanks

[Alfonso]

Hello Seismic.
I am interested in buying the lightweight rear derailleur and due to the sales forum I can not contact you. You can contact me.
All the best.