Can O' Ale - 1988 Cannondale SR500

The concept for this bike came together flawlessly in my head quite quickly. I loved the idea of calling it the "Can O' Ale", because you only had to take a few letters out, and old Cannondale bikes are famously just aluminum cans. From there, the beer theme came together, allowing me to take inspiration from both vintage and modern beer can design, to allow me to paint the frame with minimal and illustrative labels, similar to that of a beer can. I also took inspiration from NJS track bikes, this thing handles like one. The paint - I wanted to paint sections of this bike to resemble a beer can. Inspired by vintage and contemporary beer can design, I came up with a concept, starting with the headtube, which drew inspiration from Cannondale's original headtube featuring Cannondale station. I interpreted that original logo with a more realistic, illustrative twist, also considering how it would look as a beer can label. I carried the theme to the painted label wrapped around the downtube, drawing a streamliner locomotive (which I felt represented a raw alu Cannondale quite well) on the top, with the back portion of the train on the bottom. The right side reads "Can O' Ale", with written details, and the left just says Cannondale. The build came together quite easily, focusing on aesthetics, ride quality, and budget. Everything metal, for the most part, had to be silver. I knew I wanted to lean into the quick, tactile nature of the bike's riding characteristics. And I tried to build it with all loose ball bearings and as many American and Japanese manufactured parts as possible. Some parts are very modern in shape, such as the handlebars, yet other parts, like the cranks, are clearly vintage. I think it all marries together seamlessly. The result is everything I dreamed it would be. I spent well over a year dreaming of how this would come together, months painting it for my senior thesis exhibition in art school, and months gathering parts for the final build. I can't explain the feeling I get when I look at this bike as a completed project, but I can say it rides fast, nimble, tactile, smoothish, and handles like a scared cat on carpet.