1986 Cannondale ST-800 NOT a ST-500. WTF?

Well, in revisiting the vintagecannondale.com website, I discovered that my Cannondale ST-500 is really a 1986 Cannondale ST-800.  The other models that year used side pull brakes on the completed bicycle.  The ST-800 used a setup for cantilever brakes.  The setup on the rear stays is configured to attach a rear rack and to set up cantilever brakes.  This is different than the other two models that year, the ST-500 and the ST-400, which have setups for the racks but not the cantilever brakes.

I keep learning more things about my Cannondale.  More by accident than investigation.  Could have sworn it was a ST-600 first, then a ST-500, now, a ST-800.  I'm sticking with the ST-800 label.  For now.  Until I'm proven wrong.  Who would have thought my memory could be faulty?  LOL...  Didn't realize this until I looked at the Cannondale yesterday.  Then, today, while talking with my nephew, he was going on about V brakes vs. cantilever brakes...it clicked that my Cannondale had to be a ST-800 because it's what was different about the ST-800 frame vs. the ST-400 or ST-500 frames.  That and the components that were used on the frames.

On my Cannondale, I have always had side pull brakes despite having the needed configuration for cantilever brakes.  In reading about brakes, if memory serves (?????), there really is minimal difference in effective braking between these two setups.  Watch.  Someone will send me an article that states one is better than the other.

Ok, a tune to exit with...Joni Mitchell, still one of the greatest singer/songwriters alive today, doing "Both Sides Now".