cannondale bikes

Cannondale make a good quality comfortable frame in general. At least that has been my experience.
Of course you will have to wear one of those ugly green Liquigas jerseys.

Shades said:

I cycle about 100+ miles per week and am just getting into the club-run scene with the odd 10/20 mile time trial. I'm looking to buy a good quality road bike, don't want to buy a dedicated time trial bike as such. Least not yet.

Basically im looking for a good all rounder. A light frame, maybe Carbon, plus good quality groupset. A bike that's good for 3-6 hr rides in the hills, but that will also be reasonably ok for the local time-trial if I stick tri-bars on it. Something thats a cut above my standard Trek winter / going to and from work bike.

Is anyone familiar with Cannondales range of road bikes? From their website it's not really clear what the difference is between their bikes , and even the bike shop staff seemed a little vague. A webguide would be useful.
There is Systemsix, Six13, and Synapse. Also there are Elite and Performance rider class of bikes. Any hints what I should look for? My budget is £1500-2000

From what I can figure out The SystemSix has a carbon front triangle and an aluminium rear triangle. The Six13 is all aluminium except the top and down tubes which are carbon. CAAD 9 and CAAD 5 are all AL, 9 being lighter than 5. Synapse carbon and aluminium being self explanitory. SystemSix and Six13 are race bikes as well as the CAAD 9 and maybe the CAAD 5. The Synapse line have more forgiving geometry and are more suited for the non racer.

Given your budget of £1500-2000 which, I believe is about $1000 US. would put you into the Synapse line and only a Tiagra bike at that. Or maybe a CAAD 5 tiagra but since Cannondale doesn't post prices I am only guessing.

OOPS $3000 to $4000 US as pointed out by Camilo below.

Caad 5 is a good frame but I would try and swing at least Ulterga system. Not sure what they cost now but you could get a Caad 5 a while back with Ulterga for around $2000.00 or so.

So unless my math is flawed you are well within budget,of course I don't know the price of these bikes in your area.

Xsmoker said:

The Synapse line have more forgiving geometry and are more suited for the non racer on a smaller budget.

Does this mean I can tell my wife that the $3100US I spent on my Synapse Carbon 2 last year was a "small budget"?

Xsmoker said:

Given your budget of £1500-2000 which, I believe is about $1000 US. would put you into the Synapse line and only a Tiagra bike at that.

And only an aluminum Synapse at that. And probably only a used one off eBay at that.

Bob Ross said:

Does this mean I can tell my wife that the $3100US I spent on my Synapse Carbon 2 last year was a "small budget"?

And only an aluminum Synapse at that. And probably only a used one off eBay at that.

SORRY........BAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBB

At least I tried to answer the OPs questions instead of waiting around to flame someone. So why don't you go jerk off on your overpriced POS Synapse.

I was looking at a Cannondale bike a little over a year ago. I don't know how set you are on cannondale, but I know I was. When I was talking with the salesman, he cautioned me away from cannondale and turned me to Scott. I guess the owners of each company are brothers. Something happened at one point and they split. Some aspect of the Cannondale bikes are made or assembled out of the USA (I want to say China, but I'm not sure). He said that this has made the quality slightly lower than what they were. Scott, on the other hand, is supposedly made and assembled entirely in the usa. Now I'm not sure on this, but I did start looking at Scott a little bit more. I ended up buying a "used" Speedster S-20 and love it. I think that is a slightly above your price range (as it was mine, I got a deal I couldn't pass on) but it was worth it in my opinion.

Just some food for thought...

Xsmoker said:

...

Given your budget of £1500-2000 which, I believe is about $1000 US. would put you into the Synapse line and only a Tiagra bike at that. Or maybe a CAAD 5 tiagra but since Cannondale doesn't post prices I am only guessing.

His 1500-2000 british pounds is about 3,000 - 4,000 USD (pound = 1.97 USD today). I think you had your conversion backwards. Point being, he can probably afford more than a CAAD5/Tiagara bike. I don't know about british prices, but in the US, $4K would buy an top of the line type of bike.

[quote="Camilo"]His 1500-2000 british pounds is about 3,000 - 4,000 USD (pound = 1.97 USD today). I think you had your conversion backwards.[QUOTE]

I'm surprised the ever astute Baaaaaaabbbbbbbbb didn't catch that..

So if the OP ignores my above second paragraph then maybe I answered his question.

rdr0912 said:

I was looking at a Cannondale bike a little over a year ago. I don't know how set you are on cannondale, but I know I was. When I was talking with the salesman, he cautioned me away from cannondale and turned me to Scott. I guess the owners of each company are brothers. Something happened at one point and they split. Some aspect of the Cannondale bikes are made or assembled out of the USA (I want to say China, but I'm not sure). He said that this has made the quality slightly lower than what they were. Scott, on the other hand, is supposedly made and assembled entirely in the usa. Now I'm not sure on this, but I did start looking at Scott a little bit more. I ended up buying a "used" Speedster S-20 and love it. I think that is a slightly above your price range (as it was mine, I got a deal I couldn't pass on) but it was worth it in my opinion.

Just some food for thought...

this is completely contrary to what I know... It wasmyunderstanding that of the 'big3' bike manufacturers (Spec,Canno,Trek) Cannondale &Specialized are %100 American produced.

astroluc said:

this is completely contrary to what I know... It wasmyunderstanding that of the 'big3' bike manufacturers (Spec,Canno,Trek) Cannondale &Specialized are %100 American produced.

Basically, nearly every company except the handbuilt customs (and Litespeed) outsource to Taiwan because they build such quality stuff now. Cannondale I'm not so sure of, Specialized definitely.

Now, Where is Giant in those big three? Or Merida which is the single biggest bicycle manufacturing company on Earth (not many bicycles they make are actually badged 'merida'😉. Cannondale are great bikes. If I were going to get one, I'd get a six13 or a CAAD 9. System6 maybe if I had the money to go for a reasonable group with it. They are also releasing their supersix some time this year.

bobbyOCR said:

Basically, nearly every company except the handbuilt customs (and Litespeed) outsource to Taiwan because they build such quality stuff now. Cannondale I'm not so sure of, Specialized definitely.

Now, Where is Giant in those big three? Or Merida which is the single biggest bicycle manufacturing company on Earth (not many bicycles they make are actually badged 'merida'😉. Cannondale are great bikes. If I were going to get one, I'd get a six13 or a CAAD 9. System6 maybe if I had the money to go for a reasonable group with it. They are also releasing their supersix some time this year.

I see you are a Giant rider 😉 I have no problems with Giant; but as far as 'high-end' go, here in the States it seems that those 3 companies I mentioned above have the largest market share; with Giant and others filling in the rest of the pie... and I was only speaking of my own observations with regards to the USDM.

I admit to being a bit bias towards Cannondale (I Love my CAAD 7) and according to their website:

cannondale.comindex.htmlOpen ↗

""Headquartered in Bethel, Connecticut, Cannondale designs, develops and produces bicycles at its factory in Bedford, Pennsylvania. The company operates subsidiaries in Holland, Japan, and Australia, and and is owned by Pegasus Partners II, L.P., a private equity investment firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut.""

erhem.

SL01 (pure essence of awesome)

Its just that in Aus, there are very few specialized bikes around. Not one Tarmac in our whole club, nor roubaix. But yeah, I ride a Giant XtC for mtb, but am planning a frame and component switch with a Fourstroke some time in the coming years.

astroluc said:

I see you are a Giant rider 😉 I have no problems with Giant; but as far as 'high-end' go, here in the States it seems that those 3 companies I mentioned above have the largest market share; with Giant and others filling in the rest of the pie... and I was only speaking of my own observations with regards to the USDM.

I admit to being a bit bias towards Cannondale (I Love my CAAD 7) and according to their website:

cannondale.comindex.htmlOpen ↗

""Headquartered in Bethel, Connecticut, Cannondale designs, develops and produces bicycles at its factory in Bedford, Pennsylvania. The company operates subsidiaries in Holland, Japan, and Australia, and and is owned by Pegasus Partners II, L.P., a private equity investment firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut.""

The Synapse is the only Cannondale manufactured in Taiwan. All the rest are manufactured locally in their factory in PA.

Not sure what this adds though....The Taiwanese seem to have heaps of experience building bikes and you don't hear about Giants or Treks or Specialized bikes just falling appart since their move to Taiwan, do you?

test ride a lite speed....even a guru

If your in the UK why don't you consider european frames like my favourite,
the Wilier Cento.

06 CAAD8s with full Ultegra 10 speed can be had for $1200 USD.

capwater said:

06 CAAD8s with full Ultegra 10 speed can be had for $1200 USD.

Are you referring to used bikes, like on eBay? The nearest Cannondale dealer I went to only carries the 07s.

saintsfan342000 said:

Are you referring to used bikes, like on eBay? The nearest Cannondale dealer I went to only carries the 07s.

My LBS (Cleveland, Ohio) has great deals on remaining Cannondales from 06. I am sure sizes and models are limited, but I almost bought a Caad8 with full dura-ace for $1800.00 this winter, but went for the Six13.

But for the OP, I put some stubby clip-on TT bars on my cannondale and got 5th out of 173 in a TT so the bike though not aero, wont hurt you to much. Understand I had a FP60 front wheel and disc cover in back as well and a saddle shoved all the way forward, but i didnt change handlebars, stem or stem height. I personally love the Caad series geometry. Climbs, sprints and corners very well and is comfortable enough on bad roads.

Ray

saintsfan342000 said:

Are you referring to used bikes, like on eBay? The nearest Cannondale dealer I went to only carries the 07s.

Brand new last year's model from a dealer. $1200. Call around, might have to search some and get it shipped, but those deals are o'plenty.