Cannondale Team Replica 2004

Awesome bike, though be aware that the bottom bracket size is proprietary (the frame will only be able to take the Cannondale Hollowgram crankset.) From all accounts it's a great crankset, but you're limiting your choices come replacement time if that is a concern to you.

The R3000 is Cannondale's best road bike with a standard BB shell; apart from that the frames are identical (frame-wise, everything from the R800 up are!), but some components are a little different and it has the Shimano Dura-Ace group instead of Campy Record.

hey what bout gettin my hands on one of these? Gilberto Simoni 2003 TdF cannondale??

Then I will have to hunt you down and steal your bike. :p I'll even be a gracious thief and leave the Campy stuff behind in a nice little pile for you. 😉

Seriously, though, that's a prototype frame and not available for sale yet. Maybe in a year or two..

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by rek
The R3000 is Cannondale's best road bike with a standard BB shell; apart from that the frames are identical (frame-wise, everything from the R800 up are!), but some components are a little different and it has the Shimano Dura-Ace group instead of Campy Record.

Are you sure all the frames are the same from 800 up?

Seems not worth buying the high end ones then, I am shopping for a Cannondale as well but am not sure about buying a flash one if they are all the same?

Do people recommend just getting R800 and upgrading components piecemeal or is there a benefit apart from components in the more expensive models?

Yep, they are all the "Optimo" a.k.a. CAAD7. The only difference with the R5000/Team "Optimo Si"/CAAD7Si frame is the bottom bracket shell. This is most of the reason why (lowish-end) Cannondales are expensive compared to the competition, they don't bother making low-end frames. This year's TdF/Giro frame ends up being the "value" frame in a couple of years' time.

I myself bought a lower-end Cannondale road bike a couple of years ago, mainly for the frame.. I had to skimp a bit (105 instead of Ultegra), but got the CAAD5 frame that's well worthy of wearing Dura-Ace or Record when it comes time to upgrade (i.e. when I'm fit enough to be worthy of Dura-Ace or Record.. :p )

That being said, if you buy the top end bike from the start, you'll end up saving money on the components -- Cannondale (and other bike OEMs) have much better buying power with Shimano/Campy/Mavic/etc. than you or I do.

Thanks for that, am glad I read your post before I spent anything!

here is a snippet of wot cannondale have just emailed me in regards to the CAAD8.....

Thank you very much for your email and interest!
We don't have any information on whether or not this frame will be produced or not. If it will be produced, it will be with the new models in the summer of 2004.
Just keep checking our website, any new information will be listed there.

Best regards,

Customer Service
Cannondale Europe B.V.
Tel: +31 541 573 580
Fax: +31 541 514 240
Email: [email hidden]

oh well.....waiting impatiently!!!