How Cannondale Bicycles went Bankrupt!?
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- čas přidán 13. 09. 2023
- #cannondale
This time we are diving into the history of Cannondale Bicycles and how an American company that was growing at a rapid pace ended up going bankrupt.
Other videos on Cannondale:
riding the mx400
• Riding the WORST Motoc...
history of mx400
• The History Of The 200...
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What is your favorite bicycle brand from any period? Looking for ideas on the next topic
Gary Fisher Bikes, and it's final assimilation into Trek
@@bikegoonoooo, that would be a good one. I really like the older GF bikes
@@MossieRidesBikes Yea! Gary built amazing bikes! When I met him he was larger than life. You just really liked the man. All I could say to him was laced with gratitude for what he did to the industry. Never thought it would all go away though.
Make a video on the Canyon brand. Direct selling to customers. No bike shop in the middle. Pros and Cons.
Bianchi and Pinarello
In my opinion the fat tubed aluminum hardtails with the Headshock was one of the most elegant looking mountain bikes to ever be made.
To be fair, In terms of road bikes, post 2008 they have made some of the most legendary models ever. The SuperSix and the CAAD 9,10 and 12
Do not forget the System 6! God, what a great bike!
No doubt. My first road bike was the 9-11 version CAAD 5 in 2002. Since I’ve owned a super six and 2 synapses. All excellent bikes. Used to race criteriums at Cannondale in Bethel Ct.
@@keithkruse2595 System six is easily the fastest bike I've ever ridden. Such an underrated model
Scalpel Lefty great bikes
I have a 2013 CAAD 10, a 2016 Synapse and a 2019 SuperSix. Love. All are great, the Six is extraordinary.
The welds on old Cannondales are so beautiful.
You mean the ones they left on the workshop floors?
@@janeblogs324why the hate? An all American company at the time. One of the earliest companies to embrace MTB’s and certainly at the forefront of technology in the 90’s and into the early 2000’s
Yeah, I've got three of them giving me good service as city/commuter bikes. That's not counting two that have been stolen. Great frames, worth upgrading the components.
@@michaelmicallef668 grinding welds down is stupid and people think hiding poor welding is aesthetic, but cannondale welds always crack
@@janeblogs324I've been riding my Killer V 900 for 30 years... how much longer before it cracks?
Agree. Going public is what ruined them. A common occurrence. It completely changes the company's motive and structure.
True. Across many industries. You become enthralled to stock market demands which are simply bottom line quarterly results and never sustainability or longevity.
The American aluminum frames, CAAD series, the Scalpel and V bikes were and still are great bikes !
In a previous life I was working at a mountain bike magazine in the Los Angeles area when one day Scott Montgomery bounced in to show me and a co-editor what Cannondale was up to, which was the new motocross bike they’d been working on for a while. It was late 1999-early 2000, and Scott said that they’d dropped about $35 million on the development and new factory for the MX-400 next door to their existing factory in Bedford. He was pretty happy about things as he dragged out this thick binder full of details, specs and pics of their motocrosser, and I have to admit that it all looked very impressive. Cannondale was still a force to be reckoned with in the mountain bike world, and they were in a position that allowed them to do almost anything they wanted and succeed. So, based on what we saw and were told, the MX-400 looked like they had another world beater on their hands. What could possibly go wrong?
One thing that the MX-400 going for it was that former pro motocross racer Mike Guerra was on the engineering team - I think he was the lead engineer. Mike spent many years racing in the US and Europe, then worked in the automotive industry before landing at Volvo during the time it was sponsoring Cannondale’s mountain bike team. With at least one person who had IRL moto experience like Mike, one would think that the MX-400 would’ve been a contender right out of the box. Which it was not.
Three things killed the MX-400. You called it right that it had too many design and engineering features that ran counter to conventional practices at the time. This is called “too many black boxes” in some circles. Cannondale could’ve been forgiven for trying to set itself apart by introducing a new bike with new ideas, but it was too much, too soon, all in one package to create too many points of failure to succeed. If the engine had been a proven layout that left room for future performance improvements, and focus was given to suspension and handling, then maybe it would’ve had a shot. They could’ve spent five years racing a known quantity that would’ve given them the data and experience to go to the next level.
The next thing that hurt the MX-400 was the hype. It was The Next Big Thing and all the mainstream motorcycle manufacturers would have to suck it. Dirt Rider magazine - which was sister publication of Motor Trend back then - called it the “Motocross Bike of the Year!” Or something like that. And they published a lengthy review with lots of pictures showing how great it was and delivered everything promised and more. This bike was too great to fail. I don’t recall how many other motorcycle magazines ran similar positive reviews on the bike, but Dirt Rider was pretty shameless about getting down on its knees and pledging allegiance to the MX-400 - and whatever advertising revenue that could be squeezed out of Cannondale to earn such praise.
What killed the MX-400 were two things (aside from the bike’s many issues that it had to begin with): Motocross Action ran an exceedingly negative, if not devastating, review and cited the bike’s many problems almost chapter and verse. The irony here that may not be obvious about MXA is that it tends to pull some of its punches with its reviews in general. “Try to say something nice, like at least it had a nice paint job,” I was told directly by a senior editor when I once worked at MXA’s parent publishing company. Whatever the situation was with Cannondale at the time - maybe they weren’t paying their ad bills at Mountain Bike Action, or they couldn’t get them to place any ads in MXA, or maybe the MX-400 was such a pig that its sins were too egregious to be white washed or ignored - I think that review pretty much killed it as far as the moto public went.
The stake that was pounded through Cannondale’s heart - including cutting off the head and burning the body - came from Honda. While $35 million - or $100 million - that the Montgomerys dropped on the MX-400 was a lot of money, that was Honda’s paper clip budget on a Friday afternoon. Several years earlier, arch rival Japanese motorcycle manufacturer Yamaha announced that it was taking on “the leader” - meaning Honda - worldwide, from the local motorcycle shop to the racing circuit. To which Honda issued its famous reply, “Fuck Yamaha.” Which Honda and its various subsidiaries did. Forward to 2000 or so, and Honda put Cannondale in its place by fielding its own factory professional DH team, which proceeded to clean up at races and claim world championships until for a number of years until the company decided that it had made its mark.
Cannondale’s story is one of pride and miscalculation. They should’ve stuck to just bicycles.
I appreciate the extra history!! Thank you!
@@MossieRidesBikes No charge! 😀 You should do a video or two about the two most influential riders on the Volvo-Cannondale team - Missy Giove and Tinker Juarez. I understand that Cannondale has recently showed its respect for Missy after all that she did for them - which was sell lots of bikes and inspire women to get into mountain biking. On the other hand, I think Tinker held the record for being the longest professional athlete of any sport or discipline to be on a company’s sponsorship roster. I think the Williams sisters are second with Nike, but I could be wrong. Not only did Tinker win lots of races and sell lots of bikes for Cannondale, he stood above the rest by representing in the whitest sport outside of golf. He was a brand ambassador, mentor, and was the familiar face for the brand who everybody recognized even as everything else in the sport changed. He was also the best ROI that the company ever got for their sponsorship dollars. In fact, I think the last few years that Tinker rode for Cannondale, he was getting less than the equivalent of the federal minimum wage for everything that he did on and off the bike for them. And then somebody deep in the corporate asshole that owns Cannondale decided that spending a couple bucks on a loyal soldier was too much - and they shafted him. I think this really hurt Tinker more than anything else that’s happened in his life. Hope you do a video, because it would be great.
I'd love to do a deep dive on Tinker. I actually had the pleasure of lining up against him a few years ago at ORAAM and then quickly watched him ride away from me. He was super nice and humble.
@@MossieRidesBikes I’ve known Tinker since forever. He shows that nice guys do finish first. Hope you get to make a video on him soon.
Geez dude, it’s a comments section on CZcams, not a Russian novel
I worked at the Cannondale plant in Bedford, PA when they announced the idea of producing the motorcycle. I was an avid BMXer and Downhill MTBer who loved Motorcross too. Which strangely enough was rare amongst the employees in the factory. But anyways when they announced the idea of manufacturing the dirt bike most of the key employees that they promoted up within the factory to help get the ball rolling on the new dirt bike were not even dirt bike riders in anyway. Mostly a bunch good old boys who maybe rode a Harley on the weekend. Dudes didn't have a freaking clue about Motorcross. It was a huge red flag to me and I immediately left. Didn't take long after that for the downward slide to start. Watched a lot of families in that economically poor area get wiped out by the poor decisions of management of that company at that time. It was sad.
These are great. Informative, not too long, not to short and you have your delivery down pat. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for this! I've been a Cannondale fan since the 80's! I've owned several, mainly in the MTB range, and I even bought an old MTB to convert into a gravel bike several years ago.
It's all about the fat tubes, man! 🙌🏾
I bought a cannondale recently and it's what I ride mostly. It's a full suspension gravel bike. Not too many manufacturers are making something like that where they are manufacturing both the frame and fork. The company has always been really innovative and they do things a little different, which I appreciate.
Topstone?
Yeah,I remember this. I had my first Cannondale,when I stationed in Berlin,Germany. I went to the first Gulf War,returned to Berlin and someone had stolen my bike,when I was deployed. The Army reimbursed me for the bike.I left road bikes and switched to mountain bikes. Now I left mountain bikes and I'm back at road bikes again. I currently own a Cannondale System Six 2020 team replica and Pinarello Prince 2021. In the process of buying two new bikes. Great video.
nice video, you should do one about how trek kept buying venerable companies and destroying them one by one (klein, gary fisher, lemond, etc)
I do believe Lemond was destroyed by Greg's own avarice in selling bikes meant for his personal use which he contractually was not allowed to sell for personal gain? I have a Lemond, myself, so it's not like I intend to be one-sided here.
back in the 90s i was in my teens and heavy into the mountain biking fad, cannondale was like the holy grail of bikes to me. they were so odd and cool! i joined the navy and got stationed in Monterey CA, which is right next door to Laguna Seca where the Sea Otter Classic is held every year. one of my buddies had a friend that worked for Cannondale who was coming out for the race, and so we got to hang with the volvo cannondale team all weekend and ride bikes, and go to parties...where they had a pinewood derby, and my buddies friend made a pinewood car that was a volvo. we even got a volvo car to borrow for a bit. thsoe were the days. so much fun, this video brought back some of those memories. thanks.
Mountain biking is a fad?
Epic!
@@pdvision2194 it was,BMX was a fad in the 80s, all those kids grew up and moved into mountain biking...being a fad isn't a bad thing. most everything starts a s a fad then settles into a groove. back then alot of towns, like small towns, would have some place where there were MTB trails. bike shops were everywhere too. i lived in rural MN and there were 5 bike shops selling all manner of brands, least 5 brands per shop, within the county, 3 different trail systems, the best was the landfill's trails there, they had races, and i knew dozen people including myself that had trails through the woods and around fields and stuff on their land. now out of all of that there is one bike shop left, and they sell 2 brands...and none of those riding spots are open cause all the people that started them slowly quit riding and excitement waned...
The preposition that Cannondale were the pivotal in the growth of mountain biking in Europe in the 90’s is flawed. Shops were selling large volumes of other brands from back in the late 80’s and a vibrant race scene had developed.
I have a cannondale FSi 2.0. Absurdly light and fast when it is working. Only bike I’ve ever owned that I broke the rear axel. It of course was proprietary and took a month to replace. The lefty fork needs service every second Sunday and has to go to the fork whisperer every year for a rebuild. I’m 75 and I’m really not that hard on my bikes.
They deserve more credit than a lot of these comments. Their MTB team was world class, with too riders like Missy, Miles and Sydor. They have been a top US cross program forever (until the plug was pulled). They innovated on the road with the Saecco and Cippo,and still race at the highest levels with EF. But man, the motocross idea was dumb, and killed then.
Dorel sold Cannondale (and its other brands) to Pon Holdings in early 2022. Pon is the parent company of Cervélo, Focus and some other brands.
From Wikipedia: It is one of the five largest bicycle manufacturers in the world, and owns bicycle brands Caloi, Cannondale, Cervélo, Derby Cycle (owner of Focus), GT, Gazelle, IronHorse, Kalkhoff, Mongoose, Santa Cruz, Veloretti, and Schwinn, among others.
Excellent video bro. Nailed it. As someone who lived through this entire story & has 2 Cannondale Moterra e-bikes, this brand embodies the spirit of the Mtb world. Your opening statements backed by that futuristic prototype… primo!👌 I can remember when they unveiled that bike like it was yesterday. So cool. Gracias and keep up the good work!
I appreciate the compliment!!
I purchased a Super Six Evo HiMod 3 months ago. The most badass road bike I've ridden in my 30+ yrs of riding.
Correct. I have a same 2012 model. Designed by Peter Denk of Germany. Rgr
Thank you!!! Great video - lots of work you put in!!!
I have a Canondale monostay frame probably manufactured in the late 90s or early 2000s. It accepted 27.5" wheels and it is equipped with a lefty suspension. I also have a Jamis Komodo frame adapted to have another Canondale lefty suspension fork probably manufactured in the early 2000s. I love these two bikes.
My mom rode the sm400 back in the day - we still have it
I bought a Cannondale Adventure 2 back in May, rode it all summer, and I love it. I’m an old man and just a casual rider, but it’s by far the best bike I’ve ever owned. I did swap out the seat and installed an adjustable stem, but the meat and bones of the bike have been rock solid. No complaints at all; I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another one.
In the 80's I worked at a bike shop in Madison WI that sold many hundreds of Cannondales. Bridgestone bikes had a big following in the 80's and think it would be interesting to read more of their history.
I still have a Bridgestone MB-2. I'll be buried with that bike!
Cool. I had an MB-1 for years as well as a 1985 Cannondale road bike. Sweet memories of Oregon/Washington rides.
I still have an '80s RB1 and gave away a rusty MB3 I saved from my brother's crushed greenhouse in a redwood forest. Both bikes are still functional and rolling around. My nephew uses the MB3 everyday as transportation. I made him a singlespeed. The bike still rips!
The Super V700 was my first mountain bike and opened up a whole new world in the backcountry for me. Those were the days…
same here!
Thanks for this backstory!! Had no idea Cannondale had burned up that kind of money going into the MX-400.
Always loved the designs and big tubes. It was Cannons or Kleins with the stunning designs.
I just could not get used to the 'dead' road feel feedback. I went to love the older Japanese super springy steel roadbikes I have today.
LOL I bought a Klein about a year before I discovered DH riding back in 95 and I ended up selling the frame for like $400 because I couldn't ride it anymore without cursing the thing the whole time. hahahha I rode the Omen trail at Plattekill on that thing and it was the worst experience ever. It was basically a whoop section on a 40 degree slope and it was insane with steep head angle and the one piece stem that jutted out like 5 inches. LOL
I was working in a shop in Seattle as a mechanic during the "MX" phase. Our outside rep, Doug, left to become part of the motorcycle division. The years of hearing about delays made it obvious that they were going to crash. Additionally, many companies were hurting during this time period. GT, Schwinn, Yeti and many more. Another factor to many of these shortcomings was the intense R & D of full-suspension and the warehousing of small spare parts. Dead stock for obsolete bikes and parts. Companies like QBP would stock all of the small things and have since stopped this practice. Thank goodness for Lance Armstrong and the TDF. The road bike scene exploded at this point and the fat companies like Trek and Specialized (Giant, too) started crushing it.
Anyone guess how big the market is for 4 wheel bikes? In early 2016 I started building the rough prototype for a 4 wheel steer and 4 wheel drive pedal powered kart. It was a fun project for me after rough 2014 and 2015 dealing with Lyme disease. I got the frame almost done then the Lyme disease returned. I moved it around the barn until I dismantled it about a year ago. The frame was built using 1” perforated square tube steel and it was very heavy. The design of the frame is very unique and I have not seen anything on the internet similar to my design. I’d love to start it over again with an aluminum frame. One thing very hard to find is a place I can get deep offset wheels made that I can mount bike tires on. I was using steering hubs from Noma 4 wheel steer riding mowers.
I was a sales rep for Cannondale in Bedford. I remember when they started on the MX400. My first introduction to Cannondale was when I got a job at Island Triathlon & Bike in Honolulu in the early 90’s. My first Cannondale was the SE1000 which I then did a frame swap for a Delta V. When I started at Cannondale my ex-wife’s mother was a welder and I had several friends who worked in the paint department. I was able to get them to repaint my Delta V in Volvo team colors. I still have the Delta V but I purchased a newer Cannondale in 2010 and built it up with left over CODA and Shimano parts. How about a video on BMX bikes from the 80’s. I still have my Haro FST.
I raced professional BMX as a juvenile and I raced Motocross as an adult and a juvenile and it all intersects but when you get in the Motocross you're competing with the four major. Good video about Cannondale I wish they were still around I just got one of their bikes and I like it and I love that they're an American company
Great video , really well done 👍🏼
Thanks for the video. I have a 1986 cannondale road bike (Shimano 600 version) in my friend's barn.
Great bikes. I bought one in the late 80s when I was stationed in Germany and rode it all over the countryside. Recently passed it on to my daughter. Thanks for the video.
I was lucky enough to have been at the Anaheim bike show in (92?) when they showed the full CNC mtb. It was an amazing weekend surrounded by the best most beautiful bikes made to that day. I kinda miss the crazy retro colors, minimal stylized graphics, and insane paint schemes.
I worked at an upscale LA bike shop (I.Martin Imports) in 91-92 was huge on riding Cannondales in late 80’s and early nineties as it was an affordable, vicarious way for me to access the Klein Adroits and Attitudes that would grace our stands.
Started with a 3.0 that I stripped of paint like a Cunningham and built with a Scott carbon Unishock, white hubs, top line cranks and xt for 21.5 LBS.
First rear Sus bike I rode was the first pogo stick Kong shock by Trek and hated it, then to ride a new super-V and was immediately blown away, a convert to full suspension. Very awesome bikes even today, I’d love to find a Raven one day for my vintage garage
Cannondale fan since the 1980's. Love them. Still do.
LOL I never even knew or noticed they went bankrupt 😂 Makes sense though. Even their MTB's would fail regularly. The lefty was a nightmare to keep alive.
It became even more of a nightmare when you had to send them overseas to get repaired instead of to Bedford PA.
not the early lefty.....that was an amazing shock
I'm from bedford, pa. Grew up across the road from Cannondalr. I've seen my fair share of leftys. Inside and out. They are engineering masterpieces. And they work great as long as they are serviced correctly. You'd be hard pressed to find somebody that didn't know somebody employed by Cannondale in my hometown growing up. It was sad to see those jobs lost to the folks across the pond.
I did NOT know about Cannondales ill fated foray into Motocross manufacturing.
Now that was a move from outsized Ego, not rationality, and their inability to admit such sunk them.
I'll say one thing about Cannondale: Everything I own now or in the past from them (Scalpel- the subdued, eye-pleasing design- a horizontal top tube road bike), I wish they still made. Everything they do is light years ahead and lasts forever.
When I look at other bike makers like Trek and Specialized, all I can think is that they are compensating somehow, and that their stuff ends up like leisure suits and parachute pants.
As a pro lev el mechanic, all I can say is no. Cannondale was about gimmicks and being different, not making good products.
As far as I'm aware, almost none of the cutting edge tech that Cannondale marketed was actually dreamed up by them. Aluminium frames, mono-blade front 'fork, front and rear suspension... all existed before they got in on the act. Different size wheels at each end? Smaller wheel to improve acceleration and traction? Not new ideas by any stretch of the imagination. However, they were good at marketing these things, making them appear sexy. Much like Apple does with it's tech. But Apple didn't invent the home computer, the handheld 'tablet' device or the smartphone.
The motorcycle was built with very high-quality components. After bankruptcy many of the components went on the market. I purchased a few sets of handlebar controls to use on my bikes.
Love my early 1990s road bike - still have it. My ex would set aside his Waterford Paramount and use my Cannondale set up as an amateur TT.
Like Cipollini said to Tour camera crew, "Cannondale, best-a bike-a". Maybe not, but it is right for me (and my sons who borrowed it until they grew to fit their dad's bikes). And, I'm from Connecticut and enjoy the village of Cannondale too.
This was a nice intro to your channel
Can you do a more detailed video of the Orbea issue with your shop.
My east coast friend worked for Cannondale in the headstock/lefty department. He was known as “Headshock Larry”.
I have a mint super V. I've kept the head shock, added a dropper. Try to keep it old skool when replacing parts. It's fun to ride on less challenging trails. Much respect to the pioneers for riding it downhill etc.
You nailed it - going public was a huge mistake, and to think that they could beat Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki etc. motocross race bikes is another mistake. They should've gone for enduro motorbikes, a more lifestyle product that does not depend on race results to generate sales. Thanks for the video.
👍 Enduro would have been much better. Honda, Yamaha, etc don’t even compete well in Enduro. It’s mostly KTM brands, Beta, etc.
My wife and I both have Cannondale bikes, American made, and about 23-24 years old. I have lost track of miles, but I know well over 10,000 miles. Kept well serviced, by me, so still on the original hubs. They look like new, and other bikers look at them with almost reverence.
In 1987 my father bought me my first Cannondale road bike...and I'm restoring it as we speak.
I bought a Moterra Neo last summer, awesome bike. Great fun here in Fruita/Moab.
I have a cannondale beast of the east hardtail... Love it.
I’ve been a Cannondale rider since the 1980s I’ve had many of their bikes. Loved them all!
Still have my V 700 (fully, single trail, headshok 60). Still love it. I'll make a complete overhaul this winter, adding disk brakes (will need some welding).
Love my 2006 Cannondale road bike. I rarely need to get it tuned and have easily put 20-30k miles on it since I bought it used in 2014. Handmade in the USA is the way to go!
Klein and Cannondale pioneered "TIG aluminum oversized" production bike frames. Early aluminum frames had forged lugs with straight gauge tubes glued in to them. Klein was the first with butted aluminum tubes for bike frames AFAIK. Trek also made some similar frames and bought Klein as well. By the time OCLV came along the manufacturers started getting interested in computer modeling for the various carbon fiber choices and so forth. Nothing is really as flexible for strength to weight and resonance tuning. It's the same for F1.
Had a Super V 1000 for years. Loved it.
I’m 62 and I remember when
Cannondale were a bike bag
had there road bike back in the day. loved it.
I bought a Prophet 2 in Korea. It was an amazing bike, I spent many weekends faceplanting down mountains
I’m currently riding two different Cannondale MTB’s, a 2013 Scalpel 1 Carbon and a 2020 Habit 1. Both are high end set ups. The lefty has been amazing and survived multiple races and race seasons. All it takes is routine maintenance. Niggling creaks we’re not from the frame BB but rather crank interfaces. The Habit it now my go to ride. I would love to find A CAAD 12 and set up with disc brakes.
Great video, though, I’ve heard this bedtime story before. Not a lot of people knew how they went bankrupt, yes, I tried that Moto bike and it did suck. Having said that I have a small collection of their made in America mountain bikes and I love those mountain bikes. I cringed and I was sad when I started seeing made in Taiwan stickers on their early 2000s frames, because to me the “true” Cannondale mountain bikes will always and only be the ones that were made in America. Please don’t throw hate in my direction, I mean no offense against Taiwanese made bikes, this is just the way I feel about Cannondale mountain bikes, and I have a feeling I’m not the only one 😉
4:09 Wow, Tinker W. using both a telescopic fork and the Cannondale "Head Shock" (in the head tube) for his pro tour XC bike.
Look again at 5:02 and you'll see him riding with a Headshok with zero travel.
I did ten years enduro racing on my cannondale
, even now another five years after retirement from racing it's still rocking thank you cannondale for making a good value bike which allowed me to reach my best potential in a sport I loved.
In 1985, I ordered a Cannondale road bike for just $400 after reading a review.
It took a 4 month wait😮.
They were near copies of Gary Klein bikes (built here in the PNW, but I couldn't afford $1,200+ as a dumb student).
We modified a super vee and doubled the travel with a shock that had twice size. We added a Risse upside down fork with six inches of travel and the bike was amazing and had like a 14 inch bottom bracket height. I won two races at Plattekill in 97 on that thing and the Cannondale race mechanics liked it so much they gave me a set of eccentric cups for my head tube so we could relax the head angle by two extra degrees. It was one of my favorite bikes I ever raced on, only eclipsed by by the Foes and my favorite, Frank The Welder's Motorhead
What a great moment in time it was for bicycles. They've come so far since then
I have a Killer V 900 made in May 1993 for the '94 model year. It's bare polished aluminum. I still ride it on a regular basis, absolutely a quality bike!
Cool that you still ride it , as most modern MTBers tend to be snobs that won't ride old bikes because of the geometry , small wheels and no disc brakes . The way I look at is that if you owned a 1960 Dodge Charger would you not drive it because modern cars are faster and drive better ?
Do a deep dive into Synchros. Was my fav brand back in the 90s. Still have few random parts I refuse to get rid of.
They also made quads, which had a better reputation than their dirt bikes. Motocross Action just savaged the bike in its initial review, which is a bit unfortunate because it seemed gratuitous. Motocross is super competitive so they had a high standard to meet and took on too many innovations at once. A lot of their designs were ahead of their time, though, e.g., all aluminum frame, reverse engine (now on Yamaha), fuel injection, etc.
speaking as a former dealer who was in Ct, I’m not surprised. We dropped them soon after one year.
I have an H200 from 1995 that is still operational and I love it like an old friend.
I currently own a Cannondale Super six Evo with a carbon frame. I've ridden it over 2000 miles and think it's the best bike I've ever had. No complaints whatsoever.
Whoa, whoa, whoa...
Slow down... their first bicycle was a road bike I was there, rode their first ones.
I worked as the mechanic for Bicycling Magazine, '82, 83, 84, half of 85. The Bicycling staff was invited to try out the first ones.
There were some good riders on Cannondale's staff as well. I was riding 200 to 300 miles per week, was in good shape, they kept up, challenged me. I think 3 of us rode the first bikes. They did well, felt like they were on to something good..
I was hired by a competing magazine in '85, and we did an aluminum Mt bike test (I was the Mt bike guy on staff). Included was the 26/24 Cannondale. We called Cannondale, let them know we aren't going to write about it because the bike was such a turd. The Klein won top honors, by far...
Klein was the first to make a large tube bicycle frame as a M.I.T. student. He sued Cannondale, unsuccessfully i believe. I rode one of his first road bikes... not cheap, $4000 in 1980's dollars.
The first East coast designed moutain bikes came from Fat Chance, not Cannondale. Eastern hills may be smaller than the West, but they are steeper, and can be muddy.
I entered an East coast race with a '82 Ritchey. Folks on Fat Chance bikes all passed me on the uphils. i was pushing my bike, because I couldn't get traction. Fats had traction to spare. I bought a Fat a year later. By the time of this race, Western builders were on it already, making shorter rear triangles. I remember Joe Murray kicking major butt on a Western bike (Fisher I think).
My old Ritchey was designed for downhill. I passed everyone on the downhills.... since it takes more time to climb than descend on a circuit course, my ass got kicked, bad.
Recently, a dear old friend from that era, passed. He just willed me his 80's Cannondale road bike. It is stiff.... a bit too stiff. It rides like an unloaded truck... it's for super smooth pavement only. I'm not sure what to do with it.
Cannondale did get their act together... made wonderful bikes. I toured the plant in Bedford, PA later on.
I didn't know about the motocross effort, since by that time, I was long gone from the bike biz... was in the music biz... performing.
I'm now 73.... need to play more muskc, ride more bicycle.
I'm not a professional rider but do put 25-35 miles/day on my 2010 Trek full suspension mountain bike that's been hybridized for mostly city riding - dedicated trails, road and sidewalk, some dirt and gravel. I'm retired and have time to do it. I see all sort of bikes, some of which are Cannondales, both old and some new. I always wonder why I don't see more of them. The ones I see more often are Schwinn and Huffy. They are your typical low end bikes, usually ridden by your average street kid and of all people, homeless. But back to connoisseuring, my favoring lust bike out there is Specialized. Since I'm older than hell and want to preserve my body AMAP, both my wife and I have full suspensions. The vast majority of bikes at bike shops are not full suspension, and they are super expensive. Anyone notice the price of new bikes lately? I can't see paying $5K-8K for a new bike when my Trek fulfills my needs well. Only thing wrong with it is its 26" wheels. They along with tires and tubes are getting harder to find. Doing a video on Specialized may push me over the top.
bought a cannondale topstone 1 in mercury and love it! best bang for the bug here in my local bike store (germany) :)
I bought one of the earliest road bikes from Cannondale, back in 1984, I loved that bike. It got me going on big tube aluminum frames, still to this day. I'm riding a Kona CX now, it very much reminds me of that first bike but much nicer. Unfortunately Kona has been sold and I'm not sure of their future. It might be worth a story, the 2 I have are mid level but have been really amazing, durable, nice riding bikes. 62 years old and still going!
I'm in the UK and in the 90s wanted a Cannondale ST1000 touring bike, but unfortunately could not afford one at the time, but back then always dreamed of owning one.
Pretty great info, but kind of left us hanging by not looking up what's going on with them now
They use press fit bb that destroys the frame when it gets wobbly, other companies use threaded or at least most of them
The earlier Cannondales had standard threaded bottom brackets. It almost always annoys me when a company introduces a design that makes me buy non-standard parts.
Review Iron Horse and Intense. 2 historic brands from the early 90’s. Tinker W and Missy G were iconic Cannondale racers during my early days of MTB’n. I recall all your information starting from back in the late 80’s when I got my 1st MTB a S brand Stumpjumper.
I wish there was more info on the Cosstrac Sonoma full suspension, or the clones of the AMP research B2 that popped out in the 90s like the Thin blue line of the ones from supergo, o ye' olde days of coll looking bikes that will be not great with the current trails.
How about a deep dive into Lotus.... would like to know more about Serotta as well.
I bought my only Cannondale in '94, an SR600 with Look pedals and Greg Lemond shoes. I was living in Boone N.C. at the time, and would write in a memo book: which gear ratio I took what hill at, my speed, cadence, and e.t. I lost 80 lbs in 10 months, and ate twice as much!
How about doing a segment on Performance Bicycle Shops? It was my favorite bike accessory stores for years.
Doing one about Kona would be interesting!
really great video! i was involved with an investment firm that tried to buy the motorsports business right at the time it was was desperately in need of cash. they were making all the parts for the motorbikes one at a time and losing something like $5,000-$8000 for each bike they sold. the decision that bankrupted the company was to make a motor for the dirt bikes. once that decision was made it was an infinite black hole spiraling down. I got to meet Joe Montgomery and flew with him on his plane (that he flew). He was/is an amazing entrepreneur and great guy. it's a cautionary tale but also a great entreprerial story. he did a lot of things right. just one horrible decision that he couldn't recover from.
BRILLIANT! This video has ruined my life!!!!! I had no idea that Cannondale (MY FAVEOURIT BRAND) HAS FOLDED! The mid 90's frames had the most beautiful paint jobs, i had An m7000 and i loved it LOVED IT i tell you! We will not see frames like these again! Heartbreaking
Still love my 2004 cx and 2007 Scalpel 😊
My first road bike was Cannondale with CAAD3 frame. It was really good. Then I had bike with CAAD8 frame. It was quite good too. I don't know what bikes they make now, because I've been riding Canyon for many years now.
Interesting story!
I own a 2009 Rize 3 with a lefty. One of the most confortable bikes I have owned and loving it. There is a ´Hand Made In USA’ sticker on it. The joint finish is such as it looks like a carbon frame where it is all aluminum. The production moved to Asia the next production year and the frames joint look like any generic frame with thick joint lines.
I’m 70 with 3 bikes and a T800 which I have had for 23 years is still my favorite
You can still find Cannondale bikes in big box retailers like REI and Public Lands (part of Dicks Sporting Goods). Dorel Industries sold all their bike holdings to PON a couple years ago
I was a Cannondale dealer in the nineties. I sold my shop in 1997. And you are right. The motor cycle sunk the company. Along with getting into clothing.
My first ride on a Cannondale was VERY memorable- on the back of a very early model that was so stiff. Frame and ride was SO STIFF. We were housesitting and my exs car broke down but I had to get to work in Mystic CT (no taxis, preUber, then-husband's bike at home). I couldn't ride the distance from where we were and at 5'1" with carpel tunnel syndrome, couldn't ride any bike, let alone homeowners huge frame. So we borrowed the very tall (6' 2") friend's Cannondale- dropped the seat as much as possible for my 5 9 husbsnd, wrapped some towels on the saddlebag frame, held onto seat stem with his butt in my face - and had THE MOST butt breaking ride along Southeastern CT hilly, potholed, backroads to work.😂 Luckily my boss drove me back after closing up the stores. Cannondale frame was stiff and reactive alright. 30+ years and I still remember the feel on the back. And I still bought a Cannondale after my CTS surgery
I still have my mint green with artist graffiti 1987 SM900 and it ride it almost every day! Just like trusted old friend! The early ones are overbuilt and tough.
I❤ Cannondales. I bought my first in 1994, a Delta-v 700. Within a year, I had 3 more. They changed my life. From my home in NJ, I rode across country, the East Coast Greenway and north as far as Labrador. I used to keep a touring 400 in Salt Lake City and would commute to my place in Jackson WY. I was planning to ride from Perth to Sydney when I got married and that plan never happened. When they unfortunately went belly up I bought the inventory of a Washington DC bike shop in my size. The original Delta v cracked in half and was replaced by a police frame which is now has approaching 80,000 miles. It was very sad to see them go. As long as I can get parts for them, I will always ride my Cannondales.
In 1985, I bought a R400 bike the cheapest Cannondale, road racing bike. With skinny tires, it was so harsh to ride.
Dude classic movie ref at the beginning. one of my fav movies of all time. Breaking Away for you who havent seen it. See it.
I had the Saeco CAAD in fire engine red with the yellow graphicsz on carbon fiber Spinergy wheels. I saw Miguel Indurain who rode for Pinarello walked into a Cannondale shop in Spaine and paid cash for the exact same one. I sold that bike in 3 seconds after listing it on Ebay. I used that cash for a Fondriest Carb Level 107 in Mapei Team purple and blue with a Campy Record 10 speed. Hard to say which bike got more compliments and thumbs up.
I suspect some of the interest to build a motocross came from Alex Pong who created Magic Motorcycle and branched into CNC machined bike parts which ultimately became the CODA brand at Cannondale. pong was making ultra light motorcycle engines at the time and he probably got Cannondale interested.
I totally agree. I was curious if anyone was going to make the connection. When you consider that Alex Pong's company was called "Magic Motorcycle" but became more famously known for their bonded hollow aluminum cranks.
Alex's son Skooks was heavily involved with motocross racing. The manufacture of bicycle parts helped fund the motocross bike development.
It wouldn't surprise me if Alex sold Magic to Cannondale with the condition that he would be able to continue the development of a motocross bike.
We sold those bikes in the early years. Quality control on Cannondale bikes in the early years was just not there. Tubes in the frame were heat warped. Pro shops trying to straighten the frames on professional frame table broke the table fittings. The frames were stiff but not straight.