Cannondale Bikes

Hi, I am a mountain bike rider who is interested in buying a road bike for early weekend rides that are going to be part of my fitness program. I also intend to do some centuries, so comfort is also paramount.

I am currently thinking about cannondale mid-level road bikes, but I have a question regarding the wheels and tires. The bikes come with 700 by 23c tires, but I have been advised to look for bikes that can work with 700 by 25c or even better yet, 700 by 28c tires, as I am a muscular 215 pounds. I understand the wider tires are key to comfort.

Could somebody please comment re: whether the R900 or R1000 Cannondale road bikes will accomodate the bigger tires? Also,supposing I decide to build from a Cannondale frame,which of their frames can accomodate the bigger tires, and which would you recommend for reliability and strength?

Thanks.

 

If comfort is paramount, why are you looking at Cannondales??????? They are made to be stiff - and are some of the least comfortable bikes around.

 

Tires don't really make the ride more comfortable. The tire pressure's are high enough that you should get similar feel from 700x23 or 700x25. Mostly the tire size matters if your planning on riding off-road in gravel or something.

Most Cannondale road bikes are mostly made from aluminum for racing and tend to be stiff by design. If your looking for comfort you can still get a Cannondale but you will have to make a few changes like adding a carbon fibre seat post and probably changing the saddle. This of course is the case with most road bikes made for racing, you may want to look at a touring bike, they are designed your long rides with various terrain. Checkout the Cannondale T800, Trek 520 or 2100c, or Specialized Sequoia.

 

I am a big guy and I do have a Cannondale mountain bike that I have had for about fifteen years now, and on which I have had some really nice rides. The aluminum frame of the Cannondale really feels very solid under my pedaling, and for this reason, I am thinking a Cannondale road bike would be very nice for my muscular 210-215 pound body.

I have not really felt the so-called "harshness" of an aluminum frame. Maybe, If I do ride a steel frame, I can appreciate the difference, but for now, I am really inclined to go with an aluminum frame.

Regards.

 

I do have a Cannondale Killer V900 that I use as a sort of Tourer and so for that reason, I would not be getting a touring bike. What I want is a straight speed machine that I can take out at 5 A.M. on a saturday or sunday morning and ride for 30, 40 or 50 Miles. The main goal is strictly fitness.

I like Cannondales, and I would definitely consider your point re:a carbon fibre seat-post and a better saddle.

Thanks.

 

I personally own and ride a Cannondale R1000 and love it. It's actually pretty smooth for a aluminum frame bike but it's made to be light and fast and not paticularly strong. The frame is made using Cannondales own process called Optimo which makes it stronger but this also allows them to make the tubes with less aluminum to lighten the bike. If your happy with your current Cannondale and you have a good LBS then I would say just take if for a test ride, be sure you get the right fit and go for it.

Dan.

 

Hi BanditManDan,

Thanks for your response. I am a big guy who weighs about 210-215Ibs, and I am concerned about what you said in your post re:the Optimo frames not being very strong. I love my Cannondale Killer V900 mountain bike and this is the reason I would like to go with a cannondale road bike.The mountain bike frame just feels solid under my relentless pedal pounding. I have never had any instance to doubt the frame in my almost eleven years of ownership. I usually operate on the modus operandi of sticking with the brand that I have personally found reliable over many years of ownership.Reliability is extremely huge with me.This is my main reason for considering a Cannondale again.

How long have you had your R1000, and what has been your experience with it? How often do you ride, and for how long? What is your ride intensity like? How does the bike handle climbs, descents, long rides etc?

Finally, if you could change some things about your R1000, what are the things you would change, so as to bring about a ride as close to perfection as possible?

Thanks for your anticipated response.

Regards.

 

I hate to say anything bad about the Cannondale R1000 but to be 100% honest it's not designed to be the strongest bike but is definitally one of the lightest. Cannondale provides a manual supplement that states that the CAAD7 frame is designed to be light and stiff and should last a competitive cyclist around 2 seasons. Checkout this;
http://www.cannondale.com/Asset/iu_files/0115936.pdf
Of course there is a lot of room for interpretation because a pro racer will likely log 10k to 20k miles a year between training and racing and will be much harder on the bike than I will. That being said Cannondale does offer a great warranty on their frames/bikes so there honestly shouldn't be a problem providing you take care of it. I also found that Cannondale does a very aggresive testing of it's frames and feel pretty confident that I will get many years of service out of my CAAD7 frame excluding an accident. Of course and accident will destroy any race bike and in my opinion any race bike ridden by a pro will last around the same amount of time. It's a trade off between a light bike or a strong one.

For me I ride around 2 or 3 thousand miles a year and my average ride is probably around 30 or 40 miles with an occational 75 to 100 mile ride. I train some what hard and fast with our racing team and do the occational crit race. I figured that if a pro racer can get 2 years of life from the CAAD7 frame then I should be good for 10 years based on my type of riding. Oh yeah, I weight around 175 and love to climb.

The bike handles climbs great but can be a little touchy on a fast downhill but that could be because of the handlebar's that came with the bike. The handlebars have a straight top bar with more of a 90 degree angle before turning into the drops. This gives the appearance that the handlebars are much wider than they actually are and may explain some of the touchy-ness I feel going down hills. I have had the bike for about 3 months and have logged around 700 miles so far. At this point I have adjusted to the bike and handlebars just fine and love the bike overall.

As for things I would change, here's my list;
1. Saddle. Common thing to change.
2. Seat post. The bike came with a angled seat post that I had to replace.
3. Kryserium wheels or better. The bike comes with desent wheels (Cosmics).
4. Tires. It came with Hutchinson that are not bad but I have my own personal prefereces.

I guess that's about it. I liked the components for the price, full Ultegra. It's a very nice bike and I'm sure you'll be happy with it.

 

Hello BanditManDan,

Thanks for the reply. I know that I definitely want a strong bike. It sure looks like the R1000, with its CAAD7 frame would not work for me.Let me ask you though about the Cannondale CAAD4 or CAAD5 frames.Which one of the Cannondale CAAD frames would you recommend for its strength? I can then buy the frame and build a road bike with an Ultegra kit.

Strength of frame is important to me.Also feel free to suggest other aluminum frame road bikes from other manufacturers that I should look at. Does TREK for example have a road bike built around a strong aluminum frame? How about FELT or Giant? Any suggestion(s) and/or recommendation(s)?

Regards.

 

Tire size does make a difference. I ride 2 bikes with 700 x 23c and 1 bike with 700 x 25c and the 25c tires really feel more comfortable and shock absorbing. They inflate to 100psi (Michelin Dynamic) whereas my Vredestein Ricorsos inflate to 125psi. I ride cheap tires because they ride just as fast as expensive tires (I've tried Michelin Pro Race and Hutchinson Carbon Comps).

Try other brands besides Cannondale -- like Cervelo is an excellent aerodynamic aluminum (the Cervelo Soloist Team bike) bike. I've crashed 3 times on my Cervelo and it's still scratchless. And the Cervelo Soloist Team is better than any Cannondale out there - simply because of its aerodynamics. I own a Cannondale F600 mtn bike and though it's an excellent mtn bike - it's slow.

 

Mt bike comfort is fairly different to road bike comfort given different designs & body position and tyres. (I assume if 15 years old it does not have suspension).

It is not just an aluminium vs. steel thing. The Cannondales are also designed to be stiffer - oversized tubes being more relevant than the material. There are many other aluminium bikes that are more comfortable than Cannondales. Many of these use a thicker aluminium tubing for a better lifespan too, esp if you are >200 lbs.

 

Actually, I made a mistake re:how old my mountain bike is. It is actually a little over 10 years old.

You are right that it has no suspension.

Could you please recommend certain aluminum road bikes I should look at?

Strength, stiffness and some comfort are some of my recommendations.

Thanks.

Regards

Could you pleas1You are right tha

 

I own a CAAD4: components are hand picked and has 700x23. I can't tell the difference between 23 and 25; it beats me up no matter what after riding 2-3 hours. Yes, it's amazingly stiff. If you have money to kill, I would get a bunch of carbon components: I guess you need lots $$$.

Yeah.. finally someone mentioned Cervelo. If you have money to kill to upgrade and buy carbon components, you might want to look at Cervelo bikes. You can get the CSC team bike for $3000: awesome frame and full Dura-Ace components. I think it's worth of money.

Good luck!

 

Depends a bit on what is available at you LBS and your price range. Most importantly though, it depends on getting a good bike fit for maximum comfort. A well designed bike that is a poor fit will still be uncomfortable.

Cervelo has been mentioned - excellent bikes.
Trek/LeMond/Klein (all marketed by same group) - Kleins tend to be stiffer => like C'dales.
Bianchi, Willier.
If rich - Colnago, Pinarello, De Rosa, Merckx.

If concerned about longevity, I wouldn't go for a Giant but they are a good price.

 

Get a regular caad5 road frame, (R400) I weigh 236 lbs, and race cat 3 all the time.. Previous caad5 frame lasted 2 years, after that crack developed in the right rear dropout, they changed frame with no questions for free..

With our weight, you will not notice stiffness at all..

 

Actually, tires are the best possible way to manipulate the "stiffness" of the bike. What do you think is stiffer: the double triangle frame or the air-filled tires? For comfort, the next best things would be to get gel handlebar tape, a seat post with gel insert (Specialized Roubaix) and perhaps the new Bontrager Buzz-kill harmonic dampers. The affect of these will be *much* greater than splitting hairs with already stiff frames.

 

Perhaps you are taking my statement out of context, or I didn't make myself clear enough. What I meant to say was that changing a tire width from say 23 to 25 isn't going to be a significant advantage for comfort. Of course I assumed that everybody knows that tires can be manipulated to be softer by letting out air pressure but a 700x23 @ 120psi versus a 700x25 @ 120psi isn't going to be a hugh difference in comfort IMO.

Dan.