Cannondale's attempt at a track bike :)

[Bikconsult]

Saw this image recently in a British magazine & just assumed that the shop had spec'd the bike
themselves , then I logged onto Cannondale's website & was amazed to see this monster! Apart from
the woeful setup for the photo the forks seem to have a 45mm rake!!
> I wonder if the Cannondale designers have ever been to a track event
or have seen a track bike before?

http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/03/cusa/model-3PR3K.html

 

[Andy Coggan]

Cannondale has built track bikes for years, at least off and on. They seem to be reasonably popular
among beefy sprinter types.

Andy Cggan

"bikconsult" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Saw this image recently in a British magazine & just assumed that the shop had spec'd the bike
> themselves , then I logged onto Cannondale's website & was amazed to see this monster! Apart from
> the woeful setup for the photo the forks seem to have a 45mm rake!!
> > I wonder if the Cannondale designers have ever been to a track event
> or have seen a track bike before?
>
> http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/03/cusa/model-3PR3K.html

 

[Henrik MüNster]

scott <[email protected]> wrote:

> That's the first Cannondale I've wanted to buy in a long time. Use would be fixed gear road
> training and fair weather commuting. I'd add a shorter, higher stem, fatter tires (roly poly?), a
> front brake and a rear LED blinker. I've put myself on a 1 new bike a year diet though.

It's January!(?)
--
Henrik Münster Esbjerg Danmark

 

[Steven L. Sheff]

in article [email protected], bikconsult at [email protected] wrote on
01/14/2003 11:15 PM:

> Saw this image recently in a British magazine & just assumed that the shop had spec'd the bike
> themselves , then I logged onto Cannondale's website & was amazed to see this monster! Apart from
> the woeful setup for the photo the forks seem to have a 45mm rake!!
>> I wonder if the Cannondale designers have ever been to a track event
> or have seen a track bike before?
>
> http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/03/cusa/model-3PR3K.html
>

The geometry of all the frames is here:

http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/03/geo-40.html

And yes, it is spec'ed with a 45 mm rake fork. It's also spec'ed with a corresponding 73 degree
head angle.

--

Steven L. Sheffield stevens at veloworks dot com veloworks at worldnet dot ay tea tee dot net bellum
pax est libertas servitus est ignoratio vis est ess ay ell tea ell ay kay ee sea aye tee why you ti
ay aitch aitch tee tea pea colon [for word] slash [four ward] slash double-you double-yew double-ewe
dot veloworks dot com [four word] slash

 

[Mike Murray]

Cannondale has realized, as have Bianchi and Fuji, that the real market for selling fixed gear bikes
is for the urban messenger and fixed gear and single speed road crowd. There are far more of these
people than there are racers at velodromes, in part because of the limited numbers of velodromes
with even more limited numbers of programs. The current Cannondale is designed towards that market.
It actually even has bottle fittings. It will be fair better for riding on the road then most track
bikes. It will work adequately as a racing bike too. One of the best things about track racing is
that the bike matters even less then it does on the road.
--
Mike Murray Alpenrose Velodrome manager

"bikconsult" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Saw this image recently in a British magazine & just assumed that the shop had spec'd the bike
> themselves , then I logged onto Cannondale's website & was amazed to see this monster! Apart from
> the woeful setup for the photo the forks seem to have a 45mm rake!!
> > I wonder if the Cannondale designers have ever been to a track event
> or have seen a track bike before?
>
> http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/03/cusa/model-3PR3K.html

 

[Scott]

bikconsult wrote:

> > I wonder if the Cannondale designers have ever been to a track event
> or have seen a track bike before?
>
> http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/03/cusa/model-3PR3K.html
>

That's the first Cannondale I've wanted to buy in a long time. Use would be fixed gear road training
and fair weather commuting. I'd add a shorter, higher stem, fatter tires (roly poly?), a front brake
and a rear LED blinker. I've put myself on a 1 new bike a year diet though.

 

[Don Vescio]

They were really sturdy frames; great for sprinting.

D

"Andy Coggan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Cannondale has built track bikes for years, at least off and on. They seem to be reasonably
> popular among beefy sprinter types.
>
> Andy Cggan
>
> "bikconsult" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > Saw this image recently in a British magazine & just assumed that the shop had spec'd the bike
> > themselves , then I logged onto Cannondale's website & was amazed to see this monster! Apart
> > from the woeful setup for the photo the forks seem to have a 45mm rake!!
> > > I wonder if the Cannondale designers have ever been to a track event
> > or have seen a track bike before?
> >
> > http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/03/cusa/model-3PR3K.html
> >
>

 

[Matthew A. Lock]

"Steven L. Sheffield" wrote:

> in article [email protected], bikconsult at [email protected] wrote on 01/14/2003
> 11:15 PM:
>
> > Saw this image recently in a British magazine & just assumed that the shop had spec'd the bike
> > themselves , then I logged onto Cannondale's website & was amazed to see this monster! Apart
> > from the woeful setup for the photo the forks seem to have a 45mm rake!!
> >> I wonder if the Cannondale designers have ever been to a track event
> > or have seen a track bike before?
> >
> > http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/03/cusa/model-3PR3K.html
> >
>
> The geometry of all the frames is here:
>
> http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/03/geo-40.html
>
> And yes, it is spec'ed with a 45 mm rake fork. It's also spec'ed with a corresponding 73 degree
> head angle.
>
> --
>
> Steven L. Sheffield stevens at veloworks dot com veloworks at worldnet dot ay tea tee dot net
> bellum pax est libertas servitus est ignoratio vis est ess ay ell tea ell ay kay ee sea aye tee
> why you ti ay aitch aitch tee tea pea colon [for word] slash [four ward] slash double-you
> double-yew double-ewe dot veloworks dot com [four word] slash

The resulting trail of this bike is 5.69cm (73x4.5). The trail for a Bianchi Pista is 6.52cm
(74.5x2.8), while that for a Serotta RapidPiste is (was?)
6.63cm (74x3.). Obviously there is a difference in opinion here in what makes a good track
bike geometry.

What I find funny is that I was always led to believe (not having actually ridden on a track) that
track bikes were designed to be very responsive. Yet these calculations seem to indicate that they
actually have more stable geometry when running straight than most road bikes. I believe that these
large trail values make these bikes very jumpy though when a steering input is delivered through the
bars, as a large trail would translate into a larger contact patch movement for a given steering
input. Anyone else want to comment on this?

MOO, Matt

 

[bighi]

Actually, when one looks at a Bianchi Pista or even a KHS Flight 100, the rakes are much more in tune with what is expected from a track bike. Maybe a real track fork on that Cannondale would make things right.