crankitfast said:
I don't doubt your knowledge and experience, but I am not willing to ignore cannondale. Nor have I made up my mind. Nor have I decided against other brands. I will say again that it comes w/ many great reviews, and I truly am amazed at how many have bought other brands only to post online that they wish they had bought cannondale after disappointment w/ their purchase. It is true that some could be the exact opposite, but I want a bike that I am comfortable with.
As I mentioned before, it's US made gives it many leaps ahead of others in my preference list, but should I not like the caad, then other brands quickly move up the list into a more level playing field. Does where the frame is made matter? Yes. We vote w/ our US dollars, and that is what I am focused upon and that is why I am more interested in cannondale over others. I will try it out soon, and should I not like it then, oh well. But should I like it, my money will LIKELY be spent.
I will be checking into what you mentioned about their frames, but I consider them a huge player in the game and in the big scheme of things I don't see any adapters being a huge cost issue. Since any such things would be there already, unless I abuse my bike I would not have to face that issue. And if I did, thousands of others would be in the same boat, and many are far more particular than I am of frame design.
You can't answer the simple question about your current bike that I asked ...
Yes, I can...I just don't have the dimensions written down. Have I measured and checked against new model geometries? Absolutely.
I don't want to come to wrong conclusions, but I am stunned by your near hatred for cannondale, as if you are a non US resident, hate the US, or had a horrible experience with them at some point in your life.
I stand on the words of many riders who have discussed numerous models in this price range, and they ALL say the same thing...."...they are all great bikes....just buy the one that fits you best and you are more comfortable with..."
How on earth is declaring that "
Cannondale designs & makes great bikes ..." hatred?
How is citing potential, future problems which you/anyone may encounter with a design hatred?
Your statement is akin to the declarations being made by the Obamunists who are currently saying that protesting against anything that the current Administration wants to do is un-American.
FYI. You CANNOT nor SHOULD NOT base your judgement on what a "paid" writer in a periodical states about ANY bike ... be it a Cannondale, Fuji, Giant, Trek, Bianchi, Colnago, Orbea, Pinarello, whatever ... those are the LEAST reliable sources for information.
In the cases where they have a side-by-side, you often have to read-between-the-lines to see what is going on ... and, therein you can see the biases.
It may be considered a poor example, but I think the reviews in BICYCLING (again, only for example) are really suspect ...
Several years ago, BICYCLING compared a $10,000 Merlin Cyrene with a sub-$2000 Motobecane something-or-other. The reviewer's remarks included how well the Merlin handled on descents compared with the Motobecane BUT did not take into account that it could have been the wheels & tires!
Did the reviewer bother to put the Motobecane wheelset on the Merlin, or vice-versa?
Even if the component groups on the Merlin & Motobecane were incompatible, for the purpose of how the bikes handled descending on a particular roadway, they could have simply put the wheels on the different frames & "coasted" downhill OR set the derailleur so the chain was on a comparably sized cog (e.g., 12t) so the rider could pedal when s/he chose to.
As I suggested, if you are going to compare different Cannondale models, you have to ensure that the wheelset is THE SAME & the tire pressure (and, the tires, themselves) is the same ...
BETTER, yet, would be if you brought-or-bring YOUR current wheelset so you would have a KNOWN reference point against which you could compare the various frames you are considering.
Recently, when BICYCLING recently compared a 26" MTB with a 29er, the writer/(someone) did NOT choose frames which were comparably sized although they both had the same nominal size (I think they were "medium") and so the virtual top tube on the 29er was (by recollection) 2cm longer, yet he
complained (that may be too strong a word) about the 29er being too large (or, something in that vein).
How RETARDED are their reviewers OR how STUPID do they think we are?!? OR, how stupid ARE most of the readers?!?
ALL magazine reviews should be taken with a grain of salt ...
Often, a reviewer (including VeloNews, by my recollection) will mention how one brake caliper is better than another WITHOUT taking into account the brake pad compound.
In a true test, the same pad compound would be used -- i.e., the holder-and-pads on the "better" brakes would be put on the OTHER calipers (and, vice-versa) and then rate the various calipers ... AND/OR, qualify the review by saying that some/none/all of the difference is in the pads.
So, it is easy to say a Dura Ace caliper is superior to almost any other caliper because Shimano has spent a great deal of R&D on the brake pad compound. How will a lowly Tektro caliper rate if it simply had a set of DA pads? Or, how will those super-expensive DA calipers respond if they had Tektro pads?
VeloNews recently (a few months ago) reviewed wheelsets, but there was NO benchmark reference point (e.g., a traditional 32-or-36 spoke wheelset); so, even though there were 'numbers' which could be compared, the information was incomplete.
There is BIG MONEY in those high-zoot wheelsets -- it doesn't benefit VeloNews if they (or, other publications) mention that a person is often better off having a pair of custom-but-otherwise-"regular" wheels laced to some Campagnolo, DT, or Shimano hubs.
You have to read most magazine reviews as being a second-party/("paid") press release since it is in their vested interest to say nice things because if they don't then they won't get future toys to play with ... sometimes, the periodical gets to keep what they review!
Glean what you can from the information in magazine reviews, but
Puh-leeze don't think they are as meaningful as you are apparently presuming.
I am NOT the final arbiter of what ANYONE should buy ... frame OR component group OR wheels. People who know me often don't listen to my suggestions, though they often regret it later.
You asked for opinions. You've got mine.
I'm not blocking the Cannondale fan club on the Forum from speaking up. Maybe, they're all on vacation ... OR, this exchange may eventually awaken one/some of them enough to reenforce the eariler accounts you've read.
Regardless, I think that you always have to take into account what I refer to as
the-emperor's-new-clothes syndrome ... few people like to admit that a recent bike purchase was a mistake, especially if they paid more than $2000 for it.
As I said, you'll either be more-than-glad that you ignored the caveats about Cannondales OR the day may come when you rue having ignored them.
BTW. Are you a newly/recently born-again "buy American" individual OR is the
Nissan now an American car brand?!?
BTW2. Is your old bike in storage? Was it stolen? Why weren't/haven't you able to measure it?