I used to work for a Cannondale dealer in the early 90's. I believe the deal changed because when you bought your bike the only models available were rigid mountain, road race and touring. All about the same cost. When Cannondale started adding front and full suspension and different levels of road frames, the one price trade in changed to one price trade in for a similar model.Without that stipulation, in theory you could buy the entry level M300 for $500 and trade that frame in for $ 250 for a Full suspension Scalpel or CAAD7 road frame. It would be like Ford saying when we made the model T and only the model T we will sell you any new Ford car for $xxx. The same deal wouldnt work now because I would run right out and buy a stripped down focus and turn around and trade it in for the bling bling fully loaded Urban assault vehicle. That said the Cannondale deal is still pretty good. Who else will give you anything for a 14 year old frame?

It is/was a good deal. However, I may push a little to try and get a better frame since the original deal did not have any limiting language with it. (It really was a big part of why I bought the frame.) On the other hand, I still like my old bike, it does not limit me in anyway. Thanks for your reply. DK