tom it would cause me to consider the numerous times they have ventured off on their own with regard to various standards. things like the in house disc brakes, lefty fork, headshok, and the oversized bottom bracket are c-dale exclusives. fine if you are a believer but what if c-dale's reorganization went more on the line of schwinn's? i don't reckon you are gonna be finding bushings for your four-banger at wal-mart, if ya know what i mean. bucking standards if one thing, but living with it as a consumer who wants to keep a bike a while is another in this somewhat volatile time.

Time will tell if that is a valid concern. Knowing what I know about Cannondale as a dealer that could prove to be a positive for them. Those features (Headshok, CAAD7 with integrated cranks, etc.) are selling points and help to establish uniqueness and differentiation. Some people view that as a selling point, others (as you correctly illustrate) see that as a potential drawback. Only time will tell. My feeling is this is the best time something like this could have happened, both seasonally and historically.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I have to agree with the previous poster... Although I applaud cannondale's innovations with their cranks and BB. The problem is those are the things that keep weary of their products. I just don't want to be 5 years down the line trying to buy an obscure piece for a BB that isn't made anymore. Things happen, things break, I just don't want to have to sell a bike because some proprietary piec broke on my bike that I can't replace, or is rediculously expensive to replace.

Wow! Shocking and kinda sad. I've always dug Cannondale bikes - rode a CAAD 4 MS frame for 4 good years. Always very cutting edge, very innovative - maybe to a fault. They have a very positive brand image and excellent product though; so I am quietly optimistic that by jettisoning the motorcycle division (compete against Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki...what were they thinking?) and getting the books in order that they'll be back around stronger than ever.

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"To give less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." - Pre

MattMizenko.com

Cannondale has always had a significant and very loyal following. They make some very nice and well built bikes. This news may make some prospective buyers balk but that is to be expected. It seems to me that more than ever they are going to need to give very compelling reasons to buy a C'Dale. There are plenty of very good bike builders out there. With this recent tarnish, C'Dale will need to focus on bike value (bang for the buck) and I think most imortantly, customer service. Nothing retains customers and drives positive word of mouth like world class customer service. If, in the process of a re-org and the inevitable cost containment, they start cutting corners on things like customer service and component spec, they are screwed.

I also think a big unknown is whether and how many retailers will drop the C'Dale line as a result of this issue. If a significant amount do, I imagine they will have a hard time recovering.

it happens. but after owning a CAAD4 R4000 and being completly dissapointed in it's handling I wouldn't buy another one anyways.

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"on your Left"

My opinion is this is a problem with the stratgic management and direction of the company and not a reflection of the quality of the bicycles. When a company goes public it somehow changes. One other manufacturer in the bicycle industry that went public (not a bicycle manufacter, an accesory manufacturer...) told me the worst decision he ever made was to take the company public. Cannondale will continue as a private company following the reorganization and probably be better off for it.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I have a Proflex 583 MTB (the one with the Girvin parallelogram fork and elstomer bumpers front and rear). Well, since K2 bought them out, they no longer make the bumpers. Mine are rock hard now, making the bike unrideable.

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Love the bikes... love that they are an american made product by and american startup. They will no doubt continue.

Lots of ideas don't make it. C'dale makes mistakes and I am very OK with that... innovation is hard and theytake some risks. At least they design and manufacture stuffunlike some 'middle man marketing only' companies like Specialized seems to have become.

It seems like the moter bike thing should have been spun off to seek VC a long time ago. Certainly I don't know enough about the business structure tosay for sure. I thought the pairing with Harley made a lot of sense - both for manufacturing and for distribution.

Many valid points have been brought up. Tom, do you think that the average consumer is going to know about the recent reorganization? I don't think that the majority of the bike-buying world is going to notice or know. Admittedly, I am a bike geek and keep up with such things, as do many on this board. I'm glad to see them move on without the motorsports aspect. They should do what they do best, and that's make bikes.

I haven't had a Cannondale in quite a few years, my last one was from their 2.8 series and my first one was a late 80s frame. I really like their bikes, and their integrated cranks and BB would be an aftermarket hit if they were compatible with regular sized bb shells. I've heard very good reviews of their headshok and Lefty. With the new 1.5 standard that is being adopted by some of the mtb manufacturers, fork options (freeride only?) may soon be available for those who don't want a headshok.

Has anyone heard of other bb standards coming out. I believe that Truvativ (oversized gigapipe spindle) and FSA both have ISIS bbs that with oversized spingles. I think that they are spindles only right now, but will there be a move towards larger bearings? These are primarily mtb innovations(?) right now, but as with 1 1/8" headsets, they may make inroads into road cycling.

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Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

Well, having just invested in a new Cannondale "feminine" bike for my wife, I have to say I'm not too concerned with the reorg. I've a feeling a lot of bigger companies will file Chap 11 before we're done with this economic slump. The motorcycle thing just killed them. No way were they going to get that going. It may have been just a case of jumping at the wrong time, but it took focus from what they do best. I've owned several Cannondales, including the original Black Lightning. I've loved all of them. My wife loves her new bike. I don't think that is in any danger of changing with this news. My next "last bike I'll ever buy" will be a Cannondale, of that I'm fairly sure.

First, bankruptcy is a healthy concept that allows companies in trouble to regain their footing.

Second, Pegasus is a quality shop with $800MM under management. These guys are not in the business of running companies into the ground like the Gordon Gekko of old. Sure the company may come under increased financial scrutiny and experience pressure on the expense side.

The structure of their deal - debt with warrants - suggests a positive outlook on the situation. Whereas the deal provides Cdale $25MM senior debt, Pegasus stands to reap the benefit of significant upside with the warrants to purchase approx 3MM shares of common stock under certain circumstances. Basicly, they are giving up some yield on the debt for greater potential upside - a vote of confidence. The boys at Pegasus can be a good partner for cannondale - "cannondale is obviously a fantastic brand,” David Uri, a partner at Pegasus Capital, said. “It has a great brand and dominant market share."

In addition to the Pegasusfinancing, Cdale has access to a $35 million in a revolving credit facility from CIT Group/Business Credit Inc.

All in, this sounds like a good opportunity for Cdale to get its head back above water. And i don't hink we will see the Cannondale brand follow Schwinn into StuffMart. No, i am not affilliated with any of the principals, just a deal maker with different stripes...

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jg

I can see the problem with parts for something like the lefty fork, but if your crankset and bottom bracket wear out and can't be replaced because CODA is dead, then you can just install Ultegra/Dura Ace anyway so I don't see that as a major issue. I've been riding my Cannondale 2.8 series frame (supposedly a very harsh ride but I've got back problems and it doesn't seem to bother me) since 1995 and put a lot of miles on without any problems at all. I think that they build excellent frames and components so they should continue to do well. Their new ironman bikes (well at least the few top-end ones) look very good. They might not be the most aero on the market but they are well built and you will get awesome power transfer without any flex in the bottom bracket area. I'm not much of a mountain biker but one Cannondale dealer I know constantly raves about their Headshock forks for the off-road crowd.

It's not really oversize spindles that everyone is working on, it's oversize bottom brackets. Cannondale is on the right track with this idea, and the rest of the industry will be following shortly.

Shimano Octalink and Isis both cram an oversize spindle into a standard BB shell, and the result has been a decrease in bearing life relative to a square taper bb - bigger bb in same shell = smaller bearings = decrease in life span.

The reason you aren't seeing Isis bbs from Phil Wood or Chris King is they know you can't stuff a quality bearing set inside a standard shell if you are using a hollow oversize spindle.

The "oversize" standards that are beginning to emerge are all an attempt to solve this problem by increasing ID of the BB, and are largely being fueled by the Isis BB manufacturers, who are getting pretty sick and tired of explaining why their bb's don't last more than a season.

When these BB's start appearing, they for sure will not be limited to roadbikes - they're going to be on everything. In 5 years, everybody will have some kind of oversize bb on their bike, bet on it.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
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Hate to be diesenter here but...cannondale sucks. they have always been overpriced bikes that sell based on image alone produced by a better than average marketing department. in my experience, they are very often someone's first serious bike but rareky their second and never their third.. they are a horrible vendor from a dealer standpoint as well. loading you up with product you don't want, doing little to protect territories horrible warranty claim averages. i know few cannondale owners who haven't broken their frames. their geometries are horrible as well. when i visited pegoretti's factory a few months back it was interesting to see the saeco decaled "cannondales" he was making. i hope cannondale withers away and dies. the harsh ride of their bikes, the garbage cassettes mated with eye candy xtr rear derailleurs, the crappy house branded forks and brakes and cranks...the horrible dealer service is what they are going out of business...probably to be resurected by the american bicycle group who can simply open up the taiwan faucet to get more junk aluminum imported along with the miserable litespeeds and qr's being made for them now..sorry i'm so bitter....want american, buy a trek...

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http://www.echelonbicycles.com

Just bought my fifth Cannondale. Each upgrade brings a new level of riding. And yes, I have idden and owned plentyof other high end bikes. Sorry that you had a bad experience.

Hmmm, my experiences with Cannondale could accurately be characterized as less than satisfactory seven years ago, but my recent (last four years) experiences have been very, very good. Every evolution of the CAAD series road frames has been (IMHO) a valid and substantial improvement. The 3.0 series frames (I thought) were poor. The new stuff is excellent. I have owned 5 Cannondales and just purchased my sixth (A new Saeco Team Replica bike). No other suspension fork compares to the Headshok- it's the only one that rides on bearings and has effectively reduced or eliminated serious design limitations in other suspension forks. My experiences have been good, as an owner and a dealer. I like selling the bikes too becasue I know we have only had a couple frame failures out of well over 2,000 bikes sold. None of these failures were complete either. Cannondale bikes may be a few bucks more than other (non-European) aluminum bikes, in some cases much more, but there is technology there that transcends what others are offering. I can sell any bikes I want: But first I have to buy them, and I buy bikes for a living- so in addition to other brands I sell Cannondale.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Craig, good job toeing the Trek party line.... Wow, that is REALLY one sided of you. I'm not arguing with your ability to dissent. I enjoy a good counterpoint as much as the next. Certainly you've probably observed less than satisfactory results. I'd argue with your generalizations, though. Have you ever PERSONALLY ridden a CAAD 7 bike for significant mileage? It'd change your views on Cannondale harshness. Admittedly the X.X series and up to the CAAD 4 frames were harsher than similar products from other manufacturers. You threw out the Trek brand as an example. I'd personally argue, after having owned both a 1200 and 1400 for significant time that they were simply too whippy. Both manufacturers have gotten a lot smarter and their current products are outstanding. In fact it may be that Cannondale's Alu product is more advanced than Trek's since they don't have the major league "distraction" of OCLV. Your generalization that you've seen few Cannondale owners who haven't broken their frames is patently false. Thousands of Cannondales ply the roads and trails daily without so much as a dent. Some break. Most don't. Cannondale overprices their product? How about Trek's disastrous Hilo line? The warranty wasn't worth the extra $5-600 one paid for bikes similarly equipped to, say, QR Kilo/Tequilo. You don't like Cannondale (or ABG either for that matter). That's obvious and you're entitled to that opinion. Trust me when I say, though, that you DON'T want Cannondale to "whither away and die." A U.S. bike manufacturer's market dominated by Trek would be a bad thing....

to put a humourous spin on this topic. . . .i had the unique pleasure of owning c-dale's very first bike model, the st 500. oddy, it was a touring bike and their "road" (race) bike the sr900 didn't come out for more than a year after the touring model ( i still have the sr 900, btw ). anyway, were those bikes ever bad !! :). the first st 500's were put out before the boys knew how to keep the tubes from sagging during the heat treating. aluminum gets noodle soft while being heat treated, and the first c-dales tubes drooped all ovet the place. the chainlines were completly misaligned, and most would ghost shift and toss chains because of it. i recently read an article quoting mr montgomery where he even said " if you rode thru a puddle with an early c-dale the tires would leave two different tracks in a straight line" :) :) :) regardless, i had lots-o-good miles on that bike and i wish them the best. the old st 500 still sees miles under my brother, tho all the cable guides have fallen out and we have to zip tie full length housing to the frame - and my wife's equally distressed one came within days of being ridden in IMMOO this year.

As a current cannondale owner, I'm kinda mixed on them (love the stiff oversized aluminum ride, but hate the house brand parts, proprietary stuff, and mixed grouppos). So, I actually appreciate someone not raving about them. But if one of your main beefs w/ cdale is the house brand parts, how can you possibly recommend a trek!?! the average trek probably has 5x the "Bontrager" decals compared to the "Trek" ones. You think that isn't their house brand?

to those complaining about the geometry, as an american frame manufacturer, the standard geometry actually makes sense given that their market is more likely to race in a Crit than stages or mountains. I'm glad they aren't all the same, but I doubt my next bike will be a cannondale.

I'm with you on the Trek/Bontrager issue. I hate how that's true with the whole Trek line, meaning Klein and LeMond as well. It used to be Icon components and Rolf wheels, now it's all Bontrager. Now that doesn't mean that Bontrager is crap. They make some nice stuff. I guess that in a perfect world, I'd like companies to spec stuff b/c it's the best of part for the specified price, not that it has the correct label. (Hell, even the tires are Bontragers!!) Obviously bike manufacturers will only be able to spec bikes using a subset of all the component companies out there, but limiting themselves to Shimano, and Bontrager is BS IMO.

actually, I love it when manufacturers spec house brand parts (within reason), as it means that you get a bike that works just as well for a more reasonable price. IMHO, Trek/Klein/Lemond strikes a pretty good balance on the use of Bontrager, using Keith's stuff for the bar, stem, seatpost and wheels. The Bontrager wheels are very good, and I've never heard anyone claim that they went slower because they used a CODA stem instead of a 3T. I think that the bontrager road tires are made by the Continental factory, and they've been in the mountain bike tire business for a long time.

Proprietary parts do worry me a little bit, but not too much. Actually, my biggest beef with the Cannondale integrated crank system is that I cannot use them on my Trek OCLV!! Wouldn't it be sweet if cannondale came out with an ISIS spline version of their cranks.

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I dunno. The price may be a bit lower, but the main reason for specing a house brand is to get a bigger chunk of the overall margin generated by the sale of the bike. I don't think the driver is reduced cost to the consumer. Even if the bike does come in a bit cheaper, your resale on the parts is nothing. Ever try to sell a Icon/Coda/Bontrager (to a lesser extent) seatpost, stem, or handlebars? It's not that the stuff is crap, much of it is actually quite nice, but you still have a hard time getting good money for them. It shouldn't matter, but brand name does have a big impact on resale value. Watch bike shops when they swap stems on a fitting. They always try to stick with the house brand, and add an upcharge if you go to a "designer" brand. But, if you buy the house brand new from the shop (if they carry it) they're very close in price to the designer stuff.

As for Bontrager wheels, yes some of them are nice. I happen to own a pair that really are crap though. (Admittedly, this is their bottom of the line wheel.)

What's amazing to me is how good companies supposidly run by good people can make such blunders.

For the past 5 - 10 years one of the buzz-words in business has been "focus". Meaning focus on what you do best. Brand or line extention eg. Cannondale Motorcycles!, can cause you to really loose your focus and ultimatly your business. Few companies can really pull this off.

The other thing is that you never really know what's going on behinds the scenes: Sales Reps are still saying great things and trying to sell you stuff. The booth at the trade show is huge. The marketing people keep coming up with awsome promotional plans. Your last call to a principal at the company was so positive, you had a huge smile on your face when you got off the phone and then . . . . poooph!! The balloon suddenly burst!

I hope that Cannondale can get it back together. They are key players in the market.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog