# Cannondale (hand made in USA) refurb.



## woodbutchmaster (27 Nov 2021)

I would appreciate any views or advice with regard to getting this back on track . The bike is complete apart from tyres/tubes and hand grips , all of which are shot.





I have taken it apart to clean it up and thats as far as l have got.


----------



## dan_bo (27 Nov 2021)

Looks like a CAAD3 bad boy. Solid frame. Clean up nice that.


----------



## Cycleops (27 Nov 2021)

About fifteen or so years old and quite low spec but should make a nice bike. Mountain bike lite. I guess it was cheap? Assembled in the USA . Have fun with it.


----------



## woodbutchmaster (27 Nov 2021)

Cycleops said:


> About fifteen or so years old and quite low spec but should make a nice bike. Mountain bike lite. I guess it was cheap? Assembled in the USA . Have fun with it.


Very cheap , l was given it by a friend who didn't want it anymore


----------



## Venod (27 Nov 2021)

Cycleops said:


> Assembled in the USA



They made the frames in the US until 2010.


----------



## woodbutchmaster (27 Nov 2021)

Venod said:


> They made the frames in the US until 2010.


few more pics :


----------



## Grant Fondo (27 Nov 2021)

woodbutchmaster said:


> I would appreciate any views or advice with regard to getting this back on track . The bike is complete apart from tyres/tubes and hand grips , all of which are shot.
> View attachment 619606
> 
> I have taken it apart to clean it up and thats as far as l have got.


Not sure if its a Bad Boy or not? Those 'USA Made' frames are great though. I use this link to identify the old ones 
https://vintagecannondale.com/catalog/


----------



## woodbutchmaster (27 Nov 2021)

Grant Fondo said:


> Not sure if its a Bad Boy or not? Those 'USA Made' frames are great though. I use this link to identify the old ones
> https://vintagecannondale.com/catalog/


Many thanks for the link. Looks like will have an interesting afternoon browsing


----------



## DRM (27 Nov 2021)

That’s going to make a pretty good hybrid type bike, might cost a few quid to sort, but a heck of a lot cheaper than a brand new bike, plus the satisfaction of sorting it yourself too


----------



## woodbutchmaster (27 Nov 2021)

DRM said:


> That’s going to make a pretty good hybrid type bike, might cost a few quid to sort, but a heck of a lot cheaper than a brand new bike, plus the satisfaction of sorting it yourself too


It'll be my first hybrid , all my bikes are strictly road. That said, l am in sw. France and there are kilometres of forest tracks in the area so could be fun !


----------



## Drago (27 Nov 2021)

I didn't realise the robots that welded up that frame had hands?

Nice frame though, will you be treating it to a repait or powder coat?


----------



## woodbutchmaster (27 Nov 2021)

Drago said:


> I didn't realise the robots that welded up that frame had hands?
> 
> Nice frame though, will you be treating it to a repait or powder coat?


I quite like its care worn , been through the mill current appearance . 
l'm pretty sure that the welders came from a place not so far from planet earth


----------



## Blue Hills (27 Nov 2021)

I have an old dale US-made frame.
Now broken down (I may have been stupid enough to jam a BB in it and it had short-travel suspension on the front which was a maintenance issue.)

But it was/is a wondferful frame.

it's ally but the welding on it puts most modern ally frames to shame.
Even expensive ones.
Many are an abomination in my eyes.
Enjoy building that back up.


----------



## Cycleops (27 Nov 2021)

woodbutchmaster said:


> l'm pretty sure that the welders came from a place not so far from planet earth
> View attachment 619689


It wasn't the welders that came from another plant but the beings that applied the filler over the welds


----------



## Blue Hills (27 Nov 2021)

Cycleops said:


> It wasn't the welders that came from another plant but the beings that applied the filler over the welds


maybe, but the joints on the tubes of mine are superb.
Many modern ally frames remind me of hand-made artisan pie crusts.
I wouldn't be seen dead on them (and I'm not a lug fetishist - all my bikes are welded)


----------



## Drago (27 Nov 2021)

I could be wrong but I think the welds are built up and then machined/sanded back/finished somehow on these, so its a cosmetic finishing process rather than any reflection upon the standard of welding.


----------



## Blue Hills (27 Nov 2021)

Drago said:


> I could be wrong but I think the welds are built up and then machined/sanded back/finished somehow on these, so its a cosmetic finishing process rather than any reflection upon the standard of welding.


maybe, I have long thought that is what was probably going on but my old US-Dale welds have held up just fine under heavy use.
And your take is a condemnation of many contemporary bike makers.
ie - skip all the finishing processes - just chuck it out the door - the idiots will buy it - even if we put a premium price on it.
many modern ally welds put me in mind of those old WW2 soviet tanks - sod the finishing, it may well get shot up soon anyway, just throw it at the Nazis.

And that amount of care over the time-intensive finishing surely suggests that the welds underneath were done well?


----------



## bonzobanana (27 Nov 2021)

I thought the US made frames had a high tendency to fail hence the 'Crack'n'fail' joke name they got. However maybe that was more road bikes than mountain bikes. Cannondale had a reputation of building extremely lightweight and not particularly robust and enduring frames and of course many failed. Dare I say it but the Asian frames were much better or at least safer.

Did all the bikes have US made frames up until they closed the factory or did they use Asian frames for a while. I've got a cheap Muddyfox road bike that was made in the same factory as Cannondales. I think it was year 2012-2013 production and the factory is fuji-ta. My box had fuji-ta on it and at the time fuji-ta clearly stated they were making Cannondale bikes, which models I don't know. Fairly sure it was the lower end road bikes and perhaps most mountain bikes but don't know if it was the high end Cannondale road bikes as well.

Cannondale may have a reputation for innovation and were the last big US bike brand to stop US frame production but today they are just another brand of Dorel buying their bikes from factories in Asia. I think the Cannondale research and development centre was closed down by Dorel a few years ago.


----------



## woodbutchmaster (28 Nov 2021)

Just like to thank everyone for commenting , l've learned a lot about the bike. As far as making the effort to do it up is concerned , l think it is worth it. After all it has survived at least ten years and there are no cracks or other signs of weakness so l will give it a go. Since l am more of a vintage road bike enthusiast l will probably end up donating it to Emmaüs anyway


----------



## DRM (28 Nov 2021)

bonzobanana said:


> I thought the US made frames had a high tendency to fail hence the 'Crack'n'fail' joke name they got. However maybe that was more road bikes than mountain bikes. Cannondale had a reputation of building extremely lightweight and not particularly robust and enduring frames and of course many failed. Dare I say it but the Asian frames were much better or at least safer.
> 
> Did all the bikes have US made frames up until they closed the factory or did they use Asian frames for a while. I've got a cheap Muddyfox road bike that was made in the same factory as Cannondales. I think it was year 2012-2013 production and the factory is fuji-ta. My box had fuji-ta on it and at the time fuji-ta clearly stated they were making Cannondale bikes, which models I don't know. Fairly sure it was the lower end road bikes and perhaps most mountain bikes but don't know if it was the high end Cannondale road bikes as well.
> 
> Cannondale may have a reputation for innovation and were the last big US bike brand to stop US frame production but today they are just another brand of Dorel buying their bikes from factories in Asia. I think the Cannondale research and development centre was closed down by Dorel a few years ago.


I've got a 2012 Cannondale SL3 MTB, and that's been a really good bike, no issues with a mix of SRAM groupset and Tektro hydraulic brakes, another end of season bargain


----------

