1998 CAAD 4 frame.. but not sure about that

[Brabaia]

Hi to all!

My name is Nick and I'm sendig this message from Italy

I bought an old aluminium MTB Cannondale in Volvo colors (CAAD4), thanks to this website I been able to find some info. This website is amazing!

According to the serial number is a 1998 frame, but I don't fully undestand the frame
I mean I had a look to 1998,1999 and 2000 catalogs to find more specs but something is not clear; all MTB frames on the catalogs have both disk and V-Brake mounts, mine only disk mount on the Fatty and on the seatstay( see pics attached)

Also the bike has CODA components, which seems to be Cannondale components, are the brakes tricky to fix? as I read they are not good but for a nice restoration they should be mandatory

And what about Fatty headfork? I found a code on the right part but still not info about that...

Grazie to everybody!

 

[black lightning 1987]

From what I can see, it does look like a 1999 frame but the 1999 frames in the catalog had both disc and canti mounts - as you mentioned. There were disc specific frames in 2000 but the forks were Fatty DL. My guess is that your frame is a transitional example that was sold as a 1999 model but didn't appear in the catalog. 1999 catalog would have gone to the printer sometime mid 1998. My guess is that someone made the decision to eliminate the rim brake mounts from the disc frames shortly after production started.

 

[Brabaia]

Thx for the answer!

I guess u are right, according to the mark on the BB the frame has been made in july 1998 so probably after catalogs have gone
As I understood CAAD 4 frames are from 1999 Cannondale range so this frame has been sold as 1999 model

Also another point about your "transition" theory, the frame has cable guides on the top tube for canti brakes, but no cable giude for disk mount in the whole frame (t-tube, left seatstay but also Fatty fork), which let me suppose in Cannondale mixed front triangles for canti brakes and rear triangle for disk (to be precise in "half way" 'cause there is no guide for fix the hydraulic brake as well as no holes for V-brake pivots)

Well what I've got is an abnormal frame ahahahah
Now I have to understand if this frame from an historical point of view is a good thing or not...

Cheers and happy new year!

 

[black lightning 1987]

It would be interesting to find a disc bike built a month or two later and see if they addressed the guides for disc cables/hoses. They had changed the disc frame guide setup by the time the 2000 catalog was printed, running the hose through 3 guides on the underside of the top tube.

What have you read about the Coda disc brakes? I have no experience with them.

 

[Brabaia]

About Coda brakes I read they are not good about using them plus they are not reliable...

BTW they are so good looking
calipers remember Yamaha YZF-R1 brakes and master cylinder on the handlebar are CNC machined

but before to work on them I wanna understand the real value of the bike considering his "hybrid" value (I'll write a post in the proper section)

Thx again!

 

[Zachariah]

1999 was the oddball, "Disc/V" cusp year, that was only offered for one season. When Cannondale realized Disc was the future for MTB.... they went full disc, for Y2K.