Cannondale History

[kjop]

yah... no... i don't buy a book for 200€^^ to me it's not worth it. to me it's just a hyped product. coz it's sooo rare and not officially for sale... great story! ^^ nobody except the producer knows how many of these books were produced... and producing books isn't that expensive, to call later such a high price. but that's the capitalism... create a hype or bring fear to them and sell a product high priced

and hey... people buying roadbikes for 10k € and selling them 3 months later for half of the price... coz riding the bike isn't the right hobby to them. so you can sell them everything with the right story^^

but i don't want to play that game. when i get the chance to skim it oneday... i'd do... and if not, then not.

for 200€ i'd rather buy bike parts to ride a bike better

and... you can't skim this one... it's sealed. if you remove the foil, it's losing it's value^^

 

[letsbike]

In 2021 a book came out named "The Cannondale Archives"
It is a very limited edition about the history from '71 to '21 and not available for the public.
I have seen one being offered on ebay for like $900 and then some.
In the Netherlands they have one for viewing at the office of the The Racefietsblog.nl

The futuristic bike is the V4000 aka the Alex Pong bike.
This bike was a design study and never reached production stage.
Here a link to a page about the Pong Bike.
You can also find this youtube video

​

Unrelated to this thread, I was looking at the Pong Bike (V4000) in the Cannondale catalog. I thought I might post a picture.

 

[JohnnyD]

Unrelated to this thread, I was looking at the Pong Bike (V4000) in the Cannondale catalog. I thought I might post a picture.

There is a video on Youtube that covers this bike. Pinkbike also has a another video the covers some of the other WILD prototypes Cannondale had.

 

[IdahoBrett]

One (I do) could wonder what prototypes could have been made in the years since if they had not tried to make a motorcycle....

 

[JohnnyD]

One (I do) could wonder what prototypes could have been made in the years since if they had not tried to make a motorcycle....

I often wonder that myself. I can't even begin to imagine how on earth they thought the could compete with like of Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha in motocross. A great design is one thing, but it takes VERY VERY deep pockets to beat those three .

 

[letsbike]

I have some BIG news. I found someone that worked for Cannondale in the Research and Development Department from 1985 to 1988. He has submitted his application to join our forum. Hopefully we can get some first hand information from him when he comes on board. I am really looking forward to hearing whatever he has to say, and also having someone to just be able to answer our questions without all the speculation. You may have seen his pictures in three years worth of catalogs (1991-1993). He and his wife, plus one friend, rode their Cannondales around the world.

 

[kjop]

I often wonder that myself. I can't even begin to imagine how on earth they thought the could compete with like of Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha in motocross. A great design is one thing, but it takes VERY VERY deep pockets to beat those three .

but maybe that were not 'their' thoughts. what is when cannondale did just build (cross)motorbikes as one conseqent next step, coming from building awesome mountainbikes. in the end, it's not far away from where they came from and what they did.

maybe it was not the plan to beat any other company. pretty capitalistic thinking. everyone is a fiend and you've to beat'em... to me it looks more like the guys behind cannondale just loved what they did. and those things can end up this way. bankrupt.

 

[Nico]

but maybe that were not 'their' thoughts. what is when cannondale did just build (cross)motorbikes as one conseqent next step, coming from building awesome mountainbikes. in the end, it's not far away from where they came from and what they did.

maybe it was not the plan to beat any other company. pretty capitalistic thinking. everyone is a fiend and you've to beat'em... to me it looks more like the guys behind cannondale just loved what they did. and those things can end up this way. bankrupt.

Here is a nice video talking about the bankruptcy of Cannondale.

Nice to have someone on board from the early days and hear more about how the company operated.
Really interested to hear his few on things like the vision they had in the US, how they dealt with customer support, etc.

 

[Nico]

I often wonder that myself. I can't even begin to imagine how on earth they thought the could compete with like of Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha in motocross. A great design is one thing, but it takes VERY VERY deep pockets to beat those three .

I think the motorbike was born because some of the workers were riding this kind of motorbikes.
Word was that these people came up with the idea to design a bike that they could use themselves.

In general you put such an adventure in another entity so that if things go south it cannont take down the entire company,
Also, I don't get why they wanted to developed their own engine. Now they had to build a motorcycle as well as develop an engine.

Hindsight, build your own motorbike and use a third party engine.
If the bikes sells really well then you can start thinking about designing your own engine if you think you can make it a lot better than the competition.

 

[IdahoBrett]

That is fantastic news @letsbike ! Looking forward to reading!

 

[letsbike]

That is fantastic news @letsbike ! Looking forward to reading!

Yes, I am really looking forward to getting the low down on the factory specialty bikes they were able to get for their global trek. The two used by my friend are still in his possession. The third was stolen.

 

[letsbike]

Very interesting article from Bicycling Magazine about how the Cannondale aluminum bicycle came to be, and why they chose to make a touring model first.

 

[roddesu]

Currently one available in English on Ebay, in the U.S., from a UK seller.

I got one last week from a book store in Connecticut. I have to find some time to do some scanning. The most surprising thing about the book is how cheaply bound it is, which makes scanning difficult without damaging it.

 

[black lightning 1987]

Thanks for the Bicycling article. I never noticed the steel thread inserts. Will have to check my 1984 frame. Anyone want to test standing on a bare frame at the dropouts for me?

 

[letsbike]

Thanks for the Bicycling article. I never noticed the steel thread inserts. Will have to check my 1984 frame. Anyone want to test standing on a bare frame at the dropouts for me?

This guy has you covered.

 

[black lightning 1987]

Thanks. I really appreciate you digging up all the old documents. I didn't remember that even though it is posted in the catalog/ads section.

 

[letsbike]

I got one last week from a book store in Connecticut. I have to find some time to do some scanning. The most surprising thing about the book is how cheaply bound it is, which makes scanning difficult without damaging it.

I would like to see a picture of the copyright page. Also is there a forward or preface that explains who published the book and why?

 

[roddesu]

I would like to see a picture of the copyright page. Also is there a forward or preface that explains who published the book and why?

I spent about an hour this morning trying to figure out how to do this. I used my phone to take pictures of the pages (the book it too big for my scanner).

There is no copyright page, but there is a bit of an explanation of what it is, but not why it was done. I'm assuming this guy did the book, but no idea if it was because he wanted to or if he was paid.

Link To Google Slides

You'll see this is far from perfect, but because a lot of the layouts are side-by-side pages, I kind of figured this was a decent solution. Let me know what you think, but if you have major criticisms, direct message me so I can tell you to do it yourself, with multiple expletives, privately.

 

[letsbike]

I spent about an hour this morning trying to figure out how to do this. I used my phone to take pictures of the pages (the book it too big for my scanner).

There is no copyright page, but there is a bit of an explanation of what it is, but not why it was done. I'm assuming this guy did the book, but no idea if it was because he wanted to or if he was paid.

Link To Google Slides

You'll see this is far from perfect, but because a lot of the layouts are side-by-side pages, I kind of figured this was a decent solution. Let me know what you think, but if you have major criticisms, direct message me so I can tell you to do it yourself, with multiple expletives, privately.

Beggars can't be choosers. Thanks.

 

[Nico]

The book was bonded in Belgium by Boekbinderij brepols