• This topic has 48 replies, 30 voices, and was last updated 14 years ago by Kuco.
Viewing 9 posts - 41 through 49 (of 49 total)
  • American made ‘dales are no more
  • bigyinn
    Free Member

    If you had multiple “indentical” frames, one each welded by man, 1 by machine, in either USA or Taiwan would you be actually able to tell the difference? I doubt it.

    So many of these arguements are really about “supposed” differences based upon a perceived difference at an emotional level, when in actual fact they really aren’t different at all.

    If you ask me its more about brand loyalties and nationalistic preferences than anything else.

    I bought a ’96 USA made Zaskar framset because it was what i wanted at the time. i.e. solid durable bike. I bought an ’04 enduro for simlar reasons. The fact that the GT was welded in USA and the Spesh was welded in Taiwan doesnt matter.

    Yes i’d prefer if it was welded and built in the UK, thus supporting the home economy, but the fact of the matter is if it was UK made then it would probably have pushed the price beyond my reach.

    Its all about economies of scale and thus reducing costs than any quality issues.

    Oh and older ‘dales did have their welds filed smooth before painting, mostly for aesthetics than anything else IIRC.

    glenh
    Free Member

    Cannondales standard of welding and subsequent grinding down of the welds has decrease substantially over the last few years anyway. You look at a 10year old frame compared to a modern one and the workmanship isnt even in the same league.

    As bigyinn mentions above, older C’dales did use a weld grinding technique to produce super smooth results.
    However, these days they use a two pass, puddle welding technique that provides better penetration and thus strength, while still giving a smooth finish without grinding.
    This is why newer ones don’t look quite as smooth an nice as old ones.

    thepodge
    Free Member

    Just simply saying if foreigners are of lower skill is far too simplistic an argument and is trying to imply anyone who dares question this is xenophobic in some way.

    sorry, wrong end of the stick.

    i dont think the comparisons of Ramsey Vs McD are correct, thats too much of a difference in scale. look at TVR, everyone loved them but they always broke, a ford escort is made on a production line and its (relatively) more reliable.

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    Dibbs
    Free Member

    My understanding of the crack-n-fail thing was the fact that if you did have a problem with a Cannodale frame, it had to be sent back to Amsterdam (or somewhere) for warranty, and it took ages, this got customers backs up and from what I understand, poor warranty service was the major reason why my LBS stopped selling Cannodale.

    crazy-legs
    Full Member

    American made ‘dales are no more

    Thank God for that, Cannondale finally realising what they should have done 10 years ago, moved production somewhere where they make decent reliable frames at a fraction of the price that they can in America!

    My understanding of the crack-n-fail thing was the fact that if you did have a problem with a Cannodale frame, it had to be sent back to Amsterdam (or somewhere) for warranty, and it took ages, this got customers backs up and from what I understand, poor warranty service was the major reason why my LBS stopped selling Cannodale.

    Cannondale europe is all run from one place in the Netherlands so all European Cannondales that broke (that’s a LOT of bikes!) had to be sent to one place for processing and it took forever. Cannondale had a bad few years with breakages and it coincided with the time they were using that God-awful in-house Coda shite which was utterly useless. That and the “Made in America” tag which meant the bikes were more expensive than Specialized/Trek/Giant etc on the shop floor hence poor sales figures, poor warranty/customer service so LBS’s don’t want to sell them anymore. It’s taken an age for the “crack n fail” tag to fade away and the company to try and rebuild their reputation.

    I’d still never buy one though…

    IWH
    Free Member

    We stopped selling them in ’98 because they tried to bend us over the shop counter with pre-orders to get decent stock levels. This was back when they were the 3rd most expensive bike on our shop floor and everyone else was offering us 90 days credit as a minimum (even on the new year lines) yet Cannondale wanted payment in full before the bikes were in store and if we wouldn’t give them a 150 bike pre-order they were going to restrict our stock access.

    We didn’t miss them from a warranty point of view.

    Funnily enough Marin tried the same thing the next year insisting we gave them a £50k pre-order (having only seen the brochure!). How we laughed.

    I thought it was the Raven that earned C’dale the Crack’n’Fail nickname…

    walleater
    Full Member

    I thought it was the Raven that earned C’dale the Crack’n’Fail nickname…

    I think it was the 3.0 frames with the 1″ head tubes. I remember head tubes lying around at races circa 1991….

    I think it’s great news that they’ve outsourced their building.

    MOJOK
    Free Member

    OK, American here to give you the scoop. It’s been a while since Cdale has been any kind of player in the MTBike scene. Many of us thought they spent way too much time drawing up really clever things, and not enough time asking if they were really good marketable ideas. The issue really is that another dedicated bicycle maker has wound up in the hands of business man who have no love of bicycles. When we heard they had been picked up by Doral ( Who had owned Schwinn) it was understood that, no matter what was said about preserving the nature and identity of the brand, the Cdale we all knew was finished. Not long before we see the Cdale name on toy bikes sold at big box department stores.

    Kuco
    Full Member

    I think it’s a shame they have gone that down route, It went tits up when they did that silly motorbike imo. While some of their concept bikes were truly **** up they also produced some good bikes. I love my Prophet MX it does everything from xc, all day rides and downhill. I’ve owned quite a few Cannondales and have enjoyed them all i’ve always regret selling my Gemini DH.

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