Temporary bike – just bought a Prophet

Just bought a Cannondale Prophet as atemporary stand in bike as my Pitch is in bits while I argue with the bearings about coming out and was wondering what folks experiences were of them? It looks to have a decent spec with Pikes and RP2 shock.

Never ridden a single pivot bike before and interested to see how it feels.

Great bikes, regret selling my Prophet MX.

Really good bike. Nice low BB. Plenty of folk on here run them so sure they will give you some good feedback. The single pivot is well sorted on it and the geo is spot on. I know a few people have regretted selling them on.

You bought a Prophet as a ‘temporary bike whilst you fix your Pitch’!?!?!?

But they are brilliant bikes. Everything about it seemed perfect for me. I miss my MX.

+1 does seem a tad overkill but fair play.
Can I respectfully suggest you put the shock in the FR setting, the better of the two IMHO.

Had my first one stolen (twice for those that remember) decided to replace with something different, but now have another prophet. Current one has a carbon lefty on it and makes me smile every time i ride it.

Agree with z1ppy I always ran mine in the FR setting.

Prophets are great bikes. FR setting is much better in my opinion. Use mine for everything from long day rides to DH days.

Yup, I’ve had my Prophet for a few years now. You can’t beat them for the money! Definitely use the FR setting for more smiles on the downs.

Sub 27lb prophet; it’s a bloody hooligan. A stand-in for your Pitch, lol.

Last week I used the wifes 16 inch Genesis Core and my 6 foot plus frame made it look like a monkey riding circus bike. And although I made it round Elterwater with a grin on my face I did ache from contorting myself on such a small bike.

I pondered buying a frame but its too much hassle to swap everything over and the Prophet frame that sold on ebay last night went for £235 and I bagged my complete bike for £482.

fleabay ad for Prophet

Gonna ride it in FR if that means the slacker of the two settings for the head angle.

Never ridden a single pivot bike before and interested to see how it feels.

Best suspension set up IMO

TBH I’d be throughly interested in Tomaso’s thoughts on both, after he had chance to throughly test it.
I like my single pivots.. I have 3 SP FS bikes, and though the one and only four bar system I rode was very very efficient, I don’t enjoy the ride compared to them.

EDIT: Flow thats pushing the point a tad far (depending on how you mean), you may prefer SP’s but suggesting that a system that relies on anti-bob shocks to stop major ineffiencies in the ride, can hardly be described as the best.

Flow thats pushing the point a tad far (depending on how you mean), you may prefer SP’s but suggesting that a system that relies on anti-bob shocks to stop major ineffiencies in the ride, can hardly be described as the best.

And none of the other designs do?

I said its the best set up in my opinion, taking all things into consideration.

I wish that I had brought a Prophet instead of buying a Pitch. I found the Pitch too long and slack for general riding.

Still want a prophet.

I don’t notice the Pitch being too slack, especially with adjustable forks that you can drop down for climbs. But perhaps if it wasn’t so slack I wouldn’t have to do this… It certainly is great downhill.

The Prophet may go on a diet as the Pitch seems to have become quite burly in its build.

I’ve been riding a Prophet for the last 2 1/2 years and I really can’t see me changing it unless it breaks or I win the lottery.
I love riding it.
I mostly ride it in the FR setting, it’s more confidence inspiring on the downs like this and still climbs well even with fixed length forks.
It came with a Fox Float shock with fixed pro-pedal, but I changed it for an RP23 this time last year, the ability to switch off the PP has transformed the way the bike handles rough, rocky, high speed descents.
Latest change was swapping the stock coil Pikes with some 2012 Revelation RL forks, this has dropped the weight of the bike by nearly two pounds and the new damper seems better than the old Motion Control on the Pikes.

Oh, and the main bearings haven’t been replaced yet and they are still OK.

I demo’d both, the Prophet felt much lighter and playfull, the pitch like a much bigger and more stable bike, took a fair bit of deciding which to get.

They are good bikes, it’s shame Cannondale stopped making them, why did it stopped?

I also ride Prophet, built slightly on the burly side with 140mm Devilles, 2*10 with bash/stinger and so on. Brilliant bike, but a bit flexy in the rear end when pushing hard. I would love to try the MX.
My frame is 6 years old and still the geometry is up to date, def one of Cannondales best and most future-proof designs.

Due to the funky falling rate, a custom tuned damper will make a huge difference, I run a Push Monarch RT/AM now and it is night and day from the stock RS Pearl.
Off the shelf dampers will probably not work well att all

Any one selling a prophet frame in large these sound great

I loved my Prophet2, it was the 2008 model, my first full suss, Pikes, Juicy 5s, Maxxis Ignitors, great spec for the dosh.

Rode it in the FR position, had lots of fun. Sold it to pay for my next bike, many happy memories 🙂

I have the same as you Prophet2. £1300 all in I think, including dual air Pikes, RP2, SRAM X7 shifters and rear mech, reasonable wheels, Gobi saddle. Replaced the stem and seatpost. Also swapped in adjustable Pikes for the non-adjustable ones. Ride it with the FR setting at all times, and forks usually wound down to about 125mm.

Just been a collected the “stand in” Prophet and its a minter. No marks or dents like my far newer Pitch 😳

First impressions are its lighter and hasn’t got dual ply downhill tyres so it even feels quite brisk.

First ride is over Jenkin Craig to Troutbeck and round about. Just pondering fitting beefier tyres…

Prophet as a stand in bike?

Well you couldn’t have done much better!

The Prophet is the one bike I really regret not owning. I’ve tried a couple and I loved them, every year the new models came out and I nearly bought one each year. Then they just stopped making them to make the RZ140! 🙁

Great bikes. You’ll probably end up keeping it I’ll bet!

I have a large black circa 2006 frame for sale if anyone is interested, listed in the classifieds today, still trying to ascertain as fair price.

Any guess at what size this one might be?

Are they very similar to a Orange 5?

No, one is cheap and the other over priced

Followed a similar route upgrading mine to Simon. We got our RP23s from Merlin for £150. In my opinion it has greatly improved the feel of the rear suspension. Much plusher yet controlled with the pro pedal off. It now has that bottomless travel feel.

With pro pedal on it rides like a hard tail with plenty of rear end grip.

I have changed the forks to Magura Thors, wheels to Mavic Crossmax STs, Hope Tech M4 brakes and a full XTR drivetrain.

Brilliant bike which I wish I had the time to ride more in suitable terrain. Set in the FR setting permanently now.

I can’t agree with this comment from above by Marran with regards to air shocks, coil yes –

“Off the shelf dampers will probably not work well at all”

The RP23 is off the shelf and as already said does a brilliant job.

Suffice to say it will not be sold anytime in the near future.

Just been for a wet splash up over Jenkyn Crag to Troutbeck roundabouts and back on the ‘stand in’ Prophet and it rode quite nicely. I need to drop the stem down as it has too many spacers underneath it and the saddle is too far back to make me feel at home on it before I can really give any constructive comparison with the Pitch.

The front is lifting on climbs due to the stem/saddle position. It feels lighter but that may just be down to the difference between single and dual ply tyres and a beefier build on the Pitch.

Any guess at what size this one might be?

That’s a medium for definite. Small’s have a flatter top tube, and Large’s a much steeper top tube.

Hi

I have a 2009 Cannondale Prophet and I think it is a fantastic bike

I have a coil shock, short stem, long bars, dual ply tyres and a double ring/bash set up on it. I run it in the FR setting. It climbs great and descends like a DH bike (so good that I sold my DH bike). Surprisingly, after 2.5 years of regular riding, the main pivot bearing is still as smooth as ever, with no play in it.

I am considering buying a set of coil u turn lyrics for it, has anyone any experience of this fork on this bike?

The axle to crown of the 160mm Lyrics is 544mm, the Pike (current fork) axle to crown is 518mm and Cannondale recommend a maximum axle to crown of 535mm. I was going to buy the Lyrics from TF and get them set to 150mm travel (if possible) to keep the axle to crown within cannondales recommended length

Thank You

If anyone’s in the market for a shock upgrade on their Prophet, I have a brand new Rock Shox Monarch for sale in the classifieds, it will give you 140mm travel on a Prophet.

link ….. http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/brand-new-rock-shox-monarch-42-rear-shock-200-x-57

STD Prophet shock’s are 200×50, though it’s reported that size will fit and work, it will be worth checking how close the rear tyre comes to the frame with it fitted, before just getting out and riding…

Not convinced that ebay add is legit

John – if you get u-turn coils you could run them at 150mm.

peak prowler 200x50mm gives 140mm travel

I’ve got the MX as an upgrade over an older (’05) Orange 5 and would say you can still feel the rear flex but more around the pivot than at the dropouts. The bolt through rear whilst secure is actually a pain and a Maxle is a better option.

The bolt through might show up limitations elsewhere perhaps too? It might be an indicator as to why the shock bushes seemed to wear quicker than expected.

Although they are similar I prefered the Orange as more of an everyday bike in terms of suspension action and just the way it all gelled together and felt balanced. Ok the ‘dale can be adjusted for BB height/head angle but I prefer not to clout pedals and nearly always have it in the steeper setting. In fact running the FR setting with Vanilla 36’s had me washing the front end out on a wet Crans Montana dh course.

Usually it runs the 130 Manitou Shermans I’ve had since the Orange was bought and they suit it well for trail riding and the DHX is adjustable for just about everything so very easy to have it not quite right too.

I think a decent coil shock with some progression/compression damping adjustment would probably improve things a bit but straight out of the box it’s a good bike. I don’t really hanker after much else by way of replacing it but if I did then it would more than likely be an Alpine 160.

STD Prophet shock’s are 200×50, though it’s reported that size will fit and work, it will be worth checking how close the rear tyre comes to the frame with it fitted, before just getting out and riding…

You could just whip the air can off and install a rubber bumper if it does cause a problem, but a 190×50 works fine on my rush (which is supposed to be 190×45).