As an engineer, when I bought it, it was the highest technology available without going to boingy, spongy, make-shift or patchwork garage-shop rigging. The large frame, eye-candy, compact design was attractive. Although the brakes are not V-Brakes, the Avid brakes that came on it could break traction with little effort, even on the sandpaper traction of Moab - what more could you have? Airbrakes?

After some abuse during a full week of heavy riding at Moab, the front deraillieur started skipping and adjustments couldn't fix it. Could be worn bushings, can't find the fix so far. Avid brakes are light and powerful but with soooo many axis alignment options, is a bear to have 2 sets of wheels (off-road / on-road) unless you have the same rims. I bought an extra carbon wheel set with smooth tires for the road (to still get a good workout while riding with slower road bikers) but gave up after it took 30 min to adjust the brakes between the weel sets. Waste of $500. Balance a little tall and rearward for climbing - easy to wheelie on a steep climb but good for descent. Front shock has limited travel, but no biggy.

Great bike then, still is. Perhaps not for competitive downhillers who want mega-travel and willing to carry lots of weight. But great weight/feature, style/function, technology/cost ratios. Still better looking than most bikes out there.

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Super V700, Specialized, Trek, other full suspension.

Looks great, rides great

Wish the shifters were rapid fire, or a smoother grip shift like ESP 9.0. The brake levers (LV-78E) dont look/function that great either. The front stx-rc derailleur could be upgraded to XT

Love the split pea color - main reason for purchasing the bike. Could the down tube be any bigger?? takes 2 hands to wrap around it.. looks like a rugged SUV of bikes.. Very comfortable ride, and easy on the back (and eyes). Could do with a better front derailleur - stx-rc doesnt cut it.. the rear xt is smooth.. Front shock could do with a bit more travel, but you cant have everything you want ;-)
Gotta give it 5 flamin turds on value, since I got it for only $700 used lightly. 5 flamin pigeon droppings for overall rating too... since the stx-rc front derailleur can be replaced inexpensively.

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Bianchi Alante, Mongoose DX60, Schwinn Voyageur, Kawasaki mx, Pioneer

This Bike has never failed on me and continues to take my abusive riding

The components (good for one year) and headshock (NOT ENOUGH TRAVEL!)

Out of all the bikes I have tested this bike has the best technical single track performance for a fS bike. The front shock does not have enough travel! The frame has held up and has never failed. This bike fits all areas, downhill, X-country, freeride. I love this bike. If you have the means of getting one GET IT! you will not be disapointed. You might want to change components enventually to get a better system.

Similar Products Used:

Cannodale F-2000, Gary fisher sugar 1, Pro-flex 900, Gary fisher super calaber

After two years of extensive abuse the super v 900 held up pretty well.
Except for some minor frame imperfections it's definetly a
sight for sore eyes.

Alot of the parts on the original bike never made it past
the first season. For example the rear shock (Fox Air Vanilla) didn't meet my expectation. Another thing that wasn't up to par was the short travel Headshock DD60
it just didn't meet my standards on the steeper trails.
The drivetrain and the other parts are temporarily exceptable.......

This can be an exceptional ride but only with exceptional
components.

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I've also ridden a super V 700 carbon fully equipt and loved it.

The bike is a little heavy in the rear but what do you expect for a full susp. The bike handles great and rides smooooooooooth. To any one who is thinking of buying one, do it and disregard that ass Paul. 5 SMOKING BIG ONES PAUL!!!

None

Manufacturing DEFECTS

W A R N I N G , READ THIS BEFORE BUYING A CANNONDALE!!!!!! I have a Cannondale M900, it’s a couple of years old now but when bought it was one of their higher end frames. Recently I discovered a place in the frame tubing where the welder or someone at the factory had burnt a hole in the tubing & patched it with bondo. This was then painted over & you could not see it until the paint had chipped away much later. I contacted Cannondale & their field rep informed me that this is a common occurrence at Cannondale & in no way considered a defect. I’ve tried to talk to someone else in the company but keep getting the run-around. That hand-built American quality & attention to detail Cannondale advertises is BULLSHIT!! I WAS SOLD DEFECTIVE MERCHANDISE & THE COMPANY REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE THERE IS A PROBLEM.

Good frame and mostly good components

High stem, had to replace it with a flat one. I notice most people flip it.

Great bike. Handles very well on singletrack and through the woods. With the high stem, it was scary going up some hills. The straight one helps. Very nice hanlding downhill. Disapointed that Cannondale snuck in cheap break handles and STX-RC parts, as I would have gladly paid a little more for better parts and now am stuck replacing them. I would have purchased an upper level bike, but most shops don't have them or have the rapid fire version. Also, the Coda 900 seat was ok, but I've just replaced it.This was the first mountain bike I've purchased, and its got me through 1 1/2 years of great riding.

Similar Products Used:

Klein, Trek-Y

I just bought my first FS bike, a 1998 Cannondale Super V 900 that I bought on clearout for $1300 Cdn. First thing I did was get rid of those crappy grift shift and switched to LX rapid fires. Because of the good deal that I got, and the beautiful ride, I'm gonna give 5 smokin Chilies...