Submitted by
Eagle's Nest
a Weekend Warrior
from Barcelona, Spain
Date Reviewed: July 11, 2011
Strengths: Indestructible. Frame takes two bottle holders. Still looks "flashy" in its orangey/yellow suit.
Weaknesses: Original wheelset not very solid. Headshock has only little travel.
Bottom Line:
After more than 10,000 km mostly on dirt roads and single tracks, up and down hills and mountains still as happy as when I pushed it out of the store. The only thing I really miss is more rear suspension travel, perhaps with a stable pedalling platform.
Bike Setup: First ever FOX Talas 32 RLC and SHIMANO SLX disc brakes (front 180) mounted. Wheels are MAVIC Crossride, tyres SCHWALBE Fat Albert, whole transmission system (shifters, derailleurs, sprocket etc.) changed to XT.
Strengths: Frame, geometry, suspension, brand name and the price you get when you want to sell it used!Outstanding at all.
Weaknesses: None
Bottom Line:
This is the best bike on the market since the very beginning of mountainbiking. My bike is the Cannondale Super V700 comp. It is in the unique colour military green. I never have seenany more of these. It needs all the time gradeups. Then you will have fun with it a life long. That does not mean a bike life that means a mens life long. It is unbreakable. I have tried it. Drops of more than 4 meters are not a problem at all. Downhills in the roughest trails in Austria and Germany are a sunday morning grandmas car ride like. It never looses its grip. With the quake front suspension and the original fox rear suspension it will last forever. The XT components fit this bike perfectly. I broke once the LX bottom bracket which is nearly unbreakable so I changed it into XT. Nothing workes better. I have tried all kinds of other biked but none was that good. Stevend, Trek, Ghost or other asian bikes are ugly and mass products. The Cannondales are worth every single buck. There are just two brands, german brands, that are similar: MÜSING and VOTEC. The VOTEC ENDURO is a germanised Cannondale ;-)
Have fun with the best bikes worldwide CANNONDALE!
Similar Products Used: Cannondale F500, VOTEC ENDURO ltd. and MÜSING hadtails
Bike Setup: All got setup. Quake fork, xt overall, all coda parts got changed...and so on untill the bike got better than anything else.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Brian Lehfeldt
a Weekend Warrior
from Fort Collins, CO USA
Date Reviewed: January 14, 2008
Strengths: Frame Quality, Longevity
Weaknesses: Stock Rock Shox Quadra front fork
Bottom Line:
I have owned this bike since new (10 plus years). This bike was WAAY ahead of its time. Just this year I entered a XC race, Cyclocross race, and rode many different types of terrain on this bike! Carbon swingarm still in good shape (to the amazement of many!) Re-built headshock once, re-built Fox Vanilla rear shock, otherwise just upgraded components as needed. Still a relatively light weight, efficient bike even by todays standard.
Similar Products Used: Many other full suspension mountain bikes
Bike Setup: Upgraded front fork to Headshock Fatty D, Shimano LX V-brakes,SRAM attack shifters, LX rear derailleur, Mavic 717 rims with XT hubs, LX crankset, Thompson laid back seatpost
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Dean
a Weekend Warrior
from Broomfield, CO
Date Reviewed: July 2, 2007
Bottom Line:
I like the title of this box. Bottom line. I am a runner with a shin injury. Cant run, decided to bike. On vacation in OK I came accross this bike at a consignment used furniture place. It had flat tires and was leaning up in the back. The tag said $99.00. I walked away. The guy said "I will sell you that bike for $30.00. I offered him $25.00, he took it. I had no idea what this bike was until I got it home an looked it up on the net. Its a 700 super V. Its perfect, no rust, the chain is even clean. I love it. I just might become a biker!
Submitted by
Rocky Reed
a Weekend Warrior
from Englewood, Fl.
Date Reviewed: April 10, 2007
Strengths: Solid frame time tested tough. Excellent climber.Easy to handle in tight trails
Weaknesses: At the price I paid I don't thing there can be any weaknesses. Although I did need to put a new HeadShok on it Not the bikes fault the previous owner didn't care for it properly.
Bottom Line:
The bike is awesome I can recommend this bike to anyone. I got the deal of the century. The bike has never left me hanging . Its tough as nails.
Similar Products Used: Raliegh Ram 2.0 Trek 4300 giant
Bike Setup: Coda Cranks ,Candy SL Pedals. Stx RC derailer Coda handle bars Stx hubs Grip shift Fox active 80 rear suspension, fatty Headshok with lock out.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
jason schabert
a Weekend Warrior
from alameda, ca, USA
Date Reviewed: April 5, 2004
Strengths: damn durable, reliable and a ego booster getting all the turned heads when i first got it. LOVE the grip shifters. I've had this bike since 1997 and it still looks new since all i ever do is take it recreational riding around the dirt trails and occaisionally (not as much as i used to!) to the major trials in my area. the bike only has about 1200 miles total riding time on it.
Weaknesses: never could get quite used to the bouncing of the shocks since i was born and raised on stiff frames with no give at all. still, it's the ultra shiz and i definitely got what i paid for here. you have to understand that full suspension bikes act TOTALLY different than normal bikes, and after i tried to take a jump of of a curb and fell on my butt i realized that quickly LOL
Bottom Line:
when i test rode this bike i almost wet myself. cannondale makes the best bike in my opinion and no one other than maybe a trek rider or fisher can tell me different. yes i paid enough for this bike to have bought a nice used car but who cares, i wanted one of these bikes ever since cannondale came out with the first mono-shock design years ago, and i'm DAMN happy with it.
Similar Products Used: Muddy Fox Courier Comp...piece of crap compared to my Cannondale
Bike Setup: all stock. added CODA handlebar horns and a Trek speedometer that tells me the temp where i am. nice little thing
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Kris
a Downhiller
from Kelowna, B.C., Canada
Date Reviewed: August 24, 2001
Strengths: It makes you wanna go faster, so you go faster. It's stability and lack of any kind of flex show it's desire to be going as fast as it can! You WILL loose weight. :) "Dude you gotta go for the Hayes disc brakes." They will stop you on any ledge at any time you're ready. :)
Weaknesses: I've experienced a bit of growing pains. I was playing on a plank and fell off near the start of the ramp. I've paid for a rear and front wheel rebuild costing $85.71 for each successfully. I find the chain rattles against the frame a bit... Ok, a lot.
Bottom Line:
This is a premier product. Yes a bit pricey but in this town, but they all are. :) I find this product confidence building. The bike can take it. Get out and have some fun! If you don't like attention everytime you ride, the Lefty is not for you. Kumar Sichel complains of a 2+ inch front suspension above. It's 100mm by spec and I've used every millimitre. It's an amazing front suspension. Far better than my previous "2+ inch" suspension (60 cm).
Similar Products Used: Specialized FSR 2000. Giant ?? 1999 (ht) Diamond Back Assent EX 1991 (ht).
Bike Setup: Stock with two new Mavic D521 rims, and Hayes 6" disc brakes f/r.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Mark
a Cross Country Rider
from St. Louis, MO.
Date Reviewed: March 17, 2000
Strengths: Its a Cannondale...With that you get state-of-the-art technology, but you pay for it. The Super V frame is not exactly a URT design. URTs place the bottom bracket on the rear triangle, effectively locking out the suspension when you are standing on the pedals. This is great for an out of the sadle climb, but is less than good for out of the sadle descents. Kumar, give me a break! This bike rocks. It holds a line better than a UAW auto worker, has zero flex, and is bomb proof. I work in a shop and could get almost any bike. The Super V is the one I picked. I chose it over an FSR because they are a lot less sturdy for a 200 pound man. Guess what, in our shop alone we had 3 frame failures on the FSR's. Sux being them! No thanks, I'll take bomb-proof over multi-pivot designs. The Super V is a great design. Go out and buy one. You'll be glad you did.
Weaknesses: Okay, so its heavy...but you'll have so much fun riding the thing you'll loose 10 pounds in no time. It's a great bike.
Bottom Line:
The bike Rocks! Point it where you want it to go and it will take you there without any flex. That is the chief complaint about multi-pivot designs from most of the guys at the shop who have since dumped their FSR's for an Ellsworth Truth (at least 3 out of 5 of them). The Cannondale Super V is the bike for those people who want a bike that will last them for a number of years. Yet still, It'll cost ya.
Similar Products Used: FSR's, Trek Y bikes, Fisher Joshua's...No thanks I'll take the Cannondale!
Bike Setup: Mostly stock. Anything lower than STX-RC was upgraded to XT. I kept most of the CODA stuff, but will replace the cranks with Race Face.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Kumar Sichel
a weekend warrior
from Portland, OR
Date Reviewed: July 4, 1998
Bottom Line:
August of '97 I bought a Cannondale Super V 700 (Shimano STX-RC) and it was great (I thought). But I did not know much about bikes when I bought it, and I had a limited budget. I bought the bike for $1200, which I thought was an OK price for an STX-RC bike.But the bike could not stand up to the muddy Northwest weather we have here in Oregon. The cable system started to fail on me. The rear brake system was crap, and it's stopping power decreased by 65%. The shifting started delaying by 10 seconds and the rear derailleur would almost never shift into the lowest gear. I took it in for repair, but nothing could be done.Another problem was the suspension in the front and rear. Cannondale's Head Shok was not much of a shock with only 2+ inches of travel in the front. The rear was a Fox shock with 3 inches of travel, the shock itself was OK except damping was done by rotating the spring counter clock-wise (which was a pain in wet muddy conditions). What really sucked about the rear suspension was the design, a unified rear triangle (URT). This design sucks because the triangle moves in a curve up and down which is because of it's single pivot point.The last thing that I dislike is Cannondale's are OVERPRICED! I bought the Super V 700 for $1200 on sale (from $1300). I've sold that bike since and I bought a Specialized FSR Extreme for $1400 on sale (from $1500). The Specialized is an XT-LX bike and I bought it for only $100 dallors more than an STX-RC bike! I give the Cannondale 1 star, it's a crappy beginners full suspension bike and it sucks overall.
I have been looking around for quite a while (mostly local), and also doing a lot of research online and here, and I came across this bike while at Bike Milwaukee's shop...
[url Read More »
As a mountain biking beginner, I'm hunting for my first mountain bike.
I may want to do some CX and not much DH/FR... but I definitely want to bike off the road.
Should I get a Read More »
[url]http://cgi.ebay.com/Cannondale-Super-V-700-mountain-bike-Full-suspension_W0QQitemZ330345078485QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMountain_Bikes?hash=item4cea19ded5&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkpa Read More »
I'm looking for a new lighter fork for my Super V 700FR. The fork is failing and I'm looking for something that is lighter than what I currently have. I won't be upgrading everyt Read More »
I bought a used Super V 700 FR frame, and I was wondering if someone would have a suggestion for what fork I should put on it. It looks like the original had 100 mm travel. I'm a Read More »
