Submitted by
gsxr1
a Cross Country Rider
from Kildare Ireland
Date Reviewed: September 7, 2010
Strengths: The weight. Its impressive even by todays standard.
stiffness
Weaknesses: standard bits.
Bottom Line:
I got rid of all the standard bits.
Put a lefty on and binned the old 80mm fatty.
It climbs like a mountain goat. I love it. it looks different and is a quality bit of gear. turns very fast in the woods.
Next upgrade will be a XT shadow derailer.
Submitted by
Ben
a Cross Country Rider
from Bonney Lake, WA, USA
Date Reviewed: November 16, 2005
Strengths: This bike is an excellent climber, it's stiff light frame makes steering almost telepathic. Super fast
Weaknesses: I've had trouble with almost every component with the exception of the shimano drive train. The first item to fail me was the cruddy coda disk brakes, they left me hanging in the middle of several rides before i had them replaced with a set from Magura. Works flawlessly now. Then I blew the crank bearing shortly after, for reasons unknown. I wasn't dropping off cliffs or anything like that. Bent the Coda disk rims, had them replaced with Vueltas a little heavier but much more durable. And the nagging problem thats drving me crazy is the leaky head shok. I had it serviced,torn down and rebuilt several times and it always starts leaking air. I maintained this bike not anally but good enough. I made sure crud didn't get under the shok boot, i cleaned and lubed the stantion regularly.
Bottom Line:
Other than the crappy cannondale components the bike is great. perhaps this bike is not really suited for the real-mountain environment of the northwest. my freeride is quite up to the task, but then again the twin stanchion fork is built like a tank and the only coda parts are the handlebars, seat and crank. i love the frame, and i would like to replace all the components but coda specs makes this impossible and a new fork would cost almost as much as a new bike. So i hate to say that this is probably my last cannondale. I'll put road tires on it and hope nothing else breaks. Definitely not a bike for west of the Rocky Mountains. Maybe i'll reconsider if cannondale starts using standard head tube and crank dimensions so it's not held hostage to CODA.
Strengths: Super light, Great paint finish (nearly impossible to chip), Locking head shock, Great looking bike
Weaknesses: Can't think of any.
Bottom Line:
Awsome bike. Excellent on turns and downhils. I have the medium sized one (I'm 6'00", 180lb). The handling on the smaller frame is fantastic. It's a tough bike too. Gravity got the drop on me a few times, I got banged up, but the bike was fine, besides needing some new tubes and the rims trued. People notice the bike everywhere I go and give me the "nice bike".
Similar Products Used: Schwinn Moab and Moab 2 Cannondale F800 Specialized Rock Hopper
Bike Setup: Stock, Shimano XT derailleurs, Mythos XRC tires and rims, fatty-D fork and head shock.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Kristian Ristell
a Downhiller
from Melbourne Australia
Date Reviewed: February 22, 2000
Strengths: Frame Finish, very light, tackles trails easily, almost uncrashable.
Weaknesses: Standard rims are weak, tires have insufficiant tread to start with. CODA cranks were incompatible, CODA Disc-Brakes went off after 100km.
Bottom Line:
This is the best Bike I have ever owned, I find myself getting way more air than I thought I could, it`s just so light, I weigh about 75kg and I have bent rims, maybe Im just too hard on the poor thing, Disc-Brakes now pull up like a Formula 1 car, after new pads! The Headshock is cool, This bike turns heads in the city, on the rare occasion that it is there, Cannondale F900 99 is the McLaren of the bush.
Bike Setup: Stock, but now I have EBC RED disc brake pads in ..Much better.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Jeff Lee
a Cross-Country Rider
from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Date Reviewed: May 22, 1999
Strengths: Color Stiffness Weight Suspension Handling
Weaknesses: None yet
Bottom Line:
I agree with everything Travis said earlier. Im 61 and 178lbs and haven't felt any weakness in the frame or fork. Bike is very tuff, quick and the travel is very hyper active.
This is a great bike. I bought it leftover this year at a significant discount. I have ridden it HARD since I've owned it with no real problems other than the usual wear and tear. I don't know what everyone is talking about with regard to rider weight. I'm 6'6 and a solid 245 pounds and I haven't been able to break it yet. Trust me--I've tried. For the money I paid, I have absolutely no complaints.
Submitted by
riley
a Cross-Country Rider
from michigan
Date Reviewed: March 24, 1999
Strengths: precise steering great frt suspension beautiful workmanship light weight
Weaknesses: top tube slope
Bottom Line:
i love this bike! i just bought one of last years frames and built it up with xt components & mavic wheels. i must admit that this frame fits me technically (3 and change, maybe 3.5 standover), i'm just used to a taller frame at the seat cluster. this is not a unique feature to the cannondale, though. i never realized how much my old judy and sx-r flexed. i thought all of the talk of fork flex was a bunch of bunk until i rode this! this fork, i guess it would apply to all of cannondale's forks, is seriously stiff. switching between the (new) sx-r and this is amazing. i can feel that manitou flex and it bothers me. this frame is stout, but compared to the zaskar, it looks underbuilt. this bike truly accelerates faster than anything i've ever ridden. i think i'm hooked.
Similar Products Used: gt zaskar le trek 8000 giant atx 880
Bike Setup: caad3 frameset, fatty d fork
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Tim
a cross-country rider
from Boulder
Date Reviewed: February 5, 1999
Bottom Line:
Shouldn't there be a way to weed out the FAT ASS people who complain about breaking their frame? I own a 97 F500 (that now has full XT drivetrain, Mavic 517 rims, XT hubs, TIME pedals, etc) that has been to hell and back. Numerous crashes, including one 40mph humdinger in which the bike flew at least 40yds through the air, landing in a 10ft deep ditch, with myself landing after about 10yds, has not harmed the frame in the slightest. FAT PEOPLE DO NOT BELONG ON BIKES!!! Go buy yourself a BMX bike that weighs 35 lbs to support your FAT ASS, and stop dragging down the rewiews of perfectly fine AMERICAN MADE Cannondales
Submitted by
Skinny
a weekend warrior
from Small, DT
Date Reviewed: January 7, 1999
Bottom Line:
All those !@#$%^&* Fat people who break their bikes or bottom the shock out need to loose some weight before posting here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!CANNONDALES AND HEADSHOCK ARE PRETTY GOOD FOR THE PEOPLE WHO WEIGH IN THE APPROPRIATE RANGE.
Submitted by
Douglas Franz
a cross-country rider
from Misawa AB, Japan
Date Reviewed: January 5, 1999
Bottom Line:
My F900 is two years old now and I do not have any complaints. The DD60 is great and I use the lock-out feature on smooth uphills, on my trainer, and when I occasionally put on slicks for a fitness road ride. I am now replacing the drivetrain because it is wearing out but the frame still looks good. I still can't help but smile everytime I pull my bike out and go for a ride. CANNONDALE RULES!
Submitted by
Mike Chatzis
a cross-country rider
from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Date Reviewed: December 11, 1998
Bottom Line:
I,ve had my 98 F900 C'Dale for three months. The bike rules period. The headshock out preforms any other forks out there. It's very responsive and does not flex at all. The parts are great, the bikes lite, stiff and has a cool color.
Submitted by
Steven Thome
a cross-country rider
from vic
Date Reviewed: December 3, 1998
Bottom Line:
Cannondale f900 and kona pahoehoe rule the mountain bike kingdom.My cannondale is running fine it's never let me down and the code parts along with the headshok out perform all other brands
Submitted by
mike bayesa
a weekend warrior
from norfolk, va
Date Reviewed: October 30, 1998
Bottom Line:
My last bike a F500 was stolen and I got a awsome deal on a used F900. This bike plain rips, light, handles great and climbs like a rocky moutain big horn sheep. A definite great !!!!
I have a chance to buy a Cannondale F900 for $500. It's a 2001 model used, but looks to be in nice condition. There were a few upgrades done to it. This bike just seems incredibly Read More »
OK, So I changed from CODA disc calipers to XTR. The front was easy and only required 1.4mm of shims. the back looks like it will require about 7mm or more.Can this be right? Is th Read More »
hi together,
i own a F900sl from 2001. I bought this bike last year from am friend, and i love it. :)
the only thing is, that there is an Fatty Ultra on the bike, with just 6 Read More »
:thumbsup: I have a chance to buy a Cannondale F900 SL w/ CAAD 4 Disc brakes, FSA XC-300 Disc wheelset, SRAM X-9 Drive train, Truvative Firex crankset (Mega Exo BB), Hayes (FX) 7 C Read More »
Hello,
My name is Roger and I come from a small island called Saipan (they have xterra events here) I have recently picked up a used F900 SX from a Lawyer here. The bike is grea Read More »
