[ddakin]

I've owned many Cannondales including three right now and all are fantastic.

Ryan - if you'd like to get a first-hand account of just how good "Crack'N'Fails" are, I would be happy to lend you one of mine for an 8x12 race this summer. I would put money on you improving your time

As for the carbon/Alu argument. I love carbon and I use it as much as possible, especially on my road bikes. But when it comes to mountain bikes, I would ONLY use it for racing. It's the same argument as using ALU bolts to lighten your bike. Sure they'll make your bike insanely light, but I also don't expect the same durability as steel. Same goes for carbon frames. Personally though, considering the Rush carbon is only 300 grams heavier than the rush aluminum, I'd rather make up that 300 grams in other more important places like wheels, tires, cranks etc.

LIGHT-STRONG-CHEAP
When it comes to bikes, pick two of the above! You can't have everything.

Dan

 

[the Inbred]

frame pictured is being taken care of, and the rider will back on a Team Replica by Friday.

 

[ddakin]

By Friday eh? Wow, that Cannondale customer service sure does suck.
I second an earlier post that said try getting that kind of service from Trek, Specialized or many others.

 

[Baltazar]

I don't know guys....I said it before and say it again: cannondale should stick with aluminum, period.
Every time they bond something it falls apart....( I know I'm over exaggerating )
Raven, First gen lefty carbon, that weird bonded jeckyll/super v swingarm, 2008 Scalpel chain stays, now the 2008 scalpel shock mount.......and I bet we'll see much more of this in the near future with the Rize & Moto.
Mark my words......

but at the same time, there have been very little reported problem with the "old" scalpel, six13 and system six thats al is fram that are frames with bounding

 

[cdalemaniac]

but at the same time, there have been very little reported problem with the "old" scalpel, six13 and system six thats al is fram that are frames with bounding

True, but the "old" scalpel also had extra "rivets" (or what ever you may call them) to secure the bonded parts.
Road frames don't count, since they don't really see the abuse like mtb's do.
Oh, I also forgot to mention the old super v swingarm that failed a lot as well and it was made out of:.........bingo! Carbon fiber!
Anyways, I agree with a lot of guys here and just think that a carbon fiber frame/part is ideal to shave off weight for racing but as a training bike or for daily abuse an alloy bike is more forgiving.....
If I had the money to afford a nice carbon fiber bike/frame and keep it inside and use it only for that race day or just buy the latest model every year I would probably do so.
But, since I'm on a budget and use one bike as the "do it all" I'll stick with alloy....

 

[Baltazar]

True, but the "old" scalpel also had extra "rivets" (or what ever you may call them) to secure the bonded parts.
Road frames don't count, since they don't really see the abuse like mtb's do.
Oh, I also forgot to mention the old super v swingarm that failed a lot as well and it was made out of:.........bingo! Carbon fiber!
Anyways, I agree with a lot of guys here and just think that a carbon fiber frame/part is ideal to shave off weight for racing but as a training bike or for daily abuse an alloy bike is more forgiving.....
If I had the money to afford a nice carbon fiber bike/frame and keep it inside and use it only for that race day or just buy the latest model every year I would probably do so.
But, since I'm on a budget and use one bike as the "do it all" I'll stick with alloy....

don´t forget the six13 scalpel yes i know, just the team that road that, but anyway

i´m not sure a aluminium frame will be stronger, why? becouse light aluminum frames nowdays are so thin that i personaly wouldn´t trust thm more then a frame in carbon

 

[prophet_1000]

gahhhh.......everything breaks, people! spend some time in a shop and talking to hundreds of consumers and you'll find that stuff happens! Every company sends out bad items here and there, everyone is forced into making a recall, and EVERYONE warrantees things! Also, in my experience, a warrantied item often was used or abused in situations that the consumer is either embarrassed or ignorant of. Move on, this horse is so beat to death the flies don't even want it!

So true!!

I work for BMW in the UK and even cars that haven't been out to the customer and are still being prepped suffer from problems! Cars/ Bikes and just about everything else apart from over engineered items are made to a price/ design limit. Every item in a car is designed to be as light weight yet still functional and be made at minimal cost and most often than not they get it wrong!

Well its the same with the bike world to, they have a price to work with (not just the final frame/ bike cost but the R+D costs) and also a time scale to get the project finished by plus the bike needs to be extremely lightweight and compliant in terms of performance/ ride quality.

They are all designed by Man/Woman and built by Man/woman so they will get it wrong BUT the most important thing is (as some have already pointed out) they will get it fixed and sorted, Why wouldn't they? its not in their interests not to.

My 2 pence (I mean 2 cents )

 

[sp3000]

I think the real issue here is that the new scalpel has had some teething problems, it's undeniable.
I really love this bike and will probably get one, however MONTHS ago in another post I said that I'd rather wait on a second generation bike just to be sure the bugs were ironed out! That's why I went the '07 even though I knew the new one was on the burner. The old Scalpel had tweaks throughout its life and I'm happy to be on the "best" of the tried and true.
That said though, it does take real world proving to make the small changes that make a great bike bullet proof, so you HAVE to have the pioneers that get on these new bikes asap and the companies that get them into the real world for real abuse! The only thing to be seen here is that when Cannondale get a product like this out they stand behind the new design and the riders that jump on board and if it is broke they fix it and as long they keep looking after the VERY few that suffer problems and look after them well I don't see the problem.
As far as I am concerned Cannondale can keep pushing the boundaries and if you're like me and will be happy on the tried and true bikes for now go that way, but if you want the latest and greatest at least you know that you are with a company that will look after you if something goes wrong! :thumbsup:

 

[cdalemaniac]

Yes, but I'd rather have the factory riders "pioneer" a new product, since they get paid the big bucks, even if they crash and knock out all of their teeth!
I know that cannondale stands behind their products, but a replacement frame is not enough if you end up paying big medical bills for a new face or whatever might be messed up after a crash...Using consumers as guinea pigs is just wrong!

 

[cdalemaniac]

Ooops...double post.....

 

[sp3000]

Yes, but I'd rather have the factory riders "pioneer" a new product, since they get paid the big bucks, even if they crash and knock out all of their teeth!
I know that cannondale stands behind their products, but a replacement frame is not enough if you end up paying big medical bills for a new face or whatever might be messed up after a crash...Using consumers as guinea pigs is just wrong!

You are totally right with that call and that's why I stuck with the "old" Scalpel!
I guess I'm just saying that in the Real World products that companies think they have tested thoroughly actually have problems they (hopefully) didn't come across even though they tried.

It's a shame but I think it's inevitable with new designs of anything! so unless we all want the exact same bikes as we've had for years these things will always pop up, hopefully not too often as testing is getting better and especially hopefully no one loses teeth over .

 

[apacherider]

Another frame broke again on Sunday in a race outside of Austin. Same place on the frame. I'll post a pic when I get a chance.

 

[the Inbred]

Before **** starts flying, let me just say that this frame belongs to the same guy that had the frame in the original post. Cannondale, again, is going to try and get the customer a new frame by the end of the week. The shop is taking a closer look at this frame.

 

[vitaccop]

very strange...

 

[Dan Gerous]

Before **** starts flying, let me just say that this frame belongs to the same guy that had the frame in the original post. Cannondale, again, is going to try and get the customer a new frame by the end of the week. The shop is taking a closer look at this frame.

Maybe they should take a closer look at the guy...

 

[Brad]

I'veowned about 5 Cannondales since I becamea Cannondale rider in 1999. I keep my bikes two years and often ther is overlap like when I owned a Scalpel a F3000Sl concurrently.
They are absolutely fantastic.
I've never brokne a frame and I mostly race Marathon events, 24 hrs and stage races. Never brokne a frame, never blown a Lefty or a Fatty either.
THe back up I received form the distributor is superb, bar none, SUPERB. I know of a few bikes that have broken in the new scalpel line the breaks are never consistent with one area.
Tgus far I knowof 4 bikes: 1 chain stay junction, 2 Seat stay into swing link junction (subject to recall) and one has had a drop out pull out of teh chainstay. All were gluieng issues.

Guess what? I've seen similar fialure on GAry Fisher, Trek, Lots of Specialized, giants, GT, Mongoose an the list goes on.

The Cannondale guys have have not argued about a single failure. The frames were replaced.

I've been running LEfty for 8 years Never had a bonding failure there.

Production isses happen. And they ahppen to any manufacturer

 

[eliflap]

agree , completly agree with Brad

 

[HAL 9000]

Maybe they should take a closer look at the guy...

I agree...

although i was not able to attend the race this weekend i heard about the frame breakage yesterday it seems that it's the same guy on the same frame jumping the bike again, something dosen't smell right about this.

I'm leaning more on rider error than defective bicycle

 

[NEPMTBA]

When does it STOP!

Were you injured?

Let's not wander off on other companies since the pic and problem is of a Cannondale product!

I feel for you having a race or ride DNFed due to catastrophic frame failure isn't cool, but Cdales Bat winged Carbon Swingarms broke a long time ago and they still haven't figured out what their carbon problems are!!!!!!!!!! That's over 10 years!!!!!!!!!! Let's not forget the Aluminum either!

Com'on now, you mean a company like C dale isn't doing testing and finding all these problems before they hit the customer? Are they and ignoring them letting the general public be the guinea pigs? What gives? Where's the Cdale support here on MTBR? Silence? Marzocci is here helping in the suspension areas! Craig Mendon is a great guy and he does lot's to help but this is at a manufacturers level!

They couldn't figure out fuel management with the motorcycles either, but ATK did!

Time to clean house!:thumbsup:

 

[Baltazar]

Were you injured?

Let's not wander off on other companies since the pic and problem is of a Cannondale product!

I feel for you having a race or ride DNFed due to catastrophic frame failure isn't cool, but Cdales Bat winged Carbon Swingarms broke a long time ago and they still haven't figured out what their carbon problems are!!!!!!!!!! That's over 10 years!!!!!!!!!! Let's not forget the Aluminum either!

Com'on now, you mean a company like C dale isn't doing testing and finding all these problems before they hit the customer? Are they and ignoring them letting the general public be the guinea pigs? What gives? Where's the Cdale support here on MTBR? Silence? Marzocci is here helping in the suspension areas! Craig Mendon is a great guy and he does lot's to help but this is at a manufacturers level!

They couldn't figure out fuel management with the motorcycles either, but ATK did!

Time to clean house!:thumbsup:

marzocchi maby isn´t the best example considering that it´s marzocchi USA (US dealer) that hangs here if i have understod it right, and not marzocchi there selves. and second, have they been here wery long?

and hey, every manifacture have there problem, don´t think specialized and others are better. and when the same guy brakes a second frame the exactly same way, and he is the only one who have made this kind of failure on the scalpel frame. then there is something that are strange.

and what i have heard, cannondale is one of the companies that makes most testing of the bike manifactures, both outside and in labs.

so stop talking bull****