I have to be honest and say that I think that Cannondales are very overpriced and not worth the money IMHO. I have heard nightmare stories about the products. People call them crack-n-dales.
I hear the lefty fork is quite good(titanium), but I cannot vouch for it as I have never ridden one. I think I'l stick to my Manitou Black (Soon to be a Manitou Black Elite 100/120). I really do love their Reverse Arch design. It makes em real stiff.
I think it is almost time to start a new thread 'Post a pic of your bike" would love to see ppls bikes and hear what they ride (ie XC, Downhill, Road etc)
I had some Onza bar ends on my Cannodale. I removed them when it became the street/commute bike.
Working in a bike shop I've seen the cracked cannondale. Maybe I'm old skool but I think 99% of the people riding would be well served with a good chrome-moly frame. I have a chrome-moly road bike and it feels great to ride.
<strong>...that bike looks either gimmicky as hell or damn expensive.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Gimmicky? No. Expensive? Yea, kind of.
We're one of the sponsors of these guys and I can personally vouch for the 'people' behind this bike. Total and unapologetic bike-geeks. There is no way they would put out anything not top-notch. The company just celebrated their 20th birthday, and their bike was in Wired's 'geek-list gifts' a couple of months ago.
The thing about the slingshot though is that ... sure the downtube is in tension and can be replaced by a wire but ... what about the frame flex? Also is it so important to replace the downtube?
I don't think they're replacing the downtube just because they can, there's a spring at the upper end of the cable that absorbs and then releases energy as forward motion. I don't honestly know how or why it works, but I'm told by the riders that it does.
<strong>Fellowship, that bike looks either gimmicky as hell or damn expensive. Any reviews on that thing?</strong><hr></blockquote>
The Slingshot is a very very old design because I remember seeing them in very old '80s issues of bike mags. It's not a gimmick, but it probably doesn't compare any of the more recent stuff bike manufacturers have come up with.
I read more of that slingshot page and it's coming off like bullshit to me. Every bump becomes a push? No way. You can't hit something that makes you lose forward momentum and get more in the end. Maybe less of a lose but that's about. And all that nonsense about storing energy for the dead part of the stroke.
The flex I'm talking about is side to side. I think if you were to get zabel on one he's rip it apart. A stiff light frame is one reason why people went to aluminum and then to carbon. Why go backwards?
Most motorcycle manufacturers have found that it's much easier to make a stiff and light 2 sided swingarm than a sexy SS swinger. That's probably true of forks aswell, as good as can be, that SS fork will still have loads going through it slightly off center, trying to tweak the axle.
I thought on a motorcycle the mono-fork was supposed to get rid of some wierd wobble or something you can get in a bi-fork. Something that's not an issue on a bicycle.
I think Honda wanted it first to endurance race their 4 stroke V4's -- for fast rear end changes. Ducati used one too, but race-bikes started popping up with double sided arms. I'm sure you could shape the arm to meet the hub right at the center plane and eliminate any funny twist on the the tire, but you'll end up making a heavier arm than just bracing the hub on both sides.
My favorite bike of all time had to be the Trek Y Five-0- the one the with custom Hawaiian paint job... lol that was great. I've been out of the bike loop for the last couple of years. What ever happened to bar ends by the way?
Actually not. Could probably sell the picture here and get two of Hassans bikes for the money.
BTW: Saw it in real life yesterday (I actually think the name of the bike is Copenhagen ). I don´t like Aluminium frames at all but this was one of the cleanest I had ever seen. But the rear fork (is it called that?) looked kind of strange because of the power transfer system. I like the transparency of normal gear systems.
One of my friends has a bike that has the same power transfer system and she likes it (but it has some strange gears that keeps you candence around 60 rpm. I would hate that even if it could be adjusted and was on a city bike.
Comments
I hear the lefty fork is quite good(titanium), but I cannot vouch for it as I have never ridden one. I think I'l stick to my Manitou Black (Soon to be a Manitou Black Elite 100/120). I really do love their Reverse Arch design. It makes em real stiff.
I think it is almost time to start a new thread 'Post a pic of your bike" would love to see ppls bikes and hear what they ride (ie XC, Downhill, Road etc)
Notice the lack of a bottom diag bar?
They use a cable. The Bike grabs the ground and you do not lose energy while giving great effort.
<a href="http://www.slingshotbikes.com/index.cfm" target="_blank">http://www.slingshotbikes.com/index.cfm</a>
Ohh and did I mention,,,, <a href="http://www.slingshotbikes.com/service_center/folding_bike.cfm" target="_blank">It Folds</a>
My Slingshot is really a great mountain bike.
Fellowship
[ 01-01-2003: Message edited by: FellowshipChurch iBook ]</p>
Working in a bike shop I've seen the cracked cannondale. Maybe I'm old skool but I think 99% of the people riding would be well served with a good chrome-moly frame. I have a chrome-moly road bike and it feels great to ride.
<strong>...that bike looks either gimmicky as hell or damn expensive.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Gimmicky? No. Expensive? Yea, kind of.
We're one of the sponsors of these guys and I can personally vouch for the 'people' behind this bike. Total and unapologetic bike-geeks. There is no way they would put out anything not top-notch. The company just celebrated their 20th birthday, and their bike was in Wired's 'geek-list gifts' a couple of months ago.
Administrative positions to anyone who buys me one.
or
Naked pictures of Mulattabianca for iPod....
<strong>Fellowship, that bike looks either gimmicky as hell or damn expensive. Any reviews on that thing?</strong><hr></blockquote>
The Slingshot is a very very old design because I remember seeing them in very old '80s issues of bike mags. It's not a gimmick, but it probably doesn't compare any of the more recent stuff bike manufacturers have come up with.
[ 01-01-2003: Message edited by: Eugene ]</p>
The flex I'm talking about is side to side. I think if you were to get zabel on one he's rip it apart. A stiff light frame is one reason why people went to aluminum and then to carbon. Why go backwards?
<strong>I like the 2003 Trek line- the Liquid and Fuel series. Hmm... Segway or Liquid... Segway or Liquid...</strong><hr></blockquote>
Liquid rock!!!!! Treks are great bikes IMHO! Love the 9.8.
[ 01-02-2003: Message edited by: ShawnPatrickJoyce ]</p>
<strong>Admin position for bike
or
Naked pictures of Mulattabianca for iPod....
Actually not. Could probably sell the picture here and get two of Hassans bikes for the money.
BTW: Saw it in real life yesterday (I actually think the name of the bike is Copenhagen
One of my friends has a bike that has the same power transfer system and she likes it (but it has some strange gears that keeps you candence around 60 rpm. I would hate that even if it could be adjusted and was on a city bike.