Sea Otter - Cannondale and Chris Van Dine

44 Comments

Score Time

phobospwns (Apr 28, 2009 at 6:33)

looks like a bike that's 5 years old... nothing new has come out of cannondale for ages.

+ 11

nojzilla (Apr 28, 2009 at 8:58)

if something works,,,why change it

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sashamtbrider (Apr 28, 2009 at 8:47)

somebody can tell me more about that weird fork? because i'm watching without sound in school..........

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mickeydesadist2 (Apr 28, 2009 at 22:27)

What if they do innovate and bring out some great tech? I dislike the fact they are laying off. The bikes I have experienced must be the good ones since Ive seen Fs and Vs and my Prophet get put through hell and they stood up! C'dale better make up for this UnAmerican, UnCanadian move for us riders or we may just switch to Brooklyn Machine Works for Quality and Patriotism sake! The Price better be better too not just profiteering.

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slcrockymountainrider (Apr 28, 2009 at 6:19)

Just looks like a low/slack version of a Titus Moto-Lite or Jamis with a slightly different placement of the drop out pivot. Probably to get around paying Special-Ed for their FSR Patent.

jakeami (Apr 30, 2009 at 21:49)

Using a single pivot design won't violate any patents but the "slightly different placement" of the drop-out pivot changes how the suspension works drastically. Not saying one is better than the other but putting the pivot behind and above the drop-out like that makes for a totally different wheelpath.

jakeami (Apr 30, 2009 at 21:57)

i guess the pivot isn't behind, but it is above the dropout... which doesn't matter, if the pivot is on the seatstay it's a single pivot.

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blackdot (Apr 28, 2009 at 9:44)

the seatstay on that swingarm looks so long, the rearend just looks to flexy.

wishiwuzinwhslr (Apr 28, 2009 at 11:03)

Check the geo. Not long at all - 16.7" - typical (1/2" shorter than a Giant Reign)for a f/s with that travel. You think it looks flexy but it is crazy stiff. If you side load the cranks it is stiffer than a lot of hardtails.

jakeami (Apr 30, 2009 at 21:38)

stiffer than a lot of hardtails? c'mon now.. and he said seatstay not chainstay.

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jagarcia89 (Apr 28, 2009 at 10:13)

too bad we'll lose this innovation and worksmanship since Dorel is moving all production of Cannondales overseas. and no design or engineering is sacred over there.

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fullbug (Apr 28, 2009 at 6:32)

isnt Cdale shutting down US production & going overseas via another group? too bad..

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londonladliam (Apr 28, 2009 at 5:21)

I WANT ONE!

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londonladliam (Apr 29, 2009 at 6:59)

awsome helmet nice to see murray on there Smile

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balfa23 (Apr 28, 2009 at 9:40)

Chris Van Dine is f*cking awesome!

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reks (Apr 28, 2009 at 8:27)

Whoa - those bars are sweet! Finally, wider flat bars.

saturnine (Apr 28, 2009 at 8:47)

kore has had 800mm flat bars for quite some time.

reks (Apr 29, 2009 at 8:17)

Yeah, but as we all know, Kore sucks a$$ :-)

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llessurretneprac (Apr 28, 2009 at 5:57)

Looks great.

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iambike4lyf (Apr 28, 2009 at 9:37)

frame looks a bit odd but nice all da same

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usb-rider (Apr 28, 2009 at 1:13)

nice bikes

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woody-dh (Apr 28, 2009 at 23:28)

WOO GO CANNONDALE !

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coldsmoke420 Plus (Apr 28, 2009 at 7:36)

crackandfail

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mechagouki (Apr 28, 2009 at 5:38)

Cannondale - Crack'N'Fail

dbcg (Apr 28, 2009 at 5:50)

yea right dude, ive never heard anything bad about the Chase frame. I wish they made a framesize that fit me. That's about the only bad thing i can say about it.

candymuffin (Apr 28, 2009 at 6:10)

i have many a bad thing about the chase.....
not so much it's ride quality but it's build quality

dbcg (Apr 28, 2009 at 7:21)

really??? 1.5 headtube? beefy ass frame construction... I think anyone who rides a Chase and complains about it's quality either owns a defected frame or has no finess on a hardtail. My buddy Frank is a diesel ass dude and owns his own personal training gym... I doubt he'd ride any other hardtail than a Chase... his whole ride is all Diablous, AtomLab Pimp wheels, basically the strongest $hit that was out when he built his bike up... I know I'm rambling but basically, if you have any kind of style on a bike then u cant complain about the Chase frame... If you are a sketchy/balls-2-the-walls kind of rider than maybe you break a few frames but you can't complain if thats how you choose to ride

mechagouki (Apr 28, 2009 at 8:46)

Cannondale are by no means best known for their jump frames - try asking anyone who owned a Rush or Prophet with the mk.1 hotbox swingarm, or maybe a carbon Lefty from 2006-2007. Or go back a little further and find some of the people who lost the head-tubes off their Ravens. To be fair to Cann. the Scalpel and Taurine XC bikes are just amazing, but reliability wise i don't think they've really made a name for themselves.

nojzilla (Apr 28, 2009 at 8:55)

my 07 chase is f*cking amazing! i had REALY bad full speed crash couple of months ago,into the back of a landing of a 20ft set due to a last split second panic cos some kid on a bmx had nearly killed himself an was laying on the landing.smashed the peak of my helmet.after i got up an dusted myself down i inspected my bike expecting to find bent forks or a pretzled front wheel or a cracked head tube...NOTHING!! the bike took it i can personaly testify that cannondales are strong bikes,strong as any other
Ive seen enough broken bikes to know that these people that say crack'n'fail are probably just inexperienced riders

dbcg (Apr 28, 2009 at 9:03)

I still have nothing to say about the Chase frame or the Chase complete

dbcg (Apr 28, 2009 at 9:04)

*nothing BAD to say, that is

dbcg (Apr 28, 2009 at 9:06)

and nojzilla, I'd still be cautious riding a bike that ate a spill like that lol. Crashes like that can really weaken the bike's integrity... the damage may not be obvious

candymuffin (Apr 28, 2009 at 9:07)

i had a chase
i cracked a chase
i have called a chase a crack'n'fail once or twice?
do you think i am a unexperienced rider?

i love my judge, and i loved my gemini but i was really disappointed in my chase.

dbcg (Apr 28, 2009 at 9:09)

what did you do to crack it? did Cannondale not send u a new replacement?

dbcg (Apr 28, 2009 at 9:10)

and why do we automatically get positive props with every comment now???

candymuffin (Apr 28, 2009 at 9:16)

no idea what i did.
as i was pushing out for my first session of the holidays i just looked down and saw the crack on the chainstay.
they did send me a new one but it took poes long.
i brought a mob in the meanwhile.
best decision ever!
my mob is amazing.

dbcg (Apr 28, 2009 at 9:25)

well yea, Mobs are in a whole nother scategory so you cant really compare to a Chase.. But anyway, if Cannondale made a Chase for my bigass I'd push some serious street on that in a heartbeat... but hellyea man, if you're shredding a Mob, that's just a whole seperate sport lol

nojzilla (Apr 28, 2009 at 9:28)

dbcg thanx for the warning but,seriously,i gave the whole bike a thourogh strip an check,headtube steerer tube h,set cups,chain/seat stays strecth marks in the paint ect ect ect.ive worked in bike shops as a mech an been around metal fabrication my whole working life to know what to look for BUT!!!, i know one day my bike will go to the big trail park in the sky LOL its done a couple of hard seasons so i will probably retire it at the end of this year this is kinda what i meant by inexperienced riders,these young kids that ride the hell out of thier bikes an then get all pissy when they break.like i said i've seen enough broken bikes to know ALL bikes will one day shit the bed.ALL brands ALL meterials
"i just like,rode off a curb an the stay poped.can i have a refund " LOL
candy muffin sorry if i offended but,if you like your other dales then how can you say crack'n'fail cos you broke the chase? have you never seen any other brand break?,,, especialy jump bikes?

candymuffin (Apr 28, 2009 at 9:33)

i said i have called a CHASE a crack'n'fail...
gota look at the specifics man Wink

no offence taken.

my chase only lasted like 3/4 months befpore i cracked it.
been riding my mob longer and harder and not even a peep out of it.

oh, in this country, mob is cheaper than a chase if you go to the right places.
and i'm not quite sure if i'm "shredding" my mob.
i feel as if i need to step up to it some more.

dbcg (Apr 28, 2009 at 9:35)

wooord... an old friend of mine had an entry-level IronHorse Maverick XC full-sus bike he use to use for street/FR lol he bombed a BIG 8 stair on it and it bottomed out but he rode away from it w/o a scratch... then like a week later he rode off a 10" curb and his bike snapped in half LOL. I've had a lot of fragile bikes in the past but I just learned to adapt my riding so that they wouldn't fall apart on me in a few days. So, unless Cannondale is seriously producing horrible defected frames, I don't have anything bad to say about them. Just don't buy em if you don't like em

nojzilla (Apr 28, 2009 at 9:42)

i think when comes to jump/street bikes steel is the way to go for the reliability.i race 4X as well as dirt jump wich is why i went for the chase

dbcg (Apr 28, 2009 at 9:54)

idk, it really depends... steel can get heavy real quick and a lot of people think its TOO stiff... Evil and Duncon make some sick aluminum HTs... I'd love to have both aluminum AND steel frame bikes lol

SuperRoss (Apr 28, 2009 at 12:26)

I've had no issues with my cannondale XC frame (When I got the bike, I rode XC, now not so much) other than it being a bit long (my fault). I've cased many, many jumps (Nothing huge, but I'm not talking about 3 or 4 foot jumps, I'm talking thinks like 8 foot or larger tables or DJs).

Drop2Flat (Apr 28, 2009 at 16:26)

A major reason why cannondales are dubbed "crack and fails" are because they sand their welds, making them weaker and more susceptible to crack and break. This is where the majority of cannondale frames break.

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