Comments on: Update: Cannondale “Caffeine” 29″er

By: Kristopher Robbins

Kristopher Robbins — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 02:29:45 +0000

Just wanted to say I got an 07 Caffeine and love it. Minus replacing the brakes with hydraulic ones and fixing the recall with the fork, it is the best bike I have ever ridden. Cannondale hit a homerun in my books. As a consumer almost two years out from this announcement, good job Cannondale.

You appealed to a new customer who never cared for your product line until now.

Maybe it’s just the caffeine in me speaking. lol

By: Cloxxki

Cloxxki — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 05:32:34 +0000

Sorry fran, but both wheel are touching the ground. A 26″ rear wheel add more resistance than a 29″ front wheel can drop. There’s usually more weight on the rear, you see. See how efficient you “pedal” with an even smaller rear wheel and adjusted geometry…
Both wheels need to be pedaled regardless which one has a chain attached, and both wheels need to overcome rolling resistance from the weight pressing down on it.
The way laws of physics work, the effect of rolling resistance due to wheelsize is far greater than the added or reduced weight associated with that change. wheels are realtively tiny and light, but affect the whole 150-250lb rider+bike. This makes the biggest possible wheels the best/most efficient.
If you MUST have inequal wheels for some irrational reason, but still want it to make some sort of sense from a technical standpoint, you want a 26″ front and a 29″ rear. Starting out with a plain short travel 29″ bike, you can swap to a long travel 26″ front end.

By: fran

fran — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 04:03:20 +0000

29 front // 26 rear is the way to go
29 rolls and the 26 rear for efficient pedaling
they need to make a frame with the right geometry to do this right

By: Q Baller

Q Baller — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 04:49:25 +0000

My LBS was hyping it up but I couldn’t wait any longer so I am going rigid, single speed with Scott Quering’s Q Ball!

By: Swedge

Swedge — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 13:33:09 +0000

Being a former Jeckel and F-800 owner, I used to really like C dales, the problem with them is they seem to be very over priced for the components you get. Other then that I think they are pretty cool, It would be neat to see a lefty REAR shock!!! BTW I like SRAM, C-Dale needs to put XO GRIP shifters on this bike. some XT cranks, Sram front & rear deralers and it would rock. they could call this model the “expresso!!

By: rockhound

rockhound — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 05:15:21 +0000

Proprietary?

I have seen Lefty’s on traditional mtb frames…

A Headshock 29er would place the bars sky high (Crack-and-Fail 26ers already run stems flipped over, how much lower can a stem get?)

The only thing Cannondale has done right was going with 2×9 setups for a time…

By: sinnerspinner

sinnerspinner — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 04:18:49 +0000

So, I’ve been watching that BBQ-showdown deal on OLN, and I think I’m really starting to enjoy it. Any support here would be appreciated…

The “Caffeine” .. I first heard about this model via word-of-mouth (verbally) and miss-understood it to be “Calf-Fiend”, which I thought was quite clever and appropriate name for a singlespeed. Now I’m just a little dissappointed, twice. They definitely should have gone with the EBB. And as for the name.. there’s a Starbucks lawyer somewhere out there trying to figure out how to make a buck off that one…

By: bdee

bdee — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 16:12:27 +0000

Wow, my LBS carries yet another brand offering, or soon to be offering, a 29er (so far it’s Redline, Bianchi, Fisher, Raleigh, Salsa, Surly and now C Dale) - guess how many 29ers you’ll see in their huge shop?? Still working on them…… at least some of the guys there are putting pressure on the owners. The Cannondale should be cool, hope to see one around these parts (RI).

By: Monk3y Mike

Monk3y Mike — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:18:52 +0000

Hmmm….. this could start looking like my first BMX bike. Gooseneck knuckle pad and all!

: )

By: Cloxxki

Cloxxki — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 10:17:08 +0000

My vote would be for a flipped Mary handlebar. Brings height on almost the same level as 26″ + flat bar. Stem is still high though, some padding might be in order.