Mountain Biking - What's up at Cannondale?

I sent my fork back for an overhaul almost 3 months ago, and it's still not back yet. This is my first experience with dealing directly with Cannondale, and this is starting to get a little silly. I'm tempted to go down to my LBS and tell them to just keep the fork because it's been away so long. I've thought about just buying a new fork and giving them their crap loaner fork back. What should I do? This is rediculous. I've been riding my hardtail with some junky loaner fork and quite frankly it's just not as much fun to ride without a nice smooth fork on it. This piece of junk is worthless! I guess I really don't have too many options other than to wait. This sucks! It's a beautiful day though.. so I think I'll go out for a ride anyway.


:)

As a seven year Cannondale owner. IMO Cannondale sucks big time. I'll never buy another. I'm not trying to setoff other Cannondale owners. If you like your bikes, great. I don't.

I hate the service problems.

I hate the difficulty finding/buying certain parts.

And more.

I love my bike, and I love my fork. Their repair department is just sucking bigtime.

Which bike is it?

Could I interest you in a lefty fork? Or a fatty 70mm? I have both here needing a bike.

Any wonder why we call them Crack-n-fail now?

Actually, yeah. I've never broken one, nor have I ever even MET anyone who's broken one. Their turnaround time might suck, but that doesn't mean their bikes do.

Not suprised about this at all, it will be easier, to just get a different fork.

Perhaps, but repairing the fork was 100 bucks, and buying a new one will be considerably more than that.

Call Cannondale yourself. Tell them you are unsatisfied customer. They might surprise you.

dont you have a jekyll? why dont you ride that or swap forks to the hardtail?

Jim, I have a 70mm Fatty Ultra (Black with chrome/silver decals-disc specific) that came on my Jekyll that I am willing to part with. If your interested let me know. There is a picture on page 8 of the "post your rigs" thread.
Scott

Yeah, I've got a Jekyll too. But when I want to ride my hardtail... I want to ride it. :D


And jekyllrider... how much are you willing to part with that fork for? Is it in good condition?

Jim, you need to call the shop or Cannondale directly. Their turnaround on a fork rebuild is 10 days (2 weeks) MAX!

If it's been as long as you stated, there is a problem. It may be they have simply lost your paperwork, or the damage is more significant and need your authorization to proceed.

I'd call the shop first, find out what they have to say. Get the RA # from them and then call Cannondale.

When I sent back my wife's fork, I had it back in just over 2 weeks (shipping delay!).

L8R

Alright, here's the uptdate. Apparently my fork was lost at some point through the woodwork, and the owner at my LBS paid for the fork repairs and assumed that the forks were in the hands of his customers. Me and 2 other people have been waiting for literally months. I spoke with the owner who appologized (although didn't offer any compensation, nor any communication with me whatsoever during this time period) and said that my fork would be in on Friday. So at least I'll have my fork back, albeit 3 months or so later.



I almost might add that I hate my LBS, and this is the kind of thing that discourages people from ever dealing with local shops in the first place. It's no small wonder that I purchase everything I can from online retailers.

A really good shop won't have those things happen.

It's the only Cannondale dealer in town, so I didn't have any choice. I hate our local shops. They're either super low end and only offer crappy bikes marketed at students who just need cheap transportation, or they're majorly high end and only offer insanely expensive equipment at super high markup. They act like complete jerks if you come into the shop with anything but something you bought from them, and god forbid you ever go into the shop asking for them to at least try and come somewhere near the price of an item you found on the internet.

Super-high markup in a bike shop? Ha! Mail order places distort what items "should" cost by selling many items around or below dealer cost. This makes price matching or even approaching their pricing a losing proposition.
Shop guys resent people bringing in mail-order stuff because those places are playing by different rules than us and are doing a fine job of helping to put shops out of business-245 (or so) went under this year. While that purchase is money out of their pocket, they shouldn't display an attitude towards you.
It stinks that your LBS are lousy (as this turns people away from the LBS in the long-term and makes the rest of us look bad), but I think you need to consider the financial aspect from the shop's perspective as well. They are just trying to make a living-no one gets rich in this business.

Super-high markup in a bike shop? Ha! Mail order places distort what items "should" cost by selling many items around or below dealer cost. This makes price matching or even approaching their pricing a losing proposition.
Shop guys resent people bringing in mail-order stuff because those places are playing by different rules than us and are doing a fine job of helping to put shops out of business-245 (or so) went under this year. While that purchase is money out of their pocket, they shouldn't display an attitude towards you.
It stinks that your LBS are lousy (as this turns people away from the LBS in the long-term and makes the rest of us look bad), but I think you need to consider the financial aspect from the shop's perspective as well. They are just trying to make a living-no one gets rich in this business.


I empathize for all the good LBS stores that have to compete with mail-order companies who have much lower costs and overhead. But mail-order companies aren't evil (I've bought pads through mail-order but never a bike). Afterall, they're just trying to make a living too.

I find many bike stores are adapting by offering other services such as workshops, forming local bike clubs, sponsoring community events, etc.

As for discounts, of course it would be nice to get a deal everytime. But then it's the store owner's perogative to give a discount or not, and my perogative to buy retail or not. I once bought a bike at full price rather late in the season, a helmet at full price, and the top of the line Kryptonite lock at full price all at once and the LBS didn't even offer me a discount. But hey, no one held a gun to my head to buy it.

Conversely, my last bike was a fantastic deal. I didn't even have to ask for a discount. They just offered it when they saw I was 50/50 about buying it. It was late in the season though.

From an LBS point of view, what is the best approach to ask for a price break without totally insulting the LBS?

Glad to see you found your fork. If you are interested in a spare in the future, email me and I will send some pictures and we can talk.

Crap!! I just bought a cannondale!! I should have looked at this before I bought it...oh well,its nicer than anything I have ever had before (wal-mart $75 special.)

It turns out it was just a communication problem between the shop and Cannondale. The shop didn't follow up on the repairs. So I got my bike back today, and only paid 25 bucks instead of 100 for the repair. I only had to pay labor, which was really cool.

Crap!! I just bought a cannondale!! I should have looked at this before I bought it...oh well,its nicer than anything I have ever had before (wal-mart $75 special.)

I just bought my 11th Cannondale bicycle yesterday so don't worry. Cdale bikes biz is in good shape and running strong.

Yeah, they're just restructuring things. They had some BAD leadership and made some horrible financial decisions (*Cough* motorcross division *cough*) that hurt them pretty bad. But with any luck they'll be back to their former glory in no time.

I hear you Jim. You don't wake up one day and say, "well I think we will start building motorcycles and compete with Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, etc...."


It ain't gonna happen friends. The market is dominated already. Cannondale bike division kept the company alive during these past few years and now they can concentrate on doing bikes again without any distractions.

Personally, I think the MX division could have been profitable, but their approach was all wrong. Instead of jumping in, with both feet and trying to come out with an entirely new design. They should have started making accessories. Until they got a decent enough reputation, then slowly progress into coming out with a new bike. BTW, their MX bikes were never highly regarded in the MX world, but their 4 wheelers rocked! They should have/could have pursued that market and done relatively well. However, it was too little too late with the BOMB of their MX bikes.

L8R

If I recall correctly one of their dirtbikes was relatively well liked during the first testing. And their ATVs were supposedly excellent. I think brand loyalty ultimately screwed them over. Nobody wanted to buy into a company that they werent sure of. Motorcycles and mountain bikes are akin, but totally different ballgames. Honda and the big companies had so much financial backing it wasn't even funny. It was a good idea, just poorly executed.

Any wonder why we call them Crack-n-fail now?

im going to revise this thread ..
People need to know ..

my story .
I searched and searched for a bike that fit perfectly and finally it was the 2007 Cannondale bad boy 700 disc series ..
the bike rides+ fits me perfectly .
list of problems ..
All of this started within the first 2 weeks of owning the bike .


Front fork damaged , dropout was cracked = cant get the wheel on or off normally ..
I forced out the wheel sent the fork to cannondale & 1½ months of waiting before i got my replacement fork , and it was a HASSLE with them .

Wheels ,loose spokes , the wheels werent even dished , trued properly . lead to me working on a brand new bike truing the wheels on 2 different occassions before they started to hold properly.

Rear hub failure,Shimano free hub body damaged from day 1 . replaced the part myself . no time to waste waiting on cannondale or the LBS, i need my commuter!

Cannondale Stock Stem, face plate cracked in 2 places in the center of the face plate .
temporary fix , borrowed the face plate from an old bontrager stem .

Wrong gear cable housing, they installed the wrong type of cable housing on the front and rear derailures. replaced them yesterday ..
through frame cable housing . in order to place them you have to take of the crank set and bottom bracket and use extreme caution to not loose the guides ( small plastic tubes) to replace the cable housing. what a terrible system . its a mess to get the bottom bracket back in once everything was replaced ..

i paid 10,000 SEK = about $1454.00 & it isnt even HAND MADE in AMERICA ..
its from taiwan.

with all of the above said the bike is very fun to ride and fits me . but with all of the trouble and crap components it is very over priced and i will never buy another bike from Cannondale.
Sorry to say Cannondale but i have had a taste and i dont like it .

maybe after i win the lottery ill try a Surly CrossCheck and or the Speedvagen.

Cheers Timothy

You can always go to Kona.

Or a Fisher