Bosock

Let me start off by saying this is not a trash Cannondale mountain bike thread. I purchased my daughter a cannondale femine 2 about a month ago. She is a beginning mountain biker but wanted the full suspension and liked the bike. She rides on trails that are intermediate in lvl with very small rock gardens, bit of climbing, no drop-offs and she does not jump. She liked the bike and it has motivated her to get to the mountain. Did she like it cuz of the fancy color scheme...dont know, had her ride at least three different bikes and she comeback to the C-dale everytime even with the lefty shock.

Now, since i purchased the bike, the front rim has warped in which they say it cannot be completely trued. LBS i bought it from says they do that sometimes and that it will not hurt her riding...only impact it might have is if she was racing. If it bothers her we would have to replace the rims ourselves (or pay them). In addition, the back tire seems to go flat alot and we took it in and there was a hole, but the rim would not accept a new tire and they ended up using some tool to crimp it so it would take a new tire without going flat. Also, the cabling goes right by the crank and the cables are always coming loose and affecting her pedaling. They put on plastic tags to hold the cables in place yesterday and we will see how that works today...even though it looks funny. The left shock also has an oil grime spot running down it after every ride...is this common with new lefty shocks or is this something else that needs to be checked. I have a year maintenance with purchase of the bike but they do not look at anything it seems unless you specifically point it out...the daughters back tire was flat when they fixed her warped front tire and didnt address it...then again we didnt notice either until we got it home.

Now, the price point of the bike was close to $2000 in 2008, we got it for like 1250 for being last years model, so decent price point and not a cheapy bike by any means. Now these are minor hinderances i know, but have santa cruz and two specialized without any problems (not even minor problems) and have had them longer. Is this common place with c-dales mountain bikes or did i get one built on a Friday afternoon. Any owners of C-dale mountain bike give me any feedback with their experience with c-dales. Should i worry about the dirt/oil spot on the shocks after each use...we wash practically after every ride or two and that oil/dirt spot always comes back. I will tell ya, even though i really havent had the bike long enough to properly assess, i personally do not ride the c-dale, and these problems are definitely fixable, I would go the route of a Specialized or Santa Cruz if i was to get another mountain just based on my recent experiences here. Anyone familiar with the 2008 C-Dale Femine 2 and recommend anything i should look out for or need to replace. Anyway, any input would be appreciated...thanks and good riding.

sirtigersalot

when you buy a bike from a brand the only thing you get from the actually brand is the frame and somtimes the fork (as with the lefty and some specialized) The front wheel is gonna be made by wtb or mavic or somthin like that, the tire is also not c'dale, I've got a rush my friend has a prophet and i used to have an f3, never had cable problems, If it was me i'd just zip tie it.

You can def bend rims it happens, if shes not jumpin ect prolly shouldn't happen, but somtimes you get unlucky and hit somthin just wrong. Or if you get a flat in oh for example a rock garden that can ding up a rim as there would be now air cushion between rim and rock (or log or w/e

Now the fork, that shouldn't be leaking oil, i'd definatley have that checked out

btw a c'dal fem 2 is not a model, is it a c'dale rush fem 2? or a prophet or a rize? i'm guessing rush cause of the cable routing

Cyclist30907654

The post above is true, but it sounds like you should get a new shop. What is this about the wheel can't get completely trued?

ca7erham

It seems to me that if the front wheel can still be ridden, it can probably be re-built.

sirtigersalot

you can kinda minorly taco a rim, or nock a section to one side or the other, and the wheel is still intact but you can't get it perfectly true, and truing it can throw off spoke tension, so they prolly trued it as best they could and made it ridable, but the messed up spoke tension will make it more prone to problems down the road. I'd ride it into the ground then have a new rim laced up

ed 

Flat spot.

bikinfool

Sounds like the shop isn't worth much. The issues aren't Cannondale's (or as we used to call 'em Crack'nfail) except for the fork, but it's not terribly unusual for a seal to weep either, but excessive weeping isn't a good sign on a new fork. Hard for wheels to get that whacked on their own, your daughter riding into curbs or something? Or the shop isn't very good with wheels. Are these tubeless tires? Hope you're not using a pressurized hose when you wash, either...

Could you post a pic of the shock showing the amount of weep you're getting?

Chris_F

My guess is that the oil spot is on the rear shock since the front should have a boot on it and you won't see any oil on the shock itself (unless the air filter is over-oiled in which case it would lead a little, no big deal).

My guess is that the rear rim is dented ("the rim would not accept a new tire"). If you continually see flats on the rear it could be a number of things, but if the bike is put together well (by the shop) that would probably be from running too low a tire pressure.

If your LBS is totally incompetent (which, if cables are constantly coming off the bike and getting tangled in the crank, is a good possibility) it's also possible that they screwed up the front wheel. Maybe they "trued" it once and way over or under tightened the spokes and now they just can't get the darned thing right. Wheels take a competent mechanic to get right.

There's nothing about "Cannondale" that should be causing any of your problems. As others have stated, they just make the frame and in this case the front shock. The rest of the bike is made of the same parts you'd find on other brands.

I suspect you need a new LBS.