canondale t800 new
 

Does anyone know how the canondale touring bike holds up for touring?

The older models were pretty good. I put >50,000 miles on my 1992 T1000 bike before the chain-stay cracked while touring around Australia in 2001. Of course by then most everything except saddle and frame had been replaced bit by bit. The frame failure was in part abuse since I didn't notice when bike shop in Broome forced a wheel with too wide spacing into the frame and combination of that and spacing being too far to the left caused the chainstay to crack 1500km later.

I completed my 2001 Australia trip on a 1996 model T400 I had, and essentially flew to US, picked up the bike, cycled back to Geraldton and swapped for best components on the T400 to continue touring another six months on that trip. The 1996 model did pretty well for several years of touring after that, though wasn't quite the same after I put it in a car wash after riding the Dalton Highway. So it is my backup riding bike.

Both Cannondale frames had a nice ride and while I swapped out most components due to wear over the years, initial components were reasonable. I believe the t800 is later successor to both (and to the t600) with different components being used for different levels.

I still like the ride of the Cannondales I've had, though my current most-used/abused touring bike is a Trek 520. Cannondales had a better ride than the Trek and were durable through lots of miles of touring. Primary reason I've been using the Trek as a bit of skittishness on Aluminum frames before riding across Russia two years ago.

The Canondale T-800 seems like a good bike. My wife used hers on our 3650 mile self contained cross country trip , and on several shorter tours. She also uses it year round to commute to work (a couple of times a week). Other than some minor shifting problems, it has been trouble free. I just changed the crankset to a 44/32/22, which works really well.

My T800 has more than 8000 loaded touring miles on it, in addition to being my daily commuter for five years, and it's held up just fine. Of course, the only original parts left are probably the frame, fork, handlebars, STI levers, and derailers, so I don't know how much that tells you.

Neil

I use my '93 T1000 for commuting and touring. I like it enough that I just decided not to try to replace it with before my next on-off-onroad tour next Spring.

Mine is holding up great (2006 T800)...no complaints.

I have a 2005 T800 and its holding up great, no issues at all one of the nicest bikes I ever owned and would buy another in a heartbeat. I also have a 1988 ST400 thats almost as good as ride as the T800.

Thank you for all of your replys very interesting lots of good futuristic info. The Canondale t800 year 2005 I purchased new, only because it was price drop for an excellent deal. What I have been using and still do is the Rocky Mountain Sherpa 2005 // it was the first edition of a Rocky Moutain touring bike. Molly steel and not as light of coarse as the t800 but nevertheless for long rough tours I believe the steel frame to stand up better. The new Sherpa 30/ is quoted a very good touring bike/ I do not know of the components that come with it. The sherpa 10 I believe and only from rumors that it was not as good comparable to the 2005 sherpa but then they had some drastic reviews on the 10 and created the Sherpa30 which so far is superior to the 2005 Rocky Moutain Sherpa>>
Thank you very much for your support>>
leo

That's impressive.