C'Dale T400 questions
08-05-09, 07:45 PM
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C'Dale T400 questions
I am looking at buying a '96 Cannondale T400 for my girlfriend. We're not able to ride the bike before buying, so I'm relying on you guys to answer a few questions about the sizing. She is 5'6" with a 31" inseam. The T400 I'm looking at is 19" with a 19 1/2 in top tube. Would this bike be a good fit for her as far as size is concerned? She really likes the bike ,but we don't want to buy it if the sizing is way off. She rides a 17 inch Specialized Hardrock right now. We won't be using the bike for touring, it will be used on the local bike path and a few reasonably paced (slow) group rides. Any info you guys can give me is greatly appreciated!
Last edited by gator1gear; 08-05-09 at 08:56 PM.
08-05-09, 08:23 PM
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That seems big to me, but she needs to get on that bike to see if it's too big. Do you have a Cannondale dealer near by? You'll have to ask them if that seems to big for your friend, maybe they have a similar bike in stock she could try out.
A bike that is too big is never a good deal.
A bike that is too big is never a good deal.
08-05-09, 09:22 PM
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Amongst other bikes, I still ride a 1995 19" Cannondale T700 tourer (all levels of the Cannondale tourers used the same frame then, just different components) - it's been a fabulous bike to tour with all these years and it is well travelled. I am a 5ft 3inch woman and that was the smallest size the frame came in at the time. The top tube is sloping which gives me just adequate stand-over height. It had the shortest effective top tube length of all the tourers available at the time in Australia (even shorter than the 1995 17" framed Trek). At my height it was perfect when I changed the stem to shorten the reach, so I would think that it would likely be great for a lady of your girlfriend's height.
08-06-09, 08:40 AM
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That seems big to me, but she needs to get on that bike to see if it's too big. Do you have a Cannondale dealer near by? You'll have to ask them if that seems to big for your friend, maybe they have a similar bike in stock she could try out.
A bike that is too big is never a good deal.
A bike that is too big is never a good deal.
The best thing to do, gator1gear, is to take measurements from the mountain bike and see how they compare to the T400. Check Vintage Cannondale (here) for the geometry of a T400. It's all the way down at the bottom of the file
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Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
