Old 11-25-09, 04:01 AM
  #3  
mtnbke
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Boulder County, CO
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Bikes: '92 22" Cannondale M2000, '92 Cannondale R1000 Tandem, another modern Canndondale tandem, Two Holy Grail '86 Cannondale ST800s 27" (68.5cm) Touring bike w/Superbe Pro components and Phil Wood hubs. A bunch of other 27" ST frames & bikes.

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Originally Posted by boss_hogg01
Hello again, all--

I recently got my hands on a nice 63cm Cannondale CAAD8. I went this route because I'm down over 100 pounds to about 330-ish, and thought it would be fun to use my newfound bike fitness on something slightly faster than what I had; it's time to leave the trusty ol' Rans Stratus in the garage for a while. The CAAD8 is all fine and dandy, except I suspect the stem and the handlebars could be changed to better fit my body.

You see, I'm 6'8", but only have a 93cm (36.6") inseam, i.e., I'm mostly torso. My arms are about 38" long; not monkey long, but still pretty long. So, I suspect I'll probably want to use a 150mm stem (stock on this is 110mm, I think). Do they even make those anywhere anymore? Also, I have very wide shoulders (31" straight along my back from humeral head to humeral head), so the 42cm handlebars that come with it could stand to be much, much wider, right? What are the widest handlebars out there?

Any help is welcome. Thanks so much!

Short version:

The CAAD8 63cm Cannondale is too small for you. I'm 6'7" and have a 63cm Cannondale and its way too small...

I have a 27" or 68.5cm Cannondale touring bike that Cannondale no longer makes that I had shipped from CA off Craigslist, and the difference between the frame that fits and the little 63cm is night and day.

You can get a special order CAAD5 66cm frame for around $500. Any Cannondale shop or REI that carries Cannondales can order it for you with a wait time of around 4-6 weeks. They stopped making the 66cm special order frame after the CAAD5 because the later renditions weren't stiff enough or strong enough to support the larger frame. Something to think about being around 330lb on a CAAD8. Aluminum has a finite fatigue cycle after which it pretty much fails catastrophically. Its almost unheard of for a cyclist to have that happen on an aluminum frame, but a big powerful 6'8" 330lb cyclists on a CAAD8 is exactly the scenario where it might occur. You definitely don't want your bottom bracket to drop out three feet away from passing cars...

As for a wider bar check out the WTB mountain drop bar. It won't have any of the problems that a lighter road race bar would have with your power and size (breaking in a sprint) as its a very beefy bar. Its very wide at 60cm in the drops, which flare out randonneur style. Very comfortable for Clydesdales.

I think you're going to struggle to build that 63cm C'dale "up". You're just not going to be able to get the handlebars up to the propre proportional height relative to your saddle without some goofy stem. I'd definitely look at acquiring a vintage C'dale touring 27" frame/bike or the 66cm special order frame.

If you're married to the 63cm bike Kelly can make you a custom stem.

http://www.kellybike.com/2nd_xtra_stems.html

Also look into getting proportional sized cranks. With the little 175mm or 180mm clown cranks that the little people use you are subjecting your knees to incredible sheer forces on the climbs.

Zinn makes some custom cranks in square taper and integrated styles up to 220mm. I'm shorter than you but have a longer cycling inseam and I use the Zinn triple square taper crank with 205mm crank arms.

http://www.zinncycles.com/side-cranks.php

Custom Cranks also will make a nice square taper crank and cheaper yet:

http://www.customcranks.de/en/

Congrats on the weight loss!
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