Originally Posted by
Banzai
I don't think you get what I'm saying. Follow along now:
The tube shaping is neat. What most people believe about it, and about the superiority/inferiority of given shapes is pure marketing. No ifs/ands/buts about it. Please take a moment to sit back and observe that everything that Cannondale says is so obviously superior about the CAAD10 was once a set of properties that made similar bikes inferior to the CAAD9. Now, the "superior" traits of the CAAD9 had to be "re-thought" or "abandoned" in order to create a better CAAD...a CAAD which once upon a time Cannondale marketing would have disparaged for all the reasons they now tout it.
The ride "quality" is because it's a good bike. Some of the pseudo-mystical things that people here believe about it are because they have imbibed heavily of the marketing. The bike "rides" as well as a whole lot of other nice bikes. It "performs" as well as all other good bikes (actually, bikes don't really "perform", people perform). It's a good bike. It's not really that different from a whole lot of other good bikes. I like it, but I would like a number of other bikes as well.
My love for it is because it's been a good, reliable bike that has done everything I've asked. It fits, it looks nice, it rides well. It is more bike than I can actually utilize. So were a lot of others. The Cannondale happened to have a price tag that was competitive, and the aesthetics of "upper-end" aluminum were appealing to me as a unique factor among all its CF competitors.
It's a good bike. I hope it continues to be good for many years. I used to recommend it highly to others. But people believe things of it, and now of the CAAD10, that are just plain marketing. At a minimum, please compare what Cannondale said about "shaped" tubing in the era of each bike. Compare what Cannondale used to say about CF in various parts of the bike, and what they say now. Look at the various reasons for putting CF in various parts of the Six13 (it changed several times) and why each iteration was the "best".
The BF crowd tends to regard marketing as scientific fact.
ding ding….not to hurt anyone's feeling but if i didn't know better i would say that 2ndgen is a marketing/sales rep for Cannondale. S**T, our district rep Steve Kwait doesn't even push them as hard as he does.
that being said, it's marginally better, in my opinion, than the Caad9 and not as good as several carbon bikes i've owned.
i race it because like Banzai says, it fills a need for a cheap, good racing bike that i consider disposable.