Originally Posted by DocRay

I can only state from my experience that BMWs and Mercedes are great cars for 3 yrs or 36,000 miles, but after that....there is a good reason why they devalue like rocks. Most lease (rent) these cars, because they can't afford them.

I know that when Toyota came to Ontario they shocked the parts suppliers by returning parts that did not meet spec, whereas Ford just used them. However, I have friends in the industry, and they will tell you that every engineer's hands are tied by management and accounting, and that Ford makes more profit per vehicle than Toyota. The Chair of Toyota made $960,000 last year, whereas GM, Ford, Chrysler chairs can make $20-$30M a year, when the companies are losing money. Toyota also has the highest R&D spending on any manufacturer. Most Us built engines are running on 50s era technolgy and pushrods.

I think the worst example of manufacturing mistakes was the decision by GM and Ford to stop priming the metal on three years of production from 95-98. Millions of cars had the paint flake off, but no one was ever compenstated.

However, this is NOT the case with Cannondale -this is a good company with a really solid reputation, and a lot of $$ invested in R&D. Have you contacted them again? They likely know of the problem in a rare cases, and will replace the frame. Give them a chance to fix it.