Anyone have an opinion on these bikes. I see them places and they seem like pretty nice vintage rides. I've been looking into them but wanted to question the populus first to find out how they perform. I know I saw someone who had a series 3 in the C&V sticky up top. Anyone have any input on these bikes?

Thanks in advance

Rick

There are definitely some fans: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...09#post4159409

Unless you find a deal, they tend to sell for more than comparable steel rides from the same era.

I just picked one up, but haven't gone through it yet. Nicely outfitted with a complete 105 group. I bought a new Black Lightening (sort of a special edition) criterium series back in 88 or 89 and put a lot of miles on it until around 94 or so when a back injury made the aluminum frame and I not so compatible. The most regretted sale I ever made was letting that bike go.

They are fast, light, and take off like a rocket when you step on it. I would give them a thumbs up, with the only consideration being that they are 12 speed and with the aluminum frame I'm not sure how, or if, you could increase that if you wanted to.

The compact frame geometry may have been a precursor to today's modern compact craze. I always felt a bit more fatigue after about 40-50 miles or so due to the aluminum frame when I first got it, but was coming from a Nashiki Olympic 12 which was real plush ride, and several pounds heavier, lol.

Someday...I hope to finish mine and get to ride it.



Found the Nearly N.O.S. Frameset a few months back. Should be a strange mix of old Suntour and new Campagnolo.

The Criterium series was named to differentiate the big and small downtube versions of the same 3.0 frames. Crit had big downtube, RR had smaller/normal sized ones.

https://www.vintagecannondale.com/
They'll have all the info you want. 1990 has both the Crit and RR 3.0 frames.

Earlier than the 3.0 series all the frames were basically the same, those had the enormous seatstays. "Crit" frames, also named "SRxxx" in bike model numbers, were just racing versions of their Touring frame, which is the first frame they made. Look at 1985 as an example.

The earlier frames had steel forks, the later ones had aluminum ones. They were all pretty harsh riding relative to today's frames. I remember swapping bikes at a race after a crash - ditched my Cannondale 2.8 framed bike (from 1992 - which wasn't too easy riding either) and grabbed my 3.0 crit bike (I had a whole bike in the pits due to incompatible something - I think 7s vs 8s and friction vs Ergo/index). My hands went numb pretty quickly on the 3.0 and I used the same bars, stem, seat, pedals, tires, and more flexy rims. I dropped out pretty quickly after that.

cdr

Eureka!
What I think I see is that all 3.0 SR's in '89 were Crits, with a 73 degree seat tube and 74 degree head tube (approx and in my size).

Then, in '90 there were TWO different SR's - the Crits with the same 73-74 geometry and EVEN model numbers and the Roadrace models with a 73-73 geometry and ODD model numbers!

Then in '91 they split into parallel SR and SC models, with the same model numbers and componentry, and the frame geometry being the differentiation.

In '92 they introduced the 2.8 series in RoadRace, but continued the 3.0 in both RoadRace and Crit geometry, but the C only came as the C600 while the R had a wide set of models.

3.0 continued in '93, but only as R500 and R400 models.

Was that the end of the Crit model?