Tall Cool One

How long can I expect the wheel set to last on a cannondale caad9 5 that I am planning on purchasing this winter?

Mr Danw

have them trued and tensioned and you should have no problems

cooleric1234

I have no direct experience. But I've heard terrible things about those wheels for "regular" weight cyclists. That's the one reason I'm not as excited as I would be about a caad9, I've always thought it would mean an immediate wheel replacement/exchange.

socalrider

The best thing is too see if the shop can give you store credit for the wheels and put that down on a custom set of wheels that are more clyde friendly.. Even though most vendors tell you there is no weight limit for there bikes, wheels are a different issue and most stock wheels are made for riders 180lbs or less..

Lots of choices on good rims out there.. Velocity Fusion or Deep V - DT Swiss RR1.1 (w/ eyelets), RR 1.2 or Mavic CXP33's.. Best to go at least 32 hole with these options or go with a 32 front / 36 rear for best durability over the long haul. The RR1.2's are the only rims listed above that only goes to 32 hole, no 36 option..

mtnbke

You should be fine on those wheels. I'm 375lbs and I'm the same height you are. I had a set of Xero paired spoke wheels that came on a silly little XL Giant OCR1 I bought. They actually only needed truing after a couple of hundred miles. Your weight won't really be an issue even though you're about 75lbs heavier than the average cyclist, what might be a problem is the wattage you can generate and the torque that places on the dished wheel.

That being said the Cannondale won't fit you. It won't even be close.

You can still order a 66cm Cannondale CAAD5 road frame as a frameset only. However, even that is going to be a compromise at best in terms of fit.

Don't end up like every other roadie, on a bike that doesn't fit, only able to perch on top of the hoods, because your bike is two sizes too small.

You could look for an old 27" Cannondale touring frame. These had 630bsd wheels instead of 622bsd as is common now. This isn't really an issue considering that the hubs don't care what rim gets laced to it, and Velocity makes both the asymmetrical Synergy and Dyad (both good choices for your power/weight) in 27" and Continental makes a great ultragatorskin tire as well in that size. The only issue would be the rear dropout spacing. Some are 126mm, others are 128mm (in '89 only I think), and some are the current 130mm standard. With something smaller than 130mm you would be limited to 5/6/7 speed.

If you have the means look to a Zinn, specifically a Zinn designed and Paketa built custom bike. If you can't swing that most boutique builders (Dean, etc.) would build you a custom sized bike for less than you think.

There are many large frame vintage bikes circling out there. However, most are steel. A properly fitting bike is better than a bike that doesn't fit, but steel is ALWAYS the wrong choice for cyclists that are tall due to wattage that the cyclist can generate. Combine that with the extra extra long teensy little seat stays and chainstays, and the small diameter main triangle tubing and you have a flexy inefficient bike.

If you do elect to go with CAAD9 Cannondale you can always try and add a Serotta Heads Up and acquire a Zinn carbon fork with an extra long steerer. However, even with the Heads Up, you'll still have a flexible steerer due to a huge stack of spacers.

Again, if you can't ride at LEAST 50% of the time in the drops, your bike doesn't fit as its set up.

Specialized makes some compact geometry frames in larger sizes than Cannondale still does. Cannondale stopped making the 66cm frame at CAAD5 because the 'optimization' of the frame from the 3.0 Series frames was essentially making the frames lighter. Which translates to less stiff, less strong, and the 'optimized' CAAD 6, 7, 8, and 9 frames failed on frame sizes above 63cm (virtual or classic). If you can find a 3.0 Series frame in a 66cm buy it. It will still be about 2cm too small, but it will be the closest thing you'll probably find.

The special order CAAD5 is a decent option, but you're marginal on that frame as it is. Aluminum has a finite fatigue cycle before failure, which for static loads (being a fattie) isn't an issue, but the dynamic element, that you'll be putting out significantly higher wattage than a typical cyclist is something to think about.

The Zinn/Paketa magnesium bike is the perfect solution, except for the price.

Remember to look into proportional size cranks. You'll probably find the best power and efficiency on 200-205mm cranks. Zinn makes some, as do Custom Cranks.

burbank1

I got a 2009 caad 9 5 and love everything about it except for the wheels, I've had to get them trued twice since I got it in June. I finally gave up on them and bought Mavic Cosmic Elites, awesome wheels no problems so far. I'm 6 ft. 230.lbs and ride at least 100 miles a week more or less depending on the weather.

mtnbke

Don't get me wrong, Cannondales are epic bikes.

Its become cliche around here how often I champion Cannondale bikes. The 3.0 series road frame was the lightest production frame in the world when it made its debut, and was the stiffest frame ever measured on the Bicycling 'tarantula' testing jig. These were pure rocket bikes, that will still out sprint, out climb, and flat out drop most modern high zoot multi thousand dollar bikes today.

However, they were also spec'd with aluminum front forks, and these gave the bikes a bad reputation as riding 'harsh'. I don't think anybody would purposely spec an all aluminum fork on a bike on purpose these days. Consider this, you can pick up a 1" Cinelli titanium Grammo stem for less than modern Taiwanese junk these days, and mounting that on the old C'dales with a modern carbon fork, and a modern carbon or bargain vintage titanium seatpost (American Classic) turns this classic Cannondale into one of the most epic bikes ever made. Its that good. Yes, a garage sale or craigslist Cannondale will truly embarass most high zoot bikes made today. I mean most.

Successive Cannondales are not as strong, not as stiff, not as fast, and definitely not as Clydesdale worthy or even Fat Pony appropriate.

The vintage touring Cannondales are near pefect bikes for real Clydes.

I'm not saying the Cannondale doesn't build epic bikes in their current lineup, I'm saying there is a HUGE difference between someone that is a chubby hubby at six foot nothin' and the gentleman that is a legitimate Clydesdale. One is just heavy, the other is going to put out enough wattage to visibly toque lesser frames, and most bikes aren't going to be anywhere near stiff enough for a 6'7" cyclist.

No current Cannondale model comes close to accomodating a 6'7" man. The special order 66cm CAAD5 is marginal at best. He really needs something in the 68-72cm range depending on his physical proportions in order to get the bar height high enough that he can actually ride the bike instead of being perched on the hoods 100% of the time like all the other lemmings that understand nothing about bike fit...