Hi

I just got an '04 Cannondale R800, my first road bike, which I'm very pleased with. I was just reading the section on the Cannondale website where they discuss the longevity of the CAAD7/Optimo frame. They claim it is only good for 'a season or two of racing'. Obviously I realise that they have to cover themselves legally, and racers beat the crap out of their bikes, but still, this doesn't exactly fill me with confidence.

I'd be interested to hear anyone's experience of the longevity/durability of CAAD7 frames; also experience of Cannondale's warranty procedures. Anyone managed/not managed to get a new frame following a failure? How is this company generally on warranty issues?

I weigh about 150lbs and do not really race, I guess I would ride maybe 5,000-8,000 miles per year... hope the frame is gonna last more than a couple of seasons!

Racing for 2 seasons is equating to 35,000 miles. If you realistically do ride at 8k miles a year, you are safe for 4-4.5 years of longevity on your C'dale R800. I am pretty disappointed that aluminum does not have the longevity of titanium of a lifetime. So a good rule that I have in place is distributing my time onto 2 different bikes.

I hope this helps.

Yes. It will only last a couple of racing seasons. If your name is something like Simoni, Cuenego, DiLuca...for the average rider, it will last as long as you take care of it.
The reason they did that is that anybody's ultralight frame has less of an effective life that the 30 pound beasts of the past. But they are really referring to people who might ride a ton (in excess of 10,000 miles) each year.
I sold a boatload of these frames last year...some to racers in the CAT 5/4/3 level, didn't see one come back. Not one single failure. And many of those riders are doing around 7,000 miles a year in their second to third year on the frame. I put about 8,000 miles on a CAAD7 last summer...no problems...
Relax...it's a lifetime warranty unless it gets "heavy use" where it just plumb wears out. And we are talking huge mile, like I said. And, as always, any warranty issue will be addressed through the shop where you bought it and the Cannondale rep who looks at the frame.
But I've never seen one fail. Ever.

I know nothing about this topic, but find this hard to believe. However if you e-mail Cannondale through their web site, an actual inteligent human being will take the time to give you a very detailed answer. I once e-mailed them a question and two people e-mailed me with a response. I even replied to the e-mail and they answered my reply as well. It seems as if their customer service is excellent from this limited sample. However if you prefer, posting it on this web site is a lot more fun as the anti-aluminum snobs will start a fight with the cannondale geeks and degenerate into name calling.

Pro riders have ALWAYS changed equipment frequently. A well made steel frame should last more or less until the sun burns out, but Pros in the 80's would often change frames twice a year. And, they might replace their drive trains twice a year. Pro's don't change equipment because it is "worn out". They get the stuff for "free". Why take even a 1% risk of mechanical or frame problems after 10,000 miles of riding if the replacement equipment is free?

In real life, "Joe Average" does not put the kind of stress on a bike that Pros do. "JA" does not ride as fast, put out the kind of power, ride in the nasty weather, nor ride anything like the miles per month that Pros do.

It is unlikely that a recreational rider would ever "wear out" a CAAD7 frame. Might crash and break it. Might have it on top of the car rack and drive into the garage...but wear it out? But, to be safe, in five years, mail your "worn out" frame to me. I will even split the cost of postage.

That is a pretty inane conclusion. You should have bought titanium, but do you really think a Ti frame has never broken.In addition, they typically cost more.

Pretty verbose for someone that 'knows nothing' about it. The warranty does not cover failure due to faigue.

Research the old aluminum bikes first made, that had tubes simliar in size to steel tubes, they had breakage problems.This is the reason for the large diameter tubes on aluminum bikes. But, you have many, many, miles to go. The newer alloys are supposedly better too.

The longevity issue with aluminum is blown way out of proportion, in my opinion. A good aluminum frame will last a long time - not just a handful of seasons, assuming you're not abusing it.

New oversize tubes are also alot thinner.The standard diameter stuff was also wimpy, another reason for fat tubes and the additional stiffness.

Yes the walls can be made thinner to reduce the weight because the larger diameter is stiffer so you need less wall thickness. The old tubes were smaller diameter, flexed and then failed. I'm sure you know this, so I'm not sure what you are getting at?

You mean they were too flexible as far as handling goes too? Very true, good point.

Pretty Please tell me if you can, how you know what my Ghisalo is made of ? If you can't tell me it's OK I will not ask again. It's too much of a coincidence that it's not in the catalogue. If it was 6-4 I think they would publish it to sell more bikes, but that's not conclusive. Of course the bike shop will say it's the best thing they can think of. That's not a coincidence.

I actually asked Litespeed and got told by the idiot that replied that he did not know. Apparently it's a big trade secret,but I was told by a reliable source it was 3/2.5 except for possibly BB shell and dropouts.

Thanks for your input sydney, it's one of those things you always wonder about.

I know that the CAAD 3 isn't Optimo/CAAD7, but I have a CAAD 3 frame that's now my fixed gear. From 1996 until October of '03, it was my one and only roadie. Still in great shape, no problems at all.

Cool, thanks everyone for your replies.

Yeah, I hope to get at least a few years out of the frame at least, it's just that on the Cannondale website they are very emphatic about fatigue and fast wear rate of the CAAD7, hence my question...

Just out of interest has anyone had any experience with Cannondale's warranty policy or customer service in general, particularly in th UK? I have heard wildly varying reports, from excellent to utterly hopeless.

You appear to be reading challenged....

It may confuse people to discuss "longevity" and "warranty" in the same post. These are two very different issues. A "warranty" covers a defect in material or workmanship at the time the bike left the factory. A warranty does NOT cover accidents, wear and tear, fatigue, or longevity.

When a bike company says that its frame is guaranteed "for life", that only means against a defect that was present when the bike left the factory. These days, it would be rare for ANY defects to be found in a frame from a company such as Cannondale. So, a "lifetime" frame warranty almost has no meaning. It is a warranty against something that is NOT going to happen.

I suspect the Cannondale website included the language about "life span" of a frame to "educate" buyers that ALL frames could fail someday, if ridden long enough, and ridden hard enough. I have never seen a road bike frame that was made in the USA fail under normal use (of course, "normal use" does not include the stuff my nephew does with his bikes - who knew you could ride a bike at high speed off a two foot tall loading dock? Over and over, even...)

I don't think so, but you are welcome to your opinion.

It's just a CYA disclaimer,that really ought to be more common..... And,FWIW, you are wrong about 'things that are not going to happen'. There are defects, there are failures that do fall under the warranty provisions, and some manufacturere are much more loose in there interpetation of how they apply the warranty to failure that could be due to fatigue. Sweeping generalization,just don't fly.

Large diameter thin wall aluminum tubing is great stuff. The one problem that I found as far as durability was it propensity to getting dinged. It does not take much to dent the stuff, granted the resulting ding is only a cosmetic blemish and does not affect the structural integrity of the frame. But if you treat your equipment roughly it will show a lot more wear and tear than any other frame material. I finally had to give up on AL and switch to CF since it stands up to more abuse.