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Info wanted on Cannondale Bent (wheelset/gearing upgrade)
Just wondering if anyone knows more about this:
There's a rumor regarding the Cannondale "Bent", which comes with a 16" front and 20" rear wheelset. Supposedly the bike will handle a lot better, and perform more effficiently, if the wheelset is replaced with a 20" front and a 24" rear. A friend told me someone won a recumbent race with a Cannondale that was upgraded in this manner for such a use. I appreciate if anyone knows more details to share because I might be interested in getting a Bent (it's soon to be discontinued) and I'd like to know how far I can take its performance with future upgrades. I have no idea where to get a replacement front fork (for the 20" wheel) which would have the proper rake / steering geometry. Thank you, Rob |
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#2
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Info wanted on Cannondale Bent (wheelset/gearing upgrade)
Robert Hayden wrote:
There's a rumor regarding the Cannondale "Bent", which comes with a 16" front and 20" rear wheelset. Supposedly the bike will handle a lot better, and perform more effficiently, if the wheelset is replaced with a 20" front and a 24" rear. A friend told me someone won a recumbent race with a Cannondale that was upgraded in this manner for such a use. Hmmmmm. The Cannondale 'Bent is designed as a comfortable urban bike, not a performance machine, and you'll no more turn it into a race winner by changing the wheels than you'll turn a full suspension MTB into a road racer by putting slick tyres on it. I suspect that the anecdote is either wrong, the opposition wasn't on anything remotely special or the rider of the winning machine was much stronger physically (put me on Lance's race bike and him on my Brompton folder, and he'll still win!) I appreciate if anyone knows more details to share because I might be interested in getting a Bent (it's soon to be discontinued) and I'd like to know how far I can take its performance with future upgrades. You might make it go a bit faster, but you'll never have a racer worthy of the name. If you want to go fast, but a machine that has been designed to go fast. The Cannondale is *not* such a machine. OTOH it does appear to be a well engineered bit of kit if you want to cruise around town in comfort. Pete. -- Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/ |
#3
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Info wanted on Cannondale Bent (wheelset/gearing upgrade)
Robert Hayden wrote:
Just wondering if anyone knows more about this: There's a rumor regarding the Cannondale "Bent", which comes with a 16" front and 20" rear wheelset. Supposedly the bike will handle a lot better, and perform more effficiently, if the wheelset is replaced with a 20" front and a 24" rear. A friend told me someone won a recumbent race with a Cannondale that was upgraded in this manner for such a use. I appreciate if anyone knows more details to share because I might be interested in getting a Bent (it's soon to be discontinued) and I'd like to know how far I can take its performance with future upgrades. I have no idea where to get a replacement front fork (for the 20" wheel) which would have the proper rake / steering geometry. Thank you, Rob First off: I've never owned one. Secondly: random observations/opinions: The Cannondale bent is not real widely regarded. "Expensive", "heavy" and "slow" are three words that get used on it a lot, although "slow" could be used to describe a LOT of 16/20" bikes out there, and ones using a compound drive are often "heavy" as well. Assuming a ~$2000 price for the Cannondale--there's bikes for significantly less that ride just as well, and there's bikes for the same price that ride much better. ....Cannondale was very-cool to try to market a bent (it got press in places that didn't otherwise acknowledge that bents existed) but they didn't do a very good job of it, and never seemed to get a clue that their design needed a major workover a lo-o-o-ng time ago. Like--to 20/26 wheels. And then they could have gotten rid of the compound drive, to lose some weight. If you're in love with it by all means get one--it is certainly a big improvement from an upright bike--but if you already think you want something bigger than 16/20" wheels, I'd suggest you should really just start looking at 20/26 CLWB's. The Burleys for example start at $1200 or so--they have 20/26 wheels, and use direct-drive. Also: shocks are nice if you can afford them, but I find that suspension on a bent is not nearly so important as on an upright bicycle. The main reason shocks helps is if you get very-skinny (1-inch) tires, suspension helps prevent pinch flats and rim damage. If you just run 1.25 to 1.5" tires at moderate pressures (75+ PSI), on decent roads these things are not often a problem anyway. ....For an example: I weigh 275 lbs and ride 1.5"s inflated to 100 PSI, and (-there's times it would be nice, but-) I haven't ever thought that I /needed/ suspension. (my butt has never hurt from lack of shocks!) ~ |
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Info wanted on Cannondale Bent (wheelset/gearing upgrade)
I rode a Cannondale Bent a couple of times, and quite enjoyed it. Its a fun bike, comfortable, and pretty well built. Unfortunately it is very heavy, expensive, and it is possibly one of the least aerodynamic recumbents around. If you're not into speed, and $2,000 won't make much difference on your finances, its actually a decent choice. But the story of someone changing the wheels and winning some races with it is definitely bogus. Even if one could fit bigger wheels on it, it wouldn't change the fact that this is a heavy bike where the rider sits very vertically on it. |
#5
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Info wanted on Cannondale Bent (wheelset/gearing upgrade)
"Robert Hayden" wrote in message ups.com... Just wondering if anyone knows more about this: There's a rumor regarding the Cannondale "Bent", which comes with a 16" front and 20" rear wheelset. Supposedly the bike will handle a lot better, and perform more effficiently, if the wheelset is replaced with a 20" front and a 24" rear. A friend told me someone won a recumbent race with a Cannondale that was upgraded in this manner for such a use. I suspect your friend is drunk if they thought one could win a race I appreciate if anyone knows more details to share because I might be interested in getting a Bent (it's soon to be discontinued) and I'd like to know how far I can take its performance with future upgrades. I have no idea where to get a replacement front fork (for the 20" wheel) which would have the proper rake / steering geometry. If you want performance get a real recumbent. |
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