Cannondale started back in 1971 with Joe Montgomery and Murdock MacGregor the company saw a fair share of ups and downs while the original owners may be no more the owners but the company managed to survive and for some who could see the sudden death of Cannondale the company managed to survive and become world-famous, but not for what it started out to do but instead ended up making bikes and earning quite a name for itself.
Let’s take a fast lane to the river of history it is a very brief history to not bore the readers, if you had like to read the whole history you can check out Wikipedia almost all of the research came through Wikipedia.
- 1971 Joe Montgomery and Murdock MacGregor construct the company to make precast concrete (precast concrete is a premade shape made from concrete like beams, pillars, or concrete blocks)
- From there the company moved to make internal combustion engines that would use ammonia (used in fertilizers) the project was a success.
- the company then wanted to implement it in automobiles but due to lack of investment, the project was held on.
- The company decided to raise the capital with the help of smaller projects that included an advanced air conditioner with no moving parts.
- The company was not seeing any success in any of the products or little to none, they wanted to make something big but the ideas were falling apart one after other but success was not far at this point.
- Joe Montgomery came up with the idea to make a bicycle trailer and mount it with bags made of polycarbonate the same material with which almost all the briefcases are made today.
- Joe Montgomery took the trailer loaded with bags to a cycling show in new york (where the Cannondale will see its first large-scale success and takes off)
- soon Joe Montgomery was approached by many bike dealers apparently wanting to purchase the bags, not the trailer.
- the company had its modern-day rocket seeing the interest to this extent the company soon started mass producing polycarbonate bags.
- In less than 6 months the company became the world’s largest lightweight bag producer for bicycles.
- The project was the greatest success company had ever seen and they used the bags to enter the camping industry and nailed it there as well.
- The company saw the potential in bicycles and proceeded to manufacture the aluminum frames again another success.
- The company released its first notable mountain bike in 1984 named SM-500 which was a mixture of parts from Shimano Deore XT, Suntour, Specialized, and Dia-Compe with a drive train of 3×5.
- The company was producing bikes every year at this point but everything came to a pause in 2003.
Cannondale going bankrupt :
- apart from bikes, Cannondale was also making vehicles and it was the main part of the company.
- At this point, Cannondale was producing vehicles non-stop but the prices were high and competitors were already on their sales with lower prices and better results.
- In a desperate attempt to stay afloat the production company lowered the price the sales were increasing day by day.
- But the company was losing money with every sale until it went bankrupt in 2003.
- But Cannondale was far from over just yet because the company auctioned its motorcycle division but kept the bicycle division.
- The bicycle division was already making great profits it was the largest manufacturer of bicycles in the world.
- And at last, the Cannondale would sell its bicycle division in 2008 to Pon holdings and pon holdings became the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world
- pon holdings owns Cannondale, GT, Caloi, and Mongoose, among others, joining brands such as Gazelle, Cerevélo, Focus, Santa Cruz, Kalkhoff, and Urban Arrow
Cannondale was never lost and rises to glory again :
Cannondale was originally manufacturing and assembling the bikes in the US later its bikes would be manufactured in Taiwan and Netherlands.
Today most of the Cannondale bikes are manufactured in Taiwan and Netherlands, some of the bikes are still assembled in the US but most of them are assembled in Taiwan and Netherlands.
Today Cannondale has stores in more than 60 countries including the biggest markets Canada Australia America and various countries
Cannondale continues to improvise the quality of the bikes they produce and keep up with the competition one of their latest models scalpel carbon SE 1 new carbon model earned a design and innovation award in 2020.
did Cannondale ever go out of business:
The Cannondale you know today produces bikes while back in the day it also used to produce motor engines the part went out of the business but Cannondale still produces bicycles.
Cannondale gaining trust and fame :
Cannondale saw its fair share ofdifficulties but till today is the most trusted and renowned name cannondale never stopr producing bikes and through out the year it produce some quality bikes.
Some of the most renowned cannondale bikes were
trigger 29,claymore,jekyle,flesh and more the list is too long to keep up.
Cannondale stealing the show in 2020 :
Cannondale once again appeared in the healines of the world when it earned a design and innovation award in 2020 with their new scalpel carbon SE 1.
After so many years of struggles and bouncing cannondale was flying around like a cannon ball but for now it seems stable and keeping the trust of its customers.
This is how cannondale went from being bankrupt to gaining world fame.
Here are a few of the bikes that you might like from cannondale from a price prespective and quality prespective these are my best picks check them out if you want to.
Cannondale trail series :
Cannondale’s trail series bikes are really good as entry level bikes the prices and bike quality is spot on, specially
Cannondale 7 :
great entry level hartail with a XCT-100m suspension and a 8-speed drive train costs around 760$, aluminium alloy frame and is fairly lighter. Its bang on quality for price. If you are looking for something more stable and sturdy than you can check out cannondales trail 5.
Trail 5 :
Trail 5 has XCM-100mm suspension just like trail 7 has a 10-speed drive train is also made from alloy the hedtube angle is great the traction on trail is great as well. trail 5 costs around 960$
Cons :
Heavy both of these models although are great for entry level bikes but they are a bit heavy and the other con is the suspensions not a great fit for the bike so you might wanna know that before actually buying it.
F-Si Carbon 5 :
If you have cash to spare and you can go after big fishes than this is it F-si carbon 5 its simply a beast with a carbon frame light,agile, swift, slick with a 100 mm fork 12-speed drivetrain its an xc bike the price does really stands out though 2700$ well that cant be helped its carbon we are talking, the price is high for the value but if you are a competitor and trynna shave those seconds off or if you want something comfy than this is your safest bet.
Because it has a carbon frame it has damping lesser vibration the frame absorbs the vibrations, its a DH bike and one of the best in my list.
Habit 5 :
Another one of the cannondales best if you are looking for a bike to throw around this is it habit 5, its made for aglility fast moving tracks,jumps, wheeling stunts anything you can imagine and unlike the Si carbon 5 its frame is made of aluminium with a 140 mm shocks if you have a playfull spirit it will resonate with you but its also on the expensive side around 2500 but better.