Product Review: Cannondale Caad 10 Frameset

Working in the bike industry for almost 3 decades now, I've pretty much ridden every brand and model of bicycle around. It may have been a short test ride checking out a repair, but I think I always make a mental note as to how a bike feels. Especially if it's one I've never ridden before. In some ways, you can group most bikes together depending on the frame material. Most lightweight steel frames are pretty similar. They have a nice road "feel", but torsionally, they're generally pretty flexible. Titanium frames are about the same except lighter and more wimbly. I think titanium is a good material for a CX bike. Nice and plush over rough surfaces and you don't really need the torsional stiffness as you do for say cornering in crits. For road bikes, I think titanium has run it's course. It would be too tough to engineer a better ride quality and keep it as light as aluminum or carbon fiber.

Speaking of carbon fiber, it seems to be the number one choice for high performance bikes these days. The thing is, not all carbon fiber bikes are created equal. The person who feels their $200.00 Chinese non-brand E-bay special is just as good as a $4000.00 Cervelo R5 has no clue of the engineering, materials, and R&D work involved. Most will argue that the cost difference is marketing and advertising, and it is some, but this is just a small percentage. Just because a bike is "carbon fiber" does not guarantee it's going to be light and strong, have good torsional rigidity and a sooth ride. Some of the cheap carbon bikes are as flexible as titanium in the wrong places, and ride like a harsh aluminum frame over bumps.

Aluminum was probably the first alternative to the steel frame. The first generation aluminum frames may have been a little lighter than steel, but the ride was pretty horrible for the most part. They were plenty stiff, but way too stiff in all the wrong places as well. The ride quality eventually improved to the point of most race bikes in the mid 90's to mid 2000's were aluminum. I remember the first time I rode a full carbon fiber bike around 2004, it rode SO much better than any aluminum bike, and I knew I had to have one.

I never thought I would go back to an aluminum frame until I rode a Cannondale Caad 10. Our race team decided to go with the Caad 10 frameset early last year, and my opinion up to this point is- I'm sold on it.

Our team race bikes

The Caad 10 frame is the same weight as the Storck carbon fiber frames we were on before, with equal ride quality, but less than half the cost. As far as torsional stiffness goes, they're as stiff as any bike available. Weight wise, I would put them around the same as a mid -priced carbon frame. The flat seat and chain stays give the bike a very nice all day ride. I got 7+ hours on mine the other day with no complaints. There are definitely bikes out there that ride better and are lighter, but not much and those will set you back $2000 - $8000 more than a Caad 10.

Last year, there were a few other teams out there rolling on these. I'm sure you're going too see a lot more in 2012. All and all, probably the best bike for the privateer racer on a budget or race team without 6 figure sponsorship funding. I would even go as far as saying this is the best aluminum frame ever made to date!