Cannondale History

Cannondale is a major American bicycle manufacturer, headquartered in Bethel, Connecticut. The company was founded in 1971 and produces many different types of bicycles, specializing in Aluminum frames, a technology in which they were pioneers.

Cannondale also sponsors numerous road racing teams, including the Saeco team which competes in le Tour de France. In the mountain biking circuit, Cannondale had sponsored the Volvo/Cannondale racing team.

Cannondale has also developed a suspension fork called the Lefty. It started with the “Headshok” forks. It uses bearings to reduce friction for super smooth travel with the bearings telescoping inside the steerer tube of the fork. This eliminates flexing of the fork legs, and also eliminates “stiction”, a tightness at the top of the travel that must be overcome to initiate travel, and also reduces overall performance.

Cannondale was the first to produce a crankset that uses externally mounted bottom bracket bearings. As well as being the only company for years to use a 1.5″ headtube diameter. Both of these technologies are just now being introduced by other manufacturers.

Cannondale has also developed a suspension fork called the Lefty. It started with the “Headshok” forks. It uses bearings to reduce friction for super smooth travel with the bearings telescoping inside the steerer tube of the fork. This eliminates flexing of the fork legs, and also eliminates “stiction”, a tightness at the top of the travel that must be overcome to initiate travel, and also reduces overall performance.