2ndGen, Well, you had to know the C'Dale haters weren't going to let this thread go unmolested!
To tone down
any stiff frame you have to look at the tires and tire pressure. A large for it's size 23C at ~100 PSI does the job nicely. I just put 25Cs on my rat bike. How do I know? I bought the 3.0 about 18 years ago and the other two new.
My Cannondales:
'89 CR300 (rat bike)
'94 2.8 R400 bought just because of the black/gold color (distance bike)
'99 CAAD3 (to stay OT)
Brad