Mountain or Otherwise ?
 

I'd be the first to say I'm not much for labels, but wondering what you guys would label this bike as. Or maybe the better question is what was Cannondale thinking as far as this bike ? It seems like its caught in no mans land to me. Not that it much matters as I will just enjoy it as a light trail bike until such time to move it along.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c79304471d.jpg

That is certainly 100% a mountain bike.

+1 for mountain bike

Mountain Bike.

It was not a particularly good one, but that is absolutely what it was intended for.

What about that bike would lead the OP to label it as "not" a mountain bike?

Light trail bike is a perfect usage for that bike. It's a mountain bike, no question. But it's a very early full suspension design, with a Hedshok and limited travel. Trying to take it down blue/black trails at a mountain bike park is not advisable.

airplane :P

Mainly the front headshok. Cannondale has used it on other models, but none on a pure "mountain bike" IIRC.
I assume the travel is pretty limited, which is why I question it.
More of a curiosity than anything.

No matter what you think of it today, this was definitely a serious downhill bike at the time. The Headshok was an early effort in 1992, when everyone’s forks had short travel. It was a real commitment as other forks were retrofit but the Headshok required a matching frame. There were versions that were as fully featured as any regular fork that lasted into the late 2000’s. They also made dual crown forks with more travel but not til 1997. Later on the Headshok was limited to hybrids. The short travel available from the steerer tube is why they later turned it into the Lefty in Y2K.

60mm of travel was big deal in the mid 90's.

That bike is from the late 90s. It was solidly XC at the time, not DH. And not very highly regarded.

Yes, the Headshock was a very good XC fork. But in this case it was bolted to a sub-par bike.

Agree.

Please start your research with Tinker Juarez to change your recall as many people rode, raced and loved the Headshok on pure “mountain bikes.”

Over kill for light trail riding* but you should be comfy while doing it..

*a hardtail + a suspension seat post should be sufficient..

It's the kind of bike that fits into the category:

Classic - Needs a dropper post and willing rider that fits it to see what it can really do.