Kanon25

Hi all, am new to the forum but it seems pretty good. I'm a relative newbie, looking at possibly getting a Cannondale 2012 Quick CX Speed 3 and wondering if it's any good?

This I think is a european model, but here are some detailed specs and pics:
https://translate.google.com/translat...ick-CX-Speed-3
(I dont speak French either, but thank God for the invention of google translate) :-)
This model is slightly different from the Quick 3 and Quick CX 3 sold in the us. As best as I can tell from the link above, its the same frame/fork as this but some different parts :
https://www.bikepedia.com/quickbike/B...e#.UGhE9PkY3cY

Background: I was never more than a casual neighborhood biker and havent touched one in 10 years. But I need low-impact exercise, so am dropping running and aim to dive back into biking. I live in a rural valley on the outskirts of a city, I'll probably spend 50% or more doing crushed gravel trails in the forest and hills. The rest of the time on roads here (some asphalt and some rammed earth). I'm not going to be jumping rocks in the woods, but I suspect I need a reasonably robust bike nonetheless.

This bike looks interesting, as it's pretty light for a hybrid and I'd like to minimize weight, which is not easy with my budget. And its on closeour sale over here at about 50% off. From what I'm told, the Shimano Alivio set is fine for a newbie with my usage pattern. Question is the rest of the bike: will it hold up for the kind of things that I want to do? Also mentioned is its lack of disc brakes. I dont really intend to bike in the deep of winter - can one then assume I dont need disc brakes? Or is that a reason to skip this one and keep looking?

fire

You say crushed gravel paths? Is that hard packed gravel? Honestly, I'd probably be more concerned on whether the tyres would hold up to what I wanted it to do with the bike than whether it had dics braking or not.
I have disc on one of my mountain bikes, but it's purely there to make front wheel braking possible if the rims are slippery/muddy when offroad riding on muddy dirt trails.
I doubt that disc brakes would affect my decision either way on a hybrid.

bjjoondo 

Cannondale is a very good bicycle company and the bike should do you well for your intended use, jmho. I'd see if you could get a set of "cyclo-cross" style tires, they have a bit more "tread" and that's GOOD on hard packed dirt paths. I have, Vittoria Randonneur-Cross 700x32C tires on the hybird I use for dirt path riding and they work well and don't slow down a lot on a asphalt road either! I'd prefer a, "cro-moly steel or a carbon fork" over and Alum. fork for any off road riding, as they "tend to soak up bumps better", jmho. ENJOY. BTW, if you ride in a lot of rain, and use V-brakes, try "Kool-Stop" dual compound MTB brake pads, I use them and they stop very well in wet conditions.

Kanon25

Paths and country roads that I'll most be using look roughly like this image below, bascially gravel hard-rammed into clay foundation:


The forest trails that I expect I might very occasionally wander in (maybe 10-15% of the time) are more like this:


The climate here is fairly rainy & snowy, although I dont expect I'll bike in the snow. I tried out my wife's bike, which has V-brakes, and it seemed acceptable in muddy conditions, but then again I wasnt going particularly fast on massive slops. So still trying to grasp this thing about the isc brakes since they cost more and add weight to the bike.

But going back to the main point of the thread is this Cannondale a good bike or not? I am also looking at local bike store brand hybrid that is about 300 dollars more with the following specs:
- Aluminium frame and fork
- Shimano Deore drivetrain & disc brakes
- own brand tires/wheels/headset/steering/saddle etc
- 26.2 lbs

The Cannondale looks interesting at a lower price, plus carbon fork and it is just under 24lbs. So I wonder if it is worth getting the Cannondale and sticking some wider, gripper tires on it, as that would basically come in at about 150 dollars cheaper than the other bike.

Esteban58

I don't think you'll see much difference because of the weight, but the price difference seems to make the c'dale worth it. I'm riding a trek 7500 fx which has deore components and seems to be holding up pretty well. If you really get into it you may end up getting something fancier or more ride specific down the road, or maybe not if you're on those dirt/gravel trails a lot.good luck!

fire

Agreed with Esteban, the Cannondale would definitely seem a better deal at 300 bucks less, I certainly wouldn't mind a Cannondale if I was offered one, considering their reputation as a quality bike maker.
Tyres would be my concern rather than the bike itself, but they can be easily changed once you see how the current ones work under the conditions you use them in. Let's face it, we all seem to tweak our bikes around to suit our personal needs anyway.

Kanon25

So if I can paraphrase what I think I'm hearing as consensus:

1) WEIGHT advantage of 1.5lbs of the Cannondale is purely a statistical advantage, but won't to make it noticeably easier or more fun to use/ride
2) FRAME/FORK on this Cannondale bike will hold up, not an issue at all
3) SHIMANO ALIVIO equipment on the Cannondale also fine for this usage
4) RIMS spec'ed on the Cannondale are also capable of dealing with this use case
5) TIRES: the 700x28 Schwalbe Marathon Supreme tires on the Cannondale in may work in this use case, otherwise can easily swap in something bigger
6) BRAKES: the V-brakes on the Cannondale are fine with dirt/mud/wet weather usage and it is not worth paying more for the Shimano Hydraulic disc brakes on the other bike

Is that a fair summary? The latter point important, since the frame/fork on the Cannondale does not have eyelets for retro-fitting/"upgrading" to disc brakes. So if I buy this bike, I just need to be sure that I wont have regrets on the disc brakes. I know little about it, but I keep hearing from the bike shop sellers that disc brakes are a "must" yet I cant get a clear answer as to whether V-brakes are useless when wet/muddy or whether it is a case of "good vs better".

giantcfr1

Doesn't CX = Cyclocross?
Why don't you ask the Cyclocross forum this as they would have a better grip on compatability? That muddy trail looks pretty impossible for casual riding on a 700c rim. I wouldn't go on that unless I was on at least 2 inch tyres, but then maybe I'm a girly girl.

Side-note, my friends ride cyclocross races and they're on 32mm.

jbchybridrider 

I would say if your going to ride any mud at all then disc brakes are better. Also the Quick looks like it leans more to the road side of hybrids and would be a quick bike and strong enough but can it take some wide tires. From the tracks you've shown 35c would be the minimum for me "can they fit?"
There are more off road worthy hybrids that can easily take fat tires. Have you looked at Cyclocross bikes?

Kanon25

Thanks for the input folks. I decided to get the Cannondale, just went down to the store, but they are sold out of that and it's closeout stock. I guess I dithered a bit too much. That said, it would have been a bit of a compromise as the seller said that model would not have taken really wide tires anyway, so it's fine.

So I ended up getting the store's own-brand hybrid instead:


Frame/Fork: aluminium/aluminium w steel crown
Wheels: Anatomy X-320 with Shimano Deore hubs
Gearing: Shimano Deore 590 set
Crank: Shimano Deore 48/36/26t
Brakes: Shimano Deore BR- & BL-M596
Weight: about 26 3/4 lb in 18" size
Tires: 700x40c generic semi-slicks (Cheng-Shin)

It isn't perfect but should be more than good enough to get me going. I dont think I'll need wider tires but it is designed to take even wider if I want that. So i'll go with this for now. In a few years when I have a better understanding, I suspect I'll end up customizing or custom-building something more complex.

Awww come on - even a newbie like me was fine going though through that with the 700x40c tires on my wife's commuter bike! No, I wasn't whizzing but I got through okay without bogging down. :-) I wont be doing those kind of conditions much, but I just want to be able to take a turn down one of those type of forest trails to explore if it seems interesting. Luckily it's not always that muddy as shown in the picture, but it's fall now so has been steady rain for some time now and the ground gets saturated.

The Cyclocross bikes in general are promising, I saw some interesting cyclocross bikes while shopping, especially a sweet Colnago one, but generally the cyclocross bikes available here are entry-level pricing of almost double these two hybrid bikes that I had shortlisted. I couldn't really justify that investment on a first time purchase, especially as I really don't know much about these things. But later on I'll probably up in that cyclocross territory.

bjjoondo 

Seems like a capable machine, but the "tires" shown on the bike in the photo, aren't "semi-slicks" as they have a "small knob" pattern? I'd stay away for any tire that didn't have a "rasied" tread pattern, (small, knob, arrow head, med. knob), if your going to get into ANY kind of water/mud combo, jmho. Deore is good componets, maybe not "top line MTB racing" but it's solid built equiptment that holds up to some rough usage.

Kanon25

I probably dont have the terminology down correctly - sorry about that. The tires on this bike are combination of little knobbly bits, with a double strip of smooth down the middle. Will that work for these conditions?

Here is a pic of the tire, head on:


Pic of the side profile:


Comparison pic, this time with the tire on the right, while on the left is the tire on my wife's commuter bike, which seemed to cope okay with the muddy forest path. That said, when placed side by side, her tires seem wider, despite having the same nominal spec (700x40c)

jbchybridrider 

Hang onto your money for now and see how the tires work for you. It will become clear to you if there any good from riding.

bjjoondo 

Agree with jbchybridrider, the stock tires should do ok for your purpose's. To me a semi-slick is a slick tire with cutout's "in the tread", ie: no rasied tread, a slick has NO tread, your tires are a decent "combo, tread" set, "high center ridge" for street riding with a slightly knob on the outside of center. ENJOY your new machine, have FUN!