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Cannondale 24" race 21 speed

43K views 138 replies 26 participants last post by  Steve-XtC 
#1 ·
#36 ·
Wow, I forgot about this thread...it's been over a year since I first chimed on it. Well, we bought the bike, a medium. It still fits my daughter who is now 65# and 4' 7". Other than swapping tires for Maxxis Snypers, the bike is stock. She raced it last summer and captured 9 Firsts and 2 seconds for the season.
 
#44 ·
Has anyone looked at the Islabikes Craig. Definitely more money but comes with disks, decent fork. My sister is looking for a bike for her son and was asking me about it. My son has grown out of 24's so I haven't really been paying much attention to this forum.
 
#47 ·
Just curious to peoples thoughts,,,,my son is growing rather quickly, and his 20 inch Specialized is nearing the end from a size perspective. The 24 inch used to seem like a logical next step, but I recently had my son try a 15 inch frame with 26 wheels at the lbs. It was not as big as I thought
Realistically, I dont want to buy one of these and in one year wish I had just gotten a small adulat frame mtb....thoughts?
 
#50 ·
My son is now 4'10" and on a 26 for reference. He has been on it for about a year now since he was a hair under 4'9". His riding got much better as soon as he got on the 26. It seemed a little big for him last year but fits great now. If they are on the verge you may think about trying to get one more year out of what they are on and then build up a small 26.

 
#60 ·
Thanks everyone for your input. I took my son to the bike shop today and tried a smorgasbord of bikes. He wasn't able to try the Race, but he tried the Trail and the Street. The Cannondale frame was definitely the right fit for him and the Cannondales were noticeably lighter than the other bikes he tried. Placed the order for the Race 24. It might be here as early as the end of next week. My son is pretty excited.

By the way, are the fork and the paint job the main differences between the Trail and the Race?
 
#62 ·
The main differences is the fork and crank( Trail has a single chainring, Race has 3). If you live in an area that has flat, smooth trails the Trail will probably be ok. If you live in an area that has even moderate trails I'd recommend the Race. If you have the cash, go the Race anyway. Its only $90 extra retail and a better buy. I ordered my daughters on Thursday and it should be here by Tuesday.

Immediate Upgrades:
60mm stem changed to a 32mm (her current bike has a 17.5 top tube and a 50mm stem. The Medium has a 19.7 toptube and is stretching her out more then I like.
13-28 cassette changed to a 13-32. We live at the base of the Front Range Mountains in Colorado. Our current 8-10 mile loop that we do from the house has almost 800 ft of climbing and she wants to do more Mountain rides which means she'll need gearing for extended climbs.
Lasco 152mm 104/64mm cranks. Cranks that come on the bike have rivited chainrings. I want options and the possibility to go 1x.

Future Upgrades:
Carbon Bars
Carbon Seatpost
wheels built to 9 speed disc hubs
Disc brakes
possible 1x9 or 1x10 with a 30 tooth chainring 11-42 cassette
Jpaks custom framebag, seatbag, handlebar bag for bikepacking

Text Photograph White Line Font
 
#70 ·
Have any of you compared the c'dale race 24 with the trek superfly 24 disc?

Fork clearly superior on the c'dale but lots other stuff appears better on the trek (8 speed cassette vs 7 speed freewheel, shimano hydro disc vs generic v brake, slightly better rear derailleur). Same weight with a heavy fork and disc brakes (trek 25.4 lbs no pedals or kickstand). Upgrade options possibly easier/cheaper by swapping fork instead of new hubs,wheels,cassette,brakes etc. Does the extra $100 buy a better platform to work with or do you all like the cannondale better?
 
#71 ·
Pros and cons to both

The Air forks in the 24 inch size are hard to find. About $200 + to do so. I originally was going to buy a Gary Fisher Pre Caliber and just use the frame, probably donating all the parts to the local Trips for Kids. I still may of came out cheaper this way but the folks who had the Gary Fisher wanted 120, add in the fork and I was already near $350.

The Trek comes with a 104/64 crankset it appears while the C' dale comes with riveted chainrings to the cranks. Important for me as I plan on switching over to either a 1x or 2x system for my daughter. I bought a Lasco Crank though which is better then the one on the Trek. If hers came with with bolted cranks though I wouldn't have changed them.

I'm wanting to go at least 9 sp and possibly 10 sp so either way I would've upgraded the cassette, rear shifter and rear derailleur. This more because we live in the actual mountains and I want her to have a 22x34 or 36. Again, donating all the parts to the local Trips for Kids.

I'm gonna give a go at the V brakes. She has been riding with them on her 20" for 2 years but I'll be building a wheelset for disc in the future. Looking X9 Hubs because I can get them cheap.

If your going to spend $659 for the Trek. Do yourself a favor and spend a few dollars more and get the Opus Fever. Go to their dealer locator and find one in the States that way. Denver, CO has a dealer and had an Opus Fever in stock and I was very close to pulling the trigger on that as well. $750 was the quoted price and worth every penny imho.
 
#73 ·
I picked up my daughter's Cannondale Race last night from the bike shop and put it together. She got to to ride it for a bit this morning and said it was Awesome! I weighed it at 26.2 lbs out of the box. The stem handlebars and seatpost will be the 1st to go and I have some Avid Single Digit 3 V brakes to replace the current ones, if just to loose a little weight. More coming and I'll post up as I make changes.

P1010016
 
#75 ·
Okay, now i'm very confused

^^^ does not look like the race 24" I am looking at at my LBS. The one here (and on c'dale website) has a straight top tube not curved like your image. I thought only street and trail versions had curved top tube but apparently not....
Are there two versions? Different versions for different markets?
 
#89 ·
Since we're on the C-dale 24 subject anyway.

Hoping one of you might be able to save me some search time. Her wheels are almost done, so i need to find a 32t WN ring for the front, the Raceface is working well on my son's bike, but she's a girl. I'm hoping to find someone that makes one in Pink.
 
#90 ·
I thought Raceface made one in Pink but it may be hard to find.

Another cheap upgrade to consider is grips. My daughter was complaining about hand pain. I replaced her grips with some ESI Race Grips (smaller diameter) and her complaints instantly went away.

Also if your kids have issue with the stock Shimano Gripshifts, consider Sram X3. You can get it on Ebay for around $60 for the shifters and rear derailluer and my girl is much happier with it.

We live and ride in the Foothills of Colorado. Elevation ranges from 6,000-9,000 ft where I've taken her riding and I will say the air fork plus gears she can easily shift, plus 135mm cranks has made a huge improvement in her riding.

Ayla at LOTB
 
#95 ·
@TwoTone
Don't worry.. I am taking no offense and don't feel bad that you are chiming in.. on the other hand, I appreciate your time and willingness to help. :)
You have a point about getting the drivetrain parts separately at a better price than getting the fork later on.
 
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