a company . for the cannondale neighborhood in wilton connecticut see cannondale connecticut . for the train station see cannondale metro north station . for the cycling team see cannondale pro cycling team . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . april 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message cannondale bicycle corporation type subsidiary industry bicycles founded 1971 ; 45 years ago 1971 headquarters wilton connecticut united states products bicycle and related components parent dorel website cannondale.com the cannondale bicycle corporation is an american division of canadian conglomerate dorel industries that supplies bicycles . it is headquartered in wilton connecticut with manufacturing and assembly facilities in china and taichung taiwan . contents 1 history 2 ownership 3 products 3.1 bicycle frames 3.2 caad design and manufacturing 3.3 carbon frames 3.4 suspension forks 3.5 electric bicycles 3.6 other components 4 sponsorships 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit the company was founded in 1971 by joe montgomery jim catrambone ron davis and murdock macgregor to manufacture backpacks and bags for camping and later bicycle trailers for bicycle touring . 1 2 one of the most successful products was the bugger a child trailer although cannondale s marketing department claimed to be unaware of the connotations of the name in british english some were nevertheless exported to the uk . today cannondale produces many different types of high end bicycles which are no longer hand made in the us . they specialize in aluminum rather than steel or titanium and carbon fiber frames a technology in which they were pioneers . the name of the company was taken from the cannondale metro north train station in wilton connecticut . 3 in the late 1990s cannondale attempted to move into the motorsports business producing a line of off road motorcycles and all terrain vehicles . according to an interview with cannondale communications director tom armstrong the company was unable to drive down the cost of their motor vehicles fast enough . sales took off when the company was still losing money on each motorbike they shipped . this gap drove the company to seek bankruptcy protection in 2003 and to sell off the motorsport division . cannondale s bicycle division was purchased in 2003 by pegasus capital advisors which supported the company s renewed focus on bicycle production . 4 in february 2008 cannondale was purchased from pegasus capital advisors by dorel industries . in april 2009 it was announced that all production would be transferred to taiwan . 5 ownership edit originally a privately held company cannondale became publicly held after a 22 million ipo in 1995 . 6 the business continued as a publicly traded company until declaring bankruptcy on january 29 2003 . 7 cannondale s full assets were then purchased at auction by pegasus partners ii l.p. 8 9 the motor sports ip manufacturing equipment and inventory were quickly sold off as the company returned its focus to bicycle manufacture . 10 in february 2008 dorel industries a canada based diversified consumer products company announced the purchase of cannondale from pegasus for approximately 200 million . dorel also owns pacific cycle which is a distributor of bicycles made in taiwan and the people s republic of china for sale under many historic u.s. cycle brands including schwinn mongoose roadmaster and gt . products edit bicycle frames edit cannondale began manufacturing aluminum racing and touring frames in 1983 with mountain bike frames added later . the earlier models sported oversized aluminum tubes for increased stiffness resulting in frames that were super stiff and super efficient . later carbon fiber composite frames were developed . cannondale s bicycle frame components were made in its factory in bedford pennsylvania but are now made in factories in taiwan and vietnam depending on the model of bike . in 2009 dorel industries said that it was moving all of cannondale s bicycle manufacturing to a new plant in taichung taiwan by the end of 2010 . some non bicycle manufacturing jobs remained in bedford until 2015 when the facility was finally shut down . on january 23 2014 dorel industries announced that it s restructuring operations at its recreational leisure segment . dorel will close its assembly and testing facility in bedford penn. the bedford plant which at one point produced cannondale s midrange to high end aluminum and aluminum carbon fiber bikes until manufacturing moved to asia in 2010 still handled some assembly testing quality control and customer and technical services . around 100 people will be laid off . 11 caad design and manufacturing edit cannondale caad10 2011 with sram force group the first road frame from cannondale was produced in 1983 . it sold for 350 and included the frame and fork . the fork was steel with helical reinforcement ribs inside the steel steering tube . the frame was instantly recognizable for its oversized down tube and enlarged head tube . the seatstays and chainstays were ovalized to reduce flex . unlike steel frames there were no lugs the aluminum tubes were mitered hand welded and then heat treated . the first frames were available in two colors red and white and painted with dupont imron paint . cannondale achieved the distinction and goal of becoming the first high volume producer of aluminum frames at a time when only steel frames were mass produced and aluminum was handmade in low volumes . in 1992 cannondale introduced the 2.8 series frame based on cad computer aided design and finite element analysis to make a frame weighing only 2.8 lbs . the 2.8 series featured a tapered large diameter down tube double offset bottom bracket cluster ovalized top tube and double butted seat tube to achieve the weight reduction . the same year the 1.25 sub one all aluminum fork was introduced . 12 13 cannondale marketed subsequent frames with the caad designation for cannondale advanced aluminum design which first appeared in their mountain bike frame series . in 1997 the caad3 road frame was introduced featuring most of the design from the 2.8 series . 14 the caad4 model introduced s bend aluminum seat stays for improved comfort . the six13 model which was introduced in 2004 uses carbon tube sections in the main triangle but still employs aluminum rear triangles . this arrangement is contrary to the usual industry practice of using carbon stay inserts and aluminum front triangle tubes . it should also be noted that the union cycliste internationale has established a 6.8 kg 14.97 lb minimum weight limit . cannondale advertised this light weight frameset with the slogan legalize my cannondale . in reality only the smallest size 50 cm of bike actually approached the 6.8 kg limit . some in the bicycle industry considered this to be a creative marketing effort because six13 frames in fact weighed the same as or more than competing frames from other manufacturers . 15 the current generation of cannondale aluminum frame is known as caad12 which is the continued evolution of cannondale s welded aluminum frame design . cannondale has won numerous design awards including the publisher s award for innovation from bicycling magazine citation needed technological development of the year award from velonews magazine citation needed best of what s new award from popular science citation needed best new products of the year award from business week citation needed design recognition award from id magazine citation needed computer aided design award from design news magazine citation needed and a design and engineering award from popular mechanics . citation needed carbon frames edit in 2004 cannondale released the six13 a composite carbon alloy frame that featured an alloy head tube staysets and bottom bracket junction mechanically and chemically bonded to carbon seat down and top tubes . this was the company s first use of structural carbon composite material and subsequent variants of the six13 have used one to three carbon tubes depending on the price point of the model and the model year . later the six13 line was expanded to include the slice triathlon time trial bike which employed similar alloy carbon joinery with aerodynamically tapered tubes . in 2005 cannondale announced its first all carbon frame the synapse . at the time cannondale lacked the stateside facilities needed to produce such a frame . cannondale s systemsix which debuted in 2007 represented a more committed embrace of structural carbon than the company s previous flagship roadbike the six13 . the new bike s entire front triangle including the oversized asymmetrical head tube was fabricated from carbon fiber . furthermore cannondale s pennsylvania factory was upgraded with carbon storage cutting and layup equipment in order to prepare the company s workers and physical plant for the systemsix s more complex carbon assemblies . the new equipment also provided the infrastructure needed to produce full carbon frames which debuted on the supersix race bike . as of 2008 cannondale s carbon alloy road frames include the six13 and the systemsix . the company s full carbon road offerings include several variants of the synapse and the supersix cannondale s first u.s. manufactured carbon road model . the use of the numbers 6 and 13 in the model names is in reference to the atomic numbers of carbon and aluminum the materials used to make the frames . in a 2012 a test performed by giant bicycles of north america showed that the cannondale supersix placed number one among a limited range of mainly north american bicycles for having greatest bottom bracket stiffness and second best for torsional stiffness . 16 cannondale also offers several carbon variants of its hardtail and full suspension mountain bikes . suspension forks edit head shok suspension fork lefty suspension fork cannondale with lefty fork racing at fort william scotland cannondale has also developed a suspension fork called the lefty . it started with the headshok aka fatty forks . it uses 88 needle bearings to reduce friction for smooth travel with the bearings telescoping inside the steerer tube of the fork . this minimizes flexing of the fork legs and also reduces static friction which must be overcome before the fork begins to travel . the lefty is an unusual looking fork because it only has a left side or blade . it uses the same technology as the headshok but desire for greater amounts of travel led to the movement of the telescoping unit off to the side to allow room for the travel . it also allowed for more mud clearance as opposed to traditional forks designs . the lefty is now seen on many of cannondale s high end models such as all the scalpels rizes and the expensive models in f series both cross country lines . continual efforts at weight reduction have provided models with a carbon fiber upper tube and a titanium spindle . the titanium spindle was later replaced with a lighter and stiffer forged aluminum version . the carbon fiber upper continues to be used on the highest end lefties . the availability of repair and rebuild components and experienced service technicians for cannondale forks is much less widespread than fox manitou and marzocchi designs . however some companies have recently begun to specialize in servicing cannondale suspension and offer mail in service . this continues to limit the lefty to mid and high end bikes . numerous companies now produce adapters that allow the use of leftys on virtually any mountain bike with few limitations on choice of headset or stem . with these adapters riders are free to choose their components and are not restricted to cannondale house brands or cannondale specific parts . lefty forks are also only compatible with disc brakes . some of the benefits of the lefty fork are that it is lighter