Stinch's Slickrock Bike Page
Cannondale UBer V 900
Purchased new by my Dad in 1999. The bike was tranformed from a XC bike into an XC/All Mountain bike in 2007.
Life as a Cannondale Super V 900
My Dad was inspired to buy the bike after riding my 1996 Cannondale Super V 500 that I had bought used from a couple in Easton. He purchased the Cannondale Super V 900 new in 1999 from Cycle Fitness in Monroe, Connecticut. He was enjoying retirement and found the time to also work in the shop as a salesman. The full suspension bike came with a Fatty D headshok and Magura Louise hydraulic disc brakes. In the first year he put over about 650 miles on the bike riding the trails and streets in Trumbull. He and I enjoyed many miles of off-road riding between Trumbull and Newtown. On September 12, 1999, my Dad and I went for a ride and I brought the video camera to record various ride segments. Shown below are some stills from that day.
(above) My Dad rides his Cannondale Super V900 on the white trail between the south side of the dam and the north side of the white trail hill. This part of the trail gets very close to the stream then goes to the wavy rock at the south side of the dam.
(above) More stills from the video as we rode from the commuter lot toward Indian Ledge Park. Little did I know how important this video would be as it recorded a memorable ride that my Dad and I did. If you ride in this area then these places should be familiar.
I was looking forward to more mountain biking with him in 2000 but unfortunately his last ride with the bike occurred in the Spring of 2000 and he had to stop due to health reasons. Our last ride together occurred in January 2000 during an unusually warm day. I had just installed clipless pedals and we rode the streets on our mountain bikes from Trumbull to Stratford and back to Trumbull.
I used the bike briefly in late 2000 but after that it was stored away in the basement. It wasn't until August of 2007 that I began to get back into mountain biking. The only thing it needed was new inner tubes and it was good to go. The 60mm travel in the front suspension made riding in rough areas a little difficult but not unbearable. The worst thing about the bike was that the lockout adjustment for the front fork would routinely automatically lock the front suspension. I would frequently find myself going down a rough rocky trail and finding the front fork locked out halfway down. Bad for me and the bike. The Super V was dated by 2007 standards so a decision had to be made. Upgrade or replace it.
A Cannondale "Uber" V 900 is Born
After getting back into mountain biking in August 2007, it didn't take long before I found a thread on the MTBR forum discussing a Cannondale called an "Uber V". Turns out that is the unofficial name given by a group of Super V owners who modify the bike to have longer suspension travel, hence the name "Uber". To do this, the front suspension is replaced with a modern fork to give at least 140 mm of travel. Then the shock mounting tabs on the frame are drilled closer to the frame and the rear swing arm is replaced with one from a Cannondale Jekyll. These modifications allow a longer rear shock to be mounted. The current and preferred rear shock is a Fox DHX 5.0 Air 7.5 x 2 which provides 155 mm of pure travel bliss.
I was quite excited about the prospects of upgrading the bike. It had sentimental value to me and still had the potential to be competitive. I was fortunate enough to have a 1999 frame which meant no drilling modifications were needed to the shock mounts on the frame. Once I had an idea of the parts required, I started searching. A used swing arm was found at Cycle Fitness on a Jekyll that had a cracked frame. It was the lightweight "CAAD4" (Cannondale Advanced Aluminum Design) version that preceded the more robust type found on 2003 and later Jekyll's. The price was right and it would still work fine. A set of used Gemini bearing adapters were located at Westport Cycles. Then Abingdon Tool in Bridgeport machined them to the correct specifications. A Chris King head set was also purchased along with a new set of Enduro 6903 2RS suspension pivot bearings. After a few weeks of gathering the components, I was ready to start the install. It all sounds easy but a bit of work was required.
First the original Fatty D front fork was removed. The stock head tube adapter's were pressed out and the modified Gemini's pressed in. These adapters reduce the inside diameter of the head tube from the stock 1.5" to 1 1/8". The thicker one inch high adapter was put into the bottom end to give the bike more slack, something closer to 69 degrees. A stock Super V is about 72 degrees. The Chris King headset bearings were then pressed into the adapters. The 2007 model Fox Talas 32 RLC was then installed. Cycle Fitness put all that together. The only problem that was discovered was that the brake lines for the Magura calipers were not long enough with the longer fork installed. A brake line and bleed kit was located at Cambria Cycles in California to fix that.
While riding the original bike, the straight handle bars would make my wrists hurt. Plus the 120 mm stem made me feel like I was too far forward and my neck always hurt after a ride. So I installed a Thomson 90mm 5 degree stem (over top two inches of carbon fiber spacers) and bolted up an Answer ProTaper 2" riser handlebar. The swept back nature of the bars keeps my arms in-line with my wrists and the result is no pain.
Next was the back end of the bike. After a little scrubbing with paint remover, the CAAD4 swing arm went to American Dry Stripping in Milford to have the remaining orange paint removed. They used plastic beads to remove the paint and glass bead to provide a consistent satin finish. Once I got it back, a few coats of diamond clear was applied. I was able to press in the Enduro 6903 2RS pivot bearings using a long bolt and sockets. I did however anticipate a problem with the original swing arm. The brake line mounting tab on the arm enclosed the hydraulic line to the rear caliper. Since I intended to reuse the brake caliper, the hose would have to be cut at the reservoir end and that meant having to bleed the system later. What a pain since I now had to find replacement line fittings for reassembly. Cambria Bikes again helped with that too by having the parts in stock. The original swing arm was removed once I had the brake parts ready. The CAAD4 replacement swing arm was installed without any problems and the pivot mounting bolt was torqued to 240 in-lbs (20 ft-lbs). The caliper bolted up fine and the hose reattached with the new parts at the reservoir. The Fox DHX Air bolted right up to the frame and swing arm mounting points. These bolts were torqued to 106 in-lbs (8.8 ft-lbs) to complete the work. This upgrade to Uber status couldn't have been done without the great advice from Russ (MTBR/rw240) in upstate New York.
For the rear shock, I started out with the minimum boost valve pressure of 125psi and set the main air spring to get about a half inch of sag on the shock piston (25%). The rebound was set so that a roll off a curb would cause the bike to rebound to the neutral position naturally with no big bounce or kickback. Adjustments can be made if the rear suspension is bottoming out frequently by turning up the bottom-out. It usually only requires the end of a #4 allen wrench in the holes on the dial.
The fork pressure was set to about 60 PSI to get about 20% sag. The rebound was set such that the fork and rear shock compress and rebound at the same rate. The fork can be adjusted if I feel the front is diving excessively under braking by adding a couple of clicks of compression damping.
The original wheels were reinstalled and a few adjustments made to the disc brake pads. The first ride was out in the front yard and everything felt great. A few adjustments were made to the suspension and I was ready to go out on the trails in Trumbull.
In summary, the results were outstanding. The two other guys from work that I frequently rode with were very impressed. I couldn't believe it myself. The bike climbed and rode over rocks and roots like a mountain goat. It was night and day from before. I was easily able to pass my riding buddies with little difficulty over rough terrain. The results were so impressive that one them bought a new full suspension bike the next day.
I knew that my more aggressive riding style was going to get the better of the original wheels. It was only a matter of time before the XC designed rims would fail. By now I was doing two foot drops. Late in October I ordered a set of Industry Nine wheels with Mavic 819 UST rims from Smart Cycles in Norwalk. The owner Alex was very helpful and made it easy to buy the UST based wheels. I had pinch flatted the tubes a few times before and didn't enjoy getting eaten by mosquitoes while replacing them on the trail. The UST tubeless design seemed like the way to go. After a six week wait, they arrived in late December.
The hunt was on for a suitable UST tire. Based on reviews and various discussions found on the MTBR forums, I ordered a set of Schwalbe UST Albert tires. I put a Fat Albert 2.35 up front and an Albert 2.25 in the rear. The CAAD4 swing arm has just enough clearance for the 2.25 tire. It may be problematic if rocks get stuck between the knobbies and hit the swing arm so a newer style arm from a 2003 or later Jekyll may be needed. With my weight at 165 pounds, setting the Albert's tire pressure to 26 PSI in the front and 30 PSI in the rear makes for a smooth ride and provides extra grip on rocks and roots.
All I can say is while the single pivot swing arm technology may be dated when compared to today's multi-link designs, the Cannondale "Uber" V900 is a capable and fun mountain bike. It still has the radical Cannondale Super V design and yet climbs like a possessed mountain lion. I'll run this bike for many years and have no reason to replace it. It is a Cannondale Uber V that I'm sure that my Dad would have approved of.
Specifications
* Frame Size & Color: Cannondale Super V900, Large, Industrial Gray
* Fork: 2007 Fox Talas II 32 RLC 140/120/100 (5.5 inches = 140mm)
* Rear Shock: 2008 Fox DHX 5.0 Air 7.5 x 2 w/ProPedal providing 6 inches of travel
* Front Brake: 2008 Magura Louise BAT (hydraulic) w/203mm Venti-disc rotor
* Rear Brake: 2008 Magura Louise BAT (hydraulic) w/180mm Venti-disc rotor
* Cranks: Coda 5 arm spider (~56mm bolt spacing = 94 BCD)
* Shifters: GripShift Quartz
* Front Derailleur: Shimano LX
* Rear Derailleur: Shimano XT
* Pedals: Time ATAC
* Stem: Thomson 90mm 5 degree
* Handlebar: Answer ProTaper 2" riser
* Seatpost: Coda
* Saddle: Coda
* Bottom Bracket: 68 x 113 square taper
* Chainrings: 22-32 (2x9)
* Cassette: Shimano CS-HG70-9 11-32
* Chain: Shimano CN-HG73
* Headset: Chris King
* Grips: Yellow
* Front Tire: UST Fat Albert 2.35
* Front Rim: UST Mavic 819 Disc
* Front Hub: Industry Nine Enduro QR
* Skewers: Shimano M970 XTR
* Rear Tire: UST Albert 2.25
* Rear Rim: Mavic 819 Disc
* Rear Hub: Industry Nine Enduro QR with fast engagement
* Weight: 30.82 lbs w/o saddlebag
Upgrade Wishlist
*
2008 Shimano XT Crankset 44T 175mm FC-M770 w/ BB
*
SRAM X.0 9spd rear trigger shifter
*
2007 Shimano XTR Cassette CS-M970 9-speed 11-34T
*
SRAM X.0 rear derailleur - short-cage