Quote Originally Posted by Tri Girl View Post
I don't know, but it's something I've been wondering for a few years now. I, too, have a Cannondale F5 (but from '07). I'm like a slug on that thing, but can ride my friends Salsa mtn bike (that is about the same weight) with SO much less effort. I'm perplexed. The shop I bought it from fit me to it so I'm certain it's the right size (they've fit my other 3 bikes just perfectly).
Makes me wish I'd never gotten rid of my old crappy rigid Trek mtn bike....
Which spec. level is yours? Granted, mine is not the top of the line for the model, but it definitely wasn't a truly "entry level" bike, either. I've been told that the fork, alone, would probably have been a $350 fork. A mix of SRAM X5 and X7 is not crap, either.

But for the life of me I cannot figure out how the F5 was Cannondale's top-selling mountain bike at the time if they all were this doggy.

I have ridden with a friend who rides a heavy full-suspension mtn. bike and leaves me in the dust when I'm on my F5. On CX and road bikes of similar quality and weight we are very nearly perfectly matched in terms of speed at comparable effort. You'd never know we have similar fitness levels to see us ride mountain bikes together.