Thursday February 4, 6:20 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Cannondale
Major U.S. Bike-Maker
Offers Custom-Built Bicycles; Connecticut
Company Follows Lead Of Levis, Gateway
Computers
BETHEL, Conn., Feb. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Connecticut-based Cannondale
(Nasdaq: BIKE - news), a $171 million maker of high-end road and mountain
bikes, has launched an aggressive program to capture a lucrative segment of the
bicycle market that historically has been off-limits to the big-name bike
companies: custom-made road racing frames built to customers' precise physical
dimensions. Long the province of independent craftsmen toiling with welding
torches in cramped workshops, customized road racing frames command a
premium price by delivering superior performance, endurance and comfort
through improved rider ergonomics. The move by Cannondale reflects a growing
trend toward customization among manufacturers. In recent years, Levi-Strauss,
Gateway Computers, Dell Computers, Vermont Teddy Bears and a host of other
companies have all begun offering customized products.
Cannondale's new ''Custom Cannondale'' program offers cyclists more than 8
million possible combinations of frame tube lengths, frame angles, paint colors,
decals and more, plus the option of having the frame personalized with a decal
bearing the customer's name. What's more, says Cannondale Director of
Communications Tom Armstrong, Cannondale is offering vastly superior
technology to that of the standard custom frame builder.
''The traditional custom frame builder is limited to using chrome-moly steel tubes
because they're easy to weld and don't require heat-treating,'' explained
Armstrong. Cannondale, on the other hand, is using large-diameter 6061-T6
aluminum tubes that are lighter and less prone to flexing than chrome-moly
tubes. The resulting aluminum frames are lighter and more efficient, although
they must be heat-treated in massive ovens. ''Heat-treating ovens are incredibly
expensive, and the process itself is extremely difficult to perfect,'' said
Armstrong. ''Heat-treated aluminum frames are superior to chrome-moly frames,
but they're simply not a practical option for a small-scale frame builder.''
And just how big is the market for custom-made frames? No hard statistics exist,
but Cannondale is looking to do especially well in Europe where they have a
commanding presence and cycling is second only to soccer in popularity. The
company also has high hopes for the U.S. market, where custom frames appeal to
serious road racers looking to maximize their performance. Custom frames are
also popular with taller riders, shorter riders, and women cyclists who all
typically have difficulty finding a proper fit with standard off-the-rack bicycles.
Cannondale will also sell custom frames in Australia, Canada and Japan in 1999,
with plans to expand in 2000 into the remainder of the 60-plus countries where
they currently sell their products. It is also possible that Cannondale may
ultimately broaden the program to include customized mountain bike frames.
While Armstrong declined to discuss specific sales projections, he did say that
the custom program represents a ''substantial'' opportunity for the company.
Cannondale has actually been making several hundred customized frames each
year since 1994, supplying custom-fitted bikes to the professional road and
mountain bike racers the company sponsors. The custom road bikes that
Cannondale is offering to its customers will be crafted with the same patented
flexible manufacturing process.
A customer interested in purchasing a custom Cannondale first visits a
participating Cannondale retailer, who will help them determine his or her
optimum frame dimensions. The customer will also specify their choice of paint
colors, decal options, personalized decals and gloss or matte finish. The dealer
will then enter the customer's choices on a virtual framebuilding tool on
Cannondale's web site, then print the order and fax it to Cannondale.
At Cannondale's Bedford, Pennsylvania, factory, the customer's choices are
entered into a CAD-CAM computer that automatically calculates the specific
tube lengths and miters required to make the custom frame. The tubes are then
precisely cut and mitered by computer-guided lasers that build self-fixturing
tab-and-slot joints into the frame. With the tabs and corresponding slots
aligning the tubes, the tubes are tack-welded and finish-welded into a bicycle
frame that is then heat-treated, machined, sanded, cleaned, painted, decaled,
clear-coated, and shipped out to the customer. Cannondale's sophisticated
production process tracks each custom frame through every step of production,
completes the custom frame within a six-week lead time, and -- perhaps most
remarkably -- does so without disrupting production of the hundreds of
thousands of other bicycles Cannondale produces each year.
The Cannondale program stacks up well against the offerings of traditional
custom frame builders. At $1,399.00 (a $400.00 up-charge from its standard
CAAD4 road frame), Cannondale's custom frame is competitively priced with
other made-to-order frames. The company's 8 million-plus options offer far more
choices than most custom shops can match, and Cannondale's six-week lead time
is far better than typical custom builders who can make cyclists wait as much as
six months for their new frame. And as stated above, Cannondale's aluminum
frames are both lighter and more efficient (less flex-resistant) than the
chrome-moly frames offered by traditional custom frame builders.
Customers interested in learning more about the Custom Cannondale program
should visit the company's web site, at cannondale.com. The web
site contains a detailed explanation of the custom frame ordering process, an
on-line factory tour, and a frame building function that lets prospective
customers create their own virtual custom frame.
Contact for additional information or for images: Tom Armstrong, 203-749-7174.
SOURCE: Cannondale |
