A Cannondale Rush beach cruiser?

A couple days out of the office and work sure does pile up. I am in catch up mode right now; so normal posting will resume next week. If you sent me an email in the past week or so, I’ll get back to you eventually. Anyway, the beach was great and crowds were nonexistent. High temps were in the mid 80s and the water was perfect. I love visiting the gulf coast this time of year.

As you might be able to guess, I am always checking out bikes when I travel. I enjoy seeing the way that people set up their bikes and this is one that immediately caught my attention. A super wide gel-filled double sprung saddle is not what you would expect to see on a Cannondale Rush with a Lefty fork. I thought it was amusing to see this bike parked amongst a bunch of cruisers with similar “comfort” saddles. Talk about overkill; I get the impression that this full suspension bike functions as a glorified beach cruiser and never sees any riding off the bike path. Of course, I could be wrong. Either way, I can’t stand saddles like this. A firm seat keeps the rider from bouncing from side to side and is always more comfortable for rides over a mile. If anyone disagrees and wants to defend big cushy saddles, I’d love to hear an argument as to why they are better. I doubt that I will be swapping my Flite or Era saddles anytime soon, but I am willing to hear you out.

This is completely unrelated, but check out this ten-minute video of manufacturing in a Japanese bike factory if you haven’t already seen it. I watched it on Cyclelicious after Fritz spotted it on Spinopsys.


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8 responses to “A Cannondale Rush beach cruiser?”

  1. Olivier Blanchard Avatar
    Olivier Blanchard

    I favor banana seats.

  2. Fritz Avatar
    Fritz

    I occasionally ride comfort bikes with big saddles and they are literally a pain in the rear to ride.

    Thanks for the link love!

  3. James Avatar
    James

    Oh yeah, banana seats are the best, especially for popping wheelies.

    And one more vote against “comfort” saddles. Thanks Fritz.

  4. Olivier Blanchard Avatar
    Olivier Blanchard

    If you have an exceptionally wide bottom, maybe? I run into tons of people for whom a 155mm saddle just won’t cut it.

  5. James Avatar
    James

    True, and for those people a product like the 175mm wide Specialized body geometry saddle might be just right. I think that offering saddles in a range of widths is a good thing. It is really just the soft, cushy gel saddles that I am against. If your sit bones fit correctly on a firm saddle of the proper width, then you are going to experience less discomfort than if you are bouncing all over the place with each pedal stroke.

  6. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    That looks like artisan craftmaship compared to the CCM frames that i saw being built on “How It’s Made”. They use keyed steel frames -they droped a slug of braze down the seat tube key in the other peice and heat’em with a gas torch.
    –oh Canada,
    Thathertz

  7. Olivier Blanchard Avatar
    Olivier Blanchard

    Along the same line of logic, Western saddles are less comfortable than the more minimalist English saddles. It’s just science.

  8. Will Avatar
    Will

    Two years ago I rode a Rush 600, bone stock, to qualify for nationals in SEC mountain biking. Seeing a Rush with a couch saddle on it makes my ears go red!

    The only thing worse than this are the people who buy the P3 with Zipp 1080s and a skinsuit, but weight 300 lbs and waddle up and down the Silver Comet Trail looking like a tick about to pop!

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