While working on a project for Marion County about family-friendly hiking and biking trails, my vintage Cannondale Super V 1000 mountain bike made its final ride. After riding it for so many years, I will miss it.
It’s an example of planned obsolescence. The bike was built using a shock that was only around for a few years. After much searching, I learned that replacement shocks and rebuild kits are no longer available, and the mounting points were unique to this model Cannondale bike. So it’s impossible to repair it. After consulting a couple of local bike shops, it was strongly suggested that I begin my search for a replacement.
While we were at Santos, the friendly folks at Santos Bike shop gave me a great rental deal, and I was off on a ride on the Santos Trails right out their back door. It was my first ride on a full suspension 27.5″ mountain bike. I loved it!
If we lived closer to Santos I would have bought the same bike right then. Yes, the bike industry has made many improvements since my Cannondale Super V was the cutting edge of technology in the late 1990s. Bigger wheels, dialed-in suspension, more gears, and hydraulic brakes. Oh my.
I still had a couple more trails to ride for our Marion County project after my Cannondale started leaking all over the roof of the car. So I opted to ride the Trek that Sandy has been using. She found it on Craigslist a few years ago. When I lifted it onto our roof rack I immediately felt the difference between her bike and mine. Her bike is a tank!
I finished the rest of the rides on her old Trek. I’d love to have a bike like the Giant XTC Advanced I rode Santos with, but for now, where we live, it would be a waste of a really good bike. We just don’t have enough offroad trails where we live.