Farewell Cannondale. So long and thanks for all the rides...

Dorel is busy consolidating its bike biz into "centres of excellence" and will be moving 100 percent of Cannondale's manufacturing oversease to its Taichung, Taiwan facility.

I can't say that I'm really surprised. I was waiting for this bomb to drop ever since Dorel bought up Cannondale. (C'mon, Dorel?! Don't they make training wheels or handlebar streamers or somthing??) To me, when that happened, Cannondale's brand value went into the toilet.

Now it's been completely flushed and is rapidly degrading in the septic tank.

I bought three Cannondale bikes BECAUSE of how they were made. I bought into the story of Cannondale. I loved (still love) my bikes for that. Some years ago Bicycling magazine published a story about Cannondale and we got to see the folks that built, sanded, painted and assembled the bikes. That article reaffirmed my love of Cannondale and their bikes.

*sigh*

Dorel -- I don't care how much money they make every year -- has absolutely NO IDEA how to deal with brand equity. Yeah, Cannondale really shot itself in the foot by making motorcycles under the Cannondale flag and paid dearly for that. I mean that was pretty much the beginning of the end for Cannondale -- a serious blow -- but it didn't change the way they made their bikes.

Goodbye Cannondale. It's been a fun ride.

Go read the full story here:

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/cannondale-closing-us-production-facilities-21101