# ordered my caad9-4 today.....



## learlove (Jan 18, 2009)

put in my order for a caad9-4. 54cm, red, 53/39 crank.

the shop called cdale and they only had 2 matching the above left. so now there is one. the shop said cdale said that the next batch of red 9-4 would be available in JAN.

I'm pretty much going to leave everything stock except the stem and bars. I have a ritchey stem (120cm) and 46cm bars (I have wide shoulders). Grey Look (old style) for pedals.

Training wheels will be 36h open pros with conti 4 season and I will save the stock wheels for special rides or racing.

will post pics.


----------



## fortyhands (Mar 1, 2009)

*I just received mine a couple of weeks ago...*

Picked up the 56cm black a few weeks ago myself and I absolutely love it. Light and stiff.

I had some shifting issues after nearly a week of light rides. Shifter cables stretched and I had to adjust them a bit.

Stock stem was supposed to be a C2 according to the website, but when it arrived it was a C3. I haven't had a chance to inquire about that, though and it isn't important to you if you're just swapping the stem out.

I can't seem to figure out a way to get rid of that warning label on the frame (stands out like a sore thumb on black).

Also, I'm not sure if I should degrease the chain. It appears that the stock grease/chain has picked up a ton of dirt. Should I be wary of the stock chain treatment? Could this cause premature wear an tear on the cogs?

Awesome bike - you'll love it.


----------



## electech (Aug 7, 2009)

I'm jealous!!! I will be ordering a red 9-4, probably in 50 cm with the compact crankset. Would love to do it now but it will have to wait till after the first of the year. Call me sentimental but I want one last C'dale that is USA made!!


----------



## Hank Stamper (Sep 9, 2009)

fortyhands said:


> I can't seem to figure out a way to get rid of that warning label on the frame (stands out like a sore thumb on black).
> 
> Also, I'm not sure if I should degrease the chain. It appears that the stock grease/chain has picked up a ton of dirt. Should I be wary of the stock chain treatment? Could this cause premature wear an tear on the cogs?
> 
> Awesome bike - you'll love it.


-The warning label is below the clear coat. Don't even bother trying unless you want to repaint the bike.

-From what I've read generally most bike companies send the bike out of the factory with really good lube and you should leave it. However if you've got a ton of dirt it's time to clean it regardless of the quality of lube that collected it.


----------



## mtbbmet (Apr 2, 2005)

You can wipe the chain down with a cleaner, but do not soak it. That goopy stuff is good for it.


----------



## fazzman (Mar 12, 2008)

Im looking into a 9-4 also in the near future. What is the stock weight of the bike? No pedals or cages.


----------



## squareslinky (Aug 13, 2009)

I am looking at the 9-4 as well. This would be my first road bike. I have been doing a little reading on sram versus the 105, is it worth it for a new rider? It appears there are very different opinions on these and I am now doubting if I will be able to tell any difference for the cost.

I really like the red, but the blue 9-5 is also quite appealing.


----------



## electech (Aug 7, 2009)

I think the 9-4 is worth the $300 personally. The SRAM weighs close to a pound less from what I have read and the 9-4 crankset is way nice. I thought I read that the 9-4 has a lighter stem also but I don't know that for sure


----------



## zsir (Nov 14, 2008)

I have a red 9 4 54cm compact crank set ..... the chain lube was a dirt/grit magnet....I did the unthinkable :wink: removed it , soaked ,cleaned , soak some more then dried it in the oven .... relubed with triflow .... feel alot better about it now.

I believe stock they weigh around 17.8 - 18 lbs ..... I put rival calipers and neuvation wheels and speedplays on my bike first thing it weighs 16.7 lbs . I don't think any of the 9 4's are shipping with a C2 stem despite what the web specs are. The c2 is 70xx series aluminum the c3 is 60xx so the c2 is a tiny bit lighter .


----------



## mtbbmet (Apr 2, 2005)

Yeah, I guess you know more than this guy.....

http://www.velonews.com/article/73002


----------



## zsir (Nov 14, 2008)

mtbbmet said:


> Yeah, I guess you know more than this guy.....
> 
> http://www.velonews.com/article/73002


hey I didn't mean to give the impression that I know everything . I read up on it myself before I did it. Actually it's a kmc chain and kmc doesn't reccomend you soak em. But it was a dirty sticky gritty looking mess and it also accumulates on the cassette and crank sprockets. Now it's clean shinny and lubed to my satisfaction. If it fails in 1000 miles I'll post back, otherwise I feel a lot better about it and thats all I care about.


----------



## learlove (Jan 18, 2009)

picked the bike up today. got it home and slapped a set of looks on, adjusted the seat and got out before it poured down and got too dark. About 20 minutes. It ride like my 2009 caad9. I like the 54 size over the 52 I had before. if anything off the short ride it may be slightly big but then the 52 was slightly small. They need to make the 53 again.

took it inside and took the stock bars off and replaced them with my ritchey bar/stem. 

this was the first time I've ridden sram. shifters will take some getting used to. I like the fact that you can pull the shift lever to the bar and shift but i don't like the 'move a little to shift one way and more to shift the other".

The crank looks awesome.

If I find I don't like the rival I save my ultegra from the 52cm caad9 I just sold so I can always toss it on and just leave the force crank.

pic when i get my digital camera fixed or have to buy a new one.


----------



## learlove (Jan 18, 2009)

got in a few more miles today between heavy downpours. Like the frame, Sram - not so much.

in the process now of putting the ultegra left over from my 09 caad9. i will leave the force crank and rival fr. derailleur (it is the exact same thing as my ultegra one). Leavers, calipers, read derailleur, cassette are all ultrgra. The stock wheel I'm save for special rides and "race wheels" (if I ever race again) but my day to day wheels for this bike will be velocity deep vee, bladed spokes, velocity hubs, conti force/attack tires.

I also rode my Merckx Leader between riding the caad9 today to compare. I have the position of the caad9 set up to match the Merckx. BTW the merckx is a 52cm and measures the same as the 54 caad9, except the tt on the merckx is a half cm shorter. The caad9 has a half cm shorter stem to make the diff.

anyway, back to the basement to finish the caad9.


----------



## asad137 (Jul 29, 2009)

Just curious -- why did you buy a 9-4 instead of the 9-5? You didn't have a chance to try out ANY SRAM-equipped bike before placing your order? 

Asad


----------



## wankski (Jul 24, 2005)

i'm sure u'll like it ... rival is superior to previous gen ultegra... force bb30 is an awesome upgrade...

if u find u can't live with the clunky FD, remove, fleabay it and replace with 6700 or even 7900 FD.

sram FD just sucks. happily it's among any gruppos cheapest items. and easily swapped.


----------



## wankski (Jul 24, 2005)

learlove said:


> got in a few more miles today between heavy downpours. Like the frame, Sram - not so much.
> 
> in the process now of putting the ultegra left over from my 09 caad9. i will leave the force crank and rival fr. derailleur (it is the exact same thing as my ultegra one). Leavers, calipers, read derailleur, cassette are all ultrgra.


ha, funny. just read this now after my previous post. Unusual response to say the least. Sure u wont give it more time to adjust - what exactly are you not happy with?


----------



## zsir (Nov 14, 2008)

learlove said:


> got in a few more miles today between heavy downpours. Like the frame, Sram - not so much.
> 
> in the process now of putting the ultegra left over from my 09 caad9. i will leave the force crank and rival fr. derailleur (it is the exact same thing as my ultegra one). Leavers, calipers, read derailleur, cassette are all ultrgra. The stock wheel I'm save for special rides and "race wheels" (if I ever race again) but my day to day wheels for this bike will be velocity deep vee, bladed spokes, velocity hubs, conti force/attack tires.
> 
> .


I went from ultegra to rival.... do what feels right but I have to say no way would I go back to shimano....The rival FD is kinda a weak point but I've figured it out and have no problems with it .... the rival RD is great I love it ...even upshifts under power if i need it to....the RD shifter just came very naturally for me....and when I think about the weight savings over shimano I can't help but smile......:thumbsup: BTW I also installed rival calipers and their performance is better than ultegra IMHO......


----------



## wankski (Jul 24, 2005)

zsir said:


> I went from ultegra to rival.... do what feels right but I have to say no way would I go back to shimano....The rival FD is kinda a weak point......


yea, that's what i'm talking about... the typical experience.


----------



## asad137 (Jul 29, 2009)

I have a full Rival setup on my bike and have had zero problems with the FD. The consensus seems to be that the SRAM FD's are tricky to adjust correctly, but mine apparently is adjusted correctly because it works great -- no rub in all 10 rear cogs in the big chainring (with the trim), the lowest 8 in the small chainring, and no problems up or downshifting.

Asad


----------



## zamboni (Sep 11, 2003)

Try Campy you won't go back t Shimano or Sram.


----------



## wankski (Jul 24, 2005)

asad137 said:


> I have a full Rival setup on my bike and have had zero problems with the FD. The consensus seems to be that the SRAM FD's are tricky to adjust correctly, but mine apparently is adjusted correctly because it works great -- no rub in all 10 rear cogs in the big chainring (with the trim), the lowest 8 in the small chainring, and no problems up or downshifting.
> 
> Asad


it does work, but its clunky as all hell... FD performance of SRAM is the poorest of the big 3, but i still highly rate the gruppo. BB30 option in a fairly priced force crankset is a great feature IMO.


----------



## learlove (Jan 18, 2009)

here it is - got my digital camera to work but the bat was low so just some quick ones. still have to cut the steer tube and the tape was from my 09 blue caad9. i will put white on soon but i don't think the grey/silver looks too bad - matches the pedals.

The build is force bb30 crank, ultegra (shifters, calipers, rear derailleur), rival fd, velocity deep vee wheels, ritchey bar/stem.


----------



## PigmyRacer (Oct 3, 2007)

Nice looking bike. I personally think that BB30 is a waste because it really limits your options but it still looks damn good.


----------



## David Loving (Jun 13, 2008)

very nice!


----------



## zamboni (Sep 11, 2003)

That is not true BB30 is a great crank light & stiff since Cannondale created it 10 yrs ago now Sram & Specialize is catching up with BB30 on their own.


----------



## zsir (Nov 14, 2008)

PigmyRacer said:


> Nice looking bike. I personally think that BB30 is a waste because it really limits your options but it still looks damn good.


heavier options anyway............ :wink:


----------



## Opus51569 (Jul 21, 2009)

Personally, I like the look of the gray tape. When the white on my bike wears out, I think I'll be looking for something similar. JMHO.


----------



## Workhorse (Nov 28, 2005)

Orderd my 4 two weeks ago and it wont be in until December  Mine will be stock + my Specialized Toupe saddle and an un-determined crit race wheelset.


----------



## Hooben (Aug 22, 2004)

I stopped riding Cannondales because of the warning label.


----------



## zsir (Nov 14, 2008)

: Has anyone ordered their 9 4 from REI? Red compact $100 less than what I paid and $170 back at the end of the year. :mad2:


----------



## w0ahitsm3 (Oct 1, 2009)

Ordered my bike late september. They said it would arrive early november. It came in last week on monday, but not able to pick it up till this saturday. Cant wait. 50cm compact in BBQ. First thing to change is throwing on my 2010 Toupe.


----------



## electech (Aug 7, 2009)

Someone posted the weight of the 9-4 as around 18 pounds but I have seen other threads here with the 9-4 hanging from scales, with pedals and cages at under 16 pounds. Why the big difference or is one weight a guess and the other a true weight from the scale? I am getting antsy to go place my order for the 9-4 NOW!!!! I will need the 50 cm size and I will be getting the red one. Didn't much care for the BBQ color in a road bike. I wish they had the black/blue/white color on some of the Synapse bikes.


----------



## mtbbmet (Apr 2, 2005)

There is no way that a stock 9-4, even without pedals and cages, is anywhere close to being under 16lbs. We have a couple on the floor, 18Lbs stock is what you are looking at.


----------



## RUV (Aug 13, 2009)

Electech, I think that 9-4 you are referring to had upgrades. Also someone posted that his CAAD9-1 was ~16obs, My stock 9-4 was 17.8 lbs w/o pedals or cages. A sweet bike-- you'll love yours.


----------



## mtbbmet (Apr 2, 2005)

RUV said:


> Electech, I think that 9-4 you are referring to had upgrades. Also someone posted that his CAAD9-1 was ~16obs, My stock 9-4 was 17.8 lbs w/o pedals or cages. A sweet bike-- you'll love yours.


You would have to do some pretty substantial upgrades to get a 9-4 down to under 16Lbs with cages and pedals. I also think the 9-1 is 16 without pedals. Not saying you can't get a 9-4 to be under 16Lbs, but you would have to throw so much money at it that you may as well have bought a 9-1.


----------



## RUV (Aug 13, 2009)

I agree, mtbbmet. 

It was zsir whose 9-4 was under 17 (16.7) lbs hanging from the scale. Neuvation wheels, rival calipers, and something else. I'll defer any further commentary about such matters to zsir himself.


----------



## mtbbmet (Apr 2, 2005)

I saw that. I would like to see a picture that shows the scale AND the front wheel being clearly off of the ground. IOW, I don't belive it.


----------



## Zachariah (Jan 29, 2009)

Its very possible a BB30 CAAD 9/4 is under 18lbs stock, which is still impressive for a sub $2000 bike. 

My non-BB30 2009 CAAD 9/7 is currently 16.4lbs in 50cm with full Ultegra and Ksyrium SSC SLs.


----------



## mtbbmet (Apr 2, 2005)

Zachariah said:


> Its very possible a BB30 CAAD 9/4 is under 18lbs stock, which is still impressive for a sub $2000 bike.
> 
> My non-BB30 2009 CAAD 9/7 is currently 16.4lbs in 50cm with full Ultegra and Ksyrium SSC SLs.


We weighed a 52cm 9-4 last week. 17.2 Lbs out of the box, no pedals. Add pedals and some cages and you are at 18Lbs. Still light, as said.


----------



## asad137 (Jul 29, 2009)

mtbbmet said:


> We weighed a 52cm 9-4 last week. 17.2 Lbs out of the box, no pedals. Add pedals and some cages and you are at 18Lbs. Still light, as said.


I often wonder how well the various scales that people use are calibrated, and how often the calibration is checked. Not saying that yours isn't accurate, but we see lots of weights posted by lots of people, and comparing them might be a bit misleading.

asad


----------



## asad137 (Jul 29, 2009)

mtbbmet said:


> We weighed a 52cm 9-4 last week. 17.2 Lbs out of the box, no pedals. Add pedals and some cages and you are at 18Lbs. Still light, as said.


I often wonder how well the various scales that people use are calibrated, and how often the calibration is checked. Not saying that yours isn't accurate, but we see lots of weights posted by lots of people, and comparing them might be a bit misleading.

asad


----------



## mtbbmet (Apr 2, 2005)

asad137 said:


> I often wonder how well the various scales that people use are calibrated, and how often the calibration is checked. Not saying that yours isn't accurate, but we see lots of weights posted by lots of people, and comparing them might be a bit misleading.
> 
> asad


I agree with this 100%. I do technical work in the medical field and one of my responsibilities is the calibration of patient scales in dialysis units. Scales are designed to be acurate to within +-100g in the range of 40-400kg. These are very expensive scales ($5000) and they are constantly out of spec and in need of calibration. So I agree that someone using a $50 scale to say there bike is 16.32Lbs is likely going to be wrong on the actual weight. Also, battery life has an effect on scale acuracy in some cases. So your 16lb bike could be 16.7 if you have new batteries.
For the record, the bike was weighed with a brand new, two day old, Park scale.


----------



## electech (Aug 7, 2009)

Thanks for the information. The important thing is that the 9-4 will be several pounds lighter than my current Giant Rapid 3!!! I haven't weighed it yet buy I believe on some of the hills around here it has to be about 35 pounds!!! LOL!!!


----------



## windling (Dec 24, 2009)

I was just at my LBS and we put a 58 CAAD9 4 bone stock on the spring scale and was 17.5
I fount out that the BBQ in 52 won't be available until mid March. AAAAAARHHGGGG, Oh well I can wait. Not so big on the red for some reason.


----------



## caadmatt (Nov 29, 2009)

mtbbmet said:


> We weighed a 52cm 9-4 last week. 17.2 Lbs out of the box, no pedals. Add pedals and some cages and you are at 18Lbs. Still light, as said.


This is very interesting because I just got a 2010 CAAD9 5 a few weeks ago in 52cm. My LBS that I bought it from hung it from their scale and the bike weighed 18.2 Lbs out of the box. This would make sense because the Sram Rival component group is almost exactly 1 Lb lighter than the 105 group.


----------



## STARNUT (Jun 19, 2005)

PigmyRacer said:


> Nice looking bike. I personally think that BB30 is a waste because it really limits your options but it still looks damn good.



Uh... wrong.

The new reducer from Wheels Manufacturing allows you to run a 24mm non-tapered cranks (shimano) in a BB30 frame without the sleeve. Campy makes one for their Ultratorque stuff two. The interesting part is that this option uses the 6806 BB30 bearing and this part slips into the bearings. You no longer need a Shimano BB. Additionally, this is lighter than a standard set-up in a 68mm shell frame with a shimano BB. 

It would appear with this option, the campy one, and the FSA one to be released soon, you have _*MORE*_ options for cranks since you can then choose BB30 or standard. As of yet there is not a commercially sold converter to go the other direction so that you can run a BB30 crank in a 68mm frame, thus limiting your choices.

You are correct, the big azz spindles do look cool.

OT: The 9-4 is, likely, the best bang for the buck out. It is an excellent base to start from and the weight can be brought down quickly with cockpit component changes. 

Starnut


----------



## hoogerland (Sep 18, 2009)

I ordered my 9-4 in mid December and was told mid January. I'm dieing to get the bike as I sold my old road bike already. 

I have some parts from my old bike that I will put on the CAAD.
Wheels: training set is a DT Swiss 1.1 with 240 hubs and Mich3s, racing is 50mm tubulars with Veloflex carbons
Stem: Ritchey WCS
Bars: FSA K-Force light
Seat: Terry Zero Y
Brakes: Kurve
Cassette: 11-28 Red

I'm thinking this bike will be in the low 16s maybe high 15s when I'm done. First race is middle March.


----------



## Zachariah (Jan 29, 2009)

hoogerland said:


> I ordered my 9-4 in mid December and was told mid January. I'm dieing to get the bike as I sold my old road bike already.
> 
> I have some parts from my old bike that I will put on the CAAD.
> Wheels: training set is a DT Swiss 1.1 with 240 hubs and Mich3s, racing is 50mm tubulars with Veloflex carbons
> ...


Thats easily done. My non-BB30 2009 CAAD 9-7 is 16.6lbs with full Ultegra and 300g, Time-made Slice Si fork. I remember the wait KILLED me too!:


----------



## learlove (Jan 18, 2009)

Zach, 

what size is your caad9?


----------



## zamboni (Sep 11, 2003)

Zachariah said:


> Thats easily done. My non-BB30 2009 CAAD 9-7 is 16.6lbs with full Ultegra and 300g, Time-made Slice Si fork. I remember the wait KILLED me too!:


Zac,

If have the original fork the weight won't be 16.6 lbs.


----------



## Zachariah (Jan 29, 2009)

learlove said:


> Zach,
> 
> what size is your caad9?


Its a 50cm.


----------

