Renowned Names Start Sourcing in Asia

BETHEL, US (April 19) – Colnago and Cannondale are the two renowned names that start sourcing frames in Asia. At this year’s Taipei Cycle Show Colnago announced that it will step into the mid-end of the road racing market. In order to be competitive in that market segment, Colnago will have the mid range aluminum and aluminum/carbon frames produced in Giant's plant in Taichung, Taiwan. After Colnago, Cannondale is the second major 'handmade' player that announces Asian production. Synapse is the name of a new road bike by Cannondale. It puts the company in the new era – it's the first full carbon frame with C'dale logo and it is the first C'dale frame that will not be produced in the factory in Bedford. The exact location of production is not known, but it is somewhere in Asia (most likely in Taiwan). Chris Peck, director of R&D and lead engineer, explained that the new carbon manufacturer has a high quality of production and that the Bedford plant is not equipped for carbon production. It took 18 months to design the Synapse and it will fill the gap between racing and sports road bikes. Weight of the frame will be less than 1100 grams, and the bike has the PAVE technology that we know from the Scalpel model.(GS)