Pickle Factory
A loft above an old pickle factory was the location of Cannondale's first formal offices and manufacturing site. First to make a bicycle trailer, Cannondale has pioneered bicycle technology.
The Name
In 1971, Peter Meyers of the as-yet-unnamed company was ordering telephone service for the factory and headquarters from a nearby pay phone. When asked the name of the company, he looked at the sign of the nearby Cannondale, Connecticut, train station and found his response.
First Bicycles
Introduced in 1983, the first Cannondale was a touring bike. The company followed this model with a road bike the same year and a mountain bike in 1984. They took the bicycle world by storm using lightweight, oversize aluminum tubes for the frames that were lighter and stronger than other bicycle frames of the time.
Successes
Having great success sponsoring mountain and road-cycling teams, Cannondale has more than a dozen world championship medals in mountain biking, World Cup overall series championships, two Olympic medals, and several stage wins in the Tour de France.
Today
Each Cannondale is handcrafted at its production facility in Bedford, Pennsylvania. With corporate headquarters in Bethel, Connecticut, and subsidiaries in Holland, Japan and Australia, Cannondale has become an internationally recognized bicycle company.
Article Written By Eric Cedric
A former Alaskan of 20 years, Eric Cedric now resides in California. He's published in "Outside" and "Backpacker" and has written a book on life in small-town Alaska, "North by Southeast." Cedric was a professional mountain guide and backcountry expedition leader for 18 years. He worked in Russia, Iceland, Greece, Turkey and Belize. Cedric attended Syracuse University and is a private pilot.
