Cannondale M800 Beast of the East vs M900

Rbruce63

Dirt Disciple
Chaps I am here to ask about the virtues of the sloping frame design and the hot name (for those of us who went to school in New England, perhaps if I attended school in sunny Sacramento, CA I might be asking about a Hell of the West bike) of the Beast of the East M800 vs the more traditional frame design of the M900. What are the benefits of the sloping frame vs the straight frame? Should I invest (if I can manage to source a Beast of the East M800 in the States) to have something different than my M400?

I come from a humble beginning of a Huffy 10 speed 26" that I bought with my first salary doing calendar work at a local printshop ages ago, then I evolved into a Benotto 27" 10 speed and did training in her in the late 1970´s. Then went to graduate school in Boston in the late 1980´s and didn't even noticed Cannondales nor other bikes but a friends commuter a Peugeot bike. However, I left biking for a long while and then I entered a radical bike store that carried mountain bikes and in 1993 bought a Cannondale M400 it felt better than a Marine Palisades.

I still have my Cannondale M400 albeit, with beefier components, XT all around but LX in the front derailer as the bike shop deemed necessary to steal my XT from me. I intended to use this bike for the rides in down town San José, Costa Rica organized by an ONG called Chepecletas (Chepe is the nickname for José and Cletas is slang for bikes), but never did and my 15 year old son uses it as well as I do as it has better climbing pinion than my AMP Research B4.

I am also guilty of having bought used from a friend who needed to get rid of an AMP Research B4 and upgraded the beautiful (albeit stolen in the bike shop) damper to a Risse air and oil damper. Luckily I was able to find replacement Rockshox brakes to retrofit my AMP´s that didn't have hydraulic power in them thanks to @lloydtrans member!

To train with the chaps I also have a Cannondale R900Si CAAD5. A beauty in its own right but I will post a question about her in the classic road bike forum!
 
The M800 has a raised bottom bracket what is nice on terrain with stumps etc. Terrain more often found in the East than the West. Hence Beast of the East. I have two Beast of the East Cannondales. The seat is set a bit higher than on e traditional frame because of the raised bb.
 
Re: Beast of the East

Thanks for your response, indeed it looks higher than the M900 or others. My M400 looks about the same as the M900, perhaps today it has the same components.

Well I will look for one both in the USA and in my country. Almost anybody remembers them and the former distributor has pointed towards the USA to finding one!

Cheers from Costa Rica!
 
Elev12k":281cmm5p said:
The M800 has a raised bottom bracket what is nice on terrain with stumps etc. Terrain more often found in the East than the West. Hence Beast of the East. I have two Beast of the East Cannondales. The seat is set a bit higher than on e traditional frame because of the raised bb.

From the pictures in vintagecannondale.com it is visible the added height of the bottom bracket, the shortened saddle tube and the lengthened seat post. Therefore, if my 1994 M400 is a 20" frame, should I consider a 18" M800 Beast of the East instead?

On my 21.5" AMP Research B4 I feel in a much more larger bike than in my M400, however, being light in the front tire I can climb over obstacles better than on my M400. Albeit the M400 is better at climbing mountains for this fact, it´s hard to produce a wheelie.

How is to ride the Pepperoni fork? My M400 from 1994 has a TIG Welded Chrome-moly fork. There is some flexibility when I went down improved roads or paths. I have yet to ascertain what is the diameter of mine if 1" or 1-1/8" and if I could fit it and what other investment I have to make. Should I consider the upgrade to a Pepperoni fork for my M400?
 
pepperoni is the most stiff fork ever made. no flex and ni comfort. Pepperoni is very precise and works well with a beast ofthe East frame un trial-technic tracks. But the BOTE with high BB is not designed for fast downhill.
 
pepperoni is the most stiff fork ever made. no flex and ni comfort. Pepperoni is very precise and works well with a beast ofthe East frame un trial-technic tracks. But the BOTE with high BB is not designed for fast downhill.
I am not going to do down hill with my M800! She´s only going to climb and with an upgrade to VBrakes I will brake to ameliorate the tremendous speeds that can be attained in Costa Rica!
 
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