The history of Cannondale dates to the 1970s when it was formed to build a child trailer. Soon afterward it enters bike frame production. Aluminum had been know to be make a stiffer bicycle frame for decades (and thus more efficient at getting pedaling power into forward motion). The problem was the rear hanger. This was, and is, the weak points on all bikes, even in steel bikes what tend to break first was the rear hanger (i.e. where the rear wheel attached to the Bike frame). The stress put on the hanger, its small size do to having to be able to get around a wheel, required a very strong material. High Tension steel was the first material to do this function well. While Aluminum was stronger then Steel by mass, the same level of Aluminum mass took up four times the volume of Steel's mass. At the hanger volume was the main restriction NOT mass. Thus Aluminum frames had to have volumes at the hanger equal to Steel and as such Aluminum frames at the hanger were WEAKER then the same volume of Steel. This weakness meant that aluminum frames tended to break long before Steel Frames broke at the hanger.
Furthermore, unlike Steel, which could be repaired by just having another hanger brazed on, an aluminum frame bike, given the natural of aluminum, had to be completely rebuilt. The reason for this is the heat to braze the hanger would ruin the aluminum integrity and thus its strength in an aluminum frame bike. For these two inter-related reasons aluminum was NOT used for bicycles for decades after steel became the main frame for bicycles ("High Tension" Steel had become the normal frames for bicycles by 1908)
Cannondale solved this problem by building its Aluminum Frame bikes without a rear hanger, and then attaching the rear hanger onto the rest of the frame by pressure (The hanger would go into the larger frame posts but the post were designed to wrap around the hanger so it was an very tight fir, but being a physical fit could be popped out and a new one installed without ruining the rest of the frame. This procedure required a very tight fit (i.e. very tight specs). This solution was an ingenious solution to the problem, and Cannondale aluminum bikes took off. Sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s the patent expired and other bike makers moved into the market but that was made Cannondale the largest US makers of bicycles (With Trek #2). The downsized is that Cannondale was so wedded to Aluminum that when Carbon-Fiber started to come out in the late 1990s Cannondale was slow to adopt the new technology. Trek embraced Carbon-Fiber big time in the mid 1990s (and saw it win them various races). Cannondale has only caught up in the last 3-4 years, but the delay was more to other reasons.
Those other reasons was do to Cannondale Success with Aluminum bike frames it started to get into other aspects of biking, including Panniers and other bike bags (All sewed in the USA). Cannondale made "CODA" parts, generally considered inferior to Shimano parts. Cannondale tended to use its own name on high end parts (its Frames and bags) and saved the Coda name for less well made products.
Cannondale in the mid early 1990s went into wheelchairs production. The President of the Company had a disabled relative (It has been years since I read about this, so the details may be wrong) complaining about how heavy and badly made his wheelchair was. Cannondale then designed a new wheelchair using its expertise in bike frames, and came out with a new lightweight wheelchair. There was some opposition to it from other wheelchair makers AND Medicare (Who have never heard of Cannondale before it started to make frames) so Cannondale gave most of its early chairs away to people who wanted them (They were narrower and lighter then other makes of wheelchairs at that time). After several events where wheelchairs were used for things like basketball etc, Medicare finally accepted Cannondale Wheelchairs as real Wheelchairs. The market was very small, compared to bicycles, but it was a marketing coup is that it shows Cannondale was not just worried about profit, but people.
From the success of the Wheelchairs Cannondale then tried to get into the ATV market in the late 1990s. I was working in Bedford at the time and it was a big subject in the local newspaper, including the debate over whether Cannondale should import its engines OR make its own engines. Wall Street wanted Cannondale to buy from Honda, Cannondale liked its reputable as "Made in the USA" so it tried to set up its own engine plant. Some Cannondale ATVs were sold, but most had unreliable engines so the venture failed and lead Cannondale into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Out of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy a new Cannondale Corporation was formed. At the time of its formation several companies approached the Bankruptcy Court to buy the Corporation for its name, but its name was its most important asset. Several investors in the original Cannondale company arranged for a new Cannondale Corporation to be formed with private financing. This New Company purchased the rights to Cannondale's name and its bicycle assets (The President that had gone into Wheelchair and then ATV production was gone). Since 1999 this Company has been slowing re-building Cannondale. It was this venture into ATV production had to be overcome, but production quality of its bikes never fell, so it has been a slow but steady return to being an exclusive Bike frame company.
Today, Cannondale no longer makes its bags in the USA (Gone are the "Made in USA" little flags on its bags). Coda parts are a thing of the past. I have not heard of the Wheelchairs since the Bankruptcy (And the ATV is long forgotten). While Cannondale has ventured into selling its name overseas for others to use for bags, I have NOT seem any other non made in USA products with the Cannondale Name on it. The present owners purchased Cannondale for its name AND the fact the name Cannondale was tied in with "Made in USA" and thus have tried to keep it as much "Made in USA" as possible.
I have seen more and more SRAM parts on Cannondales. SRAM is based in California and makes components in California. SRAM has taken over some old European parts makers and become more "global" in production, but still a American Company for much of its components (With heavy German production). Shimano still is the # 1 maker of bicycle Components, learned how from Schwinn in the 1960s when Schwinn first went to Japan for a cheaper maker of parts for its bikes). With france and Italy considered to two top place for bike components it is impossible to get a 100% made in USA bicycle, thus the best you can do is to make sure as much of the bike is Made in the USA. Please note most, if not all, made in the USA bicycles are better made then the ones in China, but when the largest bicycle factory in the world is in China it is hard to undercut its prices (Cannondale tried and lost in the early 1990s). At the same time, the quality is not there, thus Cannondale and Treks are some of the only exports the US has.
The present management of Cannondale wants to concentrate on the bicycle business and has been doing so since the bankruptcy. Hopefully it will continue and maybe get into other aspects of biking, such as components, when it can.
SRAM Website:
http://www.sram.com/en/Shimano website:
http://bike.shimano.com/
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