Ever since Dorel took over Cannondale earlier this year we’ve been seeing some interesting products and announcements from the company: the special edition Scapel unveiled just before the Olympics, the Cannondale iPod dock, and now, the Cannondale ON project.
The company has been collaborating with design students around the world to find interesting bike designs and the ON was born out of a concept bike called the Jackknife. Cannondale loved the design so much they decided to try to produce it and today several rideable prototypes exist.
Jackknife Concept Bike (2005)
This shocking new design eliminates the traditional double triangle frame in favor of a streamlined single beam-like riser. A bike like this probably couldn’t exist without super rigid, space age frame materials – isn’t carbon fiber an amazing thing? Notice the ‘lefty’ fork in the pic above – nothing about this bike is conventional.
So what makes this thing so revolutionary aside from the striking profile? According to Cannondale:
A co-molded carbon and aluminum main frame houses internal cable routing and provides fixing points for a custom “Righty” single sided HeadShok Lefty suspension fork. The drive train is also a revolutionary figure head for the overall design, and one of the most challenging aspects of the project.
We have to agree that the ON is an interesting project and the fact that this thing is a mountain bike is all the more impressive (you can read more from the company here). Keep an eye on Cannondale in 2009 and we’ll let you know what we see at Interbike!
