Thursday 6 March 2014

My bike: The Cannondale M800 Beast of the East

Back in 93 I bought a brand new M600 Cannondale, I chose this model after I had a Delta V 2000... This was a great bike but in those days FS bikes were not that good, so much so I went back to rigid. The M600 model was a cross between the conservative M1000/2000 and the radical M800 and featured a normal height BB like the 2000 and a sloping top tube like the 800. It was a great bike, however I guess I always wanted the more radical 'Beast of the East'.

One Friday night, maybe after one to many glasses of France's finest I hit buy it now on a bit of a shed of a M800 and this is what turned up....


Painted grey and a real mix and match parts build, a bit of a mess really... Using the website www.vintagecannondale.com I at least dated the frame to 1993...

So the first decision was how to build it, hardcore retro style as per brochure or hot rod style... It had to be hot rod, the same way we rode them back in the 90's.


The bike was stripped and the frame shot blasted and powder coated in the closest red I could match to Cannondale red. Decals were bought of the ebay and are not great, there is a guy that now does better ones so I may swap these out.

The build currently features XT thumbies with XT short cage mech running 8 speed, American Classic hubs on Mavic 217 SUP rims, FSA Ti b/b with Cook Bros crank and Pace chainrings, Club Roost riser bar, NOS headset, Zoom Stem and DX V brakes.



As a footnote I met Martyn Ashton at the Goodwood Orbital Festival last year and took a liking to the M800 and signed the frame for me. He mentioned that he had fond memories of the bike as when he signed to ride for Cannondale they sent him a Beast of the East and a week later he was World Champion!





7 comments:

  1. Rad bike. I just rebuilt on orange and black 1991 sm800 "Beast of the East". Mine has the 13" high bottom bracket and damn if isn't the bike I still have the most fun on to this day. Love your bike and love the idea it's hung around so long. Best to you, man.

    - Mike

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    1. I am looking for the M800 Beast of the East all over the USA! I currently have my first mountain bike a Cannondale M400 overhauled with XT components and an AMP Research B4 with new cassette! I am glad that you repaired the bike and that signature alone is worth a lot of memories!

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    2. I have a M800, 3.0 tires, Deep Indigo which is a nice red. I'm from NE "go Huskers" so I know my reds.lol I'm just cleaning it up a little bit or a lot. It's rare, It's a vintage bike, first cannondale to be economically fiesable that had a big jump in features. Mine is all original. The sequential assigned identifier "is that one word" let's me know it was only the 302nd one built "more economical less production?" Any ways the serial# let's me know mine was built 2000,4 September just like that. I haven't wrote the date like that since 4rth grade. Ok. I want to bring out the original character and I am saying it is an original character. Lol Allmost don please wait. I have 4 years experience as a paint tech so the restoration of the cherry red frame will look very nice. My names Matt ill check back on this forum so let me know.

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  2. I still own, love & Casual ride my all original 1991 m800 w that i bought after my stump jumper was stolen out of my la crosse wi tavern when i was in my mid twenties. The great 3x Tour De France winner Greg Lemond had recommended i check out the new bikes at his buddy Shawn Werner's La Crosse Shop (Bikes Ltd)when he stopped by with his wife's La Crosse central hs clasmate/friend mark frise.What a great hook up that was as the M800 was on of the first Mountain bikes that was good for training on.I was an NCAA then USa FREESTYLE wrestler who would use my bike to train and cut weight by riding the many bluffs in our area.With the road slicks that Werner set me up with the bike allowed me to hammer the hils like i had when i rode my $1200 bianchi campion del mondo in college.That bike is a part of my soul and i am very lucky i was able to get a great bike like that as i have not used it to train on since i had the weight cut for the 1996 north region olympic freestyle trials cutting from 190lbs to 163 lbs.Shortly after i went 3-2 at the super tough tourney but did not qualify for the main trials i broke my back in an industrial accident while doing restoration work on my 150 year old tavern/apt building in the national historic district of La Crosse.I was paralyzed for part of that day when i was hurt but i was able to mostly recover although my wrestling career was done (although i still coached at the college for another 5 years).The doctor at Gundersen lutheran told me he felt part of the reason i was able to sustain such a serious back injury & mostly recover was because i was in such good condition from my wrestling training which my biking was my main cardio.That bike i ride today with my 12 yr old son on the trails in lax (NO HILLS)and still enjoy it because it is a terrific machine ahead of its time for mountain bikes. Thanks greg & shawn!

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  5. Love the old m800 cannondales I've got all the 1992 beast of the east including the red white blue patriot m600 love em, respect to all you fellow cannondale owners

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