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Interbike 2002
Las Vegas, USA, October 5 - 8, 2002
Interbike part 17 - Cannondale and Team Major Taylor On Track for 2003
By Tim Maloney in Las Vegas
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The spirit of Major Taylor, the legendary African-American cycling champion from a century ago lives on through Bill Cooper, a Cannondale owner from Amarillo, Texas and Courtney Bishop, who created Team Major Taylor.
At the Cannondale fans and owners 30th anniversary celebration last year, Cooper buttonholed Cannondale's Scott Montgomery and told him about Bishop, an Indiana University alumnus who created and manages Team Major Taylor. Bishop's initiative is a non-profit organisation, recruiting minority bike racers of high school age nationwide and providing scholarship to Indiana University, cycling equipment and coaching. Of course, Indiana University is also famous for its Little 500, a half-century old institution bike-race tradition in Bloomington that was featured in the 1979 film "Breaking Away" where the cutters faced off with the frat boys.
After meeting Cooper and Bishop, Cannondale decided to sponsor Team Major Taylor and also feature a track bike option in the "Team Major Taylor" colours. "We are pleased that a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of each Major Taylor track bike will go to help support Team Major Taylor's efforts," said Scott Montgomery, Cannondale's V.P. of Marketing. So far so good for Team Major Taylor in 2002; in this year's Little 500, the six black and one Latino student of Team Major Taylor qualified third and placed ninth overall. They were also the third minority team in the race's history.
The 14.5 lb. CAAD5 aluminium track bike comes in eight sizes (48 - 63 cm). According to Cannondale's Tom Armstrong, "this new CAAD5 track frame has horizontal, rear-entry dropouts, a slightly steeper head and seat tube angles than the CAAD5 road, with 28.2 cm bottom bracket height, and 120 mm rear wheel spacing." Featuring the "Power Pyramid" shaped down tube and built up with Shimano's Dura-Ace track group, Mavic CXP rims and Fi'zi:k Pave saddle, Cannondale's CAAD5 track bike can even fit front and rear brakes for your winter fixie training. Plus you'll be helping the Team Major Taylor boys. www.cannondale.com for more information
