Cannondale Aficionados / Owners

I have a Thomson one on my synapse, mostly because I needed a 400mm one and I had an Evans voucher

Yes please! Cheers!

Sorry for not reading through the whole thread, but I have a few questions about the CAAD12.

Looking to buy a decent road bike and would like to spend ~2k max.
The CAAD12 (non-disc) would be great as I can spend some leftover money to upgrade stem/bars/saddle and some better wheels in 1 or 2 months.

Can you share some experiences on how the bike compares to other carbon bikes of that price range?
Looking at the Canyon Ultimate CF SL as an alternative. Anyone ridden both?
Other options would be some second hand carbon from ebay/forums.

CAAD12 are awesome bike, but if you're gonna spend 2k max, then seriously considered the disc version instead.

Especially the Ultegra version with the carbon non-series hydraulic.

Considered that option as well. Always felt quite happy with rim brakes.
I already have a good disc equipped allday/gravel/touring road bike.
Also I've got a nice rim brake wheelset to put in there.
Lastly the disc version is 1kg heaver :/

In that case, the Ultegra 3 is the one to go for, especially the chainset and the lighter fork.

1kg difference in weight mean nothing with the extra braking power, especially if you like to tackle alpine descent.

1kg difference in weight mean nothing with the extra braking power, especially if you like to tackle alpine descent.

1kg is quite a lot, most people fret over 100g on a wheelset, 50g on a seatpost etc..

Most people are idiots, myself included.

I think the lack of any real descents in my area makes the choice quite easy ;)

Most people are idiots, myself included.

point being 1kg isnt to be sniffed at, esp for the lighter rider

Recently got the weightweenie bug and I have to say that this is true, I know that having a lighter bike wont help my speed whatsoever, maybe it will, maybe it wont. I just want a lightweight bike to satisfy my own ego

I think it is less than 1kg at the higher end of components. Entry level disc stuff (hubs, brakes, rotors) weight a lot more compared to entry level rim

Probably like 0,5kg or something with reasonable priced wwism

If you're tackling alpine descents, that means you're also going up them. In which case 1kg is very noticeable. As nice as the CAAD 12 may be, I also wouldn't want to drop £2k on an alu bike.

I'd hunt around for an older Supersix model on discount. I picked up the 2013 HM for around that last year, and tire clearance aside (I'd like more!) I'm very happy with it.

1kg isn't noticeable as long the bike feel light and easy to climb.

Especially if it's something like the CAAD12.

As @Shroom quite rightly said, it's very likely to be just the placebo effect that you end up believing that it's the 1kg that held you back, not your fitness levels, and maybe the bacon baps you had for breakfast.

The CAAD12 and 2016 SuperSix Hi-mod have massive tyres clearance.

agree with scoble, my caad10 disc is much heavier than my old hong-fu, but its so much stiffer it climbs faster

Depends how lean you are and what you're using it for I guess. I don't think I could loose much more weight but if I'm racing on a hilly course I'd defo want my SS HM over my Canyon Ultimate AL SLX. Reckon there's about 1 kg between them and both are kitted out fairly well. SS is stiffer but without doubt there is a certain placebo effect too.

My CAAD 10 ownership lasted all of 5 mins riding (before it was written off) so can't really comment on the CAAD 12's predecessor but the Supersix climbs beautifully. Mine is 6.3kg for a 54cm v the 56cm CAAD 12 Ultegra Disc 3 (8.34kg) or the non disc (7.5kg).

Looking at that you'd really notice a 2kg difference! (couldn't be arsed to search for 54cm weights).

Get the disc brake version if you are well fat init

Basically

Here's my Caad12 at the moment at 7.1kg according to my not so accurate airport luggage scale.

Srem Red22 Groupset
Superstar components Volta on Pacenti SL23 rims w/ Zipp skewers
Challenge Strada Bianca 30c Tyres
Tune Speedneedle Saddle
Speedplay Pedals
Cannondale stock C2/C3 seatpost, stem, bars
random carbon spacers and a fat Tange Conical spacer.

Still waiting for 3 stems that I can play with before I cut the steerer, cant slam at the moment as I dont have the bearing covers yet, but tried it and was comfortable. Got a hylix seatpost this week and an SISL2 chainset. So, with those, might be able to get the build down to 6.8kg'ish. 6.5 achievable with different tyres and wheels but this 30mm tyres are just amaze-balls so doubt I'll be changing them just for some minor weight savings

The stock stem is actually really light if it's those glossy one.

Yeh, it's somewhere around 120g,was actually thinking of keeping it. Lighter than thomson x2 and 3t arx ones.

This guy stripped his caad12 and weighed everything, really nice post he made
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=137189

If I was spending £2k now and already had a decent set of wheels....I'd buy a used Supersix HM frameset, etap upgrade kit, Red brakes and chainset and carbon finishing kit.....with a bit of time and effort it wouldn't take much more than £2k.

Yeahbut then you have no warranty or amnesty options should said frame break.

Appreciate that might not matter to some people

Managed to GP4000sii 25mm and 23mm to fit on 24mm rims on my 48 caad10. Not much room left as tyres now look enormous!

Well yes there is that :) .....but that's the difference between a £2200 frame and one costing a third of that. Of course you have to be careful what you buy...that's where the effort come in.
There's also deals to be done on new 2014/5 framesets if you look around regularly.
Pauls Cycles in Norfolk is always worth a look.
Until very recently a 2015 team evo hm frameset 58cm was available for £750...absolute bargain.
56cm still available
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m6b0s25p6653/CANNONDALE-SUPERSIX-EVO-HI-MOD-FRAME-56CM-ONLY-2015