Cannondale Aficionados / Owners

i hope they reposition their seat stays back to where they should be

is it normal that the fit of the upper part of my headset (CK) is super tight on the fork? CAAD4 R800. Thanks

The 'low stays' are here to stay, like the 'low trousers'

The system is indeed broken :/
(RRP £9000)

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The stays are so low on the Topstone because it allows the seat tube and seat stays to flex in conjunction with the kingpin. I’ve got a regular topstone carbon (not that stupid ebike lefty thing above), and can confirm it’s a really effective way of subtly dampening the ride over rough stuff.

Relevant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_zPYkk_Fsk

Great, so they only look shit for sake of.

Nine grand for a bike that looks like Rigsby. Maaaan alive.

to be fair, when you start looking at e-bikes... :) they look pretty good.
There is a lot worse going on in this department

when you start looking at e-bikes

Hope not to have to cross that bridge anytime soon

if someone wanted to buy a comfortable bike they wouldn't buy a cannondale, the brand famous for incredibly stiff and elegant aluminium frames

Topstone works completely differently to that.

You guys do also realise that the monstrosity of a bike up there is not a normal topstone right?

was that an appeal to sanity on LFGSS? dude, you know better than that. :)

they have a little damper at the join no? rather than it being a solid coupling?

I wouldn't say completely different. It's just a dropped stay with a pivot rather than a weld or other stationary joint.
I think the claimed 30mm of rear deflection will be a product of tube shape and layup/wall thicknesses etc rather than a single pivot which is essentially still a fixed point on the seat tube

Edit: I do have no idea what I'm talking about. But everyone's an expert on the internet :)

monstrosity of a bike up there

Enough with the compliments now please.

Most of the flexing happens in the seat stays, not the seat tube... when paired with the kingpin pivot, it works pretty well. It's no suspension by any means, but definitely helps improve dampening over rough terrain.

The video you posted is probably relevant to normal dropped stay road bikes for sure, but in this context is like comparing apples to oranges.

Tbh this thing is currently front page on bike24 waiting for the #buyer, I didn't have to dig deep to find it. I was just triggered by the systems comment in light of the repositioning of Cannondale as an expensive toy maker. Not just the road bikes. Not long ago a decent e-mtb (Moterra) with Bosch motor could be had for someting like 2.5-3k for those needing power assist offroad. My only hope lies with the focus groups.

if someone wanted to buy a comfortable bike they wouldn't buy a cannondale, the brand famous for incredibly stiff and elegant aluminium frames

Cannondale carbon-framed racebikes are extraordinarily comfortable. Leastways the SuperSix is.

^Agreed. My SS is the most comfortable bike I own. And yet my CaadX is like riding a wooden wheeled wagon across a recently ploughed field

The latter sounds like any U.K. gravel ride in this dry weather

Tbf I have taken my CAAD10 on gravel once or twice

Having a handlebar clearout, and I've got some C4 compact handlebars that came stock on an old 2012 CAADX. They're actually a really nice shape, but too wide - these are 42's.

Before I get rid, any chance anyone has any 38's or 40's they'd wanna swap or get rid of?

Don't know the difference between C2, C3 and C4 bars, having trouble finding specs, but I'd be after the compact shape rather than traditional bend.

Aesthetics aside, the dropped seatstay and seatpost clamp below the top tube on the #3 SS means that there is at least 6cm more seatpost and probably at least 8cm above the clamp on the #3 SS compared with the #1 SS (perspective in the photo doesn't really show the difference that well). The #3 is noticeably more comfortable than the #1 without loss of apparent stiffness, so I'm happy with the change in geometry.

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