By Sean Badenhorst
Didn’t think I’d ever get to test ride a Cannondale in South Africa. But with an ownership change in the US came a recent agency change here and voila! I got to ride my first Cannondale test bike in almost 10 years of test riding. Early indications tell me it was worth the wait! The full review will be in Issue 3 of TREAD, but here are my first impressions:
LOOKS: Not surprisingly, the Lefty fork attracts your immediate attention. However, standing back a bit reveals a well-balanced looking trail bike. Our demo bike is white with red and black detail. Very well finished and quite striking really.
FRAME: A simplified suspension design with Cannondale’s new ‘Backbone’, a one-piece aluminium seat-tube, bottom bracket and lower pivot assembly joined seamlessly to carbon top-, head- and downtubes, makes for an attractive looking, five-inch-travel frame, which Cannondale claims is stronger and stiffer.
RIDE: No, the Lefty fork doesn’t make you feel unbalanced when riding. Actually, you don’t really notice that area of the bike much if you’re looking ahead at the trail like you’re meant to. It’s an agile climber, which I kind of expected considering its light weight and stiff-looking rear end, but it really impressed me on the descents. Smooth, balanced, reassuring, fast!
PRICE: Not certain yet. Will be over R50000 though.
More here: http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/09/cusa/model-9VT1.html
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