SEA OTTER CLASSIC 2010 – If there were one bike that stole the show, this fully custom Cannondale Flash with trick Shimano Di2 shifting would have to be it. It’s a fantastical, budget-be-damned example of what can be done when you combine one of the lightest production mountain bikes around with the talents and imagination of a great bike shop and artist Troy Lee Designs.
Picking up a 15.6 lb mountain bike is like a sick joke. It doesn’t even feel real, and it immediately puts a smile on your face and an itchy, spendy feeling in your wallet. Some of these tricks you can do on the cheap or as you upgrade other stuff anyway, but some of these ideas are so purpose built that you’d be giving up some measure of all-round performance.
Have they ridden it? A couple times, but it’s intentionally being kept off the dirt until it’s drawn crowds at a few more shows. That, and it was only built up shortly before Sea Otter, so it’s fairly new.
Want more? I thought so….
This bike was custom built by the folks at Newbury Park Bike Shop in California. They fabricated one-off Di2 remote shifters and integrated the parts into a mix of Cannondale’s Hollowgram SL (42/28) and SRAM XX 10-speed rear cassette. The result? A 15.6 pound mountain bike that appears to be every bit as rideable as any other lightweight mountain bike we’ve seen but that feels absolutely ethereal to lift.
