After years of focus on the high end bikes like Scalpel and Trigger, Cannondale’s mountain bike lineup get a bit more attention paid to the mid-level segment.
For 2014, the big news is a complete revamp of the Rush. The original Rush had a solid run from 2007 to 2010, then it was replaced by the Rize. That became the RZ, which is going away for 2014. In its place is the new Rush. It’s a 29er-only, linkage-driven single pivot 100mm travel suspension bike. It’s a heavily butted frame with double-pass smooth welds and cartridge bearings throughout.
It’s meant to be a super simple bike to set up and ride and offer race-able performance. They started with the Scalpel’s XC weapon geometry and slackened it enough to make it a bit more playful without giving up the speed. In the words of Cannondale’s global product marketing director Murray Washburn, they designed it to be a bike you’d hop onto and say “F&#k yeah, this is great. Mountain biking is awesome!”
The base model gets a Deore/Alivio blend with Rockshox Recon Gold TK fork for $1,850. Above that is the Rush 1 for $2,180 with an XT/Deore mix. Both get house brand cockpits, Shimano M446 hydraulic brakes and WTB Nine Line tires, a tread they co-developed.
The suspension is pretty basic, but effective. Particularly for the price.
Complete bike weight is 30.56lbs (13.86kg).
