Cannondale’s premiere full suspension race bike, the Scalpel, gets a full makeover for 2011…and does away with the aluminum versions. For 2011, there’s only full carbon fiber frames.
At the core of the Scalpel’s design is the Zero Pivot flexing chain- and seatstays that provide the rear wheel travel. The frame uses one small link to drive the shock, and the link is where Cannondale’s director of technology Peter Denk designed in the leverage ratio. While the SAVE stays may not look terribly different, the Scalpel’s rear wheel travel gets reduced to 80mm travel for 2011, down from 100mm. 80mm doesn’t sound like a lot these days, but when you consider it’s getting 3″ of rear axle travel with no pivots, it’s pretty amazing…and keep in mind, this is a straight-up race bike. The Left fork remains at 100mm.
One of the most noticeable visual differences between old Scalpels and the 2011 model is the bottom bracket area. Older models had a full aluminum BB shell that was bonded to the chainstays. For 2011, the BB area is full carbon and is molded as one-piece with the chainstays, so there are continuous fibers running throughout. This reduces weight and makes it stiffer and stronger. Building on that, they widened the bottom bracket shell to 73mm BB30 from previous 68mm wide design. This allows for wider stay placement for more lateral stiffness.
This new Scalpel embodies Cannondale’s Si (System Integration) philosophy that eschews off-the-shelf parts in favor of components and frames designed together to maximize stiffness and minimize weight. This includes their forks, stem, crankset/bottom brackets and the associated frame sections.
The result is a bike that’s easily 500g (1.1 lbs) or more lighter than other lightweight, full suspension XC bikes using the lightest commonly available parts.
Lots of photos, specs and details behind the break…
The frame is full carbon fiber save for strategic placements of aluminum, including the direct mounts for the front derailleur, shock mount linkage inserts and link, dropouts and disc brake mounts.
While some manufacturers are molding their rear disc brake mounts out of carbon, Cannondale chose full aluminum mounts that are bonded to the carbon stays. Denk says this improves heat transfer and dissipation, and that too much can damage the bond between bosses and the frame on carbon bikes. As an example of why this is pretty important for frame safety and longevity, Denk said if the bosses become even slightly loose from heat and you held the rear brake while stopped on an uphill, as the bike wanted to roll back it could rip the bosses right out of the frame.
Cannondale took inspiration from their Flash hardtail when designing many of their 2011 models, and on the Scalpel, it shares the thin, shaped seatstay bridge. Other similarities include a massive downtime (60mm in this case) and generally similar tube shaping throughout.
The 2011 Scalpel uses a direct Mount, E-Type FD that allows for a continuous seat tube, which helps better transfer rider power. Two cable holes are located behind the seat tube for proper cable routing between different brands of front derailleurs. It comes with a plug and cable “worm” to be used to seal gunk out.
The 2011 Scalpel’s frame uses tube-to-tube construction, so different size bikes are made via different size tubes and different carbon layups cut and mitered to create the front triangle. Each tube is molded separately, individually laid up, then joined and overwrapped at the joints with specific layups to put more strength in the higher stress areas.
The bent top tube is actually two straight, thinwall tubes connected with a reinforced bend area where the shock mount is. This, again, saves weight while building strength into high stress areas. The design also puts the shock compression forces directly inline with the front part of the top tube, which pushes forces straight into a tube. C’dale says this allows for a lighter frame build than on bikes that would have to use additional angles and gussets to combat suspension forces.
Scalpel 2
– Lefty Speed XLR
– SRAM XO/X9 shifters/derailleurs
– Shimano XT 10sp cassette
– Rockshox Monarch RT3
– Sun Ringle Black Flag Pro wheelset
– FSA Afterburner 386 cranks ( 42/27 tooth)
– Avid Elixir CR brakes
– low rise bar on lower models, flat bar on upper models.
– New C’dale seatpost
– gray, black and red
