The Cannondale Slate Rolls in with Pricing and Availability

Why in the world did they use 650b wheels?

Mine is on order, I cant hardly wait! I ordered the CX-1.

I think the bikes are cool except for the 650b wheels. I like the wheel size for my mountain bikes, but they don’t seem to a good choice for this application.

They are actually a good choice for this application. Roy has it down, as do so many of my friends that do randos in the PNW. Still tight enough chainstay to feel nimble like a road bike, but a bit more forgiving. And enough tires to choose from, with many more on the way.

A Di2 option would be awesome. I used to use a CX bike with roadie set up, with Di2 Ultegra 53/39 and 25c tyres as a commuter it wasn’t the fastest but damn it was very comfy. The only reason I sold it was it didn’t have discs and cantilevers Were just bad

650B wheels are perfect for this application, but what I still object to is going to all that trouble to put a Lefty on there and only having 30mm of travel. It could easily handle 60mm of travel or more without negatively affecting geometry or handling.

I like it ok except for the 30mm of travel. That just doesn’t make sense for the weight penalty.

i was all hot and bothered to buy the cx1 until i found out that purple/black was only option.

had to go with the ultegra for a color scheme that wasnt embarrassing.

as for the 30mm of travel- its not meant to be rock crawler.

put a zip tie around your fork. slide it all the way up against the slider. now, roll down a dirt road. i’ll guarantee you that fork doesnt travel any more than 30mm (unless, of course your spring rate/pressure is too low and you’re a lard-a$$)

Just seems silly for the weight. But then again, if it had a carbon fork it would just be a weird 650b disc cross/gravel bike.

for those who are confused-

650b on a road bike is not new. Lots of touring riders use 650b because it allows them to maintain a road geometry but run a big tire with fenders and racks. It is a common thing in European touring bikes. Look at the chain stays they are 405mm. There is no bike design out there that would allow you to run a tire bigger than 23mm with that length. So this has chain stays as short as a supersix or any other race bike but comes with a 42mm tire. instead of a tractor sized monster cross or gravel bike, this will fit like a synapse- awesome

The lefty being 30mm is o.k.- it comes with a lockout but I had a cannondale guy tell me that with 30mm the front end doesn’t bob out of the saddle with the lockout off so everyone who rode the bike felt that the travel was enough but they never felt the need to lockout the fork.-awesome

one huge problem though- velocity makes purple rims but there is not much else in purple that I can put on mine when it gets here- that sucks

650b disc wheels allow 700c road disc wheels to be swapped in.

Uh, except for that whole Lefty thing…

are those 105 shifters a joke?

This looks like ludicrous fun. I’m imagining a right-side Lefty extension that is basically a prong that comes out perpendicular to the stanchions on the right side for pannier bags, which would turn this into a gravel touring bike with front suspension. Ah, one can dream.

This is 650C, not B….

650B = 584mm
650C = 571mm

Someone needs to do his homework’s there…

For those of you wondering about the usefulness of 30mm of travel, Miguel Martinez used to win World Cup mountain bike races on a Sunn equipped with an “Obsys” carbon suspension fork with about the same amount of travel. It’ll be quite useful, especially when your forearms are concerned. That said, I’d wait for the CAAD 12 disc, and build a 650B “rough stuff” wheelset. I’m sure Chris Kostman would approve…

Put some flat bars on it and it would be an excellent XC race bike for mild terrain and small-medium sized riders. But only if it could run 2.2″ tires. Argh, so close… but I guess I still have to go to a custom frame for total niche nirvana. Thanks to Cannondale for the fork that will make that possible tho.

@Matt,
WTF are you talking about? This bike has 650b wheels n tires, NOT 650c. 650b, like randonneur bikes often have, not 650c like tiny road bikes and some old tri bikes. Nobody here is confused except you.
Unless you were joking or trolling, in which case good job.

@Greg Kopecky – He is correct that the image linked to has listed the incorrect wheel diameter. The bike is 650B (584mm), but the image says “650B WHEEL – 571MM ISO WHEEL DIAMETER”. So Cannondale doesn’t even know what they’re talking about.

The correct wheel since is 650B/584MM.

To the why 650b crowd all I can say is do you not understand geometry? If you want fatter tires you have two choices:
1) smaller rim diameter
2) longer chainstays

Going with a smaller rim and fatter tire allows more normal length chainstays. If you put on 700×42 tire you’d have to substantially stretch the stays.

As for the Lefty fork, I personally think it’s overkill. Not only that but it makes it impossible to securely mount a full length front fender which is a really good thing to have if you’re riding on wet dirt roads and want your drivetrain to survive.

@Crisco: why would a carbon frame be better? Just because something is carbon doesn’t always make it better. There is a reason Shimano stopped making carbon DuraAce cranks. The amount of weight you would save would be trivial and the cost would be considerable.

650B… Why?

My CX bike has 700 wheels with 42 tires, there’s no reason you couldn’t do it on this bike. I just wondered if cannonballs didn’t want to invest in a 700 lefty wheel when they already had a 650 developed? This is a mountain bike with a drop bar… hardly seems worth the price.

@ heywood

Tomac, Overend and the like used to win mountain bikes races on rigid bikes. I’m not saying that it wouldn’t help with fatigue etc. (hell, anything technically could help), I just don’t think it’s worth the weight penalty. The last post about this bike said the weight was about 22 lbs. I would guess with a good carbon fork you could drop 2 pounds off. Otherwise the bike is fine, i would have preferred 80mm travel for the weight. I just can’t see this selling that well except for people who think the lefty looks cool on a drop bar bike, which is fine.

to niels. i think it has to do with the geometry. Putting in a 29 er wheel will change the stack of the bike a lot. This bike is to be used simular to a road bike. On the mtb you are sitting pretty upright, so its not a huge issue, but in a road bike where you want to sit reasonably aggressive, increasing the tire diameter that much might is an issue.

650B ’cause:

584mm rim diameter+80mm in tire height (40mmx2)=664mm total diameter

622mm rim Dimeter +46mm in tire height (23mmx2)=668mm total diameter

Similar roll out distance between the two options so you can run chunky tires or skinny w/o affecting gearing or handling. This is like buying a car that comes pre-equipped with steel rims and winter tires. You can always buy alloys with all-conditions at a later date.

LOL 27.5+ 🙂