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Cannondale Topstone Carbon Lefty (finally) adds next-gen Oliver v2 front suspension

2021 cannondale topstone carbon lefty full suspension gravel bike with 650B wheels
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The original Topstone Carbon gravel bike introduced their KingPin rear suspension platform in 2019. What’s new here is the addition of a new Lefty Oliver Gen2 fork, and the switch to 650B wheels and tires for most models. Now it’s a real full suspension gravel bike.

Our Topstone launch story covers the frame’s suspension tech and design in full detail, but here’s the quick version: The Topstone Carbon uses flattened carbon fiber chainstays with tuned, engineered flex.

2021 cannondale topstone carbon lefty full suspension gravel bike with 650B wheels

2021 cannondale topstone carbon lefty full suspension gravel bike with 650B wheels

The seatstays are thin, and meet the seat tube with a bearing-equipped pivot to allow for greater system flex without stressing a key junction point.

2021 cannondale topstone carbon lefty full suspension gravel bike with 650B wheels

The seat tube, too, is flattened, particularly at the bottom. Combined, the three rear tubes all flex to provide about 15mm of total “travel” to the saddle. It’s hard to see, but it works. And it carries over unchanged for 2020/2021 models. What’s new is the suspension on the front…

Cannondale Lefty Oliver Gen2 gravel suspension fork

2021 cannondale lefty oliver v2 gravel bike suspension fork

Lefty Oliver Gen2 is built on the Lefty Ocho chassis, but tuned and scaled for gravel bikes. There’s a new All-Over damper tune, and new ISO High-Ride air spring that you can tune with volume spacers.

It uses the Delta Cage Needle Bearing system from Ocho, which is comparatively friction free compared to traditional sliding stanchions. There’s just 30mm of travel in stock trim, but can be expanded to 40mm travel by changing a piston’s lock ring position.

2021 cannondale lefty oliver v2 gravel bike suspension fork

The Damper was tuned to give it more control over pedal oscillations, handled by “generous” low speed compression damping.

The rebound circuit is isolated from compression, and it’s called Bleed Stack, and it means that adjusting compression or rebound won’t affect the other. It also has 60% more rebound adjustment range.

2021 cannondale lefty oliver v2 gravel bike suspension fork 2021 cannondale lefty oliver v2 gravel bike suspension fork

It gets a new, tool-free disc brake mount that removes with the twist of a lever. To remove the wheel, just release the lever on the front of the fork and pull the brake caliper off the back. Then just remove the axle (tooled) like normal and slide the wheel off.

Reverse the process to put the wheel and brake back on. It’s super simple, and super quick, and it remained rock solid throughout our test.

2021 cannondale lefty oliver v2 gravel bike suspension fork

Other Lefty Oliver v2 specs:

  • 1340g carbon version
  • 1610g alloy version
  • Standard tapered steerer tube
  • Lockout switch with blowoff valve
  • Lefty 50 hub, same as used on Slate
  • Flat mount 10mm rear brake caliper
  • 650Bx47 or 700x45mm
  • $1,500 MSRP (carbon), available in either wheel size option for use on any gravel bike with a standard tapered headtube.

Notice the generous 700×45 tire clearance figure…that’s considerably larger than you can run on the rear of the bike. More on that in a minute. If you want to use 700c tires, you have to change the air piston because it’s limited to 30mm travel, but it needs to sit in a higher position to keep the tire from hitting the crown during bottom out.

2021 cannondale topstone carbon lefty full suspension gravel bike with 650B wheels

Axle to crown heights are:

  • 650B 30mm – 405mm
  • 650B 40mm – 415mm
  • 700c 30mm – 419mm (requires new air piston service kit)

2021 Topstone Carbon Lefty Geometry

Smaller wheels make a big difference

2021 cannondale topstone carbon lefty full suspension gravel bike tire clearance
No problem with tire clearance up front.

The original model’s 700×37 tire spec sat on wide Cannondale rims that pushed the tires’ measured width out to 40mm+. Which made for a tight fit with file-treaded, semi-slick gravel tires. Put anything with knobs on there and it could rub the frame.

2021 cannondale topstone carbon lefty full suspension gravel bike tire clearance
The smaller-diameter 650B x 47 tires give it a little more breathing room between the stays.

This is largely due to the fact that they need wide, flat chainstays to get the frame flex necessary to hit their compliance goals. And the cranks can’t go anywhere without messing up the Q-factor, so tire clearance ends up on the chopping block.

2021 cannondale topstone carbon lefty full suspension gravel bike with 650B wheels

The new 650B wheel size gives it more room between tire and frame. We’ll have a before/after comparison in our ride review (coming soon). The Topstone Carbon will still be sold with 700c rigid fork options, but you’ll probably want to use a maximum of 37mm tires.

How does the Topstone compare to the Slate?

Cannondale Slate Force CX1 all gravel road bike review and actual weight
The alloy-framed Cannondale Slate was the Topstone’s predecessor and meant more as an “all road” bike.

We reviewed the Slate a few years back, which was their first “gravel” bike with a Lefty fork. The Topstone is taller and shorter than the Slate, with what’s become more traditional gravel geometry. The Slate was good (good enough for Alison Tetrick to win Dirty Kanza on one), but the Topstone feels like a real gravel bike.

Fortunately, the 405mm A-to-C has been a legacy standard for them for many years now, so if you have a Lefty-equipped Slate, you can upgrade to this new Oliver fork by simply using their headset adapter to reduce the upper cup to 1-⅛”.

Now it’s a proper full suspension gravel bike

2021 cannondale topstone carbon lefty full suspension gravel bike with 650B wheels
Use the included chain guide, or switch to a 2x front drivetrain, the mounts work for both.

The result, on paper, should be a better gravel bike that feels balanced. One of our complaints with the original was that the front end felt comparatively stiff, while the rear end soaked up bumps. It was a bit backwards, and just felt unbalanced.

2021 cannondale topstone carbon lefty full suspension gravel bike with 650B wheels

And 700×40’s were kinda pushing it. But with these changes, they’ve addressed our two biggest concerns. With the Lefty, it feels more like the bike it was always meant to be. So, thoughts? We have some, and we’ll have a review posted here shortly. In the meantime, here’s what’s available:

2021 Cannondale Topstone Carbon Lefty models & pricing

All models come ready for a dropper seatpost and 2x drivetrains, but all stock builds use a standard post and 1x groups. The top model, shown above, uses a wider range SRAM Eagle cassette (with eTap wireless shifting), and the others use a smaller 11-42 Shimano SLX 11-speed cassette with GRX mechanical shifting.

Topstone Carbon Lefty 1 – $7,500

Topstone Carbon Lefty 3 – $3,750 (two color options)

Women’s Topstone Carbon Lefty 3 – Europe Only

The women’s model gets the same build as the regular Lefty 3, save for shorter crank arms and a different saddle.

Cannondale.com

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Rentedshoes
Rentedshoes
3 years ago

Cool. the good color option is only available in women’s and only in Europe. Thanks C’dale.

rentedshoes
rentedshoes
3 years ago
Reply to  Rentedshoes

Wait, I was wrong. The blue is available for $7500. 🙁

Josh
Josh
3 years ago

A 30mm travel fork that costs $1500 and weighs upwards of three lbs and only has clearance for a 47? I’m sure the Cannondale fanbois will love it, but what year is this?

OriginalMV
OriginalMV
3 years ago
Reply to  Josh

If we’re only talking about the fork, I am pretty sure that the 47mm tyre limit was dictated by the rear triangle clearance and not the fork. The photos seem to picture 47mm tyres, and there is clearly much more space available between the tread and fork leg.

Craig
Craig
3 years ago

The current generation of Cannondale’s will be looked back on in years to come as some of the worst the company has managed to come up with. But I can see why the move to 650b, I’ve recently bought a bike with 650b x 47mm tires and it rides brilliantly. As for this being a “full-suspension” bike, that’s a bit rich. Call it what it is and that’s a softail.

Fleebow
Fleebow
3 years ago
Reply to  Craig

I like the al topstones! Its a decent chill/commuter bike. Simple and nice looking.

ed llorca
ed llorca
3 years ago

Impresively inventive… ugly as sin but impressively inventive.

PoorInRichfield
3 years ago

I’ll admit that the side profile of this bike looks totally dorky, but I’d love to ride one. I think it’s great that Cannondale is pushing the boundaries of bike design with their Lefty fork and full suspension. The quick release on the fork is also a very welcome enhancement.

Katiebug
Katiebug
3 years ago

Cannondale must be using the leftover Charge paint.

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