Across the 2014 Cannondale road bike range, the Evo moniker now covers the entire SuperSix range, dropping down to Shimano 105. Black Inc. is now the highest level, and there’s a Black Inc. version of all of their top models, road and mountain.
And while there’s a Black Inc. version of the recently introduced Synapse, the real show stopper in their booth was the new Synapse Hi-Mod Disc. It leads the disc brake road lineup for them and is a new version with a revised layup to accommodate disc brakes.
Quick recap: The Synapse was redesigned from the ground up earlier this year as a raceable endurance bike. The twisting Save Plus micro suspension combines with the flattened sections on the stays and the new/old 25.4 seatpost diameter to provide plenty of bump and vibration absorption. The bottom bracket is wider (they’re calling it BB30A, where “A” means asymmetric) and uses a 73mm wide shell and 109mm long crankset spindle. That came about so they could split the seat tube, which helped maximize their ability to tune the ride through intentional frame flex. Had they used a massive oval section, the seat tube wouldn’t have bowed forward as much under compression, and it would have transmitted more force to your derrier.
Check all the close up details and you’ll appreciate why this was one of my favorites from Eurobike…
Fork has notch on the dropouts to help guide the wheel in more easily. They’ve made a carbon version of their C3 handlebar. Stem and post are FSA, and wheels are the new ENVE disc brake road wheels.
Rear brakes use the “Reach Around” adapter (seriously) to hold the rear bolt. When you see it from behind it makes more sense. It comes spec’d with the Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 hydraulic disc brake system and 140mm rotors. It’ll work with 160mm, so if they get around to making a frameset available (at least middle of next year at earliest, don’t hold your breath)., you could run SRAM’s system, too.
The trick steerer spacer has built in blinky lights. The fork offers pretty good tire clearance all around. The brake hose pokes into it right at the crown for an extremely clean appearance.
The seatpost binder is flush with the top tube, further the streamlined appearance.
A full Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 system with hydraulic disc brakes and Cannondale’s wicked light Spiderings comes together for $9,750. If you’re drooling over this bike as much as we are, get your order in now. They’ll sell every single one they can make.
The Synapse Hi-Mod Black Inc. also gets full Dura-Ace with their SpiderRings.
There are also alloy Synapse disc bikes with Ultegra and 105.
They, too, get fairly clean cable runs, but without the internal fork routing.
SuperSix
The SuperSix Evo Black Inc. gets their Nano resin technology that’s impregnated with microscopic air bubbles that both lighten up and add strength. It saves about 20g per frame, bringing it down to 700g for a 56.
It gets subtle gold details, including custom painted Chris King hubs.
The SuperSix is now EVO all the way down, no more base level SuperSix. At the Ultegra level, it switches to external cable routing, and only four of the nine complete bikes are Hi-Mod, like the team edition above.
The rest are standard modulus carbon, but frames look essentially the same. Women’s SuperSix starts with an Ultegra build (no Hi-Mods) and goes down from there.
CAAD10
One of the originals of the recent trend toward creating premium alloy crit racers is the CAAD10. For 2014, it’s updated with internal cable routing and Di2 compatibility without changing the frame weight. 6069 alloy
The 2014 CAAD8 is 6061 alloy and doesn’t get the smooth sanded welds of the CAAD10, and it has external cable routing, but is otherwise a very similar frame to the higher end bike. Starts at 105 group and goes down.
SuperX & Slice
Cross bike gets a Black Inc. edition with the new SRAM Red 22 hydraulic disc brakes.
Even the Slice triathlon bike gets a Black Inc. edition.
