The Cannondale Bad Boy was introduced in 1999 and was an outgrowth of the Volvo-Cannondale team putting 700c wheels on their 26″ disc brake mountain bikes. They loved it so much that Cannondale turned that mashup into a production bike. Over the years it’s morphed into an ever more dedicated urban bike, and now it gets a total refresh.
It’s built around 650b wheels and 40mm tires, which was decided after they saw how fun the Slate adventure bike was. That lets it carry speed but also be very nimble for whipping through the city. And when it turns dark? That’s where the bike literally shines…
Head and downtubes are forged from a single piece, using the same technology as their SiSL cranks. It creates a seamless one piece tube that’s then gussetted to create the bottom of the head tube, which has a forged logo indent.
The top tube has a built in 3M bumper material they call Urban Armor. It has a bit of give to it and protects the frame when leaned against street signs and poles. It’s also hyper reflective, and other reflective graphics are spread around the bike, too.
On the top two models, a new Light Pipe Lefty runs a LED light strip all the way down the fork. A removable, USB-rechargeable battery slots into the top of the fork leg. In the back, LED lights are built into the seat post for an ultra clean look.
A frame break and sliding dropouts let it run the Gates Carbon Belt Drive system, or any internally geared rear hub.
A trick two-piece stem sandwiches the upper Lefty mount and looks very sleek.
Three models are coming to North America. The Badboy 1 and 2 get the integrated lights ($1,840 / $1,620), and the 3 without the lights ($840). One additional base model will be available in Europe.
