1 year ago
A solid bike for road touring. It has all the braze ons for low rider front panniers, rear rack, etc. It had enough room to have a Kryptonite cable lock on the seat tube without a 3rd water bottle cage. If I do a rail trail, I'd put back the original tires. Road tires in 30mm width are more appropriate for road touring. There's road and sugar sand around here, nothing between. Hammonton, N.J. 6 foot, this is a large frame, rideable due to the sloping top tube. A bit short in the legs 31" inseam at 6 foot, but long in the trunk and arms. I was impressed by how softly and smoothly this one rides, and I've got the more durable aluminum version. This one is great for riding in a straight line which is what you need for a touring bike. The chainstays are long which provides good heel clearance for rear panniers, and like nobody seems to realize, straighter chainlines if crosschaining. No interferance problems with toes and front wheel due to that long front center on the large size! Cannondale is famous for proprietary components and quirky designs. They definitely stuck to widely available solid components on this one. No need to stockpile components since parts will be available 5 to 10 years from now. The gearing selection is well chosen in general, but with the 11-34 cassette and a heavy touring load, I'd be coasting before using that huge gear. I ordered a 12-36 which offers a lower ratio and a lower 2nd largest cog. The 36 is pushing it a bit on capacity, but this is known to work. This isn't a crit racer afterall! Assembly was near perfect. I checked all the bolt torques, took out the bottom bracket to check if the threads were greased as I've seen unprepped ones with out of square bottom bracket shells from the factory. ( Another brand) The preload on the front hub was a bit excessive. An easy fix, but most low end hubs have similar issues. The wheels are true and round, with even spoke tension. Still is true after 150 miles. Perhaps I'll build a 32 spoke rear wheel for it this winter. Until then I'll be carrying the Stein cassette tool , a correct spoke taped to the front rack, and a spoke key. In reality, with one broken spoke and that wheel/ frame clearance, it'd ride ok like that awhile. At least they chose to build the wheels cross 3 spoke pattern. Durability with what stresses disk brakes put on spokes, is a big priority. Cross 2 with radial spokes on the other side ,24 spokes would be a really dumb choice here. Again, this is no crit racer! If this one breaks down on tour, a good shop will have all you need. I'm very pleased to have been able to test ride 2 frame sizes before buying. Some shops have limited stock.
