- Those are carbs.
(laughing)
- Oh, there's carbs in there too?
- Like gummy bears.
- Oh.
What do you think they were? Air?
(intense music)
(yelling)
Hey there,
my name is Sarah Moore,
and we're here in my backyard of
Squamish, British Columbia.
And we're filming the pink bike,
cross-country field test.
And with me here now
is the Cannondale Scalpel.
With a hundred millimeters of rear travel
and a hundred millimeter fork.
The Cannondale Scalpel is unmistakably
a cross country bike.
All of the bikes,
except for the size small,
come with 29er wheels,
and then that size small comes with
27 and a half wheels.
Let's take a closer look
at the Cannondale Scalpel frame
that we have here.
For this version,
the Cannondale design team has
in engineered their very own
stash tool system.
So what that is,
is there's a fabric eight and one multi-tool
that fits right inside the frame,
easy to pull out.
And then there is a
Dyna plug,
ultra light tire plug that fits right into the
stash kit as well.
And there's also a CO2,
that can fit right in there.
And if all of that is too heavy for you,
there's also a blank plate
that you can put on instead.
There's tube in tube,
cable routing throughout the bike
to make it quieter, easier to work on.
Hydration is key, and there are
two spots for water bottles on
the inside of the Cannondale Scalpel frame,
At five seven,
I'm riding the size medium,
which has a 435 millimeter reach.
That's paired with a
60 millimeter stem,
and the wheelbase is
1,151 millimeters long.
With a 68 degree head tube angle.
The new Scalpel is a degree and a half slacker
than the previous generation was.
The scalpel has a 74 and a half degree
seat tube angle,
which is in line with the other bikes in this category.
And it has 436 millimeter
chain stays across all sizes.
And now let's dive into suspension.
Basically Cannondale wanted to use
a horse link suspension design,
but they didn't want all of the
pivots and hardware and extra weight
that comes with that design.
Instead this carbon section flexes,
acting like a pivot,
which Cannondale says allowed them to save about 200 grams.
With this suspension design
Cannondale was able to
keep the frame weight down.
They claim a size medium weighs 1,910 grams.
And the size medium that we're riding
set up tubeless with
control tires, no pedals,
and we removed that sash tool.
Weighs in at just under 22 pounds.
Our test bike comes with a
Fox float DPS rear shock
and a hundred millimeter
lefty Ocho fork,
which makes it one of the more polarizing bikes here.
It's all carbon on all models of this bike.
Prices starting at 4,500 dollars
and going up to 12,000 dollars US.
The model we're testing is the
Cannondale Scalpel high mod, ultimate.
It retails for 12,000 US dollars
and for that amount
you'll get strands eagle axs,
MV wheels,
and you'll get level ultimate brakes.
That's enough about the spec.
Let's talk about how 12,000 dollars
feels on the trail.
(calm music)
- All right. Let's talk about how the
new Scalpel performs on the trail.
But first we've got to cover setup.
We did schwalbe control tires, of course,
just like on all the bikes.
But Sarah, tell me about suspension.
- I set it up according to
Cannondale's recommendations,
super easy.
There's a little deckle front and rear,
and went from there.
- Speaking of the front of the bike.
Tell me about that lefty.
Actually wait, don't tell me about the lefty,
all I want to know
is what you first thought
when you saw it.
- Yeah, I know it has like a
long history,
tried and true,
but when you first see the bike you're like,
"Oh, what's it gonna feel like when I get on the trail?"
Right? - Yeah.
- Like, am I going to feel lopsided? So.
- When people think of Cannondale,
they think of lefty a lot of times, - Totally.
- but there's a bigger picture than that.
And that's what we're going to talk about.
Let's go over climbing first.
(calm music)
- Despite that, you know,
slightly slacker head tube angle,
the bike feels super responsive,
super easy to like wind through corners.
You don't have to, you know,
think a long way ahead.
And if you
look at the technical climbing,
that traction is like such a huge part
of, you know, - Right.
- What makes a technical climb easier or harder.
And the Cannondale has
amazing traction on the climbs.
- Let's compare it
to the Lux in that regard,
the Canyon Luxe.
What did you think there?
- [Sarah] Yeah, it's really interesting 'cause
I mean, this is obviously a brand new bike.
It just came out.
It feels a lot
less responsive almost
when you're going up, something like a fire road.
- [Mike] Like it doesn't
jump forward as fast, right.
- [Sarah] Yeah, it doesn't jump forward.
It doesn't have that, like,
you know, harsh feeling that you kind of
have come to expect from a cross country bike.
Like you almost expect it to beat you up,
on the climbs
But because of that, yeah,
it doesn't feel
like you're getting bounced off line as much.
So you can just say sitting down
and, you know,
push a smaller gear, save a little bit of energy.
It doesn't feel as efficient maybe actually,
but
it is efficient and it feels
easier to climb and get through tactical sections.
- And watching you ride those sections,
to me, it looked like,
whereas on the Canyon
or another bike,
it looked like you were almost like,
"Oh, I'm a make-
you got to make it."
You know? You're one of those like,
that reaches. - Yeah.
- You know. This bike, I would watch you,
and you're,
you're seated and you're pedaling
and you're just going,
Mwa, up the things.
- Yeah, yeah.
Like your position.
You're kind of on top of the bike a little bit more
and it,
it doesn't feel like you, you know,
you have to
pray and hope for the best
that you're going to make it over things. Right?
Yeah you could just kind of, sucks it up-
Sucks up the way.
- Let's keep in mind too,
that all the bikes have the exact same tires,
at the exact same tire pressure.
So we're eliminating that variable there.
So,
more forgiving suspension,
despite delivers
a good amount of traction for a cross country race bike.
And that certainly helps in the technical climbing.
Doesn't it?
- Yeah. Super important.
(calm music)
Yeah, so let's start by talking about
handling and geometry.
There's a lot more room
for error with this bicycle.
It doesn't feel like
you're going to be going over the handlebars
at every other corner, and-
- [Mike] You felt more comfortable.
You look more comfortable, that's for sure.
- [Sarah] Yeah. Definitely feels a lot more comfortable
descending.
- [Mike] Why do you think that is,
that on like a roody section
and maybe you're getting a little loose,
on a bike like the Cannondale,
you feel like you're going to save it
or you feel like you're not worried at all.
- [Sarah] Yeah.
I think it really is about where you are
over the bike.
So on this bike,
it feels like you're
just a little tiny bit more relaxed.
It's two degrees,
less steep than the Canyon Lux is.
- That's a big deal.
- Yeah, it makes a big difference.
So you really feel that you're in a better position
while still being able to keep, you know,
traction on the front wheel.
- [Mike] That front axle is farther out in front of you.
You don't feel like you're going out the front door
- Yeah, exactly. - Against your will.
- And that's even, you know,
with no dropper posts
like it just feels like you're in a good position.
- [Mike] It sound like it-
almost has like a more
trail bikey feel, and I know that
over at Canada right now, someone is like,
"Oh, you know, this is our race bike"
- [Sarah] Yeah. It's definitely,
you're not as
kind of terrified when you're on the descend.
It just has a little bit more room for air.
- [Mike] What about the other end of the travel.
If it's so forgiving.
Did you feel like you were sitting
into that stroke too much or.
- Not- I mean, there is no
harsh bottom outs.
I never felt like, you know,
I was sitting really low in the travel.
Yeah. It was just a comfortable kind of using,
using the travel
efficiently and well.
- [Mike] If we're talking suspension,
there's no way we can't talk about this
lefty fork strut thing.
So it looks weird, Sarah.
I know you had some reservations at first, but
you've been riding this thing for weeks.
What's the story?
How does it work?
- It feels great.
- Right? It feels like a fork.
- It feels a lot like a fork. Yeah.
- So if you,
if you weren't looking down,
would you know that it's not a Fox
or a RockShox fork?
- [Sarah] You'd have no idea.
- [Mike] I've ridden that lefty as well too.
And I've written the new CIDs,
I've written 32s and 34s and
that lefty strut thing.
It is quite, torsionally stiff.
That's not an issue.
I would say it's probably one of the
stiffest xc forks out there.
As far as small bump compliance.
- Yeah. It feels-
- [Mike] Great, right?
- [Sarah] Like,
on it,
like you would have no idea
that you don't have a regular
fork on there.
- [Mike] Exactly.
How much of a factor do you think that
fork's rigidity is,
in the bike's handling?
You know, we keep saying that
this is probably the stiffest cross country fork out there,
which surely helps that bike
go faster on rough terrain.
Right? - Yeah. It definitely feels
like you're
more in control on the descents. You,
you know,
doesn't feel flimsy at all.
You know, I'd say in high speed stuff,
you do notice that you're a little bit
higher above the bike. It doesn't-
Not because of the fork, obviously,
but just in general, - The geometry.
- Because of the geometry, you do feel
a little bit elevated, so.
- Maybe you should lower that seat, Sarah.
- Yeah.
- It's really high.
- Mainly because it doesn't have dropper.
(upbeat music)
- Cross country race bikes are
all about going up against the clock.
We had our own clock.
Sarah,
how did the new scalpel do
in our time lapse?
- Yeah. It had the fastest time on the
overall lap and on the climb
and then
tied with the Cannon Lux actually,
which has a dropper post on the descent.
So kind of an interesting
comparison there.
- [Mike] Yeah. Okay.
Of course we also had the efficiency test
where it placed middle of the pack.
It was 10 seconds back from the winner
(upbeat music)
Sarah,
how much did this bike cost?
- It's 12,000 dollars US.
- Is there anything left to upgrade?
- [Sarah] No, like it's got
MV wheels,
depost, - [Mike] Right.
handlebar,
like super lightweight. - [Mike] Light, fast stuff.
Any issues with that stuff?
- None. None at all. - It worked.
- So you also had some access gearing on there.
What did you think?
- [Sarah] I love the axis.
I mean, it's
so good when you're, you know,
working hard and you can just go. Bloop, bloop, bloop.
- I want to talk about that cassette on the back there,
that's the new
wide range cassette with the 52 tooth Cod.
What'd you think?
- [Sarah] I would say
cross country is not maybe the best place
for this
52 tooth.
Just because that-
Your ratio like the,
the drop is just so big.
Like you're working really hard
and then you want to go for that
one gear easier
and suddenly you're just spinning.
- On the other hand, this is a race bike.
Shouldn't you just be in that 10 tooth cog the whole time.
- Well sure. - Okay.
Let's get to the pros and cons now.
(upbeat music)
Alright. Onto pros and cons.
Sarah, tell the people what you like.
- [Sarah] Well, it's not a trail bike, but
it feels a lot more comfortable,
a lot more in control
than a lot of other cross country bikes.
And then also
there's just not like a harsh suspension feeling.
So you could go out for like a really long race
or all day intervals or whatever you want to do.
- Stage racing. - Yep, and you wouldn't
just get beaten up.
So it's a lot more supple and forgiving.
I really also liked the Prologo saddle
that comes on this bike. - [Mike] It looks weird.
- Feels awesome. It doesn't matter what it looks like.
You're sitting on it anyways.
(upbeat music)
- Alright, cons next.
Sarah. Tell the people what you didn't like.
- Well, I never gelled quite as well
with the bike for corners.
So that was
something that I think could be improved with,
you know, a slightly lower, longer bike.
If you do really like that, you know,
super efficient feeling
on the climbs,
then this bike doesn't have that.
So just press the little lockout button
and you can fix that con.
- So when you want to turn your suspension off,
she's saying just push the lockout lever. There you go.
- Yeah.
(upbeat music)
- We should probably talk about
who this bike best suits, shouldn't we?
- Yeah. I mean,
this is going to be
a modern cross country racer.
If you're tackling more technical courses,
it'll be a great bike for you.
- What about stage racing? Things like that.
- Yeah. I mean, because the bike is so forgiving,
you're not going to get beaten up as much
on a longer stage race.
So if you're doing like multi-day back-to-back races
or just like,
you know, four hour races, marathon races,
like this would be a great bike to do those kinds of things.
And there you have it.
That's the Cannondale Scalpel,
stay tuned for more videos
from our cross country field test,
as well as a round table where we compare all of them.
(upbeat music)