It’s been one of the most revered bikes around over the last few years, but Cannondale have finally taken the plunge and redesigned their flagship SuperSix EVO.
Interestingly, Cannondale have resisted the temptation to go full aero and the new model bears a striking aesthetic resemblance to the previous edition, albeit with more than a few tweaks and some comfort-increasing additions borrowed from its sibling, the Synapse. With claimed improvements across the board – from comfort, to aerodynamics, to frameset weight – Cannondale have pitched the new SuperSix at a ‘balanced’ all-rounder.
The frame weight of the SuperSix has actually increased slightly, up to 777g from 760g for the previous. But that doesn’t mean that the frameset weight has increased though, far from it, as Cannondale have reduced the fork from 320g to 280g. That, along with a few other trimmings (notably on the headset and seatpost) means that the frameset weight for 2016’s SuperSix is 1,303g. To put that in context, Trek claim 1,312g for the Emonda SLR 10 – so at 9g lighter, the SuperSix can play with the best featherweight bikes around.
Alongside the impressive weight, Cannondale are making some similarly loud noises about the ride quality of the bike. They claim that the new ‘Speed Save’ fork increases front end compliance by 21 per cent from the previous model, and the 25.4mm seatpost – borrowed from the Synapse – offers 36 per cent more ride comfort as it’s slimmer diameter allows for greater flex. Similarly, the ‘Speed Save’ tube profiling of the rear triangle claims to offer 15 per cent more vertical deflection. Elsewhere, the bottom bracket is now a wider BB30A unit, again borrowed from the Synapse, which apparently offers 11 per cent greater stiffness, thanks to an increased width of X, and the headtube has also been redesigned to offer a 12 per cent increase in rigidity over the old bike.
The tube shapes themselves have also been altered slightly and now feature ‘TAP’ (Truncated Aero Profile) shapes on the downtube, seattube and seatstays, as well as a narrower headtube and thinner TAP blades on the fork. All this combines to lower frontal area and improved aerodynamics, giving the SuperSix a claimed six-watt drag reduction at 40km/h.
The Hi-Mod version of the bike will come in five varities, from an Ultegra-equipped ‘entry level’ model all the way up to the all-singing, all-dancing Black Inc version. Check them out in the photo gallery below.
Look out for the new bike under the Cannondale-Garmin riders at the Tour de France, starting on Saturday (July 4), but for now check out Cannondale’s teaser video above to whet your appetites.
