Cannondale SuperX Review

There I was alone in what was a 110 mile gravel race, but for me it was now a 119 mile gravel race.  I was lost and alone in the middle of Kansas on gravel roads and I had not seen a car or a rider in over  2 hours, only rarely seeing a farm house in the distance.  It was just me and my Cannondale SuperX, grinding through the gravel wondering if I would ever get back on the race course.  I couldn’t help but think “how did I get here”. 

Kansas Gravel - Photo Credit Chuck Vohsen

Flashback

For almost a year I had been coveting my teammate, Chuck’s, adventure/gravel bike.  He had scoured the earth and found all the perfect parts and built a Salsa Vaya, he even blogged the whole build process.  As he built his bike, he kept telling me what a great time he was going to have competing in all upcoming gravel races.  I was not convinced that gravel racing could ever be fun.  I had done plenty of adventure races on a mountain bike riding gravel roads and it was never what I would call fun.  I said “I will never gravel race, EVER, I don’t care how many times you tell me it’s fun”. 

So the more Chuck rode and the more stories he told me, the more I thought, maybe I want to try this, but I did not want to waste a bunch of money on a gravel bike and find out that I hated gravel racing.  Oh, but then the light bulb in my brain went on.  I had been wanting to start riding a few cyclocross races and I realized that a gravel bike is really just a cyclocross bike with bigger tires.  In my mind I could justify maybe making a purchase of a cyclocross bike and using it as a gravel bike also. 

Now this meant that I would have to start researching bikes, because I’m not mechanically inclined like Chuck, so much so, that the bike shop guys tell me to never ever do my own maintenance.  I hate to admit it, but every time I have tried to do my own maintenance, it has turned into a disaster and I end up running into the bike shop yelling “code blue” because it always happens the day I’m leaving town for a race. 

So after looking at Trek, Felt, Giant and Cannondale, I had narrowed the search to two CX bikes that I could afford.  My number one choice was the Trek Cronus Pro and the Cannondale SuperX was my second choice.  Since I race for the Cyclery which is sponsored by Trek, I was pretty sure I would go with the Trek. Plus the Trek had tubeless ready wheels, which I thought I would really need, but it had Shimano 105 components, and I really wanted the next step up to Ultegra.  It also had the Bontrager Evoke saddle which I like and of course the frame was carbon and I wanted the lightest bike I could get.  

I compared it to the Cannondale which was also carbon and it had the upgrade to the Ultegra components, it was not tubeless ready, which at the time was a strike in my mind, because I knew how hard gravel can be on tires and I was afraid of constant flats with tubed wheels.  The saddle was a Fizik Tundra, which seemed to be a very expensive saddle, but I had never actually tried one before so I didn’t know if I would like it or not.

After all my research and thinking about it, and let me tell you, I thought about it for 6 months before I made the purchase, I made a trip to the Cyclery, where Andy, a master mechanic and coach, fitted me for both the Trek and the Cannondale.  Andy was also a Trek Cronus lover, but in the end, he said fit is everything, and the smallest Cronus made was a 50 cm, which he couldn’t in good conscience tell me would fit. However Cannondale came in smaller sizes and I could get a 47 which is what I needed.  The Cannondale was a bit out of my price range, but with some coordination between the Cyclery and Cannondale, I was able to get an affordable price.

Robin's Cannondale SuperX

I was still not a believer and was worried that I would get the bike and hate it, I had heard some bad stuff from fellow riders about Cannondales, and was worried that it may be true.  I did have one friend who is a great road racer and all he rides is Cannondale, he told me I would love it and not to worry.  I ordered the bike, while I was still recovering from tailbone and heart surgery, it came in just a week before I was going to be released to ride.  

I started thinking about what kind of tires I needed for gravel racing, the bike came with Schwalbe Rapid Rob’s in a 35C size.  Everyone told me that they would never hold up to the gravel.  My adventure racing team, ROCK Racing, is sponsored by Schwalbe and I happen to really like their tires, so I wasn’t really worried, but the Rapid Rob is not considered a tough tire, so I ordered Schwalbe Marathons, the toughest tires they make.  I had to stay with the 35c’s because the next size up in the Marathons was a 40c and I thought it would be too big for the bike.  Unfortunately, the tires would not arrive in time for my first ride or my first race.  

Rapid Rob vs. Marathon

After a week of looking at the bike, I rode it one time on some gravel roads in the Busch Wildlife area, in Missouri.  It was only a 50 mile ride, but the bike felt pretty good, except for the saddle. 

Photo Credit - Dan Singer

Then six days later I took the bike to Herman Missouri and competed in Tour of Herman Gravel Race.  If you know anything about Herman Missouri, you know that it is crazy hilly. 

Hills of Herman - Photo Credit Dan Singer

So I’m on a new bike, rolling down steep hills at 40 mph in deep river gravel. I was more than a little scared and I was riding a race tire, instead of a tough tire. Guess what!  It was all good, not one flat tire, and I only fish tailed to the point of hysteria one time.  After finishing 68 miles of tortuous hills and heavy gravel, I decided that I really liked my SuperX.  The only thing I really hated about the entire bike was the saddle, it was not made for a butt the size of mine.  I knew I would be swapping it out for one of my favorite saddles before my next ride.

Saddle from Hell - Photo Credit Dan Singer

I left Herman, still as out of shape as ever, but feeling good, I mean for the shape I was in, I should have been sore from being rattled to death over the gravel and hills, but I really felt good and I felt good the next two days too with no residual back aches. So the bike did a great job handling the some of the roughest roads in the Midwest. 

Fast Forward

Just a few weeks after the Tour of Herman, and not very many rides on my SuperX, I found myself in Kansas racing in the Dirty Kanza.  

The Epic Gravel Race

As far as the course went, it was all hills, but not the steep grueling hills of Herman, mostly long climbs with one after the next and the gravel of course was much tougher than the Herman gravel.  I had to constantly find a line left from previous riders to follow. Yes, I was scared a couple times, but I was able to keep both wheels on the road. 

Who said Kansas was flat

Oh and I was riding the half pint race of 110 miles, but since I got lost once, I ended up riding 119 miles.  Never once did I curse the bike, or feel like it was killing me on the rough roads. I had put on the Schwalbe Marathon tires and they were really working well.  I never felt like crying or like I wasn’t going to make it, I never wanted to throw my bike in the gravel and walk away.  I have to give credit to my SuperX, it was so comfortable, so light, and so freaking awesome, that I was even smiling when I crossed the finish line and I finished it faster than I had expected even with the extra nine miles. 

119 miles later

Now if I were my teammate Chuck, I would have given you a more technical review of the bike, but Chuck thinks like a engineer and he is a guy, so all the mechanical stuff means something to him.  For me though, the icing on the cake was finishing a Dirty Kanza and thinking, well I might just do this again.  Well it actually took a couple days before I really thought that.

So next up, I will be putting the Schwalbe Rapid Robs back on and racing some cyclocross and I have no doubt that I will love the SuperX just as much, when I’m racing a cyclocross course.

Gravel Bike - Evolution

Don't build this bike.

If you could stand to follow this build all the way from post1 through post 10, you know I had been using an Ebay Cannondale CAAD7 frame for the base of the build.  I was pretty excited about an American made CX bike with disc brakes.  But, as I added more and more mileage to the frame, the original small idiosyncrasies I found starting growing into big downers. Since I plan to ride some high mileage races this year (Cedar Cross, DK200) I really needed to have it dialed in as close to perfect as I could get it.  The things I couldn’t get around were:

Front wheel toe overlap.  Why would a bike mfg design a geometry that allows your toes to hit the wheel when turning?  It’s beyond me.  At best, this is absolutely annoying and at worst it’s downright dangerous.  It’s probably partly my fault for setting the cleats on my shoes so far back, but they have to be there to avoid those damn hotspots.

Limited tire size.  I literally had to cram 35c tires in the frame.  They were so close to rubbing but I went with it because it ‘is what is’.  I should have had 30 or 32c on this frame.  Any amount of mud or sand collecting on the rear seatstays would likely lock the wheel up.  I really wanted to ride 40c tires for the added comfort and controlabilty in wet and/or loose gravel.

Geometry.  I think the Cannondale geometry was designed for short cx races.  It felt fast, but always twitchy.  I was constantly focused on the steering, working through the heavier graveled sections of road  slower than I wanted.  It gave me that unsteady feeling of sitting up too high ‘on-top’ of the bike.  I like the feeling of being ‘in’ the bike.  Wish I knew how to explain that better.  I first discovered that feeling on my Superfly and now I want all my bikes to feel that way.

Road Buzz.  This is probably the aluminum fork and frame.  I’ve read plenty of frame reviews and this is the reason people give for not liking aluminum.  Take that buzz on the road to gravel and it gets more magnified.  This is kind of a minor thing compared to the other reasons, but it was still there. I bet a carbon fork would've fixed it.

I could live with the buzz, I didn’t like the geometry.  But I really hated the toe overlap and limited tire size.  I tried to think my way through solutions to these problems and I kept coming back to the same one:  New frame.

So I obsessively read my way through a half million reviews, thousands of blog stalks, hundreds of conversations and as I narrowed my search down, a month went by.  Then I did it all over again, narrowed my search even further and another month went by.  I finally decided on a Salsa Vaya.  Salsa calls it their "road adventure bike, designed to handle any ‘road’ surface, from pavement to gravel."

The Vaya has a long wheelbase = no toe overlap.  Takes up to 42c tires (and it looks like it could even go bigger than that).  Middle of the road geometry (touring meet racing).  And a steel frame means goodbye road buzz.

Now that my frame search was more specific.  I bombarded Craigslist and Ebay and all the forums I could find.  Constantly looking for used 56cm Vaya frames.  There was nothing out there, not a single hit in a month of searching.  God bless my angelic wife for finally putting an end to my suffering!  And No, she didn’t smother me with a pillow.  She ordered a brand new Vaya frame for my birthday eve/first birthday/second birthday/post birthday/Christmas combo!!

 The 10 part blog build of the Cannondale turned into a one hour part-swap-fest.  Everything swapped over easily to the Vaya and only left me with a mild cable length problem that I’ll get to someday.

While I was doing all the part swapping I also put on the bigger 700 x 40c Schwalbe Marathon Mondial tires I was wanting.  They fit great with plenty of room to spare.  I also replaced those crappy road bike handlebars with some Salsa Cowbell II bars and wrapped them up in lizardskins tape.

These bars are short reach, shallow drop, and have the lower legs flared out at a 12 degree angle.  I'm gonna tell you they are the best drop bars I've ever ridden.  If I ever get on my road bike again, I will have to replace the fancy-schmancy carbon bars for one of these.

I've got a lot of riding to do this spring, I'll get another post out to let you know how the Evolution to Perfection is progressing.

Gravel Bike - Part 10

Part 9

The only thing left now is saddle and tires.

My original plan was to use the saddle from my road bike for gravel bike.  It is a Selle Italia Gel Flow with a cut-out.  I put a lot of time on that saddle this summer during Ironman training, and it never felt 'just-right'.  It was useable and I done a TON of miles on it, but I decided to spend some money on a new saddle for gravel bike.  I'm planning some long-long rides and a saddle is not a place to save money and compromise.  After reading endless reviews and talking to several people (Thanks Bob and Fred!) that have them, I decided on an old-school leather Brooks.  When my new B17 Imperial arrived via UPS, I stole the seat-post from my Specialized road bike and put it in the frame with the saddle on top.  I read how using the Brooks Proofride helps break in the saddle and protect it during use, so I smeared it with a good greasy coat.  I also stole the underseat bag from my road bike.

 

Odd shaped cut-out, seems to remind me of something, just can't place it.

ROCK Racing has a great partnership deal with Schwalbe tires, so I talked to their tech guy and told him about gravel bike and my plans for it.  He didn't hesitate when he said the Schwalbe Marathon Mondial was the tire I wanted.  He also told me that the tire was not tubeless ready.  I already planned for tubeless, so I guess its a little bit of a risk on how they will perform.  I ordered two sets 35c and 40c.  Hoping the bigger 40's would fit in my frame rails.  Well they didn't.  Even the 35's are a lot tighter than I like in between the rear chainstays. 

I have a previous post about setting up tubeless tires so I'm only going to add that these Marathons were so incredibly easy to set up I almost can't believe it.  The tires installed with no levers, just fingers.  I was able to get the beads to set on the first try only using a hand pump.  And they haven't leaked down one time since then.  The tread pattern looks perfect for what I want and the sidewalls have this indestructible feeling.  Another thing I didn't expect was one of those 'glowey-don't-run-me-over' strips around the diameter of the tire.  You have to see them in the dark to believe how brightly they reflect light.  They are amazing, I can't wait to get some miles on them and find out if they ride as well as they install and look.  

You probably noticed by now that all the pictures used in this post were taken outside on a gravel road instead of in my basement on the workstand.  

That's because ITS DONE!!!!

Well maybe not completely done. Are they ever? Next post will be a first ride report and how well I like or dislike the parts I used for the build, and what changes I need to make.