I’ve just taken delivery of one of those bargain Slates. On closer inspection the rear wheel is much closer to the drive side seat stay than the non drive. Could any other owners confirm if theirs is like that and it’s a case of “they all do that sir” or is my bike going to be riding round in circles. It came fully built in one of those flimsy ginormous bike boxes hence my concern it’s taken a whack (though there is no signs to suggest it has).

The wheel is square in the drop outs and between the chain stays so I’m a little puzzled.

That sounds like the sort of thing Cannondale do on purpose! Are the head and seat tubes in line between the wheels?

I thought that it could be bendy asymmetrical-ness for bendy asymmetrical-ness sake. Everything else looks to be inline.

http://www.cannondale.com/en/International/Innovation/asymmetric-integration.aspx

What’s not to like?

they say

Um, the ability to just chuck another wheel in there from a different bike?

Sounds like you have a non adjusted wheel in a asymmetrical frame reading that. I don’t have one to compare though I’m afraid

I have a Slate, will check tonight. Could you post a picture up? What wheels do you have in it? Slate or Mavic ones?

I have a slate and recently swapped over wheels from my mtb with zero issues. the front needed a new hub (obvs) but the rear was just fitted straight in as a swap.

will check tonight by I suspect it’s just asymmetrical chainstays

Check wheel dish – see if you can put the wheel in the wrong way around and whether the gaps are the same? At least it will eliminate one variable from the problem.

Pop the wheel in the wrong way round, is it still too close to the DS chainstay? Then its the frame.

Linky….

a quick search on the ol Tinterweb….see section re:wheels – suggests it is asymmetric design…

As others as said. Sounds like the frame is an asymmetric design but the wheel hasn’t been built with this in mind.

I have a Cannondale Scalpel and recently had the rear rim replaced under warranty. They build the wheel up without taking the asymmetric into account. I had to have the wheel rebuilt.

surely all rear wheels are asymmetric, it may be that the rim is also asymmetric (or not)

Been to the local Evans and luckily they had a Slate in (the Ultegra version) so I had a good look at it. The rear wheel had an even gap between the stays which makes me think I’ve got a bad un. It had the same Mavic wheels as mine. I’ve contacted the shop I bought it from to see what they say. Hopefully they’ll have some more in they can compare it with.

Thanks you all for your help and suggestions much appreciated.