CSG Launch : Cannondale and Charge

Welcome one, welcome all, to the second in our illustrious series (of three) covering the loveliness that caught our eyes at the CSG launch last week. Today – Charge and Cannondale!

Cannondale

Jekyll

Cannondale have redesigned the Jekyll for 2015 with the help of Jerome Clementz. It now sports a steeper seat angle, a longer top tube and front centre and a slacker head angle for added vroom. There’s a 160mm lefty on the Carbon Team and the Carbon 2. The others – which are all aluminium – get Pikes.

The Fox DYAD RT2 pull shock is activated by a handlebar switch, which activates two different damping circuits, and gives you two different spring rates. The two modes are called Flow (for descending, and, um, flowing), with a flatter spring rate, and Elevate for going up which is more progressive. Apparently Mr J Clements likes it so much he uses a modified Gripshift shifter to change between the two modes with lightening speed. They also have different travel: Flow gets you the full 160mm of travel; Elevate runs at 95mm, and the sag changes to steepen up the front and aid climbing.

 

Prices range from £2699.99 to £5299.99.

 

 

Trigger

The Trigger has a broadly same idea as the Jekyll: a DYAD pull shock with two damping circuits and progression rates, all activated by a handlebar mount. The Trigger runs 140mm or 85mm, with the similar geometry and BB height changes. Cannondale market it as a ‘quiver killer’: the bike that does it all. Prices from £2699.99 for the Trigger 4 to £6999.99 for the ENVE wheeled, XX1 Trigger Carbon Black Edition.

Scalpel 29

The Scalpel is a rip-snorting, bit-champing XC machine. 29in wheels, lefties throughout the range, and 100mm of travel front and rear certainly suggest a full bore, flared-nostrilled trail-charger. Prices range from £2499.99 for the only aluminium bike in the range, up to £6999.99  for the Scalpel Carbon Black. The Cannondale Rush occupies the full-suss XC niche below these price points – aluminium frames and a broadly similar suspension system are available from £1299.99 to £1899.99.

F-Si

You might have seen a video with Peter Sagan ripping up the trails on the new Cannondale hardtail (it’s here if you’d like to see it again). This is the bike:

It weighs slightly less than a packet of crisps (may be a slight exaggeration – it’s certainly very, very light), and has all the current buzzwords, which certainly makes it interesting from an XC hardtail point-of-view. It has a 1×11 drivetrain, it’s longer, lower in the BB and has a (slightly) more relaxed geometry. So it should be a hoot to ride trails hard with, especially with the feathery weight.

 The FSi uses a slightly (6mm) offset rear wheel – so you can run it dishless, which is a bit stronger. You can also make the shainstays shorter too, because you also offset the chainset, and give yourself more room at the seat-tube to cram everything in. Prices from £2999.99 up to £6999.99 for the F-Si Carbon Black Edition Di-2.

We thought this might be Chipps’ perfect bike – a 29er aluminium tandem was in the Cannondale lobby. Fatty fork, big, tandem-specific wheels, £2499.99.

For more details see Cannondale’s website.

Charge

Cooker 5

The Cooker range all share geometries, and range from the Cooker 1 at £599.99 through to the pictured Cooker 5 at £2999.99, with a lovely Tange Ti frame…

1×11 drivetrain…

…and an all-new Fabric saddle.

The charge Cooker Maxi was so successful last year they’ve doubled the range. This is the Maxi 2, which has a Tange steel frame, and cartridge-bearing wheels – 135mm front and 170mm rear – at a prie of £1099.99. The Maxi 1 has an aluminium frame and slightly more cost-conscious componentry for £849.99.

More details here.

 

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