Supersix Evo Hi-mod Red Etap 2018 Review Pounds Weight
Cannondale unveiled the original Synapse in 2006, an all-carbon endurance-oriented frameset that has been steadily revised and updated since. The latest version, the fourth, builds upon the features introduced in 2014 to get a defended disc-brake offer with more tyre clearance for 2018.
Matt de Neef previewed the new Synapse range in July last yr, and after spending a couple of days on the Hi-Modernistic version, was impressed with the amount of comfort the wheel had to offer. At present, our Australian tech editor, Matt Wikstrom, provides an in-depth review of the 2018 Synapse Hi-MOD to come across if information technology lives up to Cannondale's ambitious marketing claims.
The Synapse was Cannondale's starting time all-carbon frameset, and based on the model's ongoing presence in the visitor's road catalogue, it has constitute favour with buyers for over a decade. During that time, Cannondale has dutifully refined the Synapse, edifice upon its original concept of micro-pause for a road bike.
This concept, dubbed Salve — Synapse Active Vibration Emptying — targets the pattern of the fork legs, seat- and chain-stays, and the seatpost so as to attenuate shock and vibration travelling through the chassis. Co-ordinate to Cannondale, Relieve not only improves the comfort of the bike, simply riders will besides savor amend command and handling.
Now, many of Cannondale's bikes characteristic Salve, regardless of the materials used for construction. However, information technology is the new Synapse where the system is at its most sophisticated, earning the moniker, SAVE PLUS. The system comprises three elements, starting with the carbon layup, which is designed to dissipate road buzz. The 2d chemical element, comprising the fork legs and stays, is meant to fence with pocket-size-to-medium bumps, while the final element, the seat tube and seatpost, soaks upwards the biggest hits.
In developing the new Synapse, Cannondale'due south engineers were intent on improving the comfort of the bike while adding back a measure of race-oriented performance. In this regard, the visitor's SuperSix EVO Disc served as an of import criterion, and 1 important goal was to shed a significant amount of weight from the frame and fork. Another was to increase the stiffness of the chassis in central areas, such as the caput tube.
Before the ride
Matt de Neef detailed the features that define the new Synapse in his first-look at the bicycle last year, including weight savings (220g for a 56cm frame; 116g for the fork) and some minor gains in stiffness (9.4%) at the head tube.
The frame retains many of the features that defined the third-generation Synapse, such as the "ability pyramid" and BB30A lesser bracket shell, as well as an obvious bow in the seat tube.
The most obvious change concerns the brakes: the 2018 Synapse is now dedicated solely to road disc brakes, and to this terminate, features flat-mounts for the disc callipers and 12mm thru-axles, front and rear. The move to disc brakes also prompted Cannondale to increase tyre clearance: in one case a maximum of 28mm, the new Synapse can adapt tyres upward to 32mm wide.
At the time of the launch concluding year, Cannondale was touting a new handlebar and stem organization for the Synapse dubbed "SystemBar". Designed to provide actress compliance for the front end of the bike, it was an obvious extension of Cannondale's SAVE philosophy. Still, after encountering quality control issues during manufacturing, the visitor was forced to abandon the SystemBar for 2018.
The Synapse provides internal routing for the brake hoses through the frame and fork. An interchangeable cable port was also developed for the downwardly tube of the frame that could accommodate mechanical, wired, and wireless groupsets. In addition, fender mounts were added to the fork legs and seatstays.
The geometry of the Synapse was too re-visited, and amongst the changes is the improver of an extra small 44cm size, making for a total of 7 frame sizes, as detailed in the tabular array below:
The geometry of the Synapse continues to exist reasonably forgiving cheers to a taller and shorter forepart compared to a typical race bike (e.g. Cannondale'south SuperSix EVO). Chainstay length is a uniform 410mm for all frame sizes, while the bottom bracket drop starts out reasonably depression (75mm) for the smallest frame sizes and decreases a little (73-70mm) for the larger ones.
The fork rake likewise varies according to the size of the frame. The two smallest frames (44 and 48cm) are mated with a fork with 60mm of rake; 51 and 54cm frames have a fork with 55mm of rake; and the largest frames (56, 58, and 61cm) are paired with a fork with 45mm of rake. When combined with the dissimilar head angle of each frame size, this range of fork rakes provide a near-uniform trail of 56-60mm, which is unusual (but laudable) for mass-produced bikes.
Cannondale'south dedication to normalising the handling of each frame size can also be seen in the decision to scale the size of the lower headset bearing. The two smallest frames make utilise of a straight 1.125in-diameter fork steerer. In dissimilarity, 51 and 55cm frames accept a 1.125-to-one.25-inch tapered steerer, and the remaining sizes utilize a 1.v-inch lower steerer diameter. In this style, the forepart end of the Synapse is but stiffened when it is needed and small riders aren't burdened by an overly stiff frame.
When placed side-past-side with the previous iteration, the new Synapse is apparently lighter and sleeker. Every frame fellow member has been pared dorsum and simplified to create a very make clean profile. The bow in the lower half of the seat tube is the merely deviation from this new aesthetic, but even this feature seems to add together to the overall sportiness of the final result.
The Synapse continues to be offered in a choice of two versions: the Synapse Carbon, constructed from Cannondale's standard BallisTec carbon fibre; and the Synapse Hi-MOD, fabricated from Hi-Modernistic BallisTec carbon fibre. The latter provides a ~150g weight-saving for the frame, merely adds several hundred dollars to the asking toll for the bike. In that location are just a few builds for the Howdy-MOD chassis on offer in the 2018 catalogue compared to a wider and more economical range of builds for the Synapse Carbon.
For this review, a size 51cm Hi-Modernistic frameset was supplied past Cannondale's Australian distributor, Monza Imports. The frame weighed 895g (without fittings such as the seatpost clench, headset, and thru-axle) while the uncut fork was 405g (without thru-axle). Once assembled with a SRAM eTap Ruby HRD groupset, carbon Hollowgram wheels with 30c Schwalbe tubeless G-One tyres, a Fizik cockpit, and a Fabric saddle, the bike weighed vii.23kg (15.94lb) without pedals.
This build substantially mirrors the Synapse HI-MOD Disc Red eTap that retails for AUD$11,000/US$eight,000/£half dozen,500. Buyers opting for the Synapse Carbon Disc Ruby eTap build tin can wait to pay AUD$8,500/US$6,000/£v,000, while the Shimano Ultegra version sells for AUD$4,500/US$3,000/£2,700 compared to AUD$3,500/US$2,500/£2,200 for the Shimano 105 build.
Aside from the components, each build offers buyers a distinct colour scheme for the chassis. This may frustrate some buyers that are fatigued to a specific colour, only to find that it is either out of their toll range or the build does not satisfy their specific needs. In this instance, the frameset supplied for review was largely a matte-black affair with gray and white panels. Curiously, those white panels were positioned nearly the grubbiest parts of the bicycle (e.g. bottom bracket and rear dropouts), so they were hard to proceed clean.
Cannondale offers a lifetime warranty for the Synapse frame while the rest of the bike is covered by a standard one-year warranty. For more data on the new Synapse and the various builds in its catalogue, visit Cannondale.
After the ride
When Cannondale unveiled the new Synapse terminal year, it was clear the visitor was proud of the result, asserting that information technology was "lighter, stiffer, ameliorate handling, and faster than any other endurance race bike out there."
Cannondale has never been afraid to make bold claims. I can still call back some of the hyperbole the company used to describe the third-generation Synapse, which promised "the perfect residual of raw power and all-24-hour interval rideability [that] might merely be the best all-around road bike we've ever made." After spending a few weeks on that bicycle, I couldn't quarrel with the amount of condolement the cycle had to offer, just the ride feel was dull, adjoining on lifeless.
Interestingly, in presenting the new Synapse, Cannondale seemed to acknowledge this shortcoming because the SAVE micro-pause had been refined to go "a holistic system that insulates the passenger from the bumps, without isolating them from the experience." This stands as something of a holy grail for whatever wheel and I had my doubts that Cannondale could accomplish it.
And yet they did. The bike really is as expert as Cannondale claims, and not just for endurance-oriented riders, but for road cycling in full general. It's a road bike in its most modern guise that is quick to become moving, easy to handle, and versatile enough for tackling whatever reasonable road surface.
To start with, the new Synapse is hands as comfortable and compliant equally its predecessor. This was well-nigh obvious at the saddle, where there was visible flex in the seatpost. Vibrations only failed to attain my backside, still I only experienced some mild bobbing when pushing big gears while seated on the bicycle. At that place were times when I might have preferred a sturdier post and surer saddle position, but overall, I consistently appreciated the corporeality of comfort that was on offer.
The forepart was reasonably compliant, as well, however it couldn't lucifer the saddle when information technology came to absorbing shock and vibrations. At times, when the terrain was at its near rugged, the divergence was enough to unbalance the bike and leave the palms of my easily feeling a fiddling sore after a long ride (four-5 hours) on mixed surfaces. In this regard, I look the ill-fated SystemBar would accept made a difference compared to the manifestly stiff carbon Fizik bar installed on this occasion.
What was most impressive was that the bike suffered none of the dullness of its predecessor; in its identify was a lively, informative ride quality that I could easily connect with. There was enough feedback from the road surface for me to understand how the bike was behaving at any given time, including whatsoever changes in grip and traction, without information technology ever overwhelming my senses.
I spent the entire review period on one set of tyres: a pair of 30c Schwalbe tubeless G-Ones, inflated to 40-50psi. At 50psi, the tyres and the wheel worked perfectly on paved surfaces, but lacked some grip on unpaved roads. Dropping the force per unit area to 40psi improved the corporeality of grip considerably, but the bike felt sluggish, and so I fabricated sure to have at to the lowest degree 45psi in the tyres for every outing.
These tyres were so versatile that I wasn't tempted to endeavour anything else. For those curious about bigger tyres, I tried to fit 35c Schwalbe Thousand-Ones, as well equally a set of 33c Schwalbe Racing Ralphs, and while it was possible to fit the rear wheel into the frame, there wasn't enough clearance at the fork crown for the bigger casings.
The Synapse was an easy wheel to ride on any paved terrain. The steering was close to neutral with a little understeer at high speeds, simply the inherent stability produced past the combination of a slack head angle (71.7°), low lesser subclass, and generous fork rake (55mm) made for an extremely certain-footed and confidence-inspiring car that was all the same highly manoeuvrable.
If annihilation, the steering and handling of the Synapse was even ameliorate suited to unpaved surfaces. The steering was very forgiving, even in the dry and dusty weather that prevailed during the review menstruation, and I was able to negotiate some pretty challenging terrain. At the aforementioned fourth dimension, the rear terminate of the cycle remained firmly planted, fifty-fifty when I was out of the saddle climbing steep trails and looking to advance out of a tight corner.
That's non to say that the Synapse was a gifted off-route bike in absolute terms. The tyres were simply too slim to conquer loose, sandy, and/or rocky trails, just with some care and a lot of concentration, I could selection my style through information technology all without losing command of the bike. The handling of the cycle was always predictable and I establish myself revelling in the challenge of riding off the beaten track to enjoy a strong sense of exploration.
The nearly satisfying aspect of these unpaved adventures was that I was able to ride to and from all of the trails on a very capable route bike. Indeed, the Synapse actually rivalled the stiffness, responsiveness, and liveliness of the SuperSix EVO Disc, with the only major difference being the quality of the steering and handling. And in retrospect, I constitute I preferred the Synapse because of the extra stability and sure-footedness information technology had to offer.
Some of the Synapse'south impressive performance could be attributed to the aspirational build and the depression final weight. To date, it is the lightest road disc wheel that I've ever ridden, and I constitute it lived up to the performance standards set by some of the lighter rim-brake equipped bikes I've experienced, such as Canyon's Ultimate CF SLX and the Scott Aficionado.
Another aspect that probably helped the performance of the wheel was the fact that I was able to go downwards a frame size with the Synapse. I normally ride a 54cm frame, but in the instance of the Synapse, the front terminate of the 54 was taller than I wanted. The stack of the 51 was near-perfect, and while the frame was a little curt (~5mm), I was able to get close to my platonic fit with a 120mm stem.
Every bit can be seen from the photos, a size 51 is a very meaty frame, and I've consistently found that compact frames benefit from a petty actress agility. This event may accept something to do with the inherent stiffness of a smaller frame, or maybe it is just a affair of weight distribution. Whatever the reason, the bicycle was always eager to motility; when coupled with the quality of the build, I was able to enjoy a race-worthy bicycle that was as responsive as it was versatile.
This is the 2nd build where I've been able to make utilise of SRAM's Cerise eTap HRD (Hydraulic Road Disc) groupset, and it continues to be a reliable and effective performer. The shifting activeness falls in between that of a mechanical groupset and the wired electronic groupsets (i.e. Di2 and EPS): for the best results, it is necessary to lighten the load on the pedals when shifting, just like a mechanical groupset, only the same kind endeavor isn't required at the levers. SRAM'southward Blip remote buttons brand for convenient shifting while on the tops, too.
As for the rest of the wheel, it was trouble- (and creak-) free for the duration of the review catamenia. The simply thing that interrupted the smoothen, tranquillity running of the bicycle was some concatenation slap when riding rough terrain while using the small chainring and sprockets.
Summary and final thoughts
The last few years take seen the number of choices available to road cyclists increase dramatically. At that place are now several distinct road bike categories (race, endurance, all-route, gravel, etc.) and a diverseness of polarising equipment options (rim versus disc brakes, mechanical versus electronic groupsets, 2x versus 1x transmissions, etc.). Both are a clear sign of evolution in the marketplace, and while it may overwhelm shoppers, there is the promise of a bicycle that is better suited to any passenger's specific needs.
So where does the Synapse autumn within the realm of possibilities? It's a route bike that many riders volition be able to use with supreme confidence on a wide range of surfaces to add together variety to their cycling. It's not so rugged to be considering a dedicated gravel-grinder, but it isn't that far removed, either. Better notwithstanding, it retains the poise and responsiveness of a dedicated race cycle without forcing the rider to compromise on condolement or the quality of steering and handling in less-than-pristine atmospheric condition.
As such, the new Synapse is a worthy rival for Trek's Domane and Specialized's Roubaix. In fact, I'm sure both were being targeted when Cannondale asserted that the Synapse was "lighter, stiffer, better handling, and faster than whatsoever other endurance race bicycle out there." I've not spent any time on either of those bikes, so I tin't brand any direct comparisons, simply based on James Huang's impressions, the Synapse seems an edgier and more aggressive cycle that isn't weighed down by suspension units. And information technology'southward for this reason that it holds more entreatment for me than either of those bikes.
What do each of the private ratings criteria mean? And how did nosotros arrive at the final score? Click here to find out. You can likewise read more than well-nigh our review process.
Source: https://cyclingtips.com/2018/02/cannondale-2018-synapse-hi-mod-review/
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