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2012 Cannondale Road & Cyclocross Bikes – Weights, Photos, Details

2012 Cannondale SuperSix EVO Ultimate road bike actual weight
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2012 Cannondale SuperSix EVO Ultimate road bike actual weight

Cannondale’s 2012 road and cyclocross line up includes a few redesigned models and some new bits and pieces to go on the frames.

The flagship is their SuperSix EVO road bike, a souped up version of their SuperSix that gets lighter while retaining all the stiffness. The SuperSix EVO Ultimate, above, is the lightest of the light and gets handpicked carbon tubes, pulling the lightest from the batches, along with a bare frame and very top-shelf parts to come in at just 11lbs 3oz (56, I think).

So, what separates the EVO model from the regular SuperSix? What else is new from Cannondale? Make the jump and see, there’s plenty of bikes for common folks, too…

2012 Cannondale SuperSix EVO sram red road bike actual weight
2012 Cannondale SuperSix EVO SRAM Red model weighs in at 14lbs 5oz.

A lab in Germany tests weights and stiffness independently, normalizing for frame size, headset type and derailleur mounts then develops a figure. For the SuperSix EVO, they came up with 695g. That makes it the lightest mass production bike so far. It also measured with the highest stiffness to weight ratio of any bike they’ve tested. (142.3n/degree/kg if you’re counting)

2012 Cannondale SuperSix EVO dura-ace road bike actual weight
2012 Cannondale SuperSix EVO Dura-Ace build tips it at 14lbs even.

Cannondale kept the same BB stiffness as the regular SuperSix but increased headtube stiffness 13%. What makes those figures exciting (besides the phenomenally low weight) is that the tubes and stays are all thinner in diameter than the regular SuperSix.

2012 Cannondale SuperSix EVO frame comparison

Headtube is 1.125 to 1.25 tapered (white bike is regular SuperSix, black is EVO for all comparison photos)…

2012 Cannondale SuperSix EVO frame comparison

Seatstays are straight and thinner (versus the hourglass profile)…

2012 Cannondale SuperSix EVO frame comparison

2012 Cannondale SuperSix EVO frame comparison

Seat tube gets ovalized at the BB, and the downtube is thinner. On top of all that, the layup was optimized using the knowledge gained making the Flash hardtails. The front triangle is continuous fiber HM monocoque construction to form the top-, head- and downtube as one piece. The seat- and chainstays are molded as one piece, which includes the dropout. This let’s them make the chainstays hollow further back, which they say saves about 17g per side compared to designs that have bonded in dropouts. Each side has its own left and right mold, and they’re all size specific. Cannondale offers eight sizes (48-63), so that’s a lot of molds. And they test each size through all of their different impact, load and stress tests.

2012 Cannondale SuperSix EVO team road bike actual weight
2012 Cannondale SuperSix EVO Team weighs 14lb 6oz.

While the lab test’s “normalized” weight says it’s 695g, in reality, they range from about 730g (ultimate) to 810g for the Team because of the paint. The Ultimate gets hand picked tubes during construction, and they choose the lightest, getting in at the 730g average.

The SAVE stays and fork provide better frame compliance. Cannondale’s road product manager Henning Schroeder says that “suspension” is built on the same philosophy as F1 cars in that it’s for traction rather than comfort, and it works whether you’re seated or standing. When the rider is seated, the seat tube has a bit of forward flex built in to keep them a bit more comfy, but the frame’s intentional vertical deflection is -sing it with me- all about performance.

2012 Cannondale Synapse road bikes

Synapse gets new seatstays that are a bit straighter with a smaller dropout to save a bit of weight and look sleeker. The fork goes with the CAAD10 style design with a bit more curve forward and downward facing, smaller dropouts that give it some of the SAVE features.

2012 Cannondale Synapse road bikes new seat post

Seat post gets a new design that morphs from the frame’s tear drop shape to a round shape that provides more compliance, and there are two layups available: stiff and flexy. It’s a cut to fit design with 15mm of height adjustment at the seat clamp and 5mm of adjustment at the seatmast. They’ll offer 0mm and 25mm offset toppers.

Frame weight on HM models is 1000g (claimed). All frames except the Sora build get BB30, and there’s an Apex build with SRAM’s WiFli wide range gearing and compact cranksets. All models get 25c tires and 3.5mm gel tape, ensuring that this is their cobble-ready bike.

2012 Cannondale CAAD8 road bikes

New CAAD 8 is completelty redesigned to better mimic the CAAD10. It has a new double sided derailleur hanger, thinline straight seatstays with SAVE elements built in. It gets some of the same tube butting and shaping, too, including the toptube-to-seatstay flowing lines.  The frame is BB30 for the Tiagra and 105 level, but keeps standard BB for the Sora build. Headtube is straight 1-1/8″ with alloy steerer/carbon legged fork. Frame weight is 1370g for a 56 (claimed).

2012 Cannondale Super-X cyclocross bikes

Introduced last year as their premium cyclocross bike, the Super-X (reviewed here) was only available in a hi-mod carbon iteration. For 2012, there’s a new Super-X standard Modulus frame. It adds about 200g to the frame, putting it at 1200g (claimed). The fork is about 60g heavier at 550g. Geometry is exactly the same, they use the same molds for both. $3,099 for Ultegra and $2,599 for Rival.

2012 Cannondale CAAD-X cyclocross bikes

The CAAD-X is now BB30 all the way across the line and the lowest level bike gets the new 10-speed Shimano Tiagra group.

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Peter Lütken
Peter Lütken
12 years ago

Did you get to put the S6Evo SRAM Red-version on the scales? (ie. the one with FSA SLK trim & SRAM Red krankset)

Dan Gerous
12 years ago

Peter Lütken : Check the second picture from the top. 14lbs 5oz, the white is a tad heavier than the black model shown though.

h2ofuel
12 years ago

Peter, it’s the 2nd bike. That is a Red crankset, with Cannondale graphics.

Peter Lütken
Peter Lütken
12 years ago

@h2ofuel That’s the Liquigas replica w/FSA K-force bits, Cosmic Carbone wheels. The “cheap” RED-bike has SLK stem, etc, Ksyrium Elite wheels and a different paint job (actually two different ones – a white/black and a black/green)

Peter Lütken
Peter Lütken
12 years ago

woah. I just cleaned my glasses! There’s the black & green beauty I was looking for. 🙂

Bob
Bob
12 years ago

Are there any 2012 CAAD 10’s? Thank you

Ry@n29
Ry@n29
12 years ago

Would be stellar if they had a disc brake cross bike….let’s gooo!

mikec
mikec
11 years ago

wish they weighed the Superx carbon 4 rival.

Jason
Jason
11 years ago

Do you have the weights of the cannondale supersix evo line for 2013 like you did for the 2012?

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