Cannondale Slate - anybody else excited?

[TerryatSecondPeak]

Any Lefty/Cannondale familiar people here who can chime in on the steerer / stem? This was a prototype Slate running the OPI stem/steerer. Do you think you could convert the Slate's Lefty Oliver to this OPI setup? Looking at the below picture of the prototype the fork says 'XLR' so I'm thinking it's a hybrid/prototype setup by Cannondale. My fear is that the Oliver has a permanently / fixed standard steerer which couldn't be removed to allow the OPI setup..

Prototype with OPI stem/steerer:


Here's a good shot of the production model:

[rasmussloth]

Will that chainring be for sale seperately?

[the_marsbar]

The steerer tube diameter is 1.5", and the crown spacings are the same as for the Lefty 2.0 which is used on the F-Si. For 2015 the F-Sis came with OPI stems, for 2016 it has "regular" 1.5" stems. I replaced my 90 mm OPI stem with a 60 mm 1.5" stem. All I needed was the stem and the steerer tube (I bought a SuperMax steerer tube, size medium).

I'd say yes, it should be possible to go the other way as well (1.5" regular stem -> OPI).

[TerryatSecondPeak]

Thanks for chiming in, MarsBar.

Wondering how/when other manufacturers are going to respond to the Slate...

[Pottsy]

Already ordered mine. Should arrive in time to be an early xmas present.

[TerryatSecondPeak]

Pottsy, congrats! Which model did you go with?

I had another awesome ride on the Slate yesterday. Friend of mine stood me up on a ride. I showed up with my road shoes/pedals and he wanted to do a MTB ride. Ended up being 100% dirt and some technical riding. Also through dried up creek beds/washes. Very rocky, sandy, and loose at times. Bike handled everything like a stud and allowed me to ride with confidence.

-Terry

[bikewithnoname]

I managed to get a few hours on a demo 105 Slate on Sunday (it was raining the whole time). Lovely looking bike, nicely put together and a very good ride on the tarmac, felt very quick, stable and comfortable thanks to the fat volume tyres. However it was mostly a liability on the firetrail/singletrack route I took, I put that almost exclusively down to the tyres which are useless in mud and downright dangerous on wet roots, I also felt the suspension , whilst nice and supple didn’t have the travel needed to hit a single track at the speed I would usually do on my F29 hard tail and pogoed me out of a few of the medium/big hits.

So my conclusion based on 3hrs of riding is: This is a compromise bike for a UK rider.

Good on road on the current tyres (in fact I think this would be a great commuter with some mudguards fitted, but you really don’t need the front suspension for a commuter), and probably good on the dusty gravel/trails of California (or the bridalways of the UK when it isn't raining), but on the stock tyres it simply can’t handle the UK’s weather. It is heavy however and not as fast as my road bike.
If you switch the tyres to some knobblies (assuming you can find ones that fit) I would say it's probably about as capable as a rigid cyclocross bike but is not as capable as a front suspension XC bike, the Oliver fork doesn’t really have the travel needed to soak up the drops/hits (at least not with my riding style). Obviously if you fit knobblies this compromises the road feel and acceleration.

So personally given that I have a front sus 29er and a few road bikes I won’t be buying one, but some people with different riding needs, less storage space, and different climates, might love the versatility it offers, but it really does need some tyres at least along the lines of a Thunder Burt’s type profile to handle the wet gravel/grass.

EDIT: It has occurred to me that this might make quite a good light touring/randonneur type bike, the lack of front rack/pannier fixings means it wont really fall into the expedition bike category, but for some long distance tarmac miles the fat tyres really do smooth out the road (again why you need front sus on such a bike would be an open question)

[Pottsy]

I ordered the Force CX1 model.
Wasn't completely sold on the purple anno cranks & hubs, But I'm thinking I might get the Cannondale logo on the DT painted to match.

I will make the final decision when it has arrived.
I cant wait, to ride one.

[pss999]

Any geometry experts who can help me figure out which size Slate to order? I have a Medium on order, but I think I'm really between sizes and so not sure if I should upsize to the Large. I currently ride a 56cm Synapse, saddle height 75cm (measured from center of BB to top of saddle, through the seat-tube/seat-post), 55.5cm reach from tip of saddle to center of bars at stem, 6cm saddle setback (center of BB to tip of saddle), 9cm drop (I'm running a -20deg 120mm stem, slammed). In trying to figure out the Synapse vs. Slate geometry charts (both available on the public Cannondale site now) it seems there is a fair amount of overlap between 56cm Synapse and both Med and Lg Slate. I went with the Medium because I want to be able to run a decent amount of drop, and without having to do the -20 stem, but with the very sloping top tube and relatively short head-tube of the Slate (especially vs. the Synapse), I just can't figure out if one or both sizes will work, and which would be best? I used to ride a 56cm SuperSix (the one before the Evo) and it was really too big... I had a very short stem and not enough drop with the saddle pretty low.

Thanks,

Paul

[rasmussloth]

I am usually on size 54 Cannondale and I would go with medium.

height: 1,80

[pss999]

I am usually on size 54 Cannondale and I would go with medium.

height: 1,80

Thanks! I'm 1,79, so I that's definitely a vote for Medium

[reippuert]

1195g ~ 2.6lbs? Not too bad a weight penalty for 30mm of front travel.. In my opinion anyway.

You folks need to try this bike out and mix it up on the dirt. What a hoot.

As soon as i saw C'ndales vidios and the geometry i i thought: i want one... - i just came home from atwo week alpine creditcard adventure carrying 11-12kg everyday on my Merlin TI road bike. For most part of the trip i was dreaming of disc brakes, lower gears than my 50/34-11/29 and tires wider than my 27mm Pave tubulars - but with true road geometry.

The Slate X1 has i all (if equiped with a 10/42 casette)
42mm 650b = ordinary 700C road tyre
Seat tube angle is steep at 73degrees.
Rear end is tight at 415mm (just like my Tom Kellog geometry Merlin CR)
Wheelbase at arround a 100cm

the C'nondale fork is stiff when locked out and smooth when not (i have a Fatty DLR80 on my MTB)

Don't facy the build kit though - overpriced crankset, cheap wheels and heavy canondale branded bars etc..

If they decide to sell it as a frame kit only (maybee with a non suspension fork) like the CAAD10 i'm in the market - if not i'll proberbly look for a custom disc brake TI frame with room for 40mm 650b tyres and 415mm end and 100cm wheelbase.

[reippuert]

EDIT: It has occurred to me that this might make quite a good light touring/randonneur type bike, the lack of front rack/pannier fixings means it wont really fall into the expedition bike category, but for some long distance tarmac miles the fat tyres really do smooth out the road (again why you need front sus on such a bike would be an open question)

To me it looks like a very nice bike for alpine adventures (credit card style) - you can do unpaved passes thats just a bit too dificult to climb on 25-27mm and you don't have to worry about the decent and pich flats because of the fork and large volume tyres.

Pannier/front rack is not really needed for credit card touring - a Carradice SQR (and maybe a front bag) is big enough for two weeks if you slep in hotels.

[TerryatSecondPeak]

pss999 - I think the Medium may very well be the way to go. If you look at the picture of the Slate demo (Ultegra) I was riding, my saddle height was set to 78.5cm. That was a medium and came equipped with 175mm cranks. So your saddle height might even be closer to ~74.75mm if your 75cm saddle height measurement was taken using 172.5mm cranks. I'm definitely a 'tweener' myself, if they had a size directly inbetween their Medium & Large it would be perfect for me. I obviously am going with the Large as at my saddle height I needed to stack the stem quite a bit for my desired drop which is also ~9cm (one fist) and had just too much seatpost protruding. So yeah, I think you made the right call with that Medium. And just to remind you in case this didn't cross your mind already, the Medium will be lighter than the Large

Pottsy - good call on having the Cannondale painted to match the hubs/cranks.

WEIGHT WEENIES - been thinking about the weight a lot and trying to convince myself that when I eventually buy the CX1 version of this bike (in a couple of months, hopefully sooner?!) I will run it as it is and be happy. Alas, I don't think I'll be able to withstand the urge to reduce weight/improve this bike. I know off the bat that those hubs are cheap and heavy. Would be great to roll on nice bearings with a long-lasting hub. My vote would be the ENVE M60 Forty wheelset with 28 spokes on DT Hubs (remove red/white DT decals and replace with hot pink ones to match the other bits). While such a wheelset would put me in the broke locker I think you could almost lose a pound of weight and help the bike roll and accelerate better.. Various hardware (4 caliper bolts in the front!), seat collar clamp, removal of inner tubes, possibly seatpost, etc. I don't imagine it would be hard to lose 2.5 lbs off the bike. If you could manage to convert to that OPI stem as Marsbar indicated could be possible, that would no doubt help.

Sad that Cannondale has me playing 'spec your dream bike online' and it's still a couple of months away..

I had to give the demo bike back and now I'm battling depression.

-Terry

[eliflap-scalpel]

slate slate slate ... my obsession